CONSULTANCY FOR PROVISION OF THE TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO STRENGTHEN THE CARE SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AT EARLY CHILDHOOD
- Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
- Location:
- Grade:
-
Occupational Groups:
- Children's rights (health and protection)
- Closing Date: 2025-10-24
If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.
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In 2025 the MOFSS has initiated Strengthening care services for children at early childhood: Evaluation of the Qualified Childcare Program addresses critical gaps in early childhood care in Türkiye. With a focus on creating a sustainable, culturally relevant, and scientifically robust framework, the project draws upon global promising practices and Türkiye-specific needs to define a new standard in childcare services at home settings.
While family-based early childhood care naturally benefits from intrinsic affection, nurturing, and intergenerational learning, it often lacks systematic tracking, certification, and scientifically grounded training. This deficiency hinders consistent, high-quality support for children’s positive cognitive, emotional, and physical development.
For every child, inclusivity
Background:
The ultimate goal of the project is to address the existing shortcomings in individual childcare services at home settings and to position this model within a professional framework. In this context, the project aims to enhance caregivers’ professional competencies, develop training programmes aligned with national standards, enrich the model proposal through data obtained from pilot applications, and establish monitoring mechanisms via certification in accordance with international standards such as those aligned with UNICEF objectives.
The project outputs include a child-centred service model proposal that complies with both national and international standards; training materials designed to enhance the professional competencies of caregivers; a pilot application report based on field examples; and the establishment of a certification mechanism compatible with UNICEF standards. Through these outputs, the project aims to ensure that the developmental needs of children in early childhood are met in a safe and supportive environment, while raising awareness among families and the broader community.
Ultimately, the project aims to achieve sustainable improvements in the quality of childcare for children in early childhood by introducing standards for care in home settings and professionalizing individual childcare services through scientific monitoring, certification, and training mechanisms.
By leveraging international best practices and addressing national needs, the project seeks to enhance service quality, caregiver training, and early childhood care standards.
Aligned with UNICEF’s priorities, the project addresses critical objectives, such as defining the scope of childcare services for children at early childhood, establishingnational quality of care standards, and creating training packages for caregivers working in different childcare models. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the project integrates quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques with a quasi-experimental design to ensure robust evaluation.
This initiative emphasizes certification, accountability, and professional development for caregivers, aiming to foster the holistic physical, emotional, and cognitive development of young children. By improving childcare standards and integrating culturally sensitive practices, the project contributes to Türkiye’s efforts in supporting families and caregivers while addressing the growing demand for high-quality early childhood services.
To date a detailed desk review of international and national childcare practices has been conducted. A draft document, which outlines care procedures and national standards for childcare services in home settings, has been developed and is under review by the Ministry. A training curriculum tailored to caregivers' competencies and incorporating both theoretical and supervised applied components has also been developed.
How can you make a difference?
The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Family and Social Services (MOFSS) in modeling caregivers’ professional competencies, developing training programs aligned with national standards, enriching the service model proposal with data from pilot applications, and establishing monitoring and certification mechanisms in accordance with international standards.
Key project activities include conducting a detailed desk review of international and national childcare practices, designing a training curriculum tailored to caregivers' competencies, and implementing a three-month pilot study to evaluate the training’s impact. The final deliverable will be a comprehensive service model proposal that outlines care procedures and national standards for childcare services in home settings.
Among the project’s primary objectives are:
- The establishment of a childcare service model in accordance with national standards.
- The analysis and development of caregivers’ professional competencies.
- The design of innovative and effective training programs, incorporating both theoretical and supervised applied components.
- The expansion of the model proposal’s scope based on pilot application results.
- The establishment of certification and monitoring mechanisms to ensure service continuity.
The local individual institutional consultancy shall work under the guidance of the UNICEF ECD Manager. The contract will be effective from the date of signing until successful submission of the deliverables, which are estimated to require a total of 69 working days over a period of 6 months.
Table 1. Proposed timeline
* All deliverables as per the scope of work must be satisfactorily completed and accepted by UNICEF TCO to facilitate payment. The estimated working days for delivery are tentative.. Deliverables are contingent upon approval by the supervisor.
Duty Station: The assignment will be home-based, with meetings in Ankara as necessary.
Supervisor: ECD Manager, UNICEF Türkiye Country Office
Estimated Duration and Cost of Consultancy:
Duration: The tasks are expected to be completed in 69 working days in period of 6 months.
Estimated Cost of Consultancy: Applicants shall present a detailed financial proposal that elaborates on daily costs based on the above-mentioned programme and deliverables, including the total sum demanded in TRY. All costs, including travel, accommodation, administrative tools, communications, etc. shall be covered by the consultant/s in line with their daily fee.
Payment: UNICEF will issue a contract in TRY. The payment will be made in installments upon submission of the deliverables listed above and will be executed in TRY.
Payment Schedule: The payments will be made upon the delivery of outputs. In case of any unexpected delay(s) in the estimated time frame (approval process, force majeure, etc.), the duration of the assignment might be extended subject to the same conditions and mutual will of the parties.
Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines.
Travel Requirements: The assignment will be home-based. The consultant will work in close coordination with the UNICEF ECD Team and other programme teams, as required.
The consultant must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.
The assessment report and deliverables will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF is free to adapt or modify them in the future, in consultations with copyright holder. The consultant may not use the data, products or seek endorsements for their own purposes, nor license the data to be used by others, without the written consent of UNICEF.
Candidates are required to specify their daily rates and the total amount as per the number of anticipated working days for each deliverable in the financial proposal and provide the breakdown of the lump sum amount for each deliverable as well as incidentals of each deliverable in TL. It is up to the team how to divide the number of working days within the team.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Qualifications:
- Advanced degree in Developmental Pediatrics, Child Development, or Social Services or a related field.
- Proven experience in providing consultancy services in early childhood development and social services for children and childcare
- Minimum 10 years of working experience in relevant fields such as social services for children and families
- Knowledge of global policies, care standards of children, early childhood development, and provision of childcare and parenting support services
- Substantive training experience in childcare and services provision targeting children and families
- Experience in the development of training packages and adult education
- Excellent analytical thinking, training, report writing, and communication skills
- Previous experience in implementing relevant or similar consultancy work would be an asset
- Fluency in Turkish and English (oral and written) is required.
*After the selection process the consultant will be expected to complete the mandatory UNICEF AGORA Trainings.
Application and Selection Criteria
Applicants are expected to submit to UNICEF the following documents:
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Financial proposal using the Financial Proposal Template,
Financial Template_QualifiedCareServicesforChildatEarlyChildhood.docx
- Most recent CV
- The technical proposal should include, at a minimum, the following components:
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- Methodology
- A sample of relevant previous works, including developed materials and reports in the past
- Risks and mitigating measures (with risks related to ethical issues clearly spelled out)
Financial proposals should be submitted in separate folders from the remaining documentation. After the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of qualified candidates will be evaluated. The technical evaluation will be completed based on the attached technical evaluation criteria. The applications will be evaluated from the technical and financial point of view. Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:
The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed forty-nine (49) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points).
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). To view our competency framework, please visit here. UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 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. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.
Remarks: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.