Consultant/ Child & caregiver emotional & behavioral disorde

Background:

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 of 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.

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. Capacity building and training needs identified in this review stem from the severe shortages in human resources available in Gaza within the mental health and psychosocial area at the community, primary healthcare and secondary healthcare levels.

Within the scope of the ECD project, the focus will be on children and caregivers’ needs whether within the family, community, school or healthcare institutions. The overall objective of this training program is to create a solid and comprehensive capacity in mental health, psychosocial support and treatment within the Gaza healthcare system.

The Ministry of Health, with funding by the World Bank is requesting the services of a qualified technical expert to deliver a training program on caregiver emotional and behavioral disorders within the below description.

Description:

A 60-hour training course will be provided to practitioners working with caregivers (including pregnant women, mothers and fathers) within different disciplines. Acknowledging the complexity of environment in which children and adolescents live, this program should provide practitioners with the needed knowledge to understand and positively support adolescents and their care givers.

It will also provide key knowledge in prevention and early detection of mental health and/or behavioral disorders affecting adolescents within the context of Gaza.

Target group:

A mixed group of 300 practitioners that work with caregivers (including pregnant women, mothers and fathers) from a variety of education, youth and health institutions respecting the below:

• geography: Coverage of all Gaza strip districts
• providers: Governmental, UNRWA and NGOs
• sector: primary healthcare, education and youth organizations
• At least one staff from MOH in Gaza who could serve as a future trainer
• At least one staff from MOE in Gaza who could serve as a future trainer
• At least one staff from MOSD in Gaza who could serve as a future trainer

Suggested Intended learning objectives:

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the basic concepts of child development and growth within the holistic and comprehensive approach.
2. Understand key growth and development milestones within the transition from childhood to adolescence
3. Understand the impact of physical, social and political environment on the child development and adolescence wellbeing.
4. Recognize the main behavioral and emotional challenges and disorders occurring during adolescence
5. Early detect mental health and behavioral disorders or their signs among adolescents.
6. Refer cases in need to specialized care

Deliverables:

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

• A detailed training program description including intended learning objectives (ILOs) in line with the below suggested, training session schedule and evaluation tools
• A detailed training plan that includes evidence-based training materials with 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.

Required Qualification:

• At least, Master’s degree in psychology from a recognized institution.
• Proven record of experience in psychology, clinical psychology and behavioral science
• At least five years of experience in the area of ECD and adolescent health within the context of Palestine
• Well oriented on health, education and youth system in Gaza

Demonstrated experience in training programs within the area of ECD and adolescent health

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 [Child and caregiver emotional and behavioral disorders] no later than 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday 31 August 2022.