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Advert – 2 Individual Consultants (Maldivian Nationals) for facilitation and monitoring of the MHPSS based socio-emotional learning packages for adolescents and their caregivers.

Background

Mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, account for 16% of the global burden of disease and injury among the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents. 75% of mental illnesses manifest by age 24, and 50% by the mid-teens. As per the findings of the STEPS Survey on Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases undertaken by the Government and WHO (November 2022), in the Maldives, every 1 in 5 people experience different aspects of depression. The burden and impact of suboptimal mental health is enormous during adolescence and into adulthood – and has implications on the well-being of the next generation. Although investment in early, effective intervention for the mental health of young people was identified as a “best buy” over a decade ago, current evidence suggests that adolescent mental health remains a neglected yet pressing issue. Furthermore, research and investment in mental health to date has been weighted heavily on psychopathologies and mental illnesses rather than well-being or optimal functioning.

Mental health promotion aims at enhancing the ability of adolescents to achieve psychosocial well-being and cope with adversity, which is fundamental for them to be healthy and productive. Prevention of mental ill-health focuses on reducing risk factors and enhancing protective factors associated with mental ill-health.  Universal prevention and promotion programs among the adolescent population are critically needed.

Helping Adolescents Thrive Initiative (HAT) – MHPSS based socio-emotional learning (SEL)

The Helping Adolescents Thrive (HAT) Initiative is a joint WHO-UNICEF effort to strengthen interventions, policies and programmes for the mental health of adolescents. HAT is made up of interlinked and complementary strategies which holistically address an adolescent’s surroundings and their individual behaviors, as well as the influencing systems, policies, and laws around them.  As part of the HAT framework, the two agencies have jointly developed a global guideline, toolkit, and intervention tools aimed at promoting mental well-being, preventing mental health conditions, and reducing risk behaviors and self-harm among adolescents.  In Maldives, intervention tools have been developed for piloting based on HAT guidelines to support 10–19-year-olds in learning and applying techniques to positively influence their behavior, thoughts, feelings, and social interactions. Tools to increase knowledge and ability of caregivers to support adolescent mental well-being have also been developed for field testing.

UNICEF is providing support to the Ministry of Education (MOE)for implementing the Helping Adolescent Thrive (HAT) programme in 2023/24, which includes adolescent socio emotional learnings (SEL) and MHPSS, as well as psycho-education and skills building components for caregivers.

In this regard, UNICEF is engaging a national consultant to deliver the contextualised HAT sessions to caregivers of adolescents from select schools in the greater Male’ region and support the monitoring of these initiatives.

Due to the limited Human Resource capacity at the Ministry to undertake the caregiver sessions, and the tight deadlines to which the deliverables are tied to, additional technical expertise is required to perform this task for which the consultancy aims to fulfil.

Purpose and Objectives

The overall objective of the assignment is to support the Ministry of Education (MOE) to implement the caregiver SEL package among caregivers (parents, grandparents) of adolescents of select schools in the Male’ region. The consultants will work with the guidance of the MOE and UNICEF Maldives. The tasks assigned to the consultants are outlined below:

1. With close support from MOE and UNICEF, based on the SEL package for caregivers, facilitate 24 caregiver sessions in coordination with schools.
2. Coordinate with MOE and schools to collect, enter and analyse the caregiver session feedback forms after the sessions are completed. Prepare a report based on the facilitator and caregiver feedback forms that are compiled.
3. Coordinate with MOE and UNICEF to enter the data into a given excel format and do the preliminary analysis of the baseline and end-line data from the adolescent SEL packages, and submit the analytical report to MoE and UNICEF.

Major tasks of the assignment and deliverables with timeline (25 working days: between May 2023 – July 2023)

Deliverables

• An analitycal report on the 24 sessions on SEL package for caregivers.
• An analytical report of the caregiver and facilitator feedback on the SEL caregiver package and testing with way forward.
• Analytical report of the baseline and end-line survey from the adolescent SEL packages

Note: All deliverables, resources developed will be copyright of UNICEF

Duration of assignment: 25 working days between May to July 2023

Duty station: Male’ / Maldives.

Travel: Travel out of duty station is not expected

Supervisor: The consultants will be supervised by the UNICEF Programme Specialist for Health & Nutrition, and the Ministry of Education, School Health Department, ESQID

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

• At least an undergraduate degree in psychology, clinical psychology, or related field.
• Professional level work experience in group facilitation, with three years of progressive experience in facilitation and adult learning. Certified training at Training of Trainer or Master Trainer on Mental Health / SEL will be an asset.
• Minimum three years of experience in facilitating socio-emotional learning (SEL) and parenting programmes.
• Minimum three years of experience in Mental health promotion or psycho-social support will be an asset
• Professional level facilitation skills Dhivehi and good writing skills in English.
• Previous experience in documentation, report writing as well as monitoring and evaluation of similar interventions

Please note the following:

All payments will be subjected to acceptance of deliverables by UNICEF. Also, note that UNICEF does not make advance payments and UNICEF is exempted from paying VAT and any other forms of taxes. Local consultants will be paid in local currency.

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 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.