International Individual Consultancy for development of national standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff

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For every child, the best start to life. 

Montenegro has made important commitments towards strengthening early childhood development, with particular emphasis on improving support to young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families. The adoption of the Early Childhood Development Strategy (2023-2027), together with the development of the draft Operational plan scaling up family centered early childhood intervention in Montenegro (2026-2030) reflects the Government’s commitment to building a modern, integrated and family centered early childhood intervention system. In recent years, Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF, has been gradually expanding contemporary, transdisciplinary and routine based family centered early intervention services in several municipalities across Montenegro. These model services have generated valuable experience, strengthened professional capacities and demonstrated the benefits of coordinated service provision across the health, education and social welfare sectors. As Montenegro moves towards scaling up these services at the national level, the development of clear standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff is essential to ensure quality, consistency and sustainability of support for children and their families.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support to the Government of Montenegro to develop national standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff based on the existing family centered ECI guide. To implement this task, UNICEF Montenegro seeks to identify a international consultant that should work under the supervision of the ECD Officer and to carry out the specific tasks described in detail in the Work Assignment Overview section. All deliverables should be produced in either local language or English.

Work Assignments Overview

Tasks/Milestone

Deliverables/Outputs

Timeline                     

  1. Partner consultations and preparation of Inception report

Report includes feedback from consultations with national partners, desk research based on a review of the existing family centered ECI guide and relevant national policies on ECI, the proposed methodology for developing national standards, guidelines and procedures and a plan for additional consultations with the working group and relevant stakeholders.

29 May 2026

  1. Preparation of the first draft of the National standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff 

Draft the National standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff based on the existing family centered ECI guide and relevant national legislation in Montenegro on ECI, including procedures related to identification of children in need, referral pathways, eligibility criteria for accessing services, assessment and coordination among relevant sectors. 

31 July 2026

  1. Facilitate two-day workshop with working group members and relevant stakeholders to review the draft and identify areas for further improvement.

Two-day workshop with working group members and relevant stakeholders to further improve the draft. 

30 September 2026

  1. Final draft national standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services and staff

Final draft procedures for ECI services and staff, based on the existing family centered ECI guide, revised following consultations with the working group and relevant stakeholders and fully aligned with national legislation in Montenegro

16 November 2026

  1. Final consultancy report accepted by UNICEF

Developed final consultancy report describing the consultancy and proposed recommendations for the way forward in rolling out the procedures.

25 November 2026

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

Education

  • Master’s degree in Public Health, Psychology, Special Education and other sciences related to child development.

Experience

  • Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in family-centred early intervention for children with developmental delays and disabilities (teaching students, service provision etc.)
  • Demonstrated experience in drafting or contributing to the development of national standards, guidelines and procedures for ECI services. Applicants must submit samples of previous relevant work as part of the application.
  • Proven experience in intersectoral coordination and collaboration with multiple government institutions, preferable across the health, education and social welfare/child protection sectors. Relevant experience should be clearly described in the application.
  • Previous work experience with UN/UNICEF or other international organizations will be considered an advantage. Applicants may provide references or relevant documentation as evidence of previous cooperation.
  • Familiarity with early childhood intervention services in the Balkans region, preferably Montenegro.

Language

  • Knowledge of English is mandatory.

Other

  • Excellent writing skills, presentation skills, strong strategic and analytical skills.
  • Ability to work with different stakeholders and good networking skills.
  • Demonstrates tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion.
  • Demonstrates integrity and high ethical standards.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Payment methodology

The payments will be made upon successful completion of the deliverables and submission of invoices, as follows: 

  • 1st tranche will be paid upon successful submission of the deliverables 1 and 2
  • 2nd tranche will be paid upon successful submission of the remaining deliverables 3, 4 and 5

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

Mandatory e-learning

Upon conducting the recruitment process and prior to the signing of the contract, the consultant will be required to complete the following online UNICEF courses. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract.  

  1. Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF
  2. Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority
  3. Prevention of Sexual Exploitation Abuse

Before commencement of any travel on behalf of UNICEF, the Consultants and Individual Contractors must complete course on General Information Security Awareness Course. In addition to above, any consultant or individual contractor who is issued a UNICEF email address must complete the following courses no later than 30 days after signature of contract:  

  1. Fraud Awareness.
  2. General Information Security Awareness Course (only for consultants/individual contractors with a UNICEF email address).

The above courses can be found on Agora through the following link: AGORA: Log in to the site (unicef.org)Course completion certificates should be shared and retained with the human resources unit of the hiring office.

Selection methodology

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. The proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria 

 A Technical criteria – Technical evaluation process

1. Interview-70 % of total evaluation– max. 70 points 

  • Education:10
  • Previous experience:20
  • Sample of a legal report or piece of legislation that the candidate authored:30
  • Other:10

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

B) Financial criteria – evaluation of financial proposal – Max. points: 30 

The applicants are requested to submit their financial proposal consisting of a professional fee for the services to be provided.   The applicants are requested to submit their lump sum financial proposal consisting of a daily professional fee, proposed travel costs for north, central and south area of the country and daily subsistence allowance (DSA) when applicable which will be paid up to a maximum of the official UN rate. Reimbursement of travel costs / accommodation expenses will be based on actual expenses. Travel costs and Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].

Remarks

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.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.

Advertised: Central European Standard Time
Deadline: Central European Daylight Time

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