SOS Children’s Villages is a global federation of 136 national SOS Children’s Villages associations, working in more than 2000 project locations worldwide. We work together with a single vision: every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security.
SOS Children’s Villages is committed to the welfare of children who lost parental care or at risk of losing parental care – often ensuring that children grow up in a loving family environment, and to strengthening families and communities as a preventive measure in the fight against child abandonment and social neglect, and upholds child protection policy as part of their commitment to the protection of children and youth from abuse.
SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland (SOS CV), part of SOS Children’s Villages International, the umbrella organization to which all SOS Children’s Villages including SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland Association is affiliated. SOS CV is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that is not for profit, non-sectarian and non-partisan and which has been in existence since 1999. SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland shares vision with SOS CV International and beliefs that every child belongs to a family and grows with love, respect and security. To realize this, SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland builds families for children in need, help them shape their own futures and share in the development of their communities.
SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland is implementing ‘Leave No Youth behind’ project. The overall objective of the project is – young people in Somaliland to be resilient and self-reliant to become independent and contributing members of society with a special focus on youth leaving care (YLC). This project is to contribute to the realization of a better society where young people are self-reliant and depend on their own powers, resources and abilities to meet their needs and manage their own affairs. The project also aspires to make young people resilient to adversities/challenges in life and capable to withstand and recover quickly from difficult conditions.
The project will address the problems of discrimination, marginalization and stigmatization of young people aged 15–25 who grow up without parental care. Whether they have been placed in residential care facilities, in foster care or other types of care, they are at high-risk suffering from a variety of challenges including poor social networks, mental health problems, un- employment and homelessness. Cultural and gendered norms give young women and men different vulnerabilities as they grow out of care and transition to independent living.
The project focuses on 3 major outcomes with their relevant outputs to achieve the above stated goal and focuses on human rights-based approaches and targets duty bearers to demonstrate capacity and commitment to fulfil their responsibility to respect, promote and realize the rights of youth, and Rights Holders (youth leaving care) to have the capacity to exercise and claim their rights, hold duty bearers accountable and understand their corresponding entitlements in relation to specific duty-bearer.
In summary, the project aims to achieve the following outcomes:
Outcome 1: Policy Environment: Decision makers put policies/laws in place that strengthen the support for YLC.
Outcome 2: Strengthening Duty Bearers: Social protection systems respond to the needs and rights of young care leavers on their journey to independent living
Outcome 3: Empowering Right Holders:
During the program design, an area of interest was to find solutions and way forward from the Government and other stakeholders to solve issues of youth leaving care. One of these solutions is to develop and implement policies in favour of youth specifically touching issues related to YLC like Foster Care and Gatekeeping Guidelines.
In summary, the project aspires to realise a conducive policy environment, increased willingness and capacity of duty bears to address issues related to youth and specifically YLC, have a strong and motivated social workforce providing professional services to the YLC and an effective network of institutions standing for the support of YLC related issues.
On this, the first desired outcome of the project is that decision-makers put policies/laws in place that strengthen support for young care leavers. This means that the National Gatekeeping Guidelines are prioritized with the aim of preventing inappropriate placements and ensuring that the child/young person receives the most suitable support during placement and after care.
The primary objective of gatekeeping guideline is to prevent unnecessary separation of children from their families and to divert children from entry into the formal care system (i.e. into any care situation where the child’s placement was made by order of a competent authority.
Secondly, gatekeeping aims for a proactive approach when seeking reunification options for children already in the formal care system.
In countries where there is an overreliance on residential care, gatekeeping helps to restrict or prevent the entry of children into residential care, as well as support children’s timely exit from residential care back.
The overall objective of this consultancy is to develop a national gatekeeping guideline for children in alternative care in Somaliland that promotes their best interests, safety, and well-being within different care arrangements.
At the end of the assignment, the consultant is expected of the following:
The Consultant will engage stakeholders including Government, children and young people, residential care centers management, alternative care givers, district courts as well as child focused organizations and other relevant sector-professionals who provide services to children. These consultations will provide the basis for the following:
Total length of the assignment is 70 working days within the period of beginning of 1st —May-2024 till 10th -July- 2024. The working schedule will be determined jointly by the Ministry of Employment Social affairs and Family and SOS Children’s Villages.
The consultant will report directly to SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland and Ministry of Employment Social and Family Affairs.
Education
Experience
Desirable
Extensive experience in developing guidelines or policies on children’s care and protection issues, especially in Somaliland.
Language Skills
Skills and Competencies
Interested individuals or companies are requested to submit the following:
Each proposal will be assessed first on its technical quality and compliance and subsequently on its cost/price. The proposal with the best overall value, composed of technical merit and price, will be considered for final approval. SOS Children’s Villages in Somaliland has a procurement committee to lead the overall process, review and evaluate bids and decide based on the criteria listed.
SOS Childrens Villages is an equal employer. Qualified and competent candidates are encouraged to apply. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
SOS Children’s Villages is committed to safeguarding the rights of children, young people and communities. Therefore, it is expected that any partner, service provider or third party who works with the organization fully understands the responsibility of protecting and safeguarding young people.
Note: The title of the consultancy and location should be clearly indicated on the subject of the application email.
Tagged as: Somalia, SOS Children's Villages International
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