Consultancy to Re-design Theory of Change and M&E Framework for Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children ( Safe Online)- New York

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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, hope . . .

The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and its associated Fund (End Violence), is a unique public-private coalition launched by the UN Secretary-General in July 2016 to accelerate progress towards SDG 16.2: ending all forms of violence against children by 2030. End Violence convenes partners that collaborate globally to raise awareness, catalyse leadership commitments, mobilise new resources, promote evidence-based solutions and innovation, and support those working to end all forms of violence, abuse, and neglect of children. The Partnership connects and facilitates collective evidence-based advocacy, especially to keep children safe in communities, online, and in and through schools, while the integrated Fund is a flexible funding vehicle that identifies new and emerging challenges to SDG 16.2, funds innovative initiatives that have the potential to replicate and scale, and generates data, evidence, and learning to inform policy and increase the impact of programmes.

Safe Online

End Violence’s Safe Online priority area (or area of work) has made a significant progress in tackling online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) globally. Launched in 2016, Safe Online’s investment portfolio has reached $47 million, funding 55 projects focused on preventing and eliminating online CSEA in over 70 countries. The investments range from supporting programs at country level, large-scale research projects (e.g. Disrupting Harm), to designing new and scaling-up existing technology-based solutions. Beyond investing in individual projects, Safe Online has built a strong collaborative network of partners who are working to share the knowledge, learnings and solutions in this field maximizing collective results for children at risk and those who are victims of online CSEA. Safe Online is also increasingly contributing to global policy discussions on child online safety with governments, tech industry, regulators, and others, ensuring that safety of children is at the heart of intersections between connectivity and safety; privacy and protection; and technology and human rights. Through the Safe Online investment portfolio, End Violence has implemented the following funding rounds to date with a focus on preventing and responding to online CSEA:

• First two, in 2017 and 2018, were focused on building the foundations of an integrated response to online CSEA through focusing on national, regional, and international capacities aligned with the Model National Response (MNR) to end and prevent online CSEA, a framework developed and promoted by the We PROTECT Global Alliance. Thirty-one grantees were selected via these two open Calls for Proposals and represent organisations working across the world, ranging from Latin America, Southeast Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, North America, as well as some organisations in Central Europe, South America, and two in the Middle East. Ninety-four per cent of the projects (29/31) are implemented in ODA-eligible countries with funding from UK Home Office.
• In 2019, the Safe Online portfolio of End Violence built on the progress made during the previous two years. In early 2019, as part of its third funding round and a targeted call focusing on Southeast Asia and Eastern/Southern Africa, End Violence focused on generating more data, evidence, and learning, one of the key capabilities of the MNR. It invested almost USD 7 million to develop Disrupting Harm, a holistic and innovative methodology and approach to conducting comprehensive assessments of online CSEA at national and regional levels in 14 countries. Disrupting Harm is a large-scale research project with multiple data collection components carried out by three international organisations that aims to better understand how digital technology facilitates the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents, both online and offline.
• To further invest in building the capabilities related to technology and innovation as outlined in the MNR, End Violence focused on channelling funding into potentially higher risk areas of investment such as technology solutions and innovation. The fourth funding round was awarded in Q4 2020 to 15 projects with global coverage (USD 10 million) through an Open Call for Solutions focused on cutting-edge technology tools for the global community to make children safe online. This cohort enriches the diversity of the organisations End Violence is working with and brings new and much-needed expertise to the network.
• In the second semester of 2021, Safe Online has awarded USD 3 million for targeted interventions in two countries - Colombia and Cambodia - to build on existing good practice and test new approaches and tools to strengthen national capacity to tackle online CSEA. The investment under these two grants will assist national stakeholders to adapt existing models and technology tools to tackle online CSEA; support the two countries' capability for becoming Safe Online Champions in their regions; and generate knowledge and learning to inform the wider ecosystem and future investments.
• Also, in the second semester of 2021, Safe Online will award USD 0.8 million to understand and develop actionable insights particularly for the technology industry to tackle online CSEA under the Tech Coalition Safe Online Research Fund. This Research Fund is part of a collaboration with Technology Coalition's Project Protect: a plan to prevent and eradicate online CSEA through a renewed investment and ongoing commitment to combat online CSEA in different ways.
• Finally, Safe Online will launch its new round of investments in the last quarter of 2021 with a focus on a regional approach to grant making, aligning investments to key priority issues, adapting and scaling of initiatives that demonstrate success and/or proof of concept and continuing to generate evidence and knowledge to inform the wider ecosystem. These investments will be structured as follows:
• Strengthen capacity, networks, systems and the use of tech solutions
• Generate evidence and data of effective interventions
• Targeted initiatives to test or scale-up models at country or regional level
• Sustain promising and best practices to build country maturity

Back in 2016, a Theory of Change (ToC) was developed for End Violence, which outlined the role of the Fund in the End Violence ecosystem, as well as the ways in which it plans to achieve change and generate specific outcomes and impacts. At that time, a specific ToC was developed for the Safe Online area, alongside a Monitoring Framework that provides a set of indicators for tracking outputs and outcomes at the grantee level.

A recently completed evaluation of the first two Safe Online funding rounds concluded that there was evidence that the grantees have built capacity, knowledge, and evidence on online CSEA. However, it also highlighted the disconnect between what is reported at the grantee level, what is included in the Safe Online monitoring framework and reported at the portfolio level, and what is described in the ToC. There is an opportunity to leverage the results reported by grantees to understand portfolio-level progress, and to enhance the evidence base to support scale-up of tested solutions. In addition, the evaluation noted that some of the indicators included in the Monitoring framework were not feasible to collect and should be reviewed and revised in line with the new ToC and M&E Framework.

How can you make a difference? End Violence is seeking a consultant to refine End Violence’s ToC for Safe Online to align with its new strategy and objectives and re-design the Safe Online results framework which will serve to demonstrate the investment portfolio’s expected and achieved impact. Furthermore, the consultant will also contribute to the streamlining of Safe Online’ s monitoring and evaluation work with our grantees (present and future), including the development of the monitoring and evaluation plan for the portfolio/grantees.

Key tasks and responsibilities

Working closely with the Director and other members of the Safe Online team, the consultant will:

1. Refine End Violence’s ToC for Safe Online priority area to align with its new strategy and objectives for the priority areas in collaboration with the End Violence team, engaging additional stakeholders such as governance members and selected grantees.

2. Review existing documents including the ToC, annual targets and indicators, and existing monitoring tools.

3. Test assumptions about the outcomes of building evidence base and grant making strategy as part of ToC to ensure they contribute to areas of desired impact and longer-term outcomes and highlighting the risks in achieving this.

4. Draft a revised ToC (in narrative and visual form).

5. Re-design the Safe Online results framework to operationalize the revised ToC.

6. Revise/add a set of indicators to:

• Measure progress and results achieved at the portfolio level, focusing on building the evidence base in line with the ToC long-term outcome and to better articulate its impact story. The recent Safe Online evaluation has provided some examples of this type of indicators such as, the number and type of knowledge products created, the percentage of grantees that achieve proof of concept, the number of hotlines, helplines and/or online reporting mechanisms established or strengthened and the percentage of projects/programs that are being transitioned to scale. The selection of a few key indicators would also help to ensure that grantees are not being asked to report on indicators that will not be used by Safe Online and therefore reduce the burden.
• Allow for the broad aggregation of outputs and outcomes from grantees across thematic areas and geographies and the connection with the portfolio-level.

18. Review and update current tools and monitoring and evaluation plans used to measure and assess the impact of Safe Online investments and impact for grantees.
19. Provide recommendations for data collection, grant management systems, monitoring tools and processes with a specific focus on the Safe Online results framework.
20. Draft and finalize the Safe Online results framework guidelines document with clear definitions of the indicators, milestones, sources of data, data collection strategies and frequency of collection outlined along with the monitoring and evaluation plans for the portfolio/grantees.
21. Conduct training to operationalize the results framework with the Safe Online team. Key deliverables

Timeframe

Detailed work plan with inception and methodology note

November 2021

Revised Theory of Change (finalized in narrative and visual form)

December 2021

First draft of the Safe Online results framework guidelines document including a fully re-designed monitoring framework, clear definitions of the indicators, milestones, sources of data, data collection strategies, revised tools and frequency of collection outlined

January 2022

First draft of monitoring and evaluation plans for the portfolio/grantees

February 2022

Final Safe Online results framework guidelines document including a fully re-designed monitoring framework, clear definitions of the indicators, milestones, sources of data, data collection strategies, revised tools and frequency of collection outlined along with the monitoring and evaluation plans for the portfolio/grantees.

March 2022

Training to Safe Online team on completed results framework, including revised tools, methods and approaches and recommendations for data collection, grant management systems, monitoring tools and processes, particularly in relation to tracking and reporting on outcomes and results at portfolio level.

April 2022

Management and Coordination of Assignment

The M&E Advisor, Safe Online, will be hired on a UNICEF consultancy contract from November 2021 to April 2022. The assignment will be managed by the Safe Online team at the End Violence Secretariat, with strategic oversight by the Safe Online Working Group. The Fund Portfolio Manager will have day-to-day management responsibilities and will be the main focal point for the consultant. The consultant will be expected to work remotely and be responsible for providing their own IT equipment and health insurance.

Monthly payment, based on deliverables as follows:

Key deliverables

Timeframe

Payment Plan

Detailed work plan with inception and methodology note

November 2021

10%

Revised Theory of Change (finalized in narrative and visual form)

December 2021

25%

First draft of the Safe Online results framework guidelines document including a fully re-designed monitoring framework, clear definitions of the indicators, milestones, sources of data, data collection strategies, revised tools and frequency of collection outlined

January 2022

10%

First draft of monitoring and evaluation plans for the portfolio/grantees

February 2022

10%

Final Safe Online results framework guidelines document including a fully re-designed monitoring framework, clear definitions of the indicators, milestones, sources of data, data collection strategies, revised tools and frequency of collection outlined along with the monitoring and evaluation plans for the portfolio/grantees.

March 2022

25%

Training to Safe Online team on completed results framework, including revised tools, methods and approaches and recommendations for data collection, grant management systems, monitoring tools and processes, particularly in relation to tracking and reporting on outcomes and results at portfolio level.

April 2022

20%

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

• An advanced university degree (Master's or Higher) in social sciences, international development or related field is required.

• Demonstrated experience in learning, monitoring and evaluation process development and management and has worked with NGOs or preferably foundations in a collaborative process to design a theory of change and articulate it visually and in writing.

• Solid experience assisting not-for-profit international organisations in designing organizational monitoring and evaluation frameworks for assessing the aggregate impact of grant making across thematic areas and geographies.
• Appropriate knowledge of the operating environments and capacities of international community-based organizations in terms of data collection and analysis.
• Ability to synthesize information from multiple sources.
• Experience related to child rights and/or end violence against children is valuable.
• Experience related to work on prevention, identification and/or deterrence of online child sexual exploitation and abuse would be considered an asset.
• Experience and knowledge on frontier technologies would be considered an asset.
• Experience in M&E capacity building is an advantage.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

  How to Apply

• Applications should be submitted via UNICEF jobs website by September 30, 2021.

• Please include a cover letter and CV and indicate your ability, experience, availability and monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above. In addition, please include a proposal describing the consultant's methodology used to provide the services, including their approach to quality assurance and a timeframe.

• Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

  Duration of internship: 6 months (November 2021 - April 2022)

Visa: Consultants are responsible for obtaining their G-4 visa before traveling to United States. They will not be permitted to enter the United States without a valid G-4 visa. UNICEF will only issue guidance and a letter stating acceptance of an individual as a consultant and the conditions governing the consultancy.

Insurance: UNICEF will not be responsible for costs arising from accidents and/or illness incurred during the volunteer’s service. Therefore, the selected candidate must provide proof of enrollment in a health/accident plan prior to starting his/her work.

Ethics and Safeguarding

In order to ensure the protection of, and respect for, human and child rights throughout the process, the applicants will be required to follow relevant international norms and standards of ethics in research and evidence generation - including UNICEF’s Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation and Data Collection and Analysis.

It is also expected that the consultant will perform effectively and conform to a high standard of moral and ethical conduct and comply with relevant provisions of the Safeguarding Policy of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and internationally agreed core labour standards.

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.

Core Competencies

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Functional Competencies

• Analysing (1)
• Deciding and initiating action (1)
• Persuading and Influencing (1)
• Applying Technical Expertise (1)
• Learning and researching (1)

• Planning and organizing (1)

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

End Violence 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. End Violence 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. End Violence 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.

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.