POSITION - State Consultant Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Schools
LOCATION: Mumbai
DURATION: 18.5 months
CLOSING DATE: 05 May 2026
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
In the Country Programme Document (2023–2027), UNICEF India highlights the importance of strengthening child well-being through integrated, equitable approaches across sectors. Recognizing that mental health is a growing concern among children and adolescents, including its link to broader health, education, and protection outcomes, UNICEF Mumbai is committed to advancing mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) within school ecosystems. This will require a multisectoral approach that brings together government departments, schools, and civil society organizations to create safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments. It will also involve strengthening the capacities of state institutions and teachers, and promoting school-based mental health support systems to better support students.
This Technical Assistance (TA) will strengthen education systems' ability to address the complex psychosocial needs of children and adolescents in schools. This involves strengthening the School Health and Wellness Program (SHWP), building stakeholder capacity to identify and respond to distress, including bullying behavior and self-harm, and ultimately enhancing students’ safety and well-being.
Scope of Work (Include Background/Rationale/Key Objectives of the Assignment):
Mental health and psychosocial support are a critical component of the United Nations Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health. It is also a fundamental part of UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children (CCC) in Humanitarian Action and a key milestone towards SDGs 3.4, 3.5, 4.2 and 16.2. UNICEF’s MHPSS strategy underscores the principle of inter-sectoral commitment and concerted efforts for accelerating the agenda on MHPSS services for children, adolescents, young people, and caregivers.
Children and adolescents in vulnerable situations, including those at risk of dropping out, affected by migration, experiencing distress, or requiring additional care and support, need safe, inclusive, and responsive learning environments. Schools play a critical role as the first point of contact for identifying and supporting students’ well-being. A well-trained, adequately resourced, and coordinated education workforce is therefore essential to ensure students’ safety, participation, and holistic development. While existing systems across Education, and allied departments address various needs, there is a strong demand for technical support to strengthen the integration of mental health and psychosocial support within school education policies and programmes, particularly through school- and community-based approaches. This is increasingly important given the rising challenges of stress, anxiety, disengagement from learning, and emotional distress among students. Strengthening the capacity of the education workforce and embedding MHPSS within school systems is therefore critical to promoting well-being, improving learning outcomes, and ensuring that all children and adolescents can thrive in supportive educational environments.
The technical assistance (TA) is required to support the Education Department in developing guidelines, protocols, and referral mechanisms to strengthen comprehensive MHPSS within schools, while also expected to strengthen the capacities of the state education department in providing better mental health response services to children in schools. The TA will also lead the development of a proof of concept for system strengthening of MHPSS in schools. Additionally, it will provide technical support for the development of state and district plans under Samagra AWP to enhance resource allocation for MHPSS.
The key objectives of the assignment are:
- Conceptualize, strategize, and support implementation and monitoring of the MHPSS program
- Provide technical support to the development of materials/ modules/ tools for the MHPSS Program
- Provide regular progress updates/ reports and facilitate documentation of the program
- Develop an inter-sectoral action plan with education systems, health and child protection systems, and strengthen the capacities of stakeholders for mental health and well-being interventions in the Nashik district.
Duty Station: Mumbai
Official travel:
The consultant will need to undertake travels to: Nashik, Jalgaon, Pune, and the SOS district based on program need.
Qualification: Postgraduate degree in Psychology, Mental Health, Social Work, and Social Sciences related fields.
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- A Minimum of 5 to 7 years of work experience and technical capacity in mental health and psycho-social care
- Experience of engaging effectively with state government, non-profit organizations, universities, professional associations, and other key stakeholders.
- Good research skills with data collection and analysis.
- Experience in capacity building
- High level of writing and editing skills, analysis and reporting. Skill set for working in MS Excel and MS PPT.
- Fluency and command over spoken and written English are mandatory. The ability to speak Marathi would be a preferable qualification for this assignment.
Application Procedures
1. Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.
2. We request you to please inform us where you have seen this advertisement.
3.
Your application should be sent to
mumbai.consultants@unicef.org by
COBMay 05, 2026, with the subject line
"State Consultant Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Schools" in separate files consisting of:
- Cover letter
- CV (clearly mentioning relevant experience and any experience with UN/International/ Bilateral agencies)
- The General Terms and Conditions of Contract (Consultants) GTC.pdf
- P11 Form Personal History P11 Form.docx
- Technical Proposal & sample of previous work
- A financial proposal in PDF format indicating deliverable based fee as per template attached. Please mention your name in the file name while saving.
4. The selection will be based on technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 75:25.
The technical criterion for evaluation is as follows:
- Educational Qualifications (10)
- Technical proposal (25)
- Interview (30)
- Experience in Bilateral/International/UN agencies (10)
- Total Score should be 75
- Qualifying score in technical evaluation is 56 out of 75. Qualifying score in Technical Evaluation is 56 out of 75
5. The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened.
6. Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
7. Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
8. Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.