consultant)HFSS Support to MENA desk (Sudan crisis, New York, EMOPS, 6 months (office-based)

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Start Date: July 1st 2023

End Date: December 31st 2023

Modality: Office based

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

Heavy fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on 15 April 2023, displacing over 1 million people within Sudan,6 and an additional 319,000 people to neighbouring countries. 196 children were killed and 1,865 children were injured between 15 April and 5 May. Furthermore, millions of the most vulnerable children and families are caught in the crossfire with no or limited access to essential services including water, food, healthcare, and safety. The situation is projected to further deteriorate, with increased humanitarian needs in health, nutrition, WASH, and protection, severely worsening the already dire humanitarian situation. Now a staggering 24.7 million people,8 13.6 million of whom are children, need humanitarian assistance.

The consequences for children are dire. Prior to this conflict, one in every eighteen children did not reach their fifth birthday. The number of children who did not receive a single dose of life-saving vaccines doubled between 2019 and 2021. Recurrent disease outbreaks, including measles and malaria, continue to affect large numbers of children. Sudan has one of the highest prevalence rates of malnutrition among children in the world. More than 3 million children are wasted, of whom 621,600 are severely wasted and at high risk of death. 80 percent of localities face a critical level of water scarcity and are vulnerable to natural hazards, particularly flooding. Nearly 7 million school-age children are out of school, and the remaining 12 million struggle to learn. Seven out of ten students cannot read and understand a simple sentence. With over 200 hotspot areas with recurring conflicts and violence, children are exposed to increased risks from negative coping mechanisms including child marriage, school dropout, and association with armed groups, among others.

The ongoing fighting has caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure, resulting in water shortages, blackouts, communication outages, school closures, and the collapse of health systems in conflict areas. The conflict has had a severe psychosocial impact on children and families, including those who are being uprooted once again, including internally displaced people and refugees who had fled to safer places in Sudan. The insecurity and looting directed towards humanitarian organisations have severely compromised aid organisations’ operational capacity, including health and nutrition services provision and maintenance and repairs of WASH infrastructures. An estimated 14.9 million people including 8.2 million children need urgent water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions, and face a greater risk of WASH-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera due to lack of safe water and adequate sanitation. 4.6 million people, including 2.5 million children, require nutrition assistance, while 11 million people are in need of health services.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the MENA desk lead the consultant will provide technical support the Sudan crisis.

Key Deliverables:

Work Assignments OverviewDeliverables/OutputsIdentify enablers and bottlenecks of the agreed benchmarks conducive or constraining UNICEF scale response in SudanLiterature reviewed of the UNICEF benchmarks, namely operationalization of UNICEF strategies to scale up, staffing and advocacy strategiesWith an eminent declaration of an IASC system-wide scale-up in Sudan, the contractor will document the scale-up delivery and field response modalities, including partnerships, supplies and staffing structuresProduce a report documenting UNICEF programme scale up strategies and coverageProvide guidance of how UNICEF is meeting IASC coordination accountabilities and the level of adequacy of the coordination structure in SudanAnalysis based on consultations with CO and GCCS the coordination architecture against IASC standardsSupport the necessary linkage between the interagency advocacy strategies with UNICEF initiatives and identify contributions and deviationsReview the implementation of the humanitarian country team advocacy and national communication strategies (RO & DGCA)Visualize different levels of information to advise Sudan support team with course of actionAd hoc Information management products (with maps)Provide guidance of how UNICEF is meeting Human Ressources scale up and alignment / nexus with mid and long term needs in SudanAnalyse HR needs in consultations with DHR, including surge coordination and sequencing with mid- and long-term recruitments including HQ and RO deployments and office structureTo qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, public administration, law, public health, nutrition, international relations, business administration or other related disciplines.
• A minimum of 2 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in program/project development, emergency preparedness, research and analysis, and/or monitoring and evaluation at the national and international levels. Strong writing skills and demonstrated ability to collect and analyse data in an efficient and effective manner.
• Direct experience in, and/or familiarity with, UNICEF emergency operations is an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Requirement

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system;

Financial proposal that will include:

1. Your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference
2. Indicate your availability
3. 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.

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.