If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The consultant will support and contribute to the drafting and testing of an international statistical classification on alternative care of children. This will involve preparing drafts of the statistical classification document, setting up and facilitating an online country consultation process and leading the preparation, implementation and follow-up of a multi-country pilot testing of the draft statistical classification.

Scope of Work:

Despite existing obligations, policies and reform efforts, children in alternative care are frequently missing in official statistics and national and international indicator frameworks. In 2022, the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) issued the 2022 Guidance on Statistics on Children: Spotlight on children exposed to violence, in alternative care, and with disabilities. The CES guidelines conclude with a recommendation for countries to adopt standardized definitions and classifications for alternative care, for the two main types of alternative care (residential and family-based care), and for sub-types of family-based care and of residential care (e.g., institutional care). However, as the CES guidelines underscore, there currently exist no internationally accepted standard definitions or classifications for statistics on children in alternative care. The definition of alternative care and of the different types of care (e.g., residential care and family-based care) provided in the 2009 Guidelines do not serve the purpose of a statistical definition or classification.

The Child Protection and Development Unit in the Data and Analytics section is seeking a consultant to support and contribute to different stages of work towards the finalization of a standard international statistical classification and operational definitions on alternative care for children in order to promote the collection and classification of consistent and internationally comparable statistics on children in alternative care.

The classification is intended to applicable to all types of data on alternative care for children, including administrative records as well as data collected in dedicated surveys on children in alternative care or specifically on children in institutions, or household surveys or censuses gathering demographic data on children living in formal or informal family-based care arrangements (e.g., foster care, kinship care). The classification covers the two main types of alternative care arrangements (i.e., residential care and family-based care) as well as the main sub-types of these two forms of alternative care (e.g., kinship and foster care in the case of family-based care). The statistical classification is expected to follow a similar structure and cover comparable content as the International Classification of Violence against Children.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

In close collaboration and working with the UNICEF Senior Advisor for Statistics and Monitoring, the incumbent is responsible for the following deliverables:

Deliverable 1:

Preparation of first draft

Review technical inputs and feedback and prepare second draft of the statistical classification document Deliverables/Outputs:

First draft of the statistical classification document

Revised second draft of the statistical classification document, addressing inputs and comments from the technical review.

Delivery deadline: 30 May 2024

Deliverable 2:

Assist with setting up and facilitating an online country consultation to review draft statistical classification

Prepare third draft of the statistical classification document following the consultation.

Deliverables/Outputs:

Feedback form for the country consultation and excel recording feedback from countries.

Revised third draft of the statistical classification document, addressing inputs and comments received during the country consultation.

Delivery deadline: 31 October 2024

**Deliverable 3****:

Lead the preparation of a protocol for a multi-country pilot testing of the draft statistical classification.

Review results of the multi-country pilot testing

Prepare final draft of the statistical classification following the multi-country pilot testing.

Deliverables/Outputs:

Protocol document for the multi-country pilot testing.

Final draft of the statistical classification document, addressing the results and feedback from the multi-country pilot testing

Delivery deadline: 31 January 2025

Qualifications:

Education

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development Studies, Social Work, or other related social science field with significant research components.
The individual should be highly proficient in a range of PC/web applications, including but not limited to: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook.

Work experience:

At least 10 (ten) years’ working experience conducting international research in the broad area of child protection and/or children’s rights.
Knowledge and familiarity with existing statistical classification manuals and the main principles and components.
Knowledge and familiarity with existing frameworks and guidelines related to alternative care.

Competencies:

Fluency in English. Intermediate skills in a second UN language would be an advantage.
Excellent written communication and interpersonal skills.
Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective relationships with partners.
Strong time management skills and an ability to adhere to deadlines.

Requirements****:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system.
Upload copy of academic credentials
Financial proposal that will include:
the costs per each deliverable and the total all-inclusive (lump-sum) fees for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
- travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
- Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, as applicable.
- Indicate your availability.
Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Health Insurance:

The Consultant is fully responsible for arranging at their own expense, such as life, health, and other forms of insurance covering the term of the Contract as he or she considers appropriate. The Consultant is not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to UNICEF and United Nations staff members.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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 credential(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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

Apply now

Added 1 month ago - Updated 22 days ago - Source: unicef.org