TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE CONSULTANT FOR PROVIDING SUPERVISION/COUNSELING SERVICES TO SC FRONTLINE WORKERS IN THREE AREAS UNA-SANA CANTON, TUZLA CANTON, AND SARAJEVO CANTON

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE CONSULTANT

FOR PROVIDING SUPERVISION/COUNSELING SERVICES TO SC FRONTLINE WORKERS IN THREE AREAS UNA-SANA CANTON, TUZLA CANTON, AND SARAJEVO CANTON

1.        Introduction

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the North-West Balkans and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met, and their voices are heard.  We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Save the Children (SC) is the world’s leading independent organization for children. SC vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. SC’s mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

In the North West Balkans Region, SC strives to improve child rights situation in general and especially in the areas of education, child rights governance, protection of children from all forms of violence and emergencies. In all of the mentioned areas SC aims at providing professional and financial support to partners. Since 2000, SC in the North West Balkans (SCNWB), based in Sarajevo, has programming in the Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Serbia and in Montenegro and it supports implementation of regional initiatives in the region of South East Europe.

2.        Background and Rationale

In its commitment to address the plight of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) outside the official support system for children, SC delivers services in the Blazuj Temporary Reception Center as well as out of reception centers in the Tuzla Canton, the Sarajevo Canton, and the Una-Sana Canton.  SC’s dedicated teams of child protection officers and cultural mediators identify potential unaccompanied and separate boys and girls and offer comprehensive information regarding available services, children's rights, and responsibilities. They also facilitate seamless referrals to relevant services, provide crucial psychosocial support, provide urgent non-food items, and escort children to accommodation. Furthermore, SC seconds social workers to the social welfare centers to perform the role of special legal guardians for UASC.

In Sarajevo Canton and Una-Sana Canton, SC ensures that refugee, migrant, asylum-seeking children, and children with learning difficulties from the local population have access to quality education. SC supports cantonal education authorities to implement a program for the enrolment of migrant and refugee children into regular classes, based on the HEART methodology (Healing and Education through the Arts). SC also provides school escorts and cultural mediators who assist children in going to school and help them in class/with schoolwork.  

Following a very intensive period over the last several years, harsh working conditions, and exposure to some of the most disturbing life stories on a daily basis, field teams were experiencing high levels of stress and possible burnout in fulfilling their professional roles and duties. To prevent burnout, improve job satisfaction, reduce the spill-over of stress from work into the employee's private life, and ensure the best quality of services for children, professional supervision and counseling will be provided to those staff members who are interested in this kind of support and in need for it. 

3.        Objective

SC is looking to engage an external MHPSS therapist to support field staff through professional supervision and counseling. This consultancy will provide professional supervision and counseling to SC’s employees in Una-Sana Canton, Tuzla Canton, and Sarajevo Canton engaged in direct work with vulnerable children or having frequent contact with vulnerable children. Professional supervision and counseling is considered a process of helping staff to better cope and deal with daily challenges and to, through facilitated self-reflection, build their own resilience and develop competencies to preserve their own mental health and prevent burnout despite stressful work environment, thus indirectly ensuring quality of services provided to children and families they work with directly.

Professional supervision and counseling sessions should be organized to create a space for sharing and understanding physical, mental, and emotional responses to stressful events at work. During the process, staff should learn to evoke their inner strengths and recognize their own coping mechanisms and strategies that might be useful for them in stressful situations. Supervision should enable team members to express their needs and develop the skills needed for effective, assertive communication, strengthening interpersonal relations and tolerance. Sessions should be adjusted to the specific needs of individuals, mostly oriented on psychosocial support oriented on self-esteem, relaxation techniques, dealing and coping with feelings of anxiety, and/or sadness related to hearing of traumatic experiences, and caused by vicarious trauma, understanding of the process of compassion fatigue and needed steps to deal with it. The interventions should focus on skills and advice that would strengthen staff capabilities to recognize signs of vicarious trauma and provide advises on the healthy life habits that would help them to take a recovery journey.

4.        SCOPE OF WORK AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES

A consultant is expected to carry out the following activities:

·              Hold an initial meeting with Save the Children to create the work plan agreement.

·              Organise individual orientation sessions (face-to-face or through online platforms) for SC front-line workers to reflect on their experiences, concerns, and challenges and provide basic feedback and support.

·              Based on individual orientation sessions, the consultant should identify staff members in need of additional support consisting of 3 to 5 supervision and counseling sessions.

·              Organize 3 to 5 individual supervision and counseling sessions with staff members who need additional support and are willing to take part in this kind of activity.

·              Prepare and submit monthly reports and final report to the SC. The report form will be developed by SC. Reports must not reveal the identity of the participants in any way.

The number of sessions is not fixed and may vary throughout the engagement.

5.  Timeframe and methodology

In order to complete the above-specified tasks, the Consultant will be engaged from July 15, 2023 to December 15, 2023.

The Consultant will develop and implement the work plan in consultations and with the support of SC designated staff, in line with the proposed timeframe below.

* The timeline can be changed in consultation with the relevant staff of Save the Children

The engaged consultant will be tasked with developing a detailed plan and implementing agreed activities, in collaboration with SC staff.

   6. Funding and logistical support and organisations

Funding will be provided by SC in North West Balkans.

The Consultant will design and implement the task in accordance with this ToR and consultation and support from relevant SC staff.

Responsibilities and duties of the Consultant:

•        The Consultant will be in contact with Save the Children staff throughout the process, regularly updating the process and seeking information and guidance when needed.

•        The Consultant is responsible for developing a plan for the implementation of sessions.

•        The Consultant will provide face-to-face and online supervision and counseling sessions to selected individuals as described in the Scope of Work of this ToR.

•        The Consultant will produce monthly reports and a final report about all activities implemented, in English in the agreed timeline.

  7.Qualifications and Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required 

The consultant should possess the following expertise and skills as a minimum:

·              MA degree in psychology (or relevant specialist studies) with relevant additional education for a psychological counselor or psychotherapist, and a minimum of 5 years of experience in the provision of supervision and MHPSS support to clients

OR

·              A Bachelor’s Degree in psychology (or relevant specialist studies) with relevant additional education for a psychological counselor or psychotherapist, and a minimum of 7 years of experience in the provision of supervision and MHPSS support to clients

·              Extensive knowledge and proven practice in providing supervision and counseling

·              Extensive knowledge of MHPSS (mental health and psychosocial support) recommendations and guidelines by international organizations such as WHO, IASC, and IFRC.

8. Budget

The Consultant should indicate the amounts of fees and costs of the services it expects in the engagement, with currency. All budget items should be clearly described, explaining how they fit into the proposed work plan. The fee per session needs to be clearly indicated as the number of sessions may vary throughout the engagement. It is mandatory to indicate the names of budget items as well as specific budget lines within the proposed budget.

Note* - Travel, food and accommodations, and all other expenses related to their tasks should be added as separate budget lines.

9. Selection criteria

The third-party Consultant will:

·              Be financially and legally separate from Save the Children, its staff and partner organizations

·              Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and experience in conducting supervision and MHPSS support

·              Be a certificated therapist with a track record in providing support to professionals in this field

·              Be able to deliver sessions both in English and local languages (Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian)

·              Has not been employed in Save the Children North West Balkans (Sarajevo, Bihac or Belgrade) since 2018

Provide:

·              Budget

·              Curriculum Vitae with a detailed summary of the consultancy/projects conducted previously. If the consultancy was done for a company/organization, please include a profile of such company/organization

·              Minimum of two letters of reference from organizations with which it/s/he has conducted previous work

Save the Children will make the award to the Bidder whose proposal provides the best value, considering both technical and cost factors. Technical and cost factors will be evaluated relative to each other, as described herein. The technical evaluation factors, taken as a whole, are of greater importance than cost or price in determining the best value.

Bidders should note these criteria:

(1) serve as the standard against which all proposals will be evaluated, and

(2) serve to identify the significant matters which Bidders should address in their proposals.

The proposal submitted will be the primary document upon which each Bidder will be evaluated. 

Save the Children reserves the right to waive any minor or technical defects or irregularities and reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

Save the Children emphasizes that all the accompanying costs of the process of evaluation and implementation of the engagement (travel costs, accommodation, etc.) should be included in the offer as separate budget lines.

Candidates interested in the engagement should send their bids to Procurement.NWB@savethechildren.org no later than June 30, 2023. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Please find enclosed link for application: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UoyqYYzwXjUxXvMeriWR8VmvG3HlEYcR/view?usp=sharing

Special requirement:

No person working on any task for or on behalf of Save the Children may in no way whatsoever be involved or related to child abuse or exploitation as defined in Save the Children's Child Safeguarding Policy.

The contracting authority also requires that the personal data of all evaluation participants must be protected and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation - (EU) 2016/679 and the national law on personal data protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH Law on Personal Data Protection, Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. 49/06)