National Individual Consultancy for strengthening the legal and governance framework for family centered early intervention in Montenegro Individual Consultant Mid-level National Position Short term contract

For every child, the best start to life.

Montenegro has made important commitments towards strengthening early childhood development with particular emphasis on improving support to young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families and created a solid foundation for reform towards a modern, integrated and family centered early intervention system. In recent years, Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF, has been gradually expanding contemporary, transdisciplinary and routine based family centered early intervention services in several municipalities across Montenegro. Based on this experience, an Operational plan and roadmap for scaling up family centered early childhood intervention in Montenegro (2026-2030) has been developed. As Montenegro moves from piloting to system level expansion, strengthening the legal and institutional framework becomes essential for sustainability. Existing regulations do not sufficiently define intersectoral mandates, accountability, financing responsibilities, or mechanisms for joint planning and implementation. Without such formalization, large-scale and equitable access to quality services in the long term remains challenging. The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support the Government of Montenegro in conducting a detailed desk review of relevant international legislation, laws and regulations in the field of early intervention, to identify good practices that can be adapted to the national context, develop draft amendments to formalize institutional competencies and contribute to the establishment of practical instruments for coordinated implementation. To implement this task, UNICEF Montenegro seeks to identify a national consultant that should work under the supervision of the ECD Officer and to carry out the specific tasks described in detail in the Work Assignment Overview section below. All deliverables should be produced in local language.

Minimum requirements:

Education: Law degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in legal reform, public policy development, governance or institutional strengthening.
• Proven experience in intersectoral coordination involving multiple government institutions.  Relevant experience should be clearly described in the application.
• Previous work experience with UN/UNICEF or other international organizations will be considered an advantage. Applicants may provide references or relevant documentation as evidence of previous cooperation.
• Demonstrated experience in drafting or contributing to the development of laws and other regulatory frameworks in the health, education or social welfare sector. Applicants must submit samples of previous relevant work as part of the application.
• Familiarity with bylaws relating to primary health care in Montenegro.
• Familiarity with early intervention for children with developmental delays and disabilities.

Language:

• Excellent command of Montenegrin (both spoken and written) while knowledge of other languages in official use in Montenegro will be considered as an asset; knowledge of English will be considered as an asset.

Other:

• Excellent writing, presentation, strategic and analytical skills.
• Ability to work with different stakeholders, good networking skills.
• Demonstrates tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion.
• Demonstrates integrity and high ethical standards.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, age sensitivity and adaptability.

The payments will be made upon successful completion of the deliverables and submission of invoices, as follows:

• 1st tranche will be paid upon successful submission of the deliverables 1-3.
• 2nd tranche will be paid upon successful submission of the remaining deliverables 4-6.

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. Upon conducting the recruitment process and prior to the signing of the contract, the consultant will be required to complete the following online UNICEF courses. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract.

1. Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF
2. Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority
3. Prevention of Sexual Exploitation Abuse

Before commencement of any travel on behalf of UNICEF, the Consultants and Individual Contractors must complete course on General Information Security Awareness Course. In addition to above, any consultant or individual contractor who is issued a UNICEF email address must complete the following courses no later than 30 days after signature of contract:

1. Fraud Awareness

The above courses can be found on Agora through the following link: AGORA: Log in to the site (unicef.org)Course completion certificates should be shared and retained with the human resources unit of the hiring office.

All applicants will be screened against qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below. The proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria:

 A) Technical criteria-Technical evaluation process, max.70 points

1.   Desk review of CVs -70 % of total evaluation

• Education:10
• Previous experience:20
• Sample of a legal report or piece of legislation that the candidate authored:30
• Other:10

Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the technical part (e.g. who will score at least 49 points) will be qualified for considering for financial proposal evaluation.

B) Financial criteria–evaluation of financial proposal,Max points:30

The applicants are requested to submit their financial proposal consisting of a professional fee for the services to be provided.   The applicants are requested to submit their lump sum financial proposal consisting of a daily professional fee, proposed travel costs for north, central and south area of the country and daily subsistence allowance when applicable which will be paid up to a maximum of the official UN rate. Reimbursement of travel costs/accommodation expenses will be based on actual expenses. Travel costs and Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer/financial offer of the candidate x 30].

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 offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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.