Assessment of Policy and Legislative Situation of Alternative Care in Somalia

Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MoJC) of Somalia

Assessment of Policy and Legislative Situation of Alternative Care in Somalia

Federal  MOJCA TOR for Assessment on policy and legislations of National Alternative Care in Somalia

 

Job Code Title

 

Assessment of Policy and Legislative Situation of Alternative Care in Somalia
Location Banadir/Mogadishu, Jubaland Kismayo, Puntland Garowe, South west/Baidabo, Hirshabele/Jawhar and Galmudug/Dusomareb.
Type of Contract National Institutional Consultancy
Languages Required English, Somali
Duration of Initial Contract 30 working days

 

Introduction and Ministry Role

The Federal Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs (MOJCA) is the lead administrator of Justice in Somalia. It is in charge of legal drafting, correctional services, providing legal advisory services to the government and the community, supporting the legal frameworks for good governance, addressing the public grievances on justice services, and analyzing justice issues in the country. One of the MOJCA’s core mandates addresses the child’s access to the justice system and promotes child rights. The MOJCA has implemented various projects, including but not limited to the advocacy of vulnerable people, child rights, and child protection, focusing on child justice. The Ministry also coordinates with the line ministries in the FGS and FMS as well as all actors working on these front lines to coordinate national policies regarding the child justice/protection and child rights for those the most vulnerable. Still, there are many children at risk, especially children without adequate family care who are in need of alternative care options.

 

Background

 

Since Somalia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 2015, progress has been made in developing policies and legislation and expanding coverage of social services to enable the realization of child rights. However, the CRC domestication and implementation remain critical issues in the country. One of the key obstacles is reflected in the 2022 Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee), upon considering the initial report of Somalia in 2022. The CRC Committee urged the state to accelerate ongoing consultations and to withdraw its interpretative reservations to articles 14, 20 and 21 and its general reservation to any other provision contrary to Sharia law. The CRC Committee also expressed serious concern about the fact that the state does not have either an alternative care policy or regulations and monitoring of children placed in community-based care or kinship care arrangements.[1]

The government is obliged to provide care to children without parental care, according to Article 29 (3) of the Federal Constitution. The last 35 years of conflict left many children orphans, many of whom live and work in the street, and some are the primary providers for their families. In the case of children in street situations and children of unknown parents, the State should provide absolute protection and care. Additionally, children who are separated from their usual caregivers are a severe cause for concern in Somalia. Family separations are mainly triggered by wars and conflict as well as climate induced emergencies such as drought and flooding, which requires a movement to safety. Poverty is a significant problem. Some caregivers rely financially on their children. Many of these children do not go to school because they engage in activities to support themselves and their families. The schedules of mainstream education programs do not match with their daily routines. Most children separated from their usual caregivers live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and those coming from drought and armed conflict-affected areas.

The government has created some alternative care programs for the most vulnerable children. An example is the establishment of orphanage centers in Banadir, Puntland and Somaliland by Somalia Federal government. These centers provide alternative care arrangements, educational facilities and services that go beyond primary education and support but there is no gate keeping guidelines that ensure the most suitable care settings for children without adequate parental care nor are there adequate programs to support families and prevent their separation.  Moreover, there are risks that children in facility-based care (including orphanages) become institutionalized which hinders a child’s emotional and cognitive development and denies them the right to a family. There are also underlying challenges these children face. Some face physical punishment, sexual abuse, child abuse and child labour. Most of them do not have adequate shelter and protection. The programs run by the government have funding limitations not to mention how the services are few and concentrated only in some urban centres. There are also inadequate referral mechanisms between different agencies to address children who are abused and violated. Moreover, child protection systems do not exist in many of the rural and pastoralist areas.

The MoJCA-UNICEF partnership on ‘Child Access to Justice’ programme aims at strengthening child friendly and gender sensitive justice system through policy and legislative reforms, institutional capacity development, planning, monitoring and information management, in order to ensure better adherence to national and international standards. To date, the MOJCA has developed Juvenile Justice Bill (JJB) – under first reading of Parliament currently- and is working closely with the Ministry of Family and Human Rights Development on the finalization of the Child Rights Bill. Moreover, MoJCA finalized a Diversion Policy, age verification guidelines and minimum standards for children in detention.

The current legislative framework, procedures, and capacities of Somalia’s justice system, do not sufficiently protect the most vulnerable children who need access to alternative care options.

In order to address these challenges, the MOJCA, in partnership with UNICEF, is seeking the service of an expert research consultancy firm to undertake an assessment of the policy and legislative situation of alternative care for children in Somalia, and propose a framework  and methodology for designing alternative care options in line with national and international standards and in consultation with key stakeholders (line ministries, courts, prosecutors, police, implementing partners and children themselves).

Description of Responsibilities

Objective of the Assessment:

Overall, the assessment aims to support the MOJCA in their efforts to improve the current policy and legislative environment in relation to national alternative care within the context of justice and the wider child protection system by identifying major policy/legislative gaps as well as abuses that occur within the system and provide recommendations for future decision making to improve policy and regulations of alternative care.

Specifically, the primary responsibilities will include the following:

  • To conduct a review of the best practices globally from other Islamic countries, including a review of policy frameworks on Kafalah across Islamic countries;
  • To generate and analyze current policy and legislative frameworks of alternative care to identify legislative and policy gaps and challenges;
  • To analyze the policy procedures of administering alternative care for children without parental care at the community (community based/informal justice mechanism), coordination mechanism among justice institutions and other sectors (social welfare, education, health), policy adherence process, to identify gaps;
  • To identify capacity gaps and challenges of justice and care institutions involved in the alternative care for children;
  • Assess the existing kafala system from a policy perspective used for all relevant children to identify gaps and inform future policies to improve protection and regulatory frameworks;
  • To provide recommendations (incl. kafala application) and concrete proposed actions with timeline that may be necessary strengthening the child justice and child protection systems and policies including inter-sectorality with other systems, including health, education, social protection, FMS  etc.

Scope of the Assignment:

The consultancy firm will work closely with the MOJCA for the duration of the assignment. The assessment shall be conducted in a participatory manner to the maximum extent possible. The consultancy firm will lead on the execution of the assignment from inception to final reporting. The geographical study areas that should be covered are: Banadir/Mogadishu, Juba-land Kismayo, Punt-land Garowe, South west/Baidabo and Galmudug/Dusomareb. Through a consultative process, the assessment shall target all relevant groups, including government administrations and non-government organizations through interviews, focus groups and consultations to collect data and information. In order to propose necessary steps to design alternative care options in line with national and international standards, the consultancy firm shall be guided by the UN General Assembly Resolution 64/142 Guidelines for Alternative Care, in particular including, “efforts to keep children in, or return them to, the care of their family or, failing this, to find another appropriate and permanent solution, including kafala of Islamic law”  (page 2). The consultancy firm will engage consultations of key stakeholders (like relevant international partners) and also prepare a presentation with main findings and recommendations for validation and submit a final report to the MOJCA.

Main Tasks and Deliverables of the Assignment:

The consultancy firm is expected to conduct the following tasks:

  • Prepare an inception report/note and plan: mapping and overview of key stakeholders to conduct consultations with (e.g., government, UNICEF, and civil society organizations that provide services to children) and overview of the main topics/questions to be explored through the assessment. This plan will be shared with MOJCA FGS for feedback.
  • Conduct and present a detailed analysis of the collected data regarding alternative care policy and legislation for the MOJCA FGS, FMS and key implementing partners based on the consultations and interview meetings of the key stakeholders and provide concrete recommendations on improving alternative care policies.
  • Draft assessment report: The consultancy firm will send the draft assessment report to the MOJCA FGS and share with UNICEF and FMS. Consolidated written comments, containing also inputs from the MoFHRD and FMS, as well as other relevant partners, will be provided to the consultancy firm within 2 weeks upon receipt of the draft assessment report.
  • Final draft of assessment report: The consultancy firm will send the final study report document to the MOJ FGS and share with UNICEF and FMS, as well as  other key partners (CSOs, like SOS etc.)after having received and addressed the comments on the draft document.
  • Summary of the key findings and recommendations and PPT with infographics to illustrate findings and recommendations – after completion of the final report, towards supporting dissemination, the consultancy firm will develop a two-pager highlighting the key findings and recommendations for policy makers, and prepare a standard PPT presentation on these with infographics for various fora.

Methodology of the assignment

  • The methodology will employ a mixed methods approach that entails:
  • Desk review of both quantitative and qualitative data, legislation and policies on alternative care options, including child justice system (as it pertains to alternative care) in Somalia;
  • Key informants Interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders (including government FGS and FMS justice and care institutions (including 4 pillar levels), other relevant Government ministries and institutions (police who receive abandoned children, OPM, MoFHRD, etc.), key relevant UN, CSOs and children/families.
  • Conduct consultations with key implementing partners and stakeholders. The consultation will be expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach in engagement with stakeholders in care reform and alternative care policies including Kafalah.
  • Based on the findings from the desk review and best practices identified, the consultancy firm will formulate actionable recommendations for improving the Kafalah system. These recommendations will be designed to enhance the system’s effectiveness, sustainability, regulatory framework, and responsiveness as well as the standards of care to maximize the safety and care for the needs of vulnerable children and their communities. The goal is to provide the MOJCA with a clear roadmap for implementing improvements that can lead to better outcomes for children in care.

Ethical considerations required.

This process of assessment requires ethical clearance as well as very strong safeguarding mechanism. The consultancy needs to elaborate clearly on how they will apply ethical considerations on research involving with children and how they will protection the ethics, safety and avoid harm in the proposal and during inception meeting.

Institutional and Working Arrangements

 

  • The MOJCA will supervise, oversee, support and monitor the overall process.
  • The consultancy firm will report to the MOJCA FGS and work closely with Human Rights, Gender and Child Protection Department and UNICEF.
  • Contractually, the consultancy firm will report to the MOJCA for final signing of the deliverables and processing of fees.
  • The consultancy firm is encouraged to select a team of expert, including at least one international expert with knowledge of child protection and alternative care in other countries.
  • The consultancy firm’s work shall be undertaken through field-based work and desk review. The travel of the states will be included necessarily. This shall be arranged in consultation with MOJCA-CPU.
  • The MOJCA FGs and FMS-MOJCA CPUs will be responsible for liaising with the consultancy firm to set up interviews with key actors, including line government entities, UN, CSO and children in alternative care.
  • The consultancy firm will provide a summary overview of the main deliverables identified by the partners during the consultations.
Deliverables

Deliverables/Outputs Target Due dates Review and approvals Required % of total professional fee
Prepare an inception report and consultation plan within 5 days of signing of contract: mapping and overview of key stakeholders to conduct interview and consultations with (e.g., government, UNICEF, Civil Society) and overview of the main topics/questions to be discussed. This consultation plan will be shared with MOJCA FGS, for feedbacks. 5 days MOJCA FGS, FMS MOJCA, UNICEF, 40%
Provide a detailed analysis of the collected data for the MOJ FGS, FMS and key implementing partners or donors based on the consultations and meetings that can be used 10 Days MOJ FGS, FMS MOJ, UNICEF,
 

– Technical briefing to key stakeholders

– Page summary

– Presentation of the draft assessment report document

–  Draft finding Document Consolidated written comments will be provided to the Consultancy firm within 2 weeks.

8 Days MOJ FGS, FMF MOJ, UNICEF 60%
Final draft Report/research: The Consultancy firm will send the final report of the study survey to the MOJCA FGS and will share to the UNICEF, after having received the consolidated comments on the draft document.

Consultancy shall be completed on specified

Summary of the Key findings and PPT with standardized infographics

7 Days  MOJ FGS, FMS, UNICEF

The interested qualified consultancy firms are expected to submit a technical and financial proposal, CVs of key experts, Valid Licence and CTC for this consultancy.

Payment terms

Payment will be made in 2 instalments and upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.

Competencies

Core Competencies

  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism
  • Excellent analytical and organizational skills

Functional Competencies

  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
  • Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
  • Demonstrates ability to manage complexities
  • Communicates effectively with staff at all levels of the organization & children/families.
  • Acts with tact and diplomacy
  • Proves outgoing and comfortable in handling external relations at all levels
  • Demonstrates compelling communication skills and cross-cultural effectiveness
  • Possesses the ability to convey difficult issues and positions to senior officials and counterparts

Experience and qualification requirements

Education

  • Consultancy firm team members should at least have Master’s degree or equivalent in law, political science, social science, gender studies, human rights or in a related field, as well as knowledge and experience of Islamic and Sharia laws. The international team member shall additionally have knowledge of diverse legal and policy frameworks on alternative care from various countries, including best practices for supporting and addressing the needs of children without parental care and at risk of family separation.

Experience

  • At least 6 or 7 years of progressive experience in justice sector work or similar works, including managing and designing rule of law programs and proposals integrating gender and child protection.
  • Extensive experience, knowledge and expertise in the design and implementation of qualitative and quantitative research.
  • Awareness and understanding of international standards and legal and social policy framework applicable to child protection.
  • Strong analytical and conceptual thinking, Experience in conducting desk reviews
  • Good knowledge of gender and protection issues
  • Robust knowledge of developing monitoring/evaluation plan for CJ/CP project designs.
  • Experience in conflict/post-conflict settings, project implementation and knowledge of Somalia context are added advantages. Experience in rule of law and justice sector work or child protection is required.
  • Experience conducting stakeholder consultations and reviews with ability to identify linkages of views and the envisaged programme objectives.
  • Experience in child justice/CP programs are essential
  • Ability to work under tight schedule, to cope with time pressure, ability to absorb high amount of information in a short period of time, flexibility and ability to adapt to changing time schedules, etc.

Languages

  • Fluency in English; Somali language is considered an asset.

MOJCA is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture, Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

Assessment Process and Methods

The interested qualified consultancy firms are expected to submit a technical and financial proposal for this consultancy.

The consultancy firm will be selected pursuant to a review based on below criteria:

  • Team composition and experience/CV or consultancy firm Profile & experience background
  • Each proposal will be assessed first on its technical merits and subsequently on its price.
  • The Evaluation Team first reviews the technical aspect of the offer followed by the review of the financial offer of the technically compliant vendors. (70% technical aspect and 30% for financial aspect)
  • The proposal obtaining the overall highest score after adding the scores for the technical and financial proposals is the proposal that offers best value for money and will be recommended for award of the contract.

VIII. How to apply

Qualified Consultancy firms with the required skills and qualifications are invited to submit:

ü  CVs for the team composition and experience

ü  Consultancy Firm Profile & experience background

ü  Technical and Financial Proposal for the study

ü  Government Registration (Valid Licence and TCC)

ü  Latest Tax clearance Certificate (TCC) within Quarter 2025

ü  2 Reference with their details.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should submit their applications via e-mail procurement admin.finance@moj.gov.so not latter 09-Feb 2025 at 12:00AM in Somalia time.

[1] Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the initial report of Somalia, CRC/C/SOM/CO/1, 2022.

 

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