We believe that every child should be able to be a child, always and anywhere
As the United Nations Children's Rights Organization, UNICEF stands up for the rights of every child in all countries of the world, day in and day out. Thanks to you and our partners, we help more children than anyone else in the world. We believe that every child should be able to be a 'child'. In fact, they are entitled to it. Not all children grow up in a safe and loving environment. For their development they urgently need protection, health care, (healthy) food and education.
That is what we stand for, because we are UNICEF.
UNICEF The Netherlands is looking for a:
Child Protection in Emergencies Consultant
Background and rationale
On September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma devastated the island of Sint Maarten, negatively impacting the island's economic and physical infrastructure, and posing significant safety, livelihood, health, and wellbeing challenges for the population and Government of Sint Maarten. Among the immediate challenges of the post-disaster landscape was the need to mitigate the hurricane's impact on child safety, wellbeing, and psychosocial support systems and services.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, the Dutch National Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF NL) supported the government of Sint Maarten, particularly on school safety, psychosocial support, and child protection services. Building on the successful outcomes of the previous project, a follow-up project is currently being implemented in collaboration with the Government of Sint Maarten, and funded by the Sint Maarten Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience Trust Fund, managed by the World Bank: www.unicef.nl/trustfundsintmaarten.
Through this project, UNICEF NL aims to support the government of Sint Maarten to strengthen the education and child protection systems to address and better respond to the needs of children and adolescents resulting from natural disasters and external shocks. Overall, the project aims to:
1. Support teachers to deal with their own crisis-related needs while also improving their ability to detect needs and provide psychosocial support to children.
2. Increase children and adolescents' ability to cope better with shocks by providing life skills training and promoting the development of safe spaces and environments at the school and family level.
3. Strengthen the child protection referral and case management system and support the development of a Child Protection Information System.
4. Strengthen professionals'(such as teachers, social workers, health care personnel) knowledge of child protection.
5. Strengthen coordination for disaster risk management at the education system and school levels to better prepare and respond to natural hazards and protect children's safety during emergencies.
Sint Maarten is not only at risk of devastating hurricanes annually, but also of other naturally occurring phenomena such as flooding, tsunamis, and earthquakes, whose destructiveness might cause similar severe socioeconomic and environmental imbalances. Hurricane Irma in 2017 is the most recent major disaster. Whilst hurricane seasons always carry a risk of hurricanes, other natural disaster risks are increasing as the probability of these events rises due to the impact of warming Atlantic waters caused by climate change.
Due to the above-described situation, there is a need to increase the knowledge and capacity of stakeholders on Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) and step-up preparedness for future disasters. Therefore, the system to coordinate the protection of children before, during, and after emergencies requires strengthening and support to ensure that the disaster preparedness plans developed by Emergency Response stakeholders include a child protection focus.
The Government of Sint Maarten has a structured emergency preparedness and response plan coordinated by an Emergency Operations Centre.
The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) consists of 10 supporting bodies, Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), responsible for the preparation and response to disasters (an accident or a natural catastrophe) that causes severe damage or loss of life, for example hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami, plane crash.
ESF 7 is responsible for population care: ensuring safety and general care for the population, before, during and after emergencies. The key areas of focus include Shelter Management, Distribution of Relief Goods and Mandatory Evacuations. The ESF 7 team includes several departments throughout Government, including the Court of Guardianship, as well as a number of NGOs.
The Court of Guardianship (CoG) has a Memorandum of Understanding with ESF 7, which has several articles that outline the role of the CoG in preparedness, shelter management and evacuation. The CoG has also worked with the Courts of Guardianship of the other five Caribbean islands of the Dutch Kingdom, to develop an Inter-Island Evacuation Protocol to improve preparedness for future situations in which children might be evacuated (alternative care) by their parents between these islands.
Goal/objective
The objectives of this consultancy are:
To deliver a training on Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS), as much as possible contextualized to the situation of Sint Maarten, for the members of ESF 7, and emergency response volunteers and staff of the Government of Sint Maarten and NGOs and formulate recommendations on how to adapt these standards to the local context on Sint Maarten.
To deliver a Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) refresher training for the emergency responders who developed sector/organisation disaster plans during the 2018 CPiE training.
To provide technical support to the CoG to define and strengthen its identified role as the Child Protection experts on ESF 7, including:
Specific Objectives:
Consultancy Assignment:
For the CPMS, CPiE Refresher and Child Protection in Shelter Management trainings, the consultant is expected to use the following training methodology:
In carrying out all activities, the consultant will pay particular attention to ensure a human rights-based approach, equity focus, and gender sensitivity.
Deliverables
Deliverable A (17 working days):
Deliverable B (17 working days):
Deliverable C (33 working days):
Qualifications and experience
Our offer
A reference check is part of the procedure. The successful candidate will be offered a consultancy contract with the Dutch National Committee for UNICEF.
Administrative arrangements
The consultant will report to the Senior Child Protection Specialist, Ms. Neidi de Carvalho, at the Dutch National Committee for UNICEF.
The Dutch National Committee for UNICEF covers all payments by bank transfer and as per the payment schedule which will be agreed upon.
Timeframe
The consultancy will be an estimated 67 working days between December 2022 and the final deliverable is expected no later than the end of May 2023.
How to apply
Please submit your CV and motivation letter as well as information on your daily fee, via our online form by 29th October 2022 COB EST time. For any questions, you may write to the Project Manager, Freddy Austli: faustli@unicef.nl.