National Individual Consultancy for strengthening the legal and governance framework for family centered early intervention in Montenegro

For every child, the best start to life.

Montenegro has made important commitments towards strengthening early childhood development with particular emphasis on improving support to young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families and created a solid foundation for reform towards a modern, integrated and family centered early intervention system. In recent years, Ministry of Health, supported by UNICEF, has been gradually expanding contemporary, transdisciplinary and routine based family centered early intervention services in several municipalities across Montenegro. Based on this experience, an Operational plan and roadmap for scaling up family centered early childhood intervention in Montenegro (2026-2030) has been developed. As Montenegro moves from piloting to system level expansion, strengthening the legal and institutional framework becomes essential for sustainability. Existing regulations do not sufficiently define intersectoral mandates, accountability, financing responsibilities, or mechanisms for joint planning and implementation. Without such formalization, large-scale and equitable access to quality services in the long term remains challenging. The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support the Government of Montenegro in conducting a detailed desk review of relevant international legislation, laws and regulations in the field of early intervention, to identify good practices that can be adapted to the national context, develop draft amendments to formalize institutional competencies and contribute to the establishment of practical instruments for coordinated implementation. To implement this task, UNICEF Montenegro seeks to identify a national consultant that should work under the supervision of the ECD Officer and to carry out the specific tasks described in detail in the Work Assignment Overview section below. All deliverables should be produced in local language.

Work Assignments Overview<