Background and Purpose of the Assignment
The three-year project in ‘Care and Protection for Vulnerable Children in Sierra Leone’ will focus on strengthening the child protection, alternative care and education systems to care for vulnerable children in Sierra Leone, including street children and those affected by Ebola. At the national level, the project will strengthen the capacity of government and civil society for the application of the national Case Management system, which will ensure registration, assessment, needs-based referral for services, and follow up for vulnerable children.
This project will enable the provision of alternative care for children without parental care, including street children and Ebola-affected children who have not been, or are unable to be, reintegrated into families and communities, as well as family tracing and reunification. Many children are placed unnecessarily and for too long in institutions, where they receive less of the stimulation and individual attention needed to grow to their full potential. Inadequate care environments can impair children’s emotional and social development and leave them vulnerable to exploitation, sexual abuse and physical violence, thus the need for family-based care environments, including foster care. In addition, psychosocial support, and education support to enable enrolment and attendance in school will be provided, which builds upon on-going initiatives that target out-of-school children and ensures that they are supported to be in school.
At the community level, this project will strengthen social change for the protection of children without parental care, including street children and those affected by Ebola. The project will strengthen traditional child rearing practices - especially the care of children within the extended family system (especially for Ebola orphans) and strengthen community mechanisms for the identification and referral of children to the formal Case Management system as and when necessary.
Justification
The Child Protection Section, UNICEF Sierra Leone, is seeking an individual national consultant to provide support to the country office to establish and present a baseline to measure and evaluate the impact of a three-year project on ‘Care and Protection for Vulnerable Children in Sierra Leone’. The project will commence in April 2018 and will seek to ensure that 3,000 children will benefit from a child protection system that is responsive, child-friendly, and prioritizes their right to care and protection. It will achieve this through activities which focus on building the knowledge and capacity of frontline staff on case management and alternative care; through the practice of Case Management; the provision of alternative care and essential services to vulnerable children; and through strengthening the capacity of schools to ensure access for the most vulnerable children.
Purpose and Objectives
Under the overall supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, the Consultant will be required to collect and compile baseline data on the four key interventions of the project, so that the project may be monitored throughout its three-year duration, and evaluated against the baseline at its completion in 2020. The key activities for the project, which the Consultant will need to collect baseline data for, are as follows:
a. Case management for at least 3,000 vulnerable children, including street children and Ebola-affected children
b. Alternative Care and Service Provision for children and their families
c. Training of 700 frontline staff working with vulnerable children, including those without parental care, such as street children, and children affected by Ebola
d. Strengthen capacity of schools to ensure access for the most vulnerable children
Application deadline is 16 April 2018.