Consultancy - Scalability Assessment of U-Test, Office of Innovation, 6 months, Home Based, REQ

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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, innovation...

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 fulfil 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.

Yet the current pace of progress for children will not get us to children-related SDGs targets. This, if left unaddressed, will leave tens of millions of children behind. Unprotected. Uneducated. Unfed. Unable to reach their full potential.

UNICEF Innovation UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation (OOI) is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF's OOI creates opportunities for the world's children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

● Connecting youth communities (or more broadly -- anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children. ● Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach -- in a traditionally risk-averse field -- to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children. ● Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

UNICEF’s Global Innovation Portfolios Matching Today’s Challenges with Tomorrow’s Solutions ensures that all investments we make in innovation fit with our global aim of ensuring that every child can survive, thrive and live and learn in a safe, inclusive space, and that innovation is applied to the most pressing problems faced by some of the most vulnerable children and young people. In line with the Global Innovation Strategy, UNICEF’s innovation portfolio management approach aligns technical and financial resources to promising projects from across the organization that can accelerate results for children.

Health Portfolio UNICEF has identified a range of problems that, if solved, could unlock faster progress in health. At the rate of current progress, we will miss the global goals to reduce maternal mortality and improve newborn, child, adolescent, and maternal health. For HIV in particular, despite impressive gains in coverage of maternal ART coverage, the 2020 global goal of reducing annual HIV infections by at least 75% against the 2010 benchmark was not achieved for adolescents. As of December 2021, five geographic regions reported increases in new HIV infections.

Arresting the impact of HIV and AIDS on the lives of adolescents and young people requires that innovations in therapeutics, prevention, and diagnostics, be coupled with innovation in delivery systems if equitable scale is to be achieved. UNICEF has identified investments in novel ARV-based prophylactic and therapeutic regimens, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, digital health, point of care diagnostics, and innovative solutions including big data, artificial Intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and social innovation, as game changing propositions for HIV and adolescence.

U-TEST U-Test is an integrated approach of using the YOMA digital marketplace, U-Report, and digital innovations to scale up novel diagnostics (HIV self-tests) and ARV-based prophylaxis in the youth market, through an appealing preventive care model that is both novel and scalable.

The platform aims to: 1. Scale-up targeted HIV self-testing (HIVST) as a novel offering to improve HIV diagnosis within key and priority populations of young people, particularly those typically not prioritized for HIVST promotion and access; 2. Scale-up and optimize pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a powerful, user-centered prevention tool for young people at substantial risk, including daily oral PrEP & emerging models such as on-demand PrEP & the use of alternate dosing schedules; 3. Scale-up socially innovative and cost-effective digital tools, leveraging UNICEF’s social networking platform U-Report to bridge the gap between increased prevention and actual uptake of innovative testing and biomedical prevention services; 4. Integrate enhanced analytics to amplify the precision with which adolescents are targeted to seek & access HIV testing, prevention and treatment; 5. Deploy the U-Test learning hub to drive digitalized capacity building, south to south cooperation, and rigorous evidence generation.

Objectives of the Assessment This assessment will document the experience of designing, piloting, replicating, and scaling U-Test through a collaborative approach between UNICEF WCARO, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. It will distill lessons learned generated, so far focusing on scalability potential.

Through distilling common success factors, challenges, and lessons learned, this assessment will help UNICEF’s OOI, Programme Group (PG), the Regional Office for West and Central Africa, and the three countries (Nigeria, Cameroon, and Cote D’Ivoire) to surface insights on how the project evolved; will clarify the innovative aspect of the project; and will inform consideration around additional resourcing in the same or similar solutions.

The findings of the assessment will be used to:

• Enhance understanding of how the platform has evolved • Define the innovation’s scalable unit(s) or derivatives thereof • Encourage program reflection and structured inquiry into the institutional and ecosystem dynamics that inform innovation experiments • Feed into corporate knowledge and evidence around what enables successful innovation

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work In consultation with the UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO), the consultant(s) will develop a framework, methodological approach, primary data collection tools, and implementation plan for this assessment. This will inform the execution of a portfolio review to synthesize the problems U-Test aims to address, theories of change, and the value proposition of the innovation.

Following the guiding questions below, the consultant(s) will reconstruct the implementation sequence. This exercise will enhance the understanding of how similarly and differently U-Test have been designed and implemented in the three countries and what have been unique and common challenges and success factors. In order to answer the guiding questions, the consultant will analyze secondary data collected by the country offices; additional primary data will be collected through key informant interviews and from open-source data in the three countries.

Third, the consultant(s) will draft a review draft report (Deliverable B), which will be provided to OOI and the COs for review and comments. The results will be presented in internal webinars for OOI and the COs (Deliverable C). All written and verbal comments provided during the webinars are expected to be incorporated in the final report; a 2-page summary brief is also expected to be delivered after the webinars (Deliverable D). The 2-page summary brief will be a practical one serving as a future roadmap for other countries and regions interested in similar projects; it will include key questions to be asked in designing and implementing similar projects, success factors/features, and common challenges.

Guiding questions The assessment will be guided by the following questions (illustrative list):

Impact 1.1 Does the solution address the identified problem statement(s) without doing harm? 1.2 What is the total market size? Does the solution have potential to positively impact millions of children & young people, including those most impacted by inequities? Does this solution reduce inequity by addressing populations affected by extreme poverty, conflict, discrimination, exclusion or other factors? 1.3 Are there any particular countries with more notable progress? 1.4 Are the data systems fit for purpose as they currently stand? What gaps (if any) exist in the data systems? What gaps exist in the process of data collection, aggregation and synthesis?

Innovation 2.1 Is the solution novel? How new or novel is the solution? What makes the solution novel? Is it the technology or the programmatic process in the project? Is it new or novel to the country ecosystem, to UNICEF, or globally? 2.2 Is the solution future facing? What is the potential for it to continue to adapt as it scales to multiple countries? 2.3 Is there (emerging) evidence it can solve better than existing alternatives? 2.4 Has the solution demonstrated viability (technical, financial)?

Scalability 3.1 Is there shared demand across countries and regions for a solution? 3.2 Does this solution have a sustainable and scalable business or operating model, which is appropriate to the maturity of the innovation? 3.3 What delivery models and formats are most promising for acceleration and scale-up of UTEST in the target markets? 3.4 In what geographic, socio-political, and cultural contexts can UTEST and/or its components be scaled up? 3.5 Which market segments or niches are most critical for the success of UTEST acceleration and scale up? 3.6 What is the extent or potential to which U-Test is positioned to realize additional impact results or outcomes beyond those defined in the programme theory of change? Are there unquantified (spillover) direct and/or indirect social, economic, health, and other benefits that are not captured or documented?

Enabling environment 4.1 What factors enabled or hindered successful implementation of the funded solutions? In terms of culture and processes, contracting models, innovation mindset, etc and in reference to the 11 considerations and 6 pitfalls identified in the health innovation literature (Ben Charif, 2022)? 4.2 How has the work been funded (Set Aside and others)? What are the consequences of it being underfunded? 4.3 What entry points/interventions have been most effective? 4.4 If solutions are not fully designed following UNICEF’s innovation principles, then how can these be incorporated moving forward? 4.5 Who are the key partners – children and adolescents, governments, UN agencies, major donors, INGOs and NGOs? To summarize, the assessment will produce the following deliverables: A. Inception report B. Draft methodology C. A draft and final report (< 30 pages) D. Regional/global webinars to present and discuss key findings and recommendations and a slide deck E. 2-page executive summary

Timeline and payment schedule The assignment is expected to be carried out remotely by two individual consultants - a researcher/evaluator who will serve as the team leader and a researcher with experience in health and development over a six-month period. Both consultancies are expected to be conducted over the same time period.

Consultants are expected to work together as a team to complete the assignment and will be jointly responsible for the deliverables. Consultants who have already formed or identified (a) team member(s) are particularly encouraged to respond to this application. Consultants can identify the name of their team member in their application. However, each candidate will apply and be assessed individually.

The assignment is expected to begin in March 2023, and end in July 2023. The payment schedule based on deliverables is as follows.

Required Qualifications & Technical Expertise The assignment is to be carried out by two individual consultants over a period of five (5) months. The consultants will be expected to work together as a team. The required qualifications of each of the roles are listed in the table below.

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

Experience Technical Skills & Knowledge • Knowledge of international organizations - particularly UN agencies – innovation principles, programming, processes and work streams an asset. • Excellent analytical and research skills • Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality written outputs and ability to present in English • Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

Competencies • Ability to develop and maintain networks with a variety of stakeholders • Good facilitation skills and analytical, problem solving, communication, and interpersonal skills • Ability to convey an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders • Ability to participate in open dialogue and value diverse opinions, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment • Exceptional writing skills • Willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work • Ability to work independently in a timely and organized manner • Ability to work in a team and multi-task as needed

Working Languages • The working languages for this assignment are English and French • Fluency in one of the working languages with strong working knowledge of the other language is mandatory for the Team Lead role. • Fluency in at least one of the working languages is required, and professional competency in the other language preferred for the Researcher role.

Travel • Anticipated travel to the implementation countries (Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria) for up to 5 nights per country. The Team lead will be expected to travel to two (2) countries (likely Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria), and the researcher will be expected to complete one (1) trip/mission (likely Cameroon). Each Consultant is responsible for arranging his/her/their own travel, including visa approvals and other administrative details. The travel budget for each consultant will be included as an additional line in the fee proposal.

Payment details and further considerations • Payment is made upon completion and invoicing for each deliverable • Consultants are responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance • Consultants with assigned travel duties are mandated to furnish proof of COVID-19 vaccination prior to the start date of the assignment • Individual consultants will include a reimbursement for travel, to cover travel and subsistence costs based on understanding of:

o Approved travel plan at least four (4) weeks prior to departure o Reimbursement of flight cost upon submission of receipts based on actual travel o Reimbursement for official administrative travel costs, including visa, entry and exit taxes o Payment of DSA/per diem based on actual travel days completed, not exceeding the official rate o The travel payment will be included as a lumpsum, which may be revised towards the contract end date, based on the travel expenses claimed o Submission and approval of a detailed travel report within two (2) weeks of return

Application procedure Interested candidates are requested to apply via the UNICEF recruitment system. We are looking for two individuals to work together on this project; each person should complete the application and indicate who they are pairing with for the execution of the consultancy in their technical proposal, if any partner is identified.

The applicants are encouraged to submit synchronized applications separately. Applicants will be assessed individually but priority will be given to two strong applicants who have already synchronized their applications. If a suitable team is not identified, individual applicants will be selected for each role. Once contracted, the consultants will be expected to work closely together for the duration of the project. In the inception report, the consultants will define the workplan and the activities to be carried out by each consultant.

Applicants are advised to specify the role for which they intend to apply in their technical proposal – Senior evaluator/team leader or Researcher. Applications may indicate interest in both roles. Applicants should note that the selection process prioritizes teams.

Requirements for Application

● A completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system ● An up-to-date curriculum vitae ● A financial proposal that will include: o Price per deliverable (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference. o An indication of availability o Travel costs ● A brief three-page technical proposal with the consultant’s proposed approach/methodology and plan for conducting the consultancy, including the confirmation on the timeline for each task/deliverable. In case of proposing timelines from the estimates in the TOR, a rationale should be provided.

Queries Related to TOR All questions related to the TOR should be directed to [email protected]. The last date for submission of queries is 07/02/2023. The language for receipt of queries as well the responses will be in English. Queries and responses will be compiled and circulated to all applicants who have expressed interest in the consultancies within three days of the close of deadline for submission of queries.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

The competencies required for this post are….

• Communication Level II
• Working with People Level II
• Drive for Results Level II
• Relating and Networking Level II
• Applying Technical Expertise Level III
• Analysing Level II
• Learning and Researching Level III
• Creating and Innovating Level II
• Entrepreneurial Thinking Level II
• Adapting and Responding to Change Level II
• Coping with Pressure and Setbacks Level II

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:

• Payment shall be effected upon satisfactory completion of each of the key deliverables.
• Two separate consultancy contracts will be issued; with the expectation that each consultant is to submit invoices separately after approval of the agreed deliverable(s).
• 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.