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                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

This assignment forms part of the UN Joint Programme “Modelling climate resilience and WASH in 45 schools for equitable, inclusive, and climate-resilient learning environments” (2025–2028), which aims to improve equitable access for children and adolescents in the most affected schools in Uzbekistan to inclusive, gender-responsive, and climate-resilient learning environments. Within this broader framework, the assignment contributes to strengthening safe, protective, and enabling school environments through improved systems, guidance, and capacity for preventing and responding to violence against children, including gender-based violence (GBV).

The assignment is situated within the broader context of Uzbekistan’s strengthened policy and legal commitment to ending violence against children. The protection of children from all forms of violence has become an important priority of state policy in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Law “On the Protection of Children from All Forms of Violence” was adopted in November 2024 and entered into force in May 2025. In December 2025, the 2024–2030 Strategy on the Protection of Children from All Forms of Violence and its Action Plan were adopted to support implementation of the Law. The Strategy sets out a comprehensive approach to protecting children from all forms of violence across all settings, including schools. In addition to strengthening legislative and normative frameworks, it promotes evidence-based prevention measures and the establishment of safe and effective mechanisms for identification, reporting, assessment, referral, case planning, and monitoring of incidents of violence against children. The Strategy also reinforces the prohibition of corporal punishment and other forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in schools. In early 2025, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education adopted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for preschool, primary, and secondary education settings. As these SOPs were developed prior to the adoption of the new legal and policy framework, they now require review and updating to ensure full alignment with current legislation and policy. In addition, while the SOPs were originally developed as a single package covering all three levels, the Ministry now intends to separate them by level.

Against this backdrop, UNICEF is engaging an international consultant to support the Ministry in revising the SOPs for primary and secondary education settings. The assignment will also contribute to strengthening the related normative and operational framework for the protection of children from all forms of violence, including GBV, and to developing selected guidance, training materials, and capacity-building inputs to enhance the capacity of teachers and other relevant school personnel to prevent, identify, and respond to violence against children as part of a whole-school approach.

Scope of Work

It is expected that the international consultant will work closely with UNICEF, the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (MOPSE), the Republican Center for Professional Orientation and Psycho-Pedagogical Diagnostics of Pupils (the Republican Tashkhis Center), and the National Research Institute for Professional Development and Teaching New Methodologies to Pedagogues named after Abdulla Avloni, and carry out the following key tasks:

1. Develop a Child Safeguarding Policy for primary and secondary education settings based on international standards, promising practices from other countries, and the national legislation of Uzbekistan. The policy should clearly define the principles, roles, and responsibilities of school personnel and other relevant stakeholders, as well as mechanisms for safe recruitment, vetting, training, and management of personnel; ethical rules for appropriate conduct; child participation; data and information-sharing principles; disciplinary measures; and other crucial aspects.

2. Review and revise the SOPs for primary and secondary education settings on the protection of children from all forms of violence, including GBV, to ensure full alignment with the recently adopted legal and policy framework on the protection of children from all forms of violence, including the inter-agency SOPs and the Child Safeguarding Policy for primary and secondary schools. The revised SOPs should reflect a whole-school approach to preventing, identifying, and responding to violence against children in and around primary and secondary school settings.

3. Develop guidelines for teachers and other relevant school personnel on practical measures for implementing the Child Safeguarding Policy and the SOPs on the protection of children from all forms of violence in and around primary and secondary school settings.

4. Adapt the Child Safeguarding Policy into a child-friendly format appropriate for schoolchildren of different age groups.

5. Conduct a one-day training of trainers (ToT) on the use of the developed training materials for a selected group of master trainers.

6. Develop a monitoring tool to assess the implementation and use of the Child Safeguarding Policy and SOPs by district- and regional-level departments of MOPSE, as well as by MOPSE at the national level.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  TMC0001665 External ToR.pdf

Minimum requirements

• Master's degree in Social science  ( Including Law, Social Work and Psychology)
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in child protection, including substantial work on violence against children
• Excellent knowledge of international standards and frameworks related to child rights and child protection, including violence against children and gender-based violence, as well as child protection systems in different country contexts
• Strong knowledge of UNICEF’s work in child protection and of whole-school approaches to the protection of children from all forms of violence
• Excellent drafting, writing, and presentation skills in English
• Previous experience working with UNICEF on child protection and the protection of children from all forms of violence is an asset.
• Knowledge of Russian is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal  TMC0001665 FINANCIAL PROPOSAL.docx

Remarks:  

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.