UNICEF recrute un consultant international en santé mentale et soutien psychosocial (MHPSS) Consultant international basé en Éthiopie-P4- Section de la protection de l’enfance

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Purpose of the Consultancy :

The consultancy will support implementation of the UNICEF MHPSS initiative for which UNICEF Ethiopia received funding for one year (up to 31 December 2021).  This will be done in close collaboration with the concerned sectors and specialists in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAR) Regional Office and MHPSS consultant also hired under this funding stream and noting the parameters of the assignment.

Specific Tasks :

More specifically, the consultant will support the Country Office in the following main area of work and tasks in line with the MHPSS initiative and building on existing work on MHPSS in the country :

Strengthen knowledge management and resource mobilisation :

1. 1. Contribute to funding proposals, briefing notes and presentations to support MHPSS system strengthening in Ethiopia and across the above mentioned sectors ;
   2. Set up, populate and maintain a knowledge management platform on UNICEF ECO intranet ;
   3. Highlight needs and solutions related to MHPSS in UNICEF communication products and on relevant regional sitReps, case studies and human-interest stories ;
2. Provide technical assistance on reporting against progess, learnings, constraints and how they are being addressed  as part of implementation of the 7% set aside funding ;
3. Any other MHPSS strengthening activities that relate to advancing MHPSS across child protection, health and education systems in the above-mentioned activities in consultation with the concerned supervisor and Chiefs and technical specialists.

Expected Deliverables :

1. The consultant will send monthly reports to his/her supervisor based on agreed deliverables and submit a final written report ;
2. Payments are done on a monthly basis linked to deliverables. Payment is upon satisfactory completion of deliverables.

1. Outputs/Deliverables :   

 Work relationships :

The consultant will work under the supervision of the Chief, Child Protection in close consultation with the Chiefs of Health and Chief of the Learning and Development Sections and Deputy Representative -Programmes.  This will also involve close collaboration with the MHPSS Consultant based in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAR) Region who reports to the ESARO Regional Advisor for Gender and Adolescent and focal points from Child Protection, Education and Health.

The consultant will participate in, contribute to and leverage the use of existing internal UNICEF and inter-agency cross-sectoral coordination platforms related to MHPSS such as the UNICEF Ethiopia Programme Management Team meeting, and the MHPSS TWG with the secretariat based at WHO and with the engagement of the Steering Committee including FMOH, EPHI, UNICEF etc.. The consultant will avail/leverage these opportunities to systematically build the capacities of other sectors and systems with a focus on child protection, health and education.

The UNICEF Ethiopia Country Office will facilitate and support consultant’s access to available documents and key country staff and partners.

In the view of the prevailing situation linked to COVID -19 and the dynamic humanitarian and development context, if needed, after 3 months, revisit the deliverables and their timelines.

Expected Education, technical background, Experience :

• Relevant advanced (ie Master’s degree or above) academic background in social sciences; psychology; international development; public health or similar relevant discipline.
• At least 8 years of MHPSS programming, including in humanitarian contexts ;
• Solid knowledge and understanding of health, education and child protection including social work systems, humanitarian principles, child safeguarding measures and established international standards on mental health and psychosocial support for children including adolescents ;
• Strong coordination, organizational and facilitation skills whether face to face or remotely with diverse stakeholders involving senior government, UN and NGO/INGO and academics ;
• Demonstrated experience with multi-sectoral programme design and knowledge management, including remote coordination ;
• Comfortable to work independently while coordinating closely with different teams ;
• Full command of spoken and written English is essential.

Coordination and support for Child  Protection, Education and Health system strengthening:Technical support to Child Protection, Health and Education sectors to achieve the following components in the draft workplan :

1. Child Protection :
   1. Institutionalising MHPSS (level to be determined, TBD) into the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum for the Community Service Worker (CSW) and Social Workers including performance assessment. This includes curriculum review, adaptation, development of teachers’ training and learning materials, and TOTs ;
   2. Technical support to review the existing and incorporate Child protection case management training that includes MHPSS (level TBD noting Psychological First Aid (PFA) is currently included in the current module) into the social service workforce materials of the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth (MoWCY) ;
   3. Technical review and inputs related to Community based MHPSS (as part of system strengthening) to complement systemic interventions at the more child protection system level (and given the availability of OR/ORE resources). This includes technical inputs to design of Programme Documents (PD).
2. Health :
   1. Technical support from the consultant to include MHPSS in Health Extension Programme (HEP) skills building initiatives  noting FMOH has recently (in December) finalized and printed the training curriculum for HEW, based on the roles and responsibilities as outlined in the Optimising Health Extension Program (OHEP) and Primary Health Care Roadmap.
3. Education :
   1. Development and finalisation of user friendly, context specific and tailored MPHSS training modules for teachers, school principlas/ administrators, school councileors, supervisors and students ;
   2. Capacity building of Ministry of Education (MoE) focal points (FP) on MHPSS and support setting-up a pool of master trainers from the MoE and Regional Eduction Bureaus (REBs) (incl.  people identified from selected Colleges of Teacher Education (CTE) from regions ) to support MHPSS system strengthening across its entities, capacitate the team and assure they develop a training plan to undertake cascade training at all levels in their respective regions  ;
   3. Support the Ministry of Education and Regional Education Bureaus in nurturing MHPSS within its system at all levels, to be able to detect and address MHPSS concerns of personnel and students ;
   4. Technical support to institutionalise MHPSS in teachers’ pre-service training
4. Advancing Cross-Sectoral MHPSS work :
   1. Ensure a cross-sectoral approach to case management. This includes review and inputs to the sector specific capacity building materials/sector and identify approaches to help ensure linkages between MHPSS and case management in health, education and child protection. This also includes review and technical inputs for cross-sectoral work that includes MHPSS identification and referrals (such as between education and child protection for in-school and out-of-school children and between child protection and health for identification and referrals that relate to MHPSS services) ;
   2. Identify target groups and existing evidence from across the three sectors and counterparts to develop of focused advocacy messages on MHPSS to: (a) raise awareness on mental health and psychosocial well-being across education, child protection and health sectors; (b) to strengthen self-care and child care, and care-seeking behaviors of the target audience, and; (c) consider messaging that reduces stigma for people with mental health conditions :

1. 1. Establish and formalize entry points across UNICEF sectors and Ministries of Education, Ministries of Health and Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Ministry of Women, Children and Youth and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for system strengthening ;
   2. Review of existing initiatives, programming and tools on MHPSS and draft an analysis highligthing gaps as well as innovative approach to consider for scale-up (starting from the 4Ws mapping conducted in 2019) ;
   3. Support strengthened coordination, technical capacity of the MHPSS Technical Working Group  (involving FMOH, EPHI, WHO, UNICEF, INGOs, NGOs, academics etc) ;
   4. Provide technical review and inputs related to MHPSS related documentation, Programme Documents etc developed by the country office/partners.

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The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 :

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.