Country: Eritrea
Closing date: 14 Nov 2018
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Title: consultant to develop National Strategic Plan
Purpose: to provide support to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, National Union of Eritrean Women in preparing a national strategic plan to address Child Rights, abandon Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), and Underage Marriage
Job Level: P-4
Location: Asmara,Eritrea
Duration: 60 working days
Start date: 20th December 2018
Reporting to: Chairperson of the National Steering Committee
Supported by: UNPFA and UNICEF
Background
The Government of State of Eritrea (GoSE) reiterates its accountability for the protection and promotion of the rights of the women and children by ratifying to major international and regional conventions like the CRC, CEDAW, ACRWC. The GoSE is implementing various programmes and reaching out to children, youth, women and communities to strengthen their capacity to realize their rights.
Strengthening of the welfare system and scaling up promoting children, adolescent and women rights and protection efforts through training of health workers, social workers, law enforcement, child well-being committees (CWC), including protection from harmful practices (FGM/C and Underage Marriage), violence and exploitation are part of GoSE's priorities. GoSE strategically intervenes to prevent and respond to different forms of violence against children and women including child labour, young girls and women empowerment through community based child protection platforms; irregular migration and trafficking of children and women through sensitizations in communities and providing protection services.
FGM/C, a procedure that involves partial or total removal of female genitalia, or other injury to female genital organs, is a painful procedure that has short term and long-term detrimental physiological, sexual and psychological effects. The consequences can include death, hemorrhage, septicemia and complications in childbirth, aggravating maternal and infant mortality. The FGM/C rate in Eritrea is 83 per cent, making it among the highest globally (2010 Eritrea Population and Health Survey (EPHS). The prevalence is improving for younger generation with 33 and 12 per cents among girls under 15 and 5 years old respectively. The same survey indicated that current attitudes towards FGM/C may be conducive to abolishing the practice, as 77 per cent of Eritrean women and 82 per cent of men believed that there are no benefits from FGM/C. GoSE closely works with UNICEF and UNFPA for the advancement of gender equality and advancement of women by implementing the joint work plan on gender equality. This has yielded positive results in reducing the FGM/C and Underage Marriage (UAM) in the Eritrean communities.
The right to family and marriage is provided for in the Eritrean proclamation 1991 with the minimum age for marriage set at 18 years for both females and males. Marriage below 18 years does not have legal legitimacy and it thus is illegal. However, the society's abiding by the law of age for marriage is low and its enforcement is weak. In Eritrea, early marriage is a deeply entrenched and widely approved social custom, justified by social, religious and economic reasons, depriving girls from the opportunity to fully realize their potentials. Eritrea ranks one of the top 20 countries with highest child and early marriage in the world with 41 and 13 per cents of girls married before they turn 18 and 15 years respectively compared to only 2.3 per cent boys marry before the age of twenty. In addition, 38 per cent of girls do not attend school because of marriage compared only to 2 per cent for boys.
To address the issues of children and women rights, including FGM/C, Underage Marriage, gender based violence and harmful practices, a National Steering Committee (NSC) comprising senior officials from MoH, MoLHW, NUEW, UNICEF and UNFPA is formed to oversee child rights & gender equality/equity including the elimination of HTPs in the country. The NSC advised to develop a comprehensive national strategic plan that realizes the full implementation of the right and welfare of the child, young people and women in eliminating all harmful practices including FGM/C and UAM.
Rationale for Preparing the Strategic Plan
The primary focus of the GoSE in embracing strategic planning is to ensure the rights of children and women. Elimination of harmful practices such as FGM/C and UAM remains at the forefront drive to secure the rights of children and women. Towards that end, significant institutional, structural and legal frameworks are outlined including the penal and civil codes and a proclamation that bans FGM/C. ÂDifferent sectors of the GoSE have been implementing their respective sectoral plans to fulfil the key children and women's rights and now it is time to have a consolidated national strategy and action plan to enhance and expedite the attainment of the children's and women's rights within the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of 2030 (SDG goal).
The Strategic Plan will also serve the following purposes:
Objective
The objectives of the assignment are:
Scope of Work/Methodology
In collaboration with the MoH, MoLHW and NUEW, the consultant will be responsible for the following:
4. Reporting procedure, coordination and supervision:
The selected consultant will directly report to the chair of the NSC under the guidance of the chair of the NTC (National Technical Committee). The consultant will work extensively with members of the NSC.
Expected Deliverable: Finalized Strategic Plan 2018-2021
The finalized Strategic Plans must include:
Deliverables and timeframe
Qualification and Experience
The consultant/resource person should have the following qualifications and working experience in the relevant field:
General Conditions:
Note:
[1] The MoLHW has drafted the Comprehensive National Policy on children 2013 and this ToRs intends to operationalize and implement the existing policy.
[2] The National Strategy - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) Abandonment in Eritrea of 2006
[3] The five-year (2018-2022) strategic plan on Underage Marriage is prepared and this ToRs does not intend to duplicate the work. Contents from the existing strategic plan is embedded in this concerted Strategic Plan.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The competencies required for this post are….
View our competency framework at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
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.
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=517672