Individual national consultancy for legal and institutional assessment of child- and youth-centred data interoperability

Organizational Context

UNICEF operates in over 190 countries and territories, dedicated to saving children’s lives, defending their rights, and helping them fulfill their potential from early childhood through adolescence. We are committed, passionate, and proud of our work, viewing the promotion of every child's rights not just as a job, but as a calling. UNICEF offers diverse opportunities for professional and personal development.

Job Purpose

The purpose of this national consultancy is to provide specialized legal and institutional support for a comprehensive assessment of the conditions necessary to establish interoperability between administrative data systems and registries across key sectors in Montenegro. This includes education, employment, social welfare, child protection, and health. The assessment will focus on a limited set of priority child- and youth-centred use cases, such as identifying and supporting young people at risk of becoming NEET, early identification of children at risk of school dropout, improving intersectoral responses to violence against children, and enhancing support for children with disabilities. The consultant will ensure all proposed data exchanges, institutional responsibilities, and safeguards are legally grounded, institutionally feasible, and actionable within Montenegro’s legal and administrative framework, developing necessary legal analyses and recommendations.

Responsibilities

The National Legal Consultant will conduct a thorough legal and regulatory analysis concerning administrative data exchange and interoperability. This includes assessing compliance with national legislation such as the Law on Electronic Administration, Law on Administrative Procedure, Law on Information Security, and Law on Personal Data Protection. The consultant will analyze institutional mandates, responsibilities, and governance arrangements for the selected priority use cases, focusing on data exchange between education, employment, social welfare, child protection, health, and other relevant registries. A review of existing inter-institutional agreements, protocols, and legal bases for data sharing between relevant ministries and institutions will be conducted. The consultant will develop the legal analysis, a Legal Basis Register, a legal and regulatory gap assessment, and provide recommendations for necessary laws, by-laws, protocols, agreements, or institutional procedures to enable lawful and secure inter-institutional data exchange. The consultant will work closely with the International Consultant and National Technical Consultant, leading the legal, regulatory, institutional, and data protection analysis.

Work Experience

Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in legal analysis, regulatory assessment, and institutional frameworks, preferably within the public sector or international organizations. Experience with data protection and interoperability issues is highly desirable.

Skills

Legal analysis, Regulatory assessment, Institutional analysis, Data protection law, Interoperability concepts, Report writing, Consultation skills, Understanding of Montenegrin legal framework, Knowledge of administrative data systems, Intersectoral collaboration

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