Consultancy – Systematization of National Consultations on General Comment 27 in the Context of the 35th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, LACRO (Panama City)

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, an advocate

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The goal of this assignment is to document and systematize the results of national and regional consultations with children and partners to be undertaken, with the support of UNICEF Regional and Country Offices in Latin America and the Caribbean, in contribution to the elaboration of the General Comment 27 on access to justice and effective remedy, as a joint effort with the CRC Committee, and in the context of the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the CRC.

Scope of Work:

Background & Rationale-

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted in 1989, acknowledged children as holders of the full scope of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.

Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries were instrumental in the elaboration of the Convention and were among the first to ratify it. Many incorporated its principles into their national laws and policies, demonstrating commitment to advancing child rights and fostering accountability among states.

Despite the CRC’s full ratification in all LAC countries, 35 years later millions of children in the region still face significant challenges in realizing their rights. These threaten the progress made in areas such as health, nutrition, education, protection, and participation.

This year, as we commemorate the CRC 35th anniversary, the Committee on the Rights of the Child is developing General Comment 27, which focuses on children’s rights to access justice and effective remedy.

The Committee has invited UNICEF to join this effort and facilitate dialogues, on these important topics, with children and adolescents, academic experts, ombudsperson for children, the judiciary, governments, service providers, civil society, and partners through national consultations.

In a global context of push-back on human rights, child rights and gender equality, UNICEF in LAC seeks to seize the opportunity of the 35th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to:

• Amplify engagement and advocacy on child rights with governments and partners togalvanize action to accelerate the realization of child rights.
• Empower children and adolescents, through meaningful consultative and participativeprocesses.
• Increase public understanding and awareness of the Convention on the Rights of theChild and child rights.
• Nurture strategic partnerships and form alliances to promote child rights.

Amongst other activities in the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the CRC in LAC, UNICEF will support:

i)national consultations with children and partners at country level on the content of the general comment 27 to help clarify what access to justice and effective remedy mean for children in the region.

ii) Regional Consultations with regional youth networks of diverse groups of children such as those from indigenous background, children with disabilities, care leavers and other institutionalized at regional level.

National and regional consultations will provide children and adolescents with safe spaces to participate, considering the region’s unique context and diversity as well as children’s evolving capacities, best interests, protection, and safeguard needs. On the 20th of November during the world’s children day, children of diverse backgrounds will have the opportunity to give their feedback on national consultative processes and engage in an open dialogue on the issue of access to justice and effective remedy, with national authorities, justice operators, the CRC Committee, academic experts, ombudsperson offices, and civil society partners. Throughout this process, both children and partners who are part of national consultations will be making recommendations to strengthen access to justice and effective remedy for children in the region. Such contributions will be systematized and submitted to the Committee on the rights of the Child as inputs for the elaboration of the upcoming General Comment 27 (see concept note)

Purpose of this consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to collect and systematize contributions of the national consultations, both with partners and children in the context of the elaboration of the General Comment 27 on Children’s right to access justice and effective remedy, which will be developed and launched by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

National and Regional consultations will take place from August to November, facilitated and/or supported by UNICEF Country Offices and the Regional Office, according to guidance shared by headquarters and the regional office (which will be made available to the selected consultant). The 24 Country Offices in LAC, cover 36 countries, and only some of these will be supporting national consultations with children and or partners, depending on the country context and interest (the Regional Office is currently closing the list of interested countries, estimated in 18 countries in total).

The product of this systematization will require a methodological proposal to orient consultations towards levelling and uniformizing content and information collected, including a proposed structure to combine national and regional contributions in one document.

The draft systematization will be produced in English and Spanish and shared with participants of the consultations once revised and approved by the Regional Office. Highlights of the systematization will be shared during the event of commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the CRC on the 20th of November in Panama. Therefore, it will be necessary to elaborate an accountability process for feedback with children and participants on the overall content of this systematization, according to ethical protocols and safeguard measures.

The consultant maybe requested by the Regional Office to participate in online meetings with some of the country offices undertaking such consultations to guide them on how contributions will be collected to be systematized. There is also a possibility that the consultant would be invited to participate of the regional event in Panama on the 20th of November.

Key Activities/Tasks

1- Methodological proposal and structure for systematization: Get acquainted with all conceptual documents and related guidance to national consultations on the General Comment 27 and propose a methodology for systematizing information, and structure for the systematization, based on the list of countries interested in supporting and undertaking consultations with children and or partners. (The material and list of interested countries will be provided by UNICEF).

2- Guidance for collection and submission of contributions from Country Offices: Elaborate guidance for country offices to collect the information and submit contributions to be systematized. This might require online meetings with some country offices that are already advanced in this process.

3- Feedback procedure (accountability mechanism): Prepare accountability route to give feedback on consultations to children and partners according to ethical protocols and safeguard measures.

4- Secondary information collection report: Collect information on available research in the region that included the voices of children with respect to their rights, particularly the right to access justice and effective remedy. This list will integrate the final report.

5- Draft report of Systematization: Systematize information received from Country Offices, throughout the consultative process (September to December), and draft a report with the systematization to be revised and approved by UNICEF. Prepare a presentation with highlights to be shared with children and partners during the regional event and preparatory sessions.

6- Final report with regional contribution to GC27: Integrate in the draft systematization inputs from the regional event and elaborate a final report for the review and approval of the Regional Office, in consultation with contributing Country Offices. This report should follow the CRC Committee guidance (which will be shared by UNICEF Regional Office) on content and length (word limit).

Deliverables

Work Assignments Overview

Deliverables/Outputs

Delivery deadline

(Date)

Acquire knowledge and information on conceptual documents and guidance related to national consultations on the General Comment 27 (UNICEF will share).

Based on this information, develop methodology for systematizing information, and the structure for the systematization report. (The list of interested country offices will be provided by UNICEF).

Methodological proposal (two pages) and structure for systematization of national and regional consultations (1 page), including all countries interested in supporting and undertaking consultations with children and or partners.

5 days after the start of the contract

Elaborate guidance for country offices to collect the information and submit contributions to be systematized.

This might require online meetings with some country offices that are already advanced in this process

Guidance for collection and submission of contributions from Country Offices (2 pages).

Participate in online meetings (5 to 10 meetings of 30 minutes estimated) upon request from the regional Office.

10 days after the start of the contract

Prepare accountability route to give feedback on consultations to children and partners according to ethical protocols and safeguard measures.

Feedback procedure (accountability mechanism) Two pages

30 days after signing the contract

Collect information on available research in the region that included the voices of children with respect to their rights, particularly the right to access justice and effective remedy. This list will integrate the final report.

Secondary information collection report (length will depend on the content found through research, but it will consist of a reference list with links to publications, if available)

45 days after signing the contract

Systematize information received from Country Offices, throughout the consultative process (September to December), and draft a report with the systematization to be revised and approved by UNICEF.

Prepare a presentation with highlights to be shared with children and partners during the regional event and preparatory sessions.

Draft report of systematization of Consultations with Children in English and Spanish (5-6 pages long – around 2500 words)

Draft report of Systematization of Consultations with Partners in English and Spanish (5-6 pages long – around 2500 words)

PPT with highlights of both consultative processes (with children and partners) in English and Spanish (10 slides) to be shared in the preparatory session and regional event of commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the CRC.

60 days after the start of the contract

Integrate in the draft systematization inputs from the regional event and elaborate a final report for the review and approval of the Regional Office, in consultation with contributing Country Offices. This report should follow the CRC Committee guidance (which will be shared by UNICEF Regional Office) on content and length (word limit).

Final report with regional contribution to GC27, including systematization of contributions from children and partners (10 pages 5.000 words max) to be submitted to the CRC Committee as a Regional Contribution to the elaboration of the GC27.

90 days after signing the contract

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Master’s degree in Social sciences, law, human rights and children’s rights.
• 5 years of work-related experience in the field of children’s rights.
• Research background and excellent written communication skills in English and Spanish.
• Experience in participatory research projects involving the participation of children and diverse range of stakeholders.
• Knowledge of UNICEF’s and the CRC Committee’s role, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its General Observation goals and structure.

Administrative details

Supervision

The consultant / individual contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Child Protection Specialist in Chile on Mission at the Regional Office.

Duration

This consultancy has a duration of 3 months.

Workplace

This is a home-based consultancy

How to Apply

Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

Travel

There is no travel foreseen for this consultancy. In case travel is included in the future, travel will be covered by UNICEF as per policy.

• Travel costs will be estimated and added to the contract once they are determined based on UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.
• For agreed country visits, the contractor/consultant will be responsible in administering their own travel. UNICEF will reimburse travel related expenses based on actual costs or on the below criteria whichever is lower and upon presentation of receipts.
• Any travel involved should be budgeted according to UN Travel Standards as a ceiling.
• UN Secretariat Administrative Instruction on Official Travel, ST/AI/2013/3: Sect. 4, para. 4.2, numerals (d) and (e)
• For information on Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), can be found on the International Civil Service Commission website (all countries and destinations can be found by navigating on the map).

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks: 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

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