Individual Consultancy - Mental Health and Psych Social Support (MHPSS)

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

BFamilyCONS Local2024-10-01September 22, 2024The desired candidate should have a BS degree in psychology and at-least 2 years of MHPSS experience with UN and/or humanitarian organizations.
Language: Required: English and Urdu Desirable: Pashto and Dari

General Background of Project or Assignment, Operational Context: Pakistan continues to be one of the largest refugee-hosting countries providing refuge to over 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees for more than four decades. The provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, hosting the vast majority of the existing Afghan refugee population, have the highest multi-dimensional poverty levels in Pakistan. UNHCR’s main operational priority remains to find solutions for the refugee population in Pakistan. Pakistan has faced significant domestic turmoil across political, environmental, and security fronts, compounded by soaring inflation. Furthermore, with the uncertainty continuing to prevail in Afghanistan including the restrictions on women’s access to education and work, the introduction of the Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan (IFRP) by the Government of Pakistan in 2023 brought unforeseen complexities to the provision of protection and services for refugees and asylum seekers,
thereby exacerbating vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls. These complexities have further contributed to increasing mental health and psychosocial support needs, including unaddressed common mental health disorders, elevated rates of suicidal behaviors, interpersonal violence, and
substance use. Services to address mental health and psychosocial needs are recognized as largely insufficient in both availability and capacity of providers. Although the IFRP implementation was paused in January 2024, the looming expectation of a “second phase” continues to fuel anxiety and heightened stress about the future among refugees and asylum seekers. The consultant is a technical expert in the field of mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS) who will play a pivotal role in advancing UNHCR’s MHPSS interventions in Pakistan. Under the supervision of the Senior Protection Officer, the consultant will serve as the focal point for enhancing community based MHPSS mechanisms. The consultant will review, develop and implement MHPSS activities, in line with the UNHCR multi-year strategy aiming to ensure accessible and effective services for those in need. The consultant will be responsible for data collection from the partners providing MHPSS services and from the community engagements as well as their analysis and reporting.
Additionally, the consultant will attend MHPSS-related platforms and meetings to represent UNHCR.
Based in Islamabad, the consultant will provide technical advice to sub/field offices and partners, both remotely and through missions, and engage with refugees to understand critical mental health issues.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment:
Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators
(what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of individual contract),
performance indicators (timelines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work
plan:
• Improve MHPSS technical capacity as the operation’s resource for advancement of MHPSS
interventions under protection and health sectors.
• Assess MHPSS needs of persons of concern, with particular attention to women and girls and
people with specific needs, through regular field visits.
• Conduct capacity building sessions for UNHCR and partner staff on the community based
MHPSS.
• Monitor psychosocial support services provided by the partners, in consultation with the
relevant functional units, including Protection and Education.
• Support consistent implementation of the referral pathways and follow-up mechanisms
between community, MHPSS services and protection partners by providing technical advice.
• Compile data on MHPSS from partners and from community engagement for analysis and
reporting.
• Review MHPSS tools such as Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and Minimum
Service Package (MSP) and working with partners to ensure their effective implementation.
• Support capacity building of refugee community structures, including outreach volunteers and
refugee committees.
• Technical review of the Expression of Interest (EOI) for a pool of potential partners.
• Mainstream MHPSS in all sectoral interventions, including education and livelihoods.
• Engage with MHPSS partners through inter-agency forums.

 

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Other information

This position doesn't require a functional clearance

Home-Based

No