Children's Rights Expert

SCOPE OF WORK: Children’s Rights Expert

Background: USAID’s Judicial System Strengthening Activity (JSSA), implemented by East-West Management Institute, Inc. (EWMI), aims to strengthen the efficiency, transparency, and independence of judges, courts, and other key judicial institutions in Uzbekistan, in order to better meet people’s need for justice. Uzbekistan is going through an extensive reform process in many areas, including access to justice and the rule of law.

There is no separate juvenile justice system in Uzbekistan, though criminal and criminal procedural legislation contains separate legal provisions to be applied to children in conflict with the law. Moreover, specialization among other justice professionals dealing with children in contact with the law is quite limited. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended Uzbekistan establish a specialized comprehensive child justice system with adequate human, technical, and financial resources and to designate specialized judges and prosecutors for children, and ensure that they receive specialized training. In line with these recommendations, the Supreme Court started specializing civil court judges in several jurisdictions.

At present, the Uzbek Higher School of Judges does not provide any specialized training for specialized and general civil court judges on consideration of family law-related issues, the vast majority of which concern child rights and children’s legal interests. EWMI has collaborated with the Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Uzbekistan (UNICEF) in enhancing the capacities of civil court judges, including specialized family law judges, to deal with cases of children in contact with the law in line with international justice for children standards. For this purpose, EWMI seeks an international consultant experienced in developing and delivering capacity-building interventions—including training for trainers, civil court, and family law judges—on topics related to child rights and access to justice for children.

Objective: The Consultant will work in cooperation with a national expert of the Higher School of Judges, under the guidance of EWMI and UNICEF, to prepare and deliver a comprehensive training course for civil court judges (including specialized family law judges). The course will focus on adjudicating cases related to children’s rights and legal interests, in line with international child rights and justice for children standards, norms, and national legislation. The goal of the consultancy is to develop a comprehensive, interactive training course that will enhance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of these judges to deliver decisions in the best interests of a child.

Activities: Under the direct supervision of the JSSA’s Chief of Party, the Consultant will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

Task 1 (home based activity):

- Design a module-based justice for children training package for civil court judges (including specialized family law judges), consisting of an instructor’s handbook and the trainees’ manual.

- Make amendments after discussion with JSSA, UNICEF, and national counterparts.

Task 2 (in-country activity):

- Conduct a three-day training of trainers on delivering justice for children course for the selected group of national trainers, including teaching staff of the Higher School of Judges and 6 specialized family law judges.

Task 3 (in-country activity):

- Monitor and provide feedback to one follow-on training conducted by the trained national trainers.

Task 4 (home based activity):

- Support an IT specialist of the Higher Judicial School in designing user-friendly version of the distance-learning component of the training course.

Task 5 (home based activity):

- Conduct 4 supervision sessions for 6 designated family law judges to bring international perspectives and good practices of other countries in dealing with cases of children in contact with the law by civil courts.

Task 6 (home based activity):

- Provide detailed final report highlighting difficulties/barriers, recommendations, and a way forward to ensure sustainability of training of civil court judges on consideration of cases of children in contact with the law.

Deliverables:

1. Finalized training materials (instructor’s handbook and the trainees’ manual.

2. Finalized agenda and detailed scenario of training, materials, pre- and post-test questions and training report.

3. Oral feedback and report on monitoring of the roll out training delivered by trained national trainers.

4. Finalized training materials for distance learning component of the training course.

5. Presentation on international standards and good practices on different topics related to consideration of cases of children in contact with the law by civil courts.

6. Final consultancy report.

Total Level of Effort: Up to 40 days

Reporting: The Contractor will report to the JSSA Chief of Party.

To apply: Please send (i) a curriculum vitae, (ii) cover letter, and (iii) contact information for three references to: employment@ewmi.org. Please include “Children’s Rights Expert, Uzbekistan” in the subject line of your email. Applicants are encouraged to apply immediately, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. EWMI will contact applicants for interviews or to request additional information. EWMI is an equal-opportunity employer. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and people from diverse groups are encouraged to apply.