Consultancy - Rapid Analysis on Social Contracts and Young People, remote, Office of Global Insight & Policy, 8 days from 1 August 2022 to 30 October 2022

Contract

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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, a future

Child rights are universal, inalienable and indivisible. Yet the pursuit of these enduring rights takes place within a world that is in constant flux. Economic, social and political dynamics, driven by new technologies, actors and challenges, pose important tests for the current and future well-being of children.

We owe it to today’s children, and successive generations, to ensure we have invested adequately in their childhoods and this is central to any call for renewed social contracts and intergenerational equity. When children and young people don’t feature prominently in frameworks and approaches used to explore and analyse social contracts or implement programmes aimed at fostering more inclusive social contracts, we may need to rethink some of the principles that underpin these approaches.

The Office of Global Insight and Policy (Global Insight) was established in 2019 to assist UNICEF in interpreting, and engaging in, a rapidly changing world. Global Insight provides UNICEF with intelligence on a range of issues with implications for children and its work, equipping the organization to more effectively shape the global discourse with greater awareness of children’s issues, and preparing it for the future by scanning the horizon for frontier issues and ways of working.

How can you make a difference?

The Office of Global Insight and Policy has been working with a number of experts to explore how social contracts might take a more child- and future-centric form. Consultants have contributed a number of short papers on specific topics to stimulate discussion and debate within an advisory group that met in April 2022 to help guide the thinking on the future of Social Contracts. The draft papers, presentations and discussions provide the basis for a Rapid Analysis which now needs to be finalised before being peer reviewed by other experts and then published on the Global Insights website.

UNICEF Office of Global Insight and Policy (OGIP) is looking for an experienced consultant with exceptional writing skills, detailed understanding of the literature on social contracts and a passion for working with and for young people to support the structuring, editing and publication of a Rapid Analysis on Social Contracts and Young People. The Rapid Analysis will review existing approaches focusing on social contracts and explore options for drawing up a framework which places children more explicitly at the centre.

Established understanding of the literature on social contracts and exceptional writing and editing skills for policy-oriented work are essential. Experience working with global teams and in international settings is preferable.

Your main responsibilities will be:

Lead the structuring, editing, review and finalisation of a Rapid Analysis focusing on Social Contracts and Young People.

• Work with OGIP’s Policy Specialist to consolidate inputs for and then format and edit the Rapid Analysis on Social Contracts for Young People
• Review the feedback provided by external reviewers and in consultation with the Policy Specialist incorporate changes as appropriate
• Support the finalisation of the text and design of the Rapid Analysis

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in public policy, social or political science, government and politics, peace and conflict studies, public administration or related field, is required. *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in social science research, including an emphasis on governance, peacebuilding and youth advocacy, in a research or consulting organisation, development agency, university, think tank, or similar organizations, is required.
• Demonstrable record of publications and/or reports on social development, youth engagement and governance and a detailed knowledge of the literature on social contracts, is highly desirable.
• Outstanding skills in writing and editing materials for publication in a variety of media.
• Excellent communications skills, in particular, translating complex issues for lay audiences and distilling these into engaging and accessible insights for policy-makers and implementers.
• Experience and demonstrated understanding of youth engagement and issues in a range of country settings, is highly desirable.
• Ability to organize own work and to carry out an assignment of this scope with limited supervision and according to tight deadlines.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is considered an asset.

Applicants are requested to include:

1. A recent CV
2. A cover letter explaining how their knowledge and experience match the requirements
3. A writing sample (a published report or article where the applicant was first author)

4. Proposed daily consultancy rate

   Payment details and further considerations

• Payment based on invoice and satisfactory completion of deliverables
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health insurance

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA). To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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 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.