Consultant/ Assessment & management of child developmental..

Assessment & management of child developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders

Background:

The Palestinian Ministry of Health, and through funding made available by the World Bank is implementing a strategic project on Early Childhood Development (ECD). The holistic and comprehensive approach to ECD has been ensured through cooperative implementation of the project by the Palestinian Ministry of Education (MOE), Health (MOH) and Social Development (MOSD).

As of 2007, Gaza strip has been subjected to five massive wars and military operations resulting in thousands of deaths, high number of wounded and massive forced displacement. Strict closure of Gaza strip, restriction of mobility of people and goods from and into Gaza resulted in major deterioration of living conditions, high unemployment and poverty.

Health system in Gaza has been severely affected by the military operations and closure. Shortage in medical supplies, equipment and physical infrastructure has been the result of constrained access to goods and materials. Restricted movement of people resulted in deprivation in access to care, especially for those in need for treatment outside the strip and limited the opportunities of health workers receive highly needed training and qualification upgrade to cope with increased demand on services.

Mental health in Gaza strip has been a critically hit area. Direct and indirect exposure to traumatizing events has been massive and has affected almost all the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza strip. Five massive wars launched over Gaza caused a condition of repeated exposure and hence deepened the negative effect of war on the mental health of population.

Combined with lack of training opportunities, increased need and demand for mental health and psychosocial care poses a clear challenge on the healthcare and psychosocial sector. The recent war on Gaza raised the need for urgent intervention to care for people in need for psychosocial and mental health interventions, and also the need for upgrading the capacity of mental health, psychosocial human resources.

It also raised the need for effective preventive and resilience building interventions to help people deal with stress and enable families early and effectively care for their children in need.

The area of child development, emotional and behavioral disorders has been an area of little attention and investment. Shadowed by the mental health and psychosocial support programs, this critical area received little programmatic support.

Training program

The Palestinian Ministry of Health conducted a review of needs for addressing mental health and psychosocial challenges in Gaza strip after the recent war. The director of mental health unit at the Ministry of Health, together with key mental health experts in Gaza strip have identified capacity building, material resources and community level interventions as the main domains for action.

Based on this review, five training areas were defined and will form the subject of a large capacity building effort with the objective to create capacity to prevent, detect and address developmental, emotional and behavioral challenges among children.

Within the scope of the ECD project, and recognizing that the first 1000 days of the child life are the most important, this training program will focus on building the capacity of health practitioners and other early childhood care providers to recognize and detect developmental, behavioral and emotional disorders among children.  

The Palestinian Ministry of health with funding from the World Bank seeks the services of a qualified individual consultant to undertake the implementation of a training program in Assessment & management of child developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders aiming at building the capacity to detect and manage developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders among children in the early years period.

Description:

A comprehensive 120-hour training program for healthcare providers to effectively detect and manage developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders among children.

Target group:

A total of 100 Primary healthcare practitioners (physicians, family physicians, nurses and psychologists) representing the following:

• Geography (all districts of Gaza Strip)
• Providers (Government, UNRWA and NGOs)
• Sector: Health, at the primary healthcare level
• At least one staff from MOH in Gaza who could serve as a future trainer

Suggested Intended learning objectives (ILO):

At the end of this training program, participants should be able to:

1. Understand the concept of child development and associated biological and environmental factors.
2. Recognize the impact of war and psychological stress on children and adolescents within the context of Gaza.
3. Understand the interrelation between the child, family, institution and community in supporting healthy physical, emotional and behavioral development of the child
4. Recognize the main emotional and behavioral impact of war on children.
5. Detect, diagnose and manage main developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders among children.
6. Refer cases in need to appropriate specialized care on time.

Deliverables:

The selected specialized training expert will be requested to provide the below deliverables:

• A detailed training program description including specific intended learning objectives (ILOs) as outlined above, training session schedule and evaluation tools
• A training plan that includes evidence-based training materials a plan for the practical training component
• A final report on the training, including:
  1. A summary of key areas of strengths and weaknesses identified in both the training content and delivery method, based on participants’ feedback. The administration and reporting of results of pre- and post-surveys would be a plus.
  2. A final, organized compilation of all training materials used, with any suggested improvements to the content based on participants’ feedback
  3. A proposed scale-up plan for the training, including considerations for continuously updating the skills of participants in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

The expert should demonstrate the following competencies:

• Advanced degree (at least Master`s) in Early Childhood development, psychology or child psychology with 10 years of work experience, preferably in the Gaza context
• Demonstrated experience in training program development and delivery regarding early child development, psychology and child health.
• Knowledge in the referral system for cases of developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders

Experts that meet the requirements should submit an expression of interest to include the following: 

1. A cover letter including the suitability of the candidate (individual) to the required task.
2. A curriculum vitae of expert to be working on the assignment.
3. A technical offer in response to the call for Expert TOR, showing the Expert/s understanding of the assignment and how this can be taken forward. 

The expression of interest package must be submitted to Ministry of Health via email: [email protected], by indicating this title in the e mail subject [Assessment & management of child developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders] no later than 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday 31 August 2022.