National Consultancy to Strengthen the Existing Complaint Mechanism and to Design... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Tajikistan

Summary : National Consultancy to Strengthen the Existing Complaint Mechanism and to Design a Child Consultation Platform for the Ombudsman for Child Rights

Deadline : 27 Jan 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 29872716

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND
37/1 Bokhtar Street Dushanbe, 734025 Tel: +992-44 600.01.90 / 44 600.01.91 / 44 600.01.92 / 44 600.01.94 / 44 600.01.95 Fax: 44 6000196
Tajikistan
Email :dushanbe@unicef.org
URL :http://www.unicef.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for National Consultancy to Strengthen the Existing Complaint Mechanism and to Design a Child Consultation Platform for the Ombudsman for Child Rights in Tajikistan.

UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up.

For every child,

For many years, UNICEF has been supporting the Government of Tajikistan towards the realization of children's rights in the country. In particular, from 2012 to 2015, UNICEF supported the setting up, capacity building and operations of the Department on Child Rights in the Ombudsman's Office. The collaboration with UNICEF also included the monitoring of child rights, including in residential childcare institutions and other closed and semi-closed facilities for children. In May 2016, the Government of Tajikistan created the Ombudsman for Child Rights (O4CR). Since then, UNICEF has been supporting the institutional strengthening of this new entity, in particular through training and experience sharing with the Ombudsman for Children of Norway (2017) and the Ombudsman for Children of Kazakhstan (2018). These efforts have mostly focused on enhancing the capacity of the O4CR to monitor child rights in various settings as well as to raise awareness of adults and children regarding the existence of this new institution mandated with promoting and protecting child rights. In 2017, the Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed Tajikistan's combined third, fourth and fifth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and issued its Concluding Observations. Among its recommendations, the Committee suggested that Tajikistan consider improving the complaint mechanism within the office of the O4CR and raising awareness about the existence of such mechanism at the national and local levels, ensuring the accessibility of the mechanism by children. It also recommended that the mechanism be granted the authority to receive and investigate complaints of violations of child rights taking into account the child's best interests. The Committee recommended to Tajikistan to ensure that the mechanism be equipped with the necessary human, financial and technical resources to address these violations effectively. In response to these Concluding Observations, the Government of Tajikistan adopted a Plan of Action for 2018-2022. Activities # 6.2 and 6.3 in the Plan provide for capacity building of the staff of the O4CR to be able to effectively handle complaints filed by or on behalf of children. These activities also focus on raising awareness among children about the existence of the O4CR and to request assistance from this institution.

How can you make a difference?

In close collaboration with and in support of the international consultant, in close consultation with the O4CR and her team, and under the guidance of UNICEF's Child Protection team, the national consultant will contribute to improving the existing complaint mechanism, including enhancing the effectiveness and timeliness of handling complaints and developing child-friendly ways of handling and processing complaints and of providing feedback to the complainants in a child-sensitive manner. In doing so, the national consultant will be expected to consider the following specific aspects:

· Children (boys and girls) should be able to use a mix of mechanisms to ensure full coverage and access of the complaint mechanism (written, verbal, internet/online based);

· Confidentiality of the complaints;

· Specificity of receiving and processing complaints from the most vulnerable children (including children with disabilities, children from refugee families, children from minority groups, children from migrant families, children in contact with the law, children in residential childcare institutions and children who are victims of sexual violence);

· Complaints filed by children and others on behalf of children;

· Provision of feedback to children on the outcome of their complaints in a child-sensitive manner;

· In line with the spirit of the CRC, the process should be consultative and participatory, ensuring the active involvement of concerned stakeholders, including children and adolescents.

The national consultant will be expected to perform the following tasks:

· Identify, compile and summarise key provisions in relevant legal documents regulating complaint mechanisms and child participation and make them available in English to the international consultant;

· Assist the international consultant in conducting a brief analysis of the existing complaint management procedure and tools within the general Ombudsman's Office and its regional offices and representations at district level;

· Assist in identifying gaps and challenges in the Ombudsman's internal legal, policy and operational frameworks, as well as in the areas of institutional, human and financial capacity and make recommendations for legal amendments to address the identified gaps;

· Liaise with the O4CR and her team when additional info is needed and hold briefing meetings with the O4CR and her team to clarify expectations and define modalities of work;

· Arrange consultative meetings with concerned stakeholders (Government bodies, civil society organisations (CSOs), development partners, and children / adolescents) to solicit their views and input and make notes accordingly;

· Provide inputs to the written recommendations of the international consultant and assist in developing step-by-step guidelines on handling and processing complaints filed by or on behalf of children, considering their life circumstances, including in relation to age, gender and equity;

· Provide support in the organization of the training for national stakeholders on the complaint mechanism:

· Identification of and engagement with participants

· Contribution to the design of the training content and co-facilitation of the training

· Preparation of the documents required for the event

· Contribution to the development of the training workshop report

· Assist in designing, testing and supporting the establishment of a consultation platform for children/adolescents, taking into account the existing children and youth associations as well as other existing forums and/or platforms run by CSOs and local authorities;

· Support the international consultant in designing a data collection/record keeping tool that will help to analyse the data pertinent to issues that were most frequently raised by children.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

· Compilation of key provisions from relevant legal documents pertaining to complaint mechanisms and child participation is produced in English;

· Recommendations on legal provisions / changes to allow for the establishment and functioning of a child-friendly complaint mechanism and child participation platform are prepared;

· Brief analytical report on the existing complaint management procedure and tools within the general Ombudsman's Office and its regional offices and representations at district level (provide inputs from the legal perspective to the main report prepared by the international consultant);

· Contributions to the summary report identifying capacity gaps and needs of the O4CR team in relation to handling complaints in a child-friendly manner are provided;

· Facilitation in arranging meetings for the international consultant is provided;

· Written recommendations and step-by-step guidelines on handling complaints filed by or on behalf of children, considering their life circumstances, including in relation to age, gender and equity (input provided);

· Consultation platform for children/adolescents is designed and tested, taking into account existing children and youth associations as well as other existing forums and/or platforms run by CSOs and local authorities (input provided);

· Training of the staff of the O4CR and the Ombudsman's Office on the use of the consultation platform is organised and co-facilitated;

· Data collection/record keeping tool related to complaints filed by or on behalf of children (input provided).

Deliverables: 1. Compilation of key provisions from relevant legal documents pertaining to complaint mechanisms and child participation is produced in English. Duration (estimate): 8 days; Date: 26 February 2019; Payment: 20%

2.Recommendations on legal provisions / changes to allow for the establishment and functioning of a child-friendly complaint mechanism and child participation platform are prepared; Duration (estimate): 5 days; Date: 5 March 2019; Payment: 20%

3.Contributions are made to the summary report identifying capacity gaps and needs of the O4CR team in relation to handling complaints in a child-friendly manner.Duration (estimate): 6 days; Date: 14 March 2019; Payment: 20%

4.Support provide to the designing and testing of a consultation platform for children/adolescents.Duration (estimate): 6 days; Date: 22 March 2019; Payment: 20%

5.Training of the staff of the O4CR and the Ombudsman's Office on the use of the consultation platform is organized and co-facilitated. Duration (estimate): 5 days; Date: 29 March 2019; Payment: 20%

Upon completion of the deliverables, the following documents shall be developed and submitted to the UNICEF Child Protection Section in Word format and soft copy:

· Compilation of key provisions from relevant legal documents pertaining to complaint mechanisms and child participation is produced in English;

· Recommendations on legal provisions / changes to allow for the establishment and functioning of a child-friendly complaint mechanism

Documents

 Tender Notice