| Overview : BACKGROUND - Critical Incident Stress Management Unit (CISMU) personnel, including locally engaged National Stress Counsellors, are primarily responsible for stress management, resilience building and mental health support following critical incidents. They have specific responsibilities in emergency preparedness, emergency response and hostage incident management. Furthermore, they address and promote staff psychosocial wellbeing issues in coordination with the local UN doctor, the Regional Security Advisor, the HQ Medical Service Division, HR Officers, UN Counsellors from other UN agencies, funds and programmes and senior and line managers UN system wide.
- The National Stress Counsellor will be based in Suva, Fiji and provide services for staff and dependents located across the Fiji MCO (multi country office) which comprises of five countries in the Pacific region. While the current Security Level in the region is stable, the psychosocial well-being of staff is impacted by the isolation of the Pacific region, and lack of access to medical facilities, the ever-present threat of crime, unpredictable periods of civil unrest and concern about the potential onset of a natural disaster including regular cyclone events, flooding, and outbreak of diseases such as measles, dengue, and leptospirosis. Critical incident mental health support including the provision of psychological first aid may be required to address mental health emergencies including acute stress reactions, support victims of crime, provide support following medical emergencies and accidents, bereavements, family violence and other issues. In addition to the aforementioned difficulties, the current COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many countries instituting drastic measures including lockdowns to reduce the spread of the virus and associated fatalities. COVID 19 crisis is considered as a protracted health emergency that has complex psycho-social repercussions for UN personnel in the short and the long term that require expert psychological interventions to mitigate adverse mental health consequences.
- Psychological reactions to COVID-19 such as panic, anxiety and denial are well known in populations across the world. Other important consequences of the pandemic across the globe include psychological and financial burden of the illness, death, drastic changes in the socio-cultural and behavioural patterns triggered by virus containment measures (i.e., movement restrictions / closed borders, people wearing masks, decrease of direct inter-personal contacts, changes in the cultural mourning and bereavement processes) that add on to the distress of families and exacerbate the crisis reactions. Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are also areas of concern. The UN Security Management Team in collaboration with the UN stress/staff counsellor, medical and security professionals in the headquarters and in country are required to adopt appropriate psychosocial strategies and interventions to assist UN personnel and their eligible family members. The TOR draws upon the experience and the outcomes of the activities of staff/stress counsellors in the pandemic outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease and influenza.
- Due to the above reasons and in line with the UN Duty of Care Framework, it is essential to continue the services of a part-time in-house stress counsellor for psychosocial support services for its personnel and dependents.
- The main role of the National Stress Counsellor will be to build a sustainable stress management system in the UN Offices operating in country and to improve critical incident stress management preparedness of the UN security management system (UNSMS).
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DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Scope of Work - a. Under the administrative supervision of the Regional Security Advisor and the technical supervision of the CISMU Headquarter Regional Stress Counsellor, and in collaboration with the UN Senior Medical Adviser in Suva, the locally based stress counsellor will implement a wide range of stress management activities, including the UN strategic framework on critical incident stress prevention and management (MSCIS-2015).
- b. Perform psycho-social needs assessments via surveys and focus groups and monitor the determinants of stress in the UN Offices and personnel.
- c. Provide individual and group counselling sessions related to critical incidents.
- d. Organize training sessions on stress and stress related issues.
- e. Provide referral advice to UN staff.
- f. Liaise with local experts and institutions in the country for referral, as well as with UN line managers, medical doctors, and local physicians in order to build a network of professionals ready to support and intervene in case of need.
- g. Advise the UN SMT/Country Team Management on culturally applicable and gender sensitive stress mitigating strategies, and activities.
- h. Provide 6 monthly reports to the Resident Coordinator, Security Advisor and to the UNDSS CISMU Regional Stress Counsellor on all activities maintaining due confidentiality
Expected Outputs and Deliverables - From 1st September 2022 to 30 April 2023.
- Provide crisis psychosocial support to staff and directly affected dependents.
- Provide institutional strengthening training sessions for all levels of UN staff.
- Provide expert psychosocial guidance to UN management in the Fiji MCO and the
other stakeholders as directed. Institutional Arrangement - The local stress counsellor will report to the Regional Security Advisor and the Regional Stress Counsellor for Asia Pacific countries, CISMU, UNDSS, New York. As a member of the Crisis Management Team (CMT) of the UN, the local stress counsellor coordinates with the UN Fiji Senior Medical Officer on relevant matters pertaining to psychosocial services for UN personnel and dependents in the Fiji MCO.
Duration of the Work - Funding is available for 1 working day per week with additional days available to support specific crisis events.
- Work is expected to commence on 1 Seppt 2022. Attendance at key management level meetings will be required as part of this time.
- The position has been vacant for several months due to availability of appropriate staff and remains a high priority support function identified by UN senior management. The absence of this support directly impacts on the wellbeing of staff and dependents.
Duty Station - Duties and responsibilities to be performed in Suva but will support all staff and dependents in the Fiji MCO. Working modality will include in person /on the phone /MS teams /zoom etc.
- The IC will be required to report regularly to the RSA providing updates on PS related matters and developments.
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COMPETENCIES - Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
- Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
- Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
- Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
- Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
- Comprehensiveness knowledge of psychological counselling and or psychotherapy related field:
- Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
- Excellent presentation and facilitation skills;
- Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
- Positive, constructive attitude to work;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
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REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE Educational Qualifications: - Master’s Degree in Psychology (Clinical Psychology), or Doctor of Medicine, Degree in Psychiatry (MD)
- CISMU Certification: Successful applicant will be required to participate in UN CISMU certification training arranged by the UNDSS Office in Fiji.
Experience - Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in psychological counselling and or psychotherapy essential.
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Language requirements - Fluency in written and spoken English and local languages.
- Prior experience with the United Nations is desirable.
Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments Daily Fee. Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period. Travel costs are not covered nor expected as part of the contract. In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the RSA and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. Evaluation Method and Criteria Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Cumulative analysis The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points) - Criteria 1 Educational Qualifications: Max 25 points
- Criteria 2 Special Skills: Max 10 Points
- Criteria 3 Relevance of experience Max 20 points
- Criteria 4 Assessment of approach/methodology to assignment. – Max 15 Points
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Documentation required Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document: - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
- Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
- Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
- Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).
Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment. Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted. The successful consultant shall opt to sign an Individual Contract or a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) through its company/employer with UNDP. Annexes For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to aisake.vatiliai@undp.org |
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