UNICEF Moldova

TERMS OF REFERENCE National Individual Contractor: Combating Violence Against Children in Cahul district

Location: Cahul, Moldova Duration of initial contract: 11.5 months (with possibility of extension)

1. Background

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does in programmes, in advocacy and in operations.

The Republic of Moldova/UNICEF Country Programme for 2018-2022 (CPD) supports the achievement of the priorities established by the national strategies, policies and programmes related to the realization of child rights and related Sustainable Development Goals (Goals 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 16) and targets, and it complements the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) that continues with a delivering-as-one approach for the period 2018-2022 and is aligned to UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2018- 2021.

As part of EU Annual Action Programme 2018 in favour of the Republic of Moldova for Support for the Implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, UN Women is implementing the Programme „Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts”. The overall purpose of this intervention is to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment through strengthened implementation of gender mainstreaming in local public policies, and to combat domestic violence affecting women and children.

In line with UN Delivering as One agenda, UNICEF established a direct collaboration with UN Women and will implement specific activities in the area of preventing and combating violence against children and adolescents. The proposed intervention will tackle domestic violence against children and adolescents, particularly on improving the capacity and related assessment tools of multi-disciplinary specialist response and services. The outcome will also seek to strengthen the enabling environment for preventing Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) through work with schools.

The violence prevention in schools and through schools will strengthen the skills of teachers and school managers to prevent and address violence and, at the same time, will strengthen the skills of adolescent girls and boys to act as agents of change in addressing all forms of violence against women and children by challenging prevailing social norms and gender stereotypes that lead to violent behaviour. The action will be complemented through positive parenting programs drawing from best EU practices with similar programs focusing on positive disciplining at home, effective parent-child communication on topics related to gender-based violence, sexuality, sexual violence risk reduction. Expected results will also see a transformed role of media actively engaged in raising awareness on positive norms and non- violent behaviour, while also skilfully and ethically reporting on issues of VAWC.

2. Purpose of the contract The Individual Contractor provides professional technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni Programme from development planning to delivery of results. He/she prepares, executes, manages and implements a variety of technical and administrative programme tasks to facilitate programme development, implementation, programme progress monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Child Protection Officer, the incumbent provides effective and efficient management of activities done at the local level, and acts as liaison between local NGOs, LPAs, Programme team and UNICEF and UN Women Country Offices.

He/she will be contributing to the design, planning, management, and monitoring of activities, applying and promoting the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations. He/she works for effective achievement of results, anticipating and contributing to resolving Programme’s related issues and information delivery.

1 The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNICEF programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

3. Objective of the contract The focus of the intervention will be on preventing and combating domestic violence against women and children, particularly on improving the work of the cross-sectoral mechanisms, strengthening schools capacities to prevent and combat VAC and implement Child Friendly School Standards, challenging prevailing social norms and gender stereotypes that lead to violent behaviour, promoting positive parenting programs drawing from best EU practices, capacitating media to actively engage in raising awareness on positive norms and non-violent behaviour.

4. Details of how the work should be delivered The Individual Contractor, under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Officer and in close cooperation with the project team, will ensure the provision of development services and products of the highest quality and standards to national counterparts and clients, applying HRBA and GE approaches. He/she will ensure efficient and effective overall management of the local activities and allocated resources.

5. Duties and Responsibilities

More specifically, he/she will be responsible for the following: • Liaise and facilitate communication and cooperation among implementing teams, partners, authorities and stakeholders for efficient programme implementation. • Prepare work-plans and ensure timely and efficient delivery of outputs leading to the achievement of expected results. • Lead, coordinate the organization of and participate in meetings, workshops, conferences, trainings and related activities. • Ensure adequate coordination and supervision of the Programme activities. Work collaboratively to collect/analyse/share information on implementation issues that require action. • Provide technical and operational support to other parties on the implementation and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices. • Monitor implementation, draft minutes and develop periodic narrative progress reports and prepare inputs for programme reporting. Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned. • Ensure high quality information and visibility of the Programme activities in the local media and among stakeholders. • Perform any other duties connected directly with the activities and resources management as required.

6. Reporting requirements The Contractor will work under direct supervision of the Child Protection Officer of UNICEF Moldova. UNICEF will regularly communicate with the Contractor and provide formats for reports, feedback and guidance on his/her performance and all other necessary support to achieve objectives of the assignment, as well as remain aware of any upcoming issues related to Contractor’s performance and quality of work. All activities and deliverables undertaken by the Contractor shall be discussed and planned in consultation with UNICEF.

7. Performance indicators for evaluation of results: The performance of work will be evaluated based on the following indicators: • Completion of tasks specified in ToR; • Compliance with the established deadlines for submission of deliverables; • Quality of work (precision, comprehensiveness, accuracy); • Demonstration of high standards of work with UNICEF and with counterparts.

2 8. Qualifications and experience • University Degree in Law, Human Rights, Social Assistance or another relevant field; • A minimum of one year of professional experience in social development planning and management in child rights related areas is required; • Demonstrated extensive knowledge of national and international law, in particular as concerns children’s rights; • Experience in working with international organizations (working with UNICEF/other UN Agencies is an asset); • Fluency in English and Romanian, oral and written is required. Knowledge of Russian or another official UN language is considered an asset.

9. Content of Technical Proposal

• Resume; • Letter of intention, containing: 1. Relevant experience with similar type of assignments and/or child protection related activities (max 300 words); 2. Proposed approach and methodology (max 1500 words), including: o Preventing and combating violence against children approach; o Risk and mitigation measures. Annex: • Short Sample or links to related work previously conducted by the applicant.

10. Content of Financial Proposal

The applicant should fill in the Financial Offer Template and specify the consultancy fee per working day, requested for the tasks described in the Terms of Reference in USD. Other expenses directly related to the ToR assignments and deliverables such as: (translation/interpretation costs, local transportation etc.) may be included in the financial offer unless specified that UNICEF will cover them separately.

If not provided by ToR, UNICEF will not reimburse costs not directly related to the assignment. This contract does not allow payment of off-hours, medical insurance, taxes and sick leave. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

For the national individual contractor, MDL will serve as contract currency, converted at the UN exchange rate applicable at contract signature date.

The final selection will be based on the principle of “best value for money” i.e. achieving desired outcome at lowest possible fee.

11. Payment schedule

The payments will be rendered on a monthly basis, as per the agreed fee and consistent to the numbers of days worked, after approval of deliverables reflected in the contract and, subsequently, as approved and reflected in the monthly task schedules, in line with the specifications of the p.5 above.

All deliverables must be timely submitted, in line with the agreed timeliness’ of the monthly priority schedules, as specified under p.5 above. All deliverables, in regard to quality and completeness, must be approved in writing by UNICEF before a payment is effectuated.

3 Deliverable Proportion of payment (delivered according to the timeline agreed upon with UNICEF) April 2020 Monthly fee payable at the end of April 2020 May 2020 Monthly fee payable at the end of May 2020 June 2020 Monthly fee payable at the end of June 2020 … …

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered for failure to meet deadlines.

12. Work location and official travel involved

The contractor will be stationed in Cahul city, Republic of Moldova. To perform the duties, local traveling to adjacent localities may be involved.

If not provided by ToR, UNICEF will not reimburse costs not directly related to the assignment outcome. The contract does not allow payment of off-hours, medical insurance, taxes, and sick leave.

13. Support provided by UNICEF UNICEF will regularly communicate with the specialist and provide feedback and guidance and necessary support so to achieve objectives of the work, as well as remain aware of any upcoming issues related to the performance and quality of work. UNICEF will provide an initial package of relevant documents and available research, and an initial list of relevant experts and counterparts to work with. UNICEF will also request relevant data – as agreed upon with the consultant – from relevant government counterparts.

14. Ethical considerations

The Contractor will ensure that the process is in line with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Ethical Guidelines1. The Contractor should be sensitive to beliefs, manners and customs and act with integrity and honesty while interacting with stakeholders and beneficiaries. Furthermore, the Contractor should protect the anonymity and confidentiality of individual information. All participants should be informed about the context and purpose of the Assessment, as well as about the confidentiality of the information shared. The Contractor is allowed to use documents and information provided only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

As per the DHR PROCEDURE ON CONSULTANTS AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS, together with the Notification letter, the contractor will be sent the link on UNICEF’s learning platform, Agora, containing UNICEF policies on Prohibiting and Combatting Fraud and Corruption; Prohibition of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority and other relevant policies for their information and acknowledgment. The selected candidate must complete the applicable mandatory online courses on UNICEF’s learning platform prior to signature of contract. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract.

1 UNEG Guidelines http://www.uneval.org/document/detail/102

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