Consultancy to Develop the Governance Structure of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF). Remote Req. 561999

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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Consultancy to Develop the Governance Structure of the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF)

Section/Division/Duty Station: Nutrition and Child Development/NHYQ

Duration: 1 June 2023 to 15 August 2023 – Remote/Home Based

About UNICEF

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. Over 75 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. 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.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) aims to become the largest centralized response to combat child wasting at scale. In 2020, with support from the UK government, UNICEF piloted a unique one-to-one match for life-saving Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the most effective treatment for severe child wasting. Demand rapidly outpaced available funds, demonstrating the viability of unique financing mechanisms and domestic interest in fighting this crisis. Thanks to the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the CNF is expanding into a comprehensive, country-led mechanism to prevent, detect, and treat malnutrition and wasting. Today, the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) comprises three distinct instruments. The Match Instrument, that matches domestic investments in nutrition commodities; the Grant Instrument, which coordinates the deployment of programmatic support to essential nutrition services, and the Financing Instrument, which offers pre-financing, loans and other tools to support nutrition commodity producers to meet global demand.

The assignment seeks to develop a clear and transparent description of the purpose, governance, decision-making and roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in the Child Nutrition Fund by supporting the Fund’s interim steering committee to agree: the constitution of the CNF; the Terms of Reference of the Fund’s Steering committee; the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the CNF. To do so, the consultant is expected to assess the existing (interim) overview of the CNF, the ToRs for the interim Steering Committee and its procedures and ways of working; identify what can be maintained and what needs to revised and/or developed; lead consultations with all key stakeholders to agree on new procedures, and; document the full and final Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) into a constitutional document for the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).

Scope of Work:

• Review existing interim governance, decision-making and operational arrangements for the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) and identify key areas for further development and refinement. This will include consultation with key internal and external stakeholders (as identified by the Interim Steering Committee) to inform the review. This review is expected to include (but not be limited to):

1. The constitution of the CNF which sets out the purpose and objectives of the fund.
2. The terms of reference of the CNF’s Steering Committee and eligibility criteria for new Committee members.
3. The terms of reference of the CNF’s Management Team.
4. Decision-making by the Management Team, Investors, and the Steering Committee
5. Protocols for the allocation of earmarked and unearmarked funding

• Consult CNF founding members (UK Government, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation) to: I) ratify [a] to [e] above; and/or ii) ensure any new operating procedures proposed by the consultant are aligned with [a] to [e].

Codify and document the final versions of [a] to [e] above and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

Review of existing/interim governance and decision-making material and identification of key areas for development

• Priority areas for [a] to [e] and SOP development

By June 30th, 2023

Consultation with CNF members (and selected external partners) in three phases to agree [a] in phase 1; then [b] and [c] in phase 2; and then [d] and [e] in phase 3; followed by the finalization of Governance and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

• Consultation Report 1 (including a proposal for [a])

By July 15th, 2023

• Consultation Report 2 (including a proposal for [b] and [c])

By July 30th, 2023

• Consultation Report 3 (including a proposal for [d] [e] and SOPs)

By August 1st, 2023

Final versions of [a] to [e] and the Governance and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the Child Nutrition Fund

• Governance and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Document

By August 15th, 2023

Qualifications

(1) Education

• Master’s Degree in law, Accounting, Management, Audit, Business Administration, Financial Management, or related discipline.

(2) Work experience

• At least 15 years’ experience in organizational development, governance and/or legal counsel.
• Previous experience in/with the UNICEF, including knowledge of UN/UNICEF programmes and operations, policies and procedures is essential

(3) Competencies

• Excellent understanding of the development and humanitarian sector is highly desirable
• Excellent track record of engagement experiences with government partners, civil society and/or think tanks
• Highly developed interpersonal skills and an aptitude for problem solving
• Excellent communication skills

Requirements****:

• Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11)
• Upload copy of academic credentials

• Financial proposal that will include:

• All-inclusive (lump sum) fees for the deliverables noted above.

• Travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR
• Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs 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.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.

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

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:

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.