Individual Consultancy: Document of Analysis of Compliance with the Rights of Children... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : USA

Summary : Individual Consultancy: Document of Analysis of Compliance with the Rights of Children and Adolescents

Deadline : 21 Mar 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 31438687

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S EMERGENCY FUND
3 United Nations Plaza 44th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues New York, New York Country code 1 City code 212 Tel: 326.7000 Facsimile: 887.7465 - Primary, 887.7454 - Secondary
USA
URL :www.unicef.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Individual Consultancy: "Document of Analysis of Compliance with the Rights of Children and Adolescents 1989-2030", Dominican Republic.

BACKGROUND
November 20, 2019 will be 30 years since the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and opened it for the signature of the member states. Since then, virtually every country in the world has approved it and the vast majority of them have made serious efforts to fulfill their obligations. The Dominican Republic ratified the Convention in March 1991 and immediately proceeded to modify its legislation in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, initiating a process of legal, institutional and public policy reform that continues 30 years later.

During this period, the effort to fulfill the rights of children and adolescents (DDNN) has been driven by two fundamental agreements. In the year 2000, the General Assembly established 8 Millennium Goals for the year 2015 that have been followed by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the States commit themselves to fulfill by the year 2030. Virtually the entire CDN is contained in the so-called 2030 Agenda to meet the SDGs, so that their goals are, to a large extent, an indicator of the way in which the States have advanced in these 30 years.

The efforts made by the Dominican Republic have been very important. In 2003, a new Code was approved for the System of Protection and Fundamental Rights of Children and Adolescents. Other legislative changes were approved in the following years or are pending approval in the National Congress.

In parallel, the judicial institutions were reformed and, progressively, a new system of Protection of Rights was installed, which still has important challenges. Important changes have been made in social protection policies, a policy for early childhood was established and the National Institute of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care was created.

Following the constitutional mandate, the country substantially increased public investment in pre-university education, improving the coverage of pre-school education (almost nonexistent less than a decade ago) and basic education. The birth registration of children under five has also increased progressively in recent years.

Despite these efforts, the main violations of children's rights continue to be violence (especially gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation, pregnancy and child marriage), the persistence of maternal and neonatal mortality, the low quality of education and school dropout.

All of them, moreover, are directly linked to goals of Sustainable Development Goals whose fulfillment represents a great challenge for the Dominican State.

63% of children and adolescents from 1 to 14 years old are victims of violent disciplinary methods in their homes. 12.6% of those between 5 and 17 work. This figure rises to 20% in the poorest households (ENHOGAR 2014). 4.6% of women under the age of 19 have been victims of sexual violence (ENDESA 2013). During the first 10 months of 2018, there were 5, 370 complaints about crimes of sexual violence in the country. Although the information is partial, at least 32% of the victims were female adolescents (PGR, 2018) [1]. There are no statistical data on the sexual exploitation of children, but in 2017 CONAVIHSIDA reported testing 656 girls and 16 boys under the age of 16 who claimed to be "sex workers" to detect HIV. In a study conducted in the southern region of the country on the 5th,

36% of women between 20 and 24 years of age joined in a stable way or married before they turned 18, a figure that rises to 60% in the poorest quintile. 12.3% of the total joined or married before the age of 15 (ENHOGAR 2014). Marriage and unions of children under 18 in the Dominican Republic almost double the continent's average (23%). In the case of girls married or united before the age of 15, it is close to tripling (5%). If child marriage and early unions were to end, poverty would be reduced by 10% (from 30.5% to 27.7, with data from 2016). [3]

The high incidence of child marriage is directly related to teenage pregnancy. As indicated in a study by the World Bank and UNICEF (2017) [4] "child marriage is probably the cause of three out of every four children born to mothers under the age of 18."

In total, 21% of Dominican adolescents between 15 and 19 have been pregnant and 2.1% have had a child before age 15 (ENHOGAR 2014). Despite the efforts made by the country, the incidence of teenage pregnancy has not been reduced in recent years.

Maternal mortality has been slowly reduced in the last decade. Although the coverage of prenatal care is 98% and that of births attended in health services of 97%, the maternal mortality rate is 90.6 per 100, 000 live births (MSP2016) [5], higher than the Latin American average, located at 68 per 100, 000. One in five maternal deaths corresponds to adolescent mothers (SITAN UNICEF 2017).

The neonatal mortality rate is 20.8 per 1, 000 live births, more than double the regional rate, of 9 per 1, 000 [6]. This rate has remained unchanged in the last two decades and represents 80% of infant mortality.

There are still significant coverage gaps in initial education that reaches only 49.5% and in secondary education that reaches 69.9%. Improving the quality of education is still a very important challenge. Only 12% of students in the third grade of primary school have a satisfactory level of Spanish and only 27% in mathematics (National Diagnostic Evaluation 2017 MINERD).

Children with disabilities face higher rates of exclusion from school compared to children without disabilities: 62% of these children between the ages of 3 and 5 years, 21% of children from 6 to 11 years old and 34.6% from 12 to 17 years do not attend school (MINERD UNICEF 2017) [7].

The XXX Anniversary of the CRC is an opportune opportunity to review the situation when the country committed to fulfill the rights of children, how much progress has been made in this area, how that progress can be compared with that of other countries of the Region, which are the issues in which we must make greater efforts in the face of the 2030 Agenda and what "accelerators" or key issues should be assumed in the next presidential term to comply with that Agenda.

To this end, the Dominican Government and UNICEF will hold a National Summit for Children next September; 30 years since the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It is expected that, in this event, the main political authorities, national institutions and representatives of civil society analyze the progress made in the last 30 years and determine a basic route to advance in the fulfillment of the DDNN, within the framework of the Agenda 2030


JUSTIFICATION

To develop this process it will be necessary to carry out a situation analysis that serves as a base document for the discussion and that can be integrated into the final document of the event. This document should analyze the progress made by the country in terms of childhood, review the main challenges and propose, in a general way, ways of action that can be debated by the participants of the Summit.

The document must be finalized at least sixty days before the start of the event.

The document will be reviewed by UNICEF and CONANI.

OBJECTIVE

Write a publishable working document that analyzes the progress made in the situation of children living in the Dominican Republic 30 years after the approval of the CRC, the main challenges in the next 10 years for the fulfillment of Children's Rights and its relationship with the SDGs, and that serves as a basis for a process of political discussion on the priorities in the subject.

The document must respond, at least, to the following questions:

What was the situation of childhood when the country undertook to fulfill the rights of children and adolescents?
How much progress has been made in the main issues related to the rights of children and adolescents?
How can this advance be compared with that of the other countries of the Region?
What are the biggest challenges to fulfill the rights of children and adolescents in the coming years?
How are these challenges linked to the 2030 Agenda?
What "accelerators" or key issues should be assumed in the short term (next 3 to 5 years) to comply with this Agenda?
EXPECTED PRODUCTS, DELIVERY DATES AND DETAILS

# of product

Product

Main tasks

Deadline

one

Basic index and outline of the document agreed with UNICEF

Agree on the main issues that will be analyzed in the document.

Prepare a basic outline of the document.

April 1st

two

Initial draft of the document presented to UNICEF

Prepare an initial draft of the document for review by UNICEF following the approved index and scheme

April 30th

3

Second draft of the document presented to UNICEF

Receive and analyze with UNICEF the observations on the initial draft.

Prepare the second draft of the document.

Deliver the second draft of the document.

May 20th

4

Final draft delivered to UNICEF

Receive and analyze with UNICEF the observations to the second draft.

Prepare the final draft.

Deliver Final Draft to UNICEF

June 1

5

Final document approved by UNICEF and CONANI.

Receive and adjust the concluding observations of UNICEF and CONANI (through UNICEF) to the document.

Delivery of the final document.

Acceptance by UNICEF.

June, 15

Note : The copyright of all materials produced will be the property of UNICEF. UNICEF will recognize the authorship of the document.


ESTIMATED DURATION OF THE CONTRACT

From March 25, 2019 to June 15, 2019.

* This date may change due to the duration of the hiring process.

FORM OF PAYMENTS

Payments will be made in accordance with the following schedule:

30% upon delivery of the initial draft of the document (April 30, according to the schedule).
70% to the approval by UNICEF of the final document of Analysis of compliance with the rights of children and adolescents 1989-2030.
UNICEF reserves the right to cancel the contract and / or retain all or a portion of the payment if the policies and regulations on confidentiality, ethics and processes of UNICEF and its partners are not obeyed, the performance is unsatisfactory or the work / deliverables are incomplete., are not delivered or delivered past the established deadlines.

SUPERVISION OF THE CONTRACT

The consultant will be supervised by the Deputy Representative of UNICEF Dominican Republic.

TERMS OF SERVICE

The consultant must have its own computer, cell phone and other related equipment to carry out the services of this contract.

OTHER SPECIAL CONDITIONS

The consultant must respect the impartiality and independence of UNICEF and the United Nations in connection with this contract and must not seek or accept instructions from anyone other than UNICEF. For the duration of this contract, the consultant should refrain from any conduct that may reflect negatively on UNICEF or the United Nations and should not engage in any activity that is incompatible with the instructions, policies and procedures of UNICEF. The consultant must exercise discretion in everything related to this contract.

QUALIFICATIONS & SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE

Education

Higher academic education in social sciences.

Experience

Experience in the elaboration of analysis of social situation demonstrated through academic publications or high level public reports.

Experience of work demonstrated in planning or analysis of the fulfillment of goals of the SDGs.

Work experience in international organizations.

Languages

Good use of the Spanish language (verbal and written).


EVALUATION CRITERIA

Technical evaluation

60%

Financial proposal:

* Only the financial proposals of the proposals / applicants that pass the technical evaluation will be considered and valued.

40%

FORM OF APPLICATION

For applications, interested persons or organizations should apply through the UNICEF job opportunities portal: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

For application purposes include:

Complete in full the online application of our portal (equivalent to the P 11 form) [8]
Curriculum vitae (updated).
Technical proposal (proposed work plan and a basic profile of the index of the requested document).
Financial proposal (global service rate) in Dominican pesos).
Certificate / Diploma of the highest level of studies attained.
Identity card and / or work permit (Dominican Republic).
Deadline to apply: March 20, 2019 until 11:55 PM (Dominican Republic)

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion in its workforce and encourages qualified candidates, men and women from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including people living with disabilities to apply and be part of our organization.

UNICEF has a policy of zero tolerance with respect to any conduct incompatible with the purposes and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. In addition, UNICEF adheres to strict principles for the safeguarding of children. All selected candidates will be subject to a rigorous process of background checks and references, and they are expected to adhere to those standards and principles.

[1] http: //transparencia.pgr.gob.do/Inicio/VisualizarDocumento? DocumentoID = 1 ...

[2] https: //www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/PLANTEAMIENTOS _-_ Invisibles_b ...

[3] https: //www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/EconomicImpactsChildMarriage _...

[4] https: //www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/EconomicImpactsChildMarriage _...

[5] Ministry of Health, 2013.

[6] Source of maternal mortality figure for 2016, Ministry of Health. Source of the neonatal mortality figure: United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, 2017.

[7] Study on "Children Out of School" MINERD-UNICEF 2017. https: //www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/RESUMEN_Ninos_Natas_Fuera_Esc ...

[8] Online applications that are submitted without completing all the required fields, including work history, academic background and references related to the consulting will not be considered.

[Disclaimer: The above text is machine translated. For accurate information kindly refer the original document.]

Documents

 Tender Notice