National Consultant to support the Government of Syria to implement restorative justice approaches focusing on diversion and alternative measures to detention for children , Damascus, Syria, 180 working days within 18 months

• Country: Damascus, Syria
• No of vacancies: N/A
  
• Salary: N/A 
• Organization: UNICEF
• Gender: Both 
• Deadline: 2024-01-13

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The overall aim is to support the Government’s decision makers to strengthen restorative justice and diversion in the country in line with international standards on child friendly legal procedures.

The deliverables of the consultancy are the following:

Objective:  Enhancement of Child-friendly justice system with a restorative approach

1. Conduct an assessment/ desk review on the justice for children dimension in Syria with a focus on diversion and restorative approaches and prepare an inception report which includes a conceptual approach for the enhancement of diversion and restorative justice interventions in Syria.
2. Assess the gaps in capacities of social and legal duty bearers liaising with juvenile delinquents through round table discussions with juvenile judges and staff of juvenile delinquent centres. The assessment will inform the proposed approach in the inception report as well as the design of the training package for legal and administrative staff in contact with children.
3. Develop a framework on restorative juvenile justice approaches, and a plan-of-action for its implementation including guidelines/ standards operating procedures (SOPs), capacity building materials, preparation for piloting the restorative justice in a scalable way and engagement of the community in restorative justice interventions. Discussion and approval from governmental counterparts all the way.
4. Design and develop a training package for social workers and legal personnel, also as part of the package identify delivery methods including pool of resource persons.
5. Design a package of services/model to be piloted as community-based model for diversion through restorative justice approach.
6. Support the piloting of the Diversion and community-based restorative approaches and document the challenges and propose ways to overcome them.
7. Conduct review and update meetings with the steering committee to finalize the final draft of the SoPs on diversion and share with ministries and partners for review and approval.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

1. An inception report with detailed approach and action plan for the assignment
2. Framework for the restorative Justice system and action plan for piloting and scaling up.
3. Finalised SoPs and guidelines for implementation of diversion programme
4. Report on the capacity needs of duty bearers and NGOs staff who are co-managing the centres.
5. Finalized a training package building for legal and administrative staff and identify delivery methods including pool of resource persons.

All deliverables should adhere to UNICEF quality standards and should be approved by UNICEF.

LOCATION (GEOGRAPHIC AREA/ DUTY STATION): Damascus, Syria

On-site working days: 180 working days

Off-site working days:

Field Missions/Travel: Rural Damascus.

DURATION:

The consultant will work for a total of 180 working days within 18 months period.

The exact schedule of the activities will be agreed with the consultant based on the consultancy implementation progress.

SUPERVISOR:

The consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist (P4), with regular meetings and briefings with the Child Protection officer (NOB) on the progress of the consultancy.

The steering committee will comprise the representatives of the major stakeholders including the Ministries of: Justice, Social Affairs and Labour, Interior, Culture, Education in addition to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD), and UNICEF. The steering committee will:

• • Provide clear specific advice, information and support to the consultant.
  • Support the implementation of the pilot project
  • Review the materials drafted and final report.

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

1.    Academic qualifications:
University degree in social sciences, preferably in international law; or any other relevant field.

2.    Work experience / Technical competencies:

• Minimum 2 years of relevant work experience in protection, preferably international experience in justice for children.
• Proven knowledge on child rights, child protection and justice for children.
• Experience in in restorative justice approaches and models;
• High analytical and conceptual skills and ability; Proven research and analytical skills, facilitation and developing written material (report writing)
• Proven ability to work within the international and multicultural environment.
• Understanding of child protection issues and services.
• Experience in collaborating Government’s and/or NGOs’ social welfare staff; and experience in program design, administration, monitoring and evaluation in related fields is an asset.
• Knowledge of the Child Protection Laws, UNCRC and other relevant conventions and international regulations on child protection and justice for children.
• Good negotiation skills and flexibility.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.

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