UNICEF has now issued a Request for Quotations in order to select a supplier for the provision of service by Identifying EU Best Practice Models of integrated early childhood development at the municipal level & mechanism for promoting peer learning. Under its support to the government of Ukraine, UNICEF Ukraine is providing capacity development for 47 priority communities, called hromadas, across the regions of Ukraine. The focus of the capacity development is on hromada administration for child centered planning, budgeting and good governance. The intention is to harness decentralization efforts to prioritize the needs of children and youth as Ukraine recovers from the impact of the war. When it comes to early childhood development (ECD), UNICEF’s recovery programme includes a focus on fostering commitment to integrated ECD, which is known to be the best approach for the most vulnerable young children and families who are receiving the most services and supports, often from multiple sectors within government. For the EU, ECD is a critical investment for human capital development as well as for the employment of women and plays a key role in addressing and preventing poverty and social exclusion. An integrated approach is the best for prevention and is defined by the EU around 3 pillars: as support for parent labor market participation as well as income support; participation of children in informal and cultural learning opportunities and in decision making that affects them and access to services essential for child outcomes: education, health, housing and social services . Following participation in UNICEF’s workshops on Public Finance for Children and Youth throughout 2024 and early 2025, participants requested further support to understand what integrated ECD might look through case examples of municipalities in other countries, especially those where elements of it are also decentralized for planning and budget responsibility. The preference is for examples from the EU, given the EU Acquis process and the new preschool law in Ukraine opening the way for an integrated approach to early childhood education for children 3-6 and its decentralization to local authorities in Ukraine. The Case for Investment commissioned by UNICEF helped to build momentum for ECD and local government is keen to identify efficient and effective ways of positioning it within their communities. To further support local authorities, UNICEF Ukraine would like to do a scan of EU municipalities that are implementing integrated ECD models, with a focus on ECE and health, to provide examples of what an integrated approach could look. This will include suggestions on opportunities for a pilot peer exchange and capacity building mechanism with those EU municipalities whose models seem most feasible for Ukraine’s context. EU Member States where example local models may emerge include Ireland, where the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) participated in a study tour on ECE in May 2024, as well as Italy, Norway and Belgium. This tender will be run through the UNICEF e-submissions system. By clicking on the blue ‘Express Interest’ button in the UNGM tender notice, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document (including instructions on how to access the tender documents and submit an Offer) will be automatically emailed to the ‘contact persons’ included in your UNGM registration. Alternatively, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document is publicly available on the UNICEF supply internet pages here: https://www.unicef.org/supply/index_procurement_policies.html . In the tender management site, if you navigate to the documents tab and opt in to confirm your intention to submit a Bid – you will then see the mandatory placeholders for documents that must be attached prior to submitting your Offer (you will also see if there are any mandatory questionnaires to complete). As such, you are recommended to `opt in` well before the submission deadline so you are clear exactly what documents are required to be uploaded prior to completing your submission. Please note that in order to access the tender documentation through UNICEF’s e-submissions system, vendors must: (i) be registered with UNICEF in UNGM as a company/NGO; (ii) have successfully completed all mandatory information currently required by UNGM when registering. Please ensure that any files submitted as part of your Bid are not corrupt or damaged in any way. Please exercise particular caution when using compressed files. Any corrupt or damaged files may lead to your Bid being invalidated. All vendors are strongly recommended to regularly log in to the UNICEF e-submissions system to check for any deadline extensions, new clarifications, new correspondence or updated tender documents relating to this tender.