Consultancy – Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) roll out in Malawi (Open to both International and National Applicants)

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, accountability

BACKGROUND

Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) has been identified as one of the priority pillars in achieving UNICEF’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan. UNICEF’s core commitment in both humanitarian and development sectors working directly in communities and institutions closest to children entails putting people are at the heart of all our work. The intersections of the organization’s mandate with deep imbalances of power based on gender and age heighten the need for UNICEF leadership to safeguard and prioritize AAP both internally and with partners.

However, despite broad support for AAP across the organization, external reviews, evaluations, and consultations show that AAP is not yet well understood or well-integrated into Country Office planning processes and programming. Being a rights-based organization, UNICEF MCO fully endorses the fact that our response is primarily aimed at protecting and promoting the Human rights of the affected population. The affected population from different categories (women, men, boys, and girls) have the right to be consulted, informed, and participate in all programming cycles into the decision-making that affects them and provided with feedback on the services provided. They have the right to be provided timely services that promote their safety, dignity and are an empowering experience. Keeping in mind the Humanitarian, Development, Peace nexus it is essential that AAP principles are applied in all our programs no matter what context the organization is operating in.

UNICEF Malawi is strongly committed to the development and rollout of an AAP action plan, along with the existing child safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards, policies, and guidelines. Building on existing good practices in-country programs and drawing from the AAP Framework “putting people at the center of humanitarian action” developed in 2017, UNICEF has embarked upon a process to scale-up accountability to affected populations across the entire organization to put our commitments into practice in a systematic and coordinated manner.

As UNICEF’s core commitments to children are built around seven pillars of accountability principles and good practices that put vulnerable people at the center of both development and emergency programs, there is a need for these pillars to be reflected in all aspects of UNICEF’s work including the country program planning cycle; management decision-making; and operations and resources management; in addition to areas such as partnership agreements, and monitoring and evaluation.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The primary purpose of this consultancy is to strengthen UNICEF’s work in Malawi around AAP by providing dedicated technical assistance to the country office, designing and implementing targeted capacity-building activities for UNICEF staff and partners across different sectors, producing and disseminating relevant technical guidance, tools, and resources. In particular, it will contribute to the following results:

• Quality and accountability benchmarks are established and monitored for all UNICEF programs;
• UNICEF is better prepared for implementing AAP in humanitarian action;
• All UNICEF program policies, guidance, and procedures reflect our AAP commitments;
• All partners Project documents and partners MOUs have included AAP standard articles and indicators
• An inter-agency collective approach to AAP and community engagement is developed and implemented.
• Integration of Accountability to affected populations (AAP) integrated throughout programming in UNICEF Malawi Country Office including building the capacity of partners on AAP, and participatory program approaches.
• Establishment of a monitoring plan based on UNICEF’s standards, including indicators for all initiatives, in collaboration with the Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Unit and other relevant teams.
• Preparation of reports, briefing papers, and other related documentation on AAP as necessary for decision making and information purposes for UNICEF management, donors, partners, and allies.

How can you make a difference?

The consultant has the responsibility to lead and provide technical support in the development, contextualization, and rollout of the Malawi Country Office Accountability to Affected Population Action Plan.

Within delegated authority, the AAP Coordinator will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Advisory and technical support:

• Conduct a desk review of AAP documentation relating to MCO.
• Disseminate tools, guidance and promote practice that ensures integration and implementation of AAP standards and principles.
• Ensure that AAP activities are integrated and budgeted for in all proposals and that section teams consistently report on progress and outcomes.
• Undertake capacity gaps analysis (including mapping to the available government and inter-agency tools and mechanisms)
• Based on capacity gap analysis, undertake capacity building exercise for MCO staff and partners.

2. Coordination:

• Coordinate the implementation of a community engagement needs assessment.
• Coordinate the inclusion of appropriate AAP indicators in joint needs assessments and standalone AAP assessments as well as in monitoring frameworks.
• Coordinate community-based monitoring of feedback mechanisms to ensure that they accurately reflect community preferences and the changing context.
• Facilitate the analysis of trends in community feedback and propose program recommendations to resolve issues.

3. Information management:

• Provide advice and support to enable a predictable approach to how UNICEF and partners are collecting, protecting, analyzing, sharing, and aggregating data about community preferences priorities, feedback, and participation.
• In consultation with the C4D and Communication and Media, the team develops communication material on AAP and facilitates community awareness programs based on developed minimum standards on community awareness and sensitization.
• Design and produce an engaging reporting product that can be shared within coordination platforms (e.g. HCT) to regularly update them as to the priority concerns and issues of the community.

4. Collaboration with the Gender Mainstreaming and PSEA initiatives:

• Identify community preferences for feedback channels, including for sensitive issues (conducting risk assessments where necessary).
• Coordinate closely and collaborate with the PSEA focal points to ensure complementarity.
• Map existing complaint and feedback channels and support organizations to establish additional channels based on identified gaps and community preferences.
• Establish and agree on referral mechanisms for feedback between organizations, how is this reported, actioned including agreed protocols for timely responses and closing the loop.
• Ensure that the AAP action plan is inclusive, gender-responsive, transformative, caters to and responds to the need of the most marginalized members of the community including women and children (boys and girls)

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Advanced university degree or equivalent in development studies; human rights, gender, the social sciences, or another relevant emergency programming. A first-level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience in child safeguarding or accountability may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree with an additional 5 years of experience.
• Extensive work experience relevant to this post may be considered as a replacement for formal qualifications.
• Formal training in cluster coordination an advantage
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, with UN and/or NGO, including program management and/or coordination
• For International applicants: Three (3) years of relevant experience at the international level is required. Humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergency situations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
• For National applicants: Three (3) years of relevant experience is required. Humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergency situations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
• Experience in the UN Common System is desirable.
• Experience in the region is desirable.
• Fluency in English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People, and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

For further information, make reference to the attached Terms of Reference (ToR)

ToR - AAP MCO Coordinator.pdf

Use the attached template for submitting your financial proposal

Financial Proposal Template.xlsx

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credentials (s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.