TERMS OF REFERENCES

Function:                     Technical expertise for thematic review and harmonization of four Administrative Instructions that derive from the Law on Child Protection

Place of work:              Kosovo

Project name:              Strengthening social service workforce to provide continued quality social services for most vulnerable children and their families in Kosovo.

Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection in Kosovo – KOMF, established in 2011, is a coalition composed of 34 local and international NGOs working in the child protection field, with the joint mission to advocate and protect the rights of children in Kosovo.

KOMF in partnership with UNICEF and financed by USAID Kosovo, is implementing the project “Strengthening social service workforce to provide continued quality social services for most vulnerable children and their families in Kosovo”. The project has four main objectives as follows: 1. Strengthen capacities of child protection and non-child protection front-line workers, to implement the Law on Child Protection, enabling provision of quality and sustainable protection services for children; 2. Strengthen capacities of social service workforce to provide quality social services for children; 3. Strengthen capacities of Municipal Directorates of Health and Social Welfare and CSWs on planning, monitoring, budgeting, and contracting of social services; 4. Increase awareness of decision makers, social workforce and wide public, on the importance of social work and provision of quality social services.

In the frame of the second objective, KOMF is publishing the announcement for the recruitment of a local individual consultant to provide technical expertise for the thematic review and harmonization of four Administrative Instructions that derive from the Law on Child Protection.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Under the supervision of the Project Coordinator and as per request from the Office of Good Governance (OGG) of the Office of Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance, Labour and Transfers (MFLT), this local consultant will provide technical expertise for the thematic (Child Protection) review, analysis and harmonization of the developed four draft Administrative Instructions (AIs) that derive from the Law on Child Protection (LCP).  

Background

In 2019, the Kosovo Assembly approved the Law on Child Protection and its promulgation has created a new enabling environment, which will contribute to address, refer and protect children rights, enhancing safeguards for children from all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation. The LCP foresees the protection of children against all forms of physical and mental violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, or any other form that endangers the life, safety, health, education, or development of children. In practical terms, the LCP aims to integrate child protection system and support effective Child Protection mechanisms at central and local level, enable proper coordination among all relevant institutions and stakeholders, and provide concrete measures to prevent and respond to all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation. The LCP consolidated a series of 14 laws that regulate actors and set policies for children and provides an opportunity to strengthen the child protection system at all levels. In 2020, when the LCP has entered into force, after a year from its promulgation, the drafting process for development and finalization of related Administrative Instructions (AIs) that will enable the Law to become fully implementable took place. There are in total 17 AIs that derive from the LCP, which are under the process of development, under the ownership and responsibilities of different Ministries and institutions such as OGG, MFLT, MIA, MES, MoH, etc. 

Presently, there is an ongoing process to develop and finalize four (4) remained draft AIs, out of which two (2) are under the ownership of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and two (2) are under the ownership of Ministry of Health (MoH). Parallel to the development of the process, along these AIs will be finalized in upcoming period, and before they get approved by the relevant ministries, they have emphasized that there is an immediate need for professional assistance for a normative and thematic review and harmonization in order to prevent any overlapping or legal collisions that might have occurred in the cause of the drafting process. Linked to the above process and context, the relevant Ministries and OGG has addressed a request to KOMF for hiring a local individual consultant who will provide technical expertise for the legal review and analysis on harmonization of the 4 AIs.

In addition to this, as per another request addressed from MIA and MoH, KOMF is in parallel seeking to engage an individual local consultant to conduct thematic review and analysis of the same AIs that derive from the LCP, whose tasks and deliverables will be regulated through separate and specific TOR. Both technical processes, will be coordinated closely and aligned to ensure that 4 AIs are well harmonized from the perspective of the legal-normative and thematic child protection aspect.

As per specific tasks and deliverables of this consultancy, this TORs regulate the assignment for the local individual consultant who will provide technical review, analysis, and harmonization of 4 AIs from the perspective of thematic (Child protection) aspect as per below focus and scope of the work.

Scope of Work:

Provide technical expertise for the thematic (Child Protection) review, analysis, and harmonization of four (4) draft Administrative Instructions that derive from the Law on Child Protection:

• AI - Measures to protect the child from pornographic sites and those that harm the health and life of the child;
• AI - Measures to prevent and protect the child from drug abuse;
• AI - Measures for medical, psychological assistance, rehabilitation and reintegration of child victims of abuse;
• AI - Appropriate preventive and protective measures to prevent the participation of the child in night clubs and gambling.

The thematic review and analysis will ensure that draft of 4 Administrative Instructions are:

-       In compliance with main provisions of the Law on Child Protection.

-       Reflect explicitly and entirely the main principles of the Law that are related to protection of children from all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

-       Including the main principles of the LCP that ensure the responsibilities of all parties and stakeholders (parents, family, guardianship authority, state institutions etc.) in the care, protection and development, based on the best interests of the child;

-       Based on the main provisions of the LCP related to provision of prevention, protection and reintegration services to guaranteeing the well-being and improving the quality of life of the child;

-       Harmonized on ensuring integrated and functional child protection system responses and services for all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation.

Supervisor: Project Coordinator

Start Day: August 2022

End Day: December 2022

Number of days (working): 24 days / 4 AIs (6 days per AI)

Minimum Qualifications required:

Masters and University degree in Law, Social Sciences, Social Work, International Relations, Public Administration, or other relevant disciplines related to the field.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Knowledge and experience on Legal and Policy framework on Child Rights, Child and Social Protection and Justice for Children international and local context.
• Working experience with the Government, international agencies and donors in a technical expertise, advisory and capacity building role.
• Broad experience working with Non-Government Organisations is highly derisible.
• Technical expertise and experience on drafting primary and secondary legislations in the area of Children’s Rights and Child Protection.  
• Experience in project planning and design, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and reporting.
• Fluent in English language speaking and writing

All interested candidates are invited to send the below listed application documents via email, at; [email protected].

• CV;
• Letter of interest introducing the reasons why the expert is deemed well suited for the assignment;
• Three references from previous employers;
• Financial proposal with the proposed daily and total fee (Gross). The financial proposal should include all incurred expenditures of the experts (ex:. phone calls, internet, travel, etc.). The financial proposal must include the statement of the validity of the proposal, at least four weeks from the submission date;
• KOMF will pay the expert in two installments, as follows:
• The first installment will be performed after the approval of the first official draft of the AIs – 20% of the total payment.
• The final installment will be performed after the approval of the final AIs – 80% of the total payment.

Deadline for submission:

• The proposal has to be received by latest on August 11, 2022, by midnight. Proposals must be submitted in English language. Proposals received after the deadline or in other languages, will be not considered.

Please note that only selected candidates from their documentation will be notified for the interview.

The selected consultant will read and sign the service contract, together with the below listed documents: KOMF internal personnel regulations, child protection policy, policy against sexual exploitation and abuse and KOMF job description. the mentioned document constitute the integral parts of the employment agreement between the employer and the consultant.