International Consultant to Support the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro in Assessing... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Montenegro

Summary : International Consultant to Support the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro in Assessing the Implementation of the Institute of Support Person to a Child and Delivery of a Training Programme

Deadline : 26 Aug 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 35510997

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN`S FUND
Stanka Dragojevica bb, UN Eco House 81 000 Podgorica Tel: + 382 20 447 400 Fax: + 382 20 447 471
Montenegro
Email :podgorica@unicef.org
URL :http://www.unicef.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for International Consultant to Support the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro in Assessing the Implementation of the Institute of Support Person to a Child and Delivery of a Training Programme.

I Background and Context



Access to Justice for Children considers that every child has equal access to justice and is able to participate effectively in all matters that affect him/her, including criminal, civil and administrative proceedings, within the institutions which are accessible and adapted to the needs of the child and the rights of the child.
In line with the access to justice agenda in the country followed by the process of further harmonization of the Montenegro`s family legislation with international standards, the Amendments to the Family Law of Montenegro was adopted in July 2016. The entire process was led by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro. As a result, Montenegro`s legislator provided the child with full standing capacity in all proceedings affecting the child, introduced the institute of Support Person to the child, provided better guarantees for children-s voices to be heard and opinions considered throughout the entire court proceeding. Generally, the amended Family Law provided better guaranties for the rights of the child to be adequately addressed and protected throughout the entire court proceeding and more opportunities for addressing child rights violations.
The new Institute of Support Person to a Child introduced in the amended Family Law proceedings is supposed to care for the rights and personality of the child with due attention and thoroughness and to convey to court the child-s opinion, to build a relation of trust with the child, to inform the child of his or her rights, to offer information of the case, the stages and possible outcome of the proceedings, and offer explanations regarding possible consequences of the child expressing his or her opinion. Following the adoption of the Bylaw on education of the Support Persons to the Child in Family Law related proceedings, 17 professionals have been trained and licenced for the Support Person to a child since 2017.
As the institute of the Support Person to a child is operational for more than two years it would be very important to assess its implementation in practice, especially in terms of benefits and possible constrains for its implementation. Hence, UNICEF will provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro to conduct the assessment of the implementation of the Support Person to a child, including training needs assessment, provide set of recommendations for the better implementation of the Support Person to a child and deliver one training based on the needs.





II Purpose and Objective


The purpose of this assignment is to improve the status and rights of children participating in the family law related proceedings.
The objective of this activity is to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro for the assessment of the implementation of the Support Person to a child in practice so far with the set of recommendations including:

1. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the implementation the Support Person to a child in practice so far;

2. Training needs assessment for the Support Person to a Child and development of training agenda based on the needs;

3. Delivery of the training for all professionals licenced for the Support Persons to the Child (in Family Law related proceedings).



Methodology and Technical Approach
The methodology will include:

§ desk review of the relevant legislative and policy documents and available statistics and reports on the Support Person to a child, interviews and focus groups with representatives of Ministry of Justice, courts/judges dealing with family law related cases, professionals licensed as a Support Person to a child, families and children, if possible, who benefited from the institute of the Support Person to a child (interviews will be scheduled with UNICEF support),

§ assessment of the implementation of the Support person to a child including training needs assessment;

§ validation of the report by the Ministry of Justice;

§ delivery of training programme for the Support Person to a child.

The Consultant is expected to work from home and undertake visits to Montenegro.
Further details are presented in the section below “Activities and Tasks”.





Activities and Tasks



The activities of the assignment will be conducted in close cooperation with the relevant representatives of the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF-s Child Protection Team. The Consultant is expected:



§ To review, within the preparatory phase, the new Amendments to the Family Law of Montenegro (2016), Bylaw on the education of the Support Persons to the Child in Family Law related proceedings (Official Gazette, No. 046/17 from 18/07/2017), Law on Free Legal Aid; Strategy on realization of Child Rights (2019-2022); draft Strategy for Judiciary Reform (2019-2022);

§ To make reference to the following documents: Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); General Comments No.12 on children`s right to be heard; General Comment no 14 on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration; European Convention on the Exercise of Child Rights; Council of Europe`s Guidelines on Child Friendly Justice, UNICEF CEECIS Study: Children-s Equitable Access to Justice, etc;

§ To review qualitative and quantitative data on the cases involving the Support Person to a child in to make a data analysis on its implementation;

§ To communicate with the Ministry of Justice and other respective officials and UNICEF to receive in-depth guidance and make interviews/focus groups with professionals licenced as the Support Person, families and children, if possible;

§ To draft an assessment report, including training needs assessment, with solutions and recommendations on the improved implementation of the Support Person to a child and proposal of the training programme, to be validated by the Ministry of Justice;

§ Following comments and suggestions from the Ministry of Justice and other relevant partners, prepare the Final report;

§ Presentation of the Final Report to the Ministry of Justice and relevant judicial institutions;





Key Deliverables and Timeframe



This assignment is expected to commence on 1th October 2019. The consultant is expected to spend a total of 15 working days on this assignment. He/she will spend up to 4 working days in Montenegro while rest of the time will be home based.

The Consultant is expected to produce the following key deliverables:







Management and Organisation



§ Management: The Consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF Child Protection Officer.

§ Organization: International Consultant will be required for this consultancy. If more than one consultant is engaged for the assignment, the fee for each consultant will be negotiated depending on their qualifications, the scope of work required from each consultant and the duration of their engagement.

§ Schedule: This assignment will commence on 1 October 2019.





Qualifications/specialized knowledge/experience required to complete the task



The Consultant is expected to have the following qualifications/specialized knowledge/experience required to complete the task:



Education:

§ University degree in social science;

§ Master-s in social science will be considered as an advantage;



Experience:



§ Five (5) or more years of experience in child protection;

§ Experience in direct work with children in justice proceedings is an asset;

§ Familiarity with the access to justice area is a strong asset;

§ Proven experience in research, assessment and analysis;

§ Previous work experience with UN/UNICEF or other international organization will be considered as an advantage;





Language:

§ Excellent command of English, whilst knowledge of Montenegrin language will be considered as an advantage;



Other:

§ Effective communication skills;

§ Demonstrate abilities to meet deadlines.



Application procedure:

§ To apply for the vacant position please submit P-11 form through “apply” button;

§ Candidates are requested to submit a financial offer as a separate document consisting of a daily professional fee, travel costs for two visits to Montenegro and DSA costs for up to 4 days to be spend in Podgorica, Montenegro.





Selection Method:



All applicants will be screened against qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

1. Technical Criteria - Interview - 70 % of total evaluation- max. 70 points
- Education: 10 points
- Previous experience: 20 points
- Technical questions at the interview: 30 points
- Other: 10 points



Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the technical part (who will score at least 49 points) will be qualified for considering for financial proposal evaluation.



2. Financial Criteria - 30 % of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

- Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].



NOTE:



Mandatory learning: Upon concluding the recruitment process and prior to signing the contract, all Consultants and Individual Contractors, including those working from home, must complete the following three online courses

§ Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF;

§ Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority;

§ Sexual Exploitation Abuse (PSEA)



In addition, Consultants and Individual Contractors must complete the following course befor

Documents

 Tender Notice