Consultant; WASH Insecurity Analysis - Coordination. Req

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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Consultant; WASH Insecurity Analysis - Coordination

Section/Division/Duty Station: WASH, Programme Group - NYHQ

Duration: 1 December 2023 – 30 April 2024

Home/ office Based: REMOTE

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. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, 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. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

WASH is a key life-saving sector in emergencies and is required to facilitate safe and sustainable access to other services such as Health or Education. The absence of safe or appropriate WASH services can also expose people to the risk of gender-based violence. Against a backdrop of increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events and protracted crises as the new norm, the WASH Insecurity Analysis will enable WASH actors to use robust methods to highlight the areas with the greatest WASH insecurities. The analysis will provide a framework to combine data in a standardized way with a focus on data quality to give users confidence in the results. In addition, the analysis will create a common understanding of WASH insecurity among humanitarian and development actors which is currently absent in the WASH sector.

Over the past decade, the WASH sector has made progress in terms of data availability, including in hard-to-reach areas and those affected by insecurity. However, the WASH sector lacks a common method to analyze this data to inform decision-making. Other sectors have common methods (e.g., the IPC and the Cadre Harmonisé for Food Security) which facilitates higher levels of confidence in decision-making on key issues such as resource allocation. Due to the lack of a harmonized approach to data analysis, the WASH sector faces challenges with evidence-based advocacy, mobilizing greater funding, and identifying the communities most in need of WASH related services.

The WASH Insecurity Analysis is based on the human right to water and sanitation, specifically the availability, safety, and accessibility dimensions of WASH services. WASH insecurity is influenced by WASH services levels but also by exposure to natural or human-induced hazards and underlying vulnerabilities, such as gender or poverty. WASH insecurity results in negative WASH related outcomes (e.g., increased rates of water and sanitation diseases) and ultimately, a denial of people’s human rights to water and sanitation. The WASH Insecurity Analysis identifies geographic areas and quantifies the population at risk of WASH insecurity and the population already experiencing WASH insecurity. It is a tool and a process that can bring together diverse stakeholders across the humanitarian to development continuum, including those working in the nexus space or fragile contexts and promotes localization through providing analytical insights at the local level before and after shocks. It can be used by governments and development actors to prioritize sectoral investments.

The WASH Insecurity Analysis uses secondary data to produce the analysis. There are three different functions to meet users’ needs related to comparability and granularity. A Base Score will form the core of the analysis and it will allow global level comparisons of WASH related needs and risks. The Modular Function integrates common (but not globally available) data into the Base Score and provides more granularity to facilitate planning in a country or in a specific region. The Tailored Function provides real-time analysis with a high level of granularity to inform rapid decision making at the local level, including after disasters.

The WASH Insecurity Analysis is a cross-division initiative so while the coordinator is based in the WASH Programme Group, they will regularly collaborate across Divisions with the Global WASH Cluster under the Office of Emergency Programs (EMOPs) and the JMP WASH Unit and Frontier Data under the Division of Analysis, Planning, and Monitoring (DAPM).

Scope of Work:

The consultant will:

1. Facilitate engagement with country and regional level offices to implement the WASH Insecurity Analysis (WIA) including:

2. Providing orientation and training on the WIA Process

3. Support country teams to plan country level workshops, including preparation of materials and presentations.
4. Updating processes for implementing the WIA at country levels to ensure simplicity and efficiency.

5. Writing narrative reports from country level analysis

6. Support systems and platforms to facilitate user and expert engagement, including:

7. Facilitating internal UNICEF Core Team meetings.

8. Organizing User and Methodology Reference Group meetings.

9. Overseeing processes to develop web presence, including data visualization with Frontier Data

10. Coordinate the development of the Modular and Tailored approaches.

11. Engage with subject matter experts to develop modules, including working with the Data Analyst on indicator selection, weighting, and calculation process to integrate with the Base Score.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

1. Develop a complete user guide including an overview of the meta-data, the calculation process, and a step-by-step process to implement the WIA at country level.

• 1 User Guide – By end of Month 2

2. Develop a report outlining modules and tailored approaches for future development.

• scoping report – By end of Month 3

3. Support systems and platforms to facilitate user and expert input.

• 3 meeting reports
• 1 report on user needs for data visualization – By end of Month 4

4. Supporting country level training and analysis.

• 1 Training package
• 5 Trainings
• 5 analysis reports – By end of Month 5

Qualifications

Education:

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in one of the following fields: public health, international development, public policy, or a related field.

Work experience:

• A minimum of [15] fifteen years of relevant professional experience in the WASH sector in humanitarian or fragile contexts, including at least [5] five years of experience in strategic positions at the global level.
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating the development composite indices is a requirement.
• Previous experience developing technical guidance and/or training materials.

Competencies:

• Fluency in English required. French or Spanish as a second language is an asset.
• Ability to coordinate remotely with team members and meet deadlines with minimal supervision.

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include/ reflect:
  • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • 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 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. Consultants 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.