Individual consultancy : Advocacy Paper on “Investing in Social Protection to reduce child labor and improve child well-being in Mica villages in the South of Madagascar”, Antananarivo, Mada

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1. CONTEXT

According to the latest analysis carried out by UNICEF, more than four out of five children (82.9%) in Madagascar suffer from monetary poverty and more than two out of three children (67.6%) are multidimensionally poor, meaning that they suffer from material deprivations in at least two different dimensions of well-being.[1] In the three Southern regions of Anosy, Androy and Ihorombe, 1.2 million children live below the national poverty line, with 80% of them suffering from multidimensional poverty and over 30% living in extreme multidimensional poverty according to the MODA analysis (2020).

Approximately half of Malagasy children are impacted by child labor with 32% of children engaged in dangerous working conditions. In the mining sector alone, an estimated 10,800 children as young as five years old work alongside their families to sort and extract mica. Of the 201 known deposits in the country, 176 are located in the south and they are found in three regions: Ihorombe in the North (16 deposits); Androy in the West (34 deposits); and Anosy in the East (123 deposits).

Pervasive, intergenerational poverty is one major driving factor for familial reliance on mica mining and contributes to poor educational and health outcomes for children in these regions compared to their peers nationally. Children further have limited social protections, with only six in 100 children covered by mechanisms such as periodic cash transfers. As a result, families regularly do not earn enough income to afford three meals per day, leaving them to rely on subsistence, rain-fed agriculture for survival. Lack of nutritional access leads to long-term developmental consequences, including stunting and wasting, which, if untreated, may cause irreversible damage to children's bodies and brains. Research has further linked lack of protective equipment and exploitative conditions to additional health concerns in workers such as chronic headaches as well as respiratory and eye issues from exposure to mica dust particles. In addition, in the mica provinces, roughly a third of the children only finish primary school whereas three in four children nationally go on to finish primary education.

Despite the multiple deprivation faced by children living in mica communes, the social protection programme has a very limited coverage. Only 3% of Malagasy children are beneficiaries of the national safety net programme. In the mica regions this percentage varies from 27% in Androy, 5% in Anosy and 0% in Ihorombe in 2020. According to the National Social Protection Strategy (2019-2023), the Government aims at tripling the coverage of the social protection system by 2023, however so far very limited domestic and international funds have been mobilized to achieve this objective. International evidence and simulations made by UNICEF (2021[2]) suggests that social protection is an efficient investment to support child well-being as it contributes to improve education, nutrition, health and protection outcomes, particularly when complemented by sector specific interventions aimed at strengthening the supply side of the different services. In addition, evidence from the ongoing social protection programme in the South of Madagascar proves that this programme is effective in increasing child enrolment (+29 percent) and reducing child labour[3] (-4 percent).

UNICEF in consortium with UNDP, Terres des Hommes and Responsible Mica Initiative, has received two grants (one from RVO and one from USDOL) to implement a multisectoral programme in selected mica villages in the Anosy region. As part of this multisectoral programme, UNICEF will implement a Universal Child Benefit (UCB) to all children and an equal opportunity grant for children with severe disabilities living in selected villages in mica provinces tentatively from end 2021 to the end of 2024. This is a geographical scale up of the existing national safety nets programme of the Government. This social protection programme is complemented by specific sector interventions in education, nutrition and child protection as well as technical assistance to strengthen the mica supply chain. This is an important step to expand the social protection programme to address the specific risks related to child labour and children exploitation in mica villages.

The programme remains however geographically limited, only 3-4 mica deposits over the 176 existing in the South of Madagascar will be covered. UNICEF Madagascar aims ad elaborating an advocacy paper to increase both domestic and international investments in social protection in mica communes in the coming years in order to contribute to protect children, reduce child labor and promote better outcomes in schooling, health and nutrition. The findings of the paper will also apply to other types of mines in Madagascar, given the similar context and risks for children.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The consultant will prepare and advocacy paper to contribute to resources mobilization to expand the social protection programmes in mica provinces. The audience of the paper will include specifically international donors, the private sector working on the mica supply chain and the Government of Madagascar.

How can you make a difference?

1. SPECIFIC TASKS AND METODOLOGY

The work will be based mostly on literature review and use of existing data and statistics on social protection programmes in Madagascar and if needed in the Africa region. The consultant will also conduct a field mission in mica villages in the South of Madagascar (about 10 days of filed work) to collect primary data and human-interest stories from children and their households.

Literature review and data analysis will rely among other on the existing documents and datasets:

• Impact evaluations reports of the various social protection programmes (FIAVOTA, TMDH, LUL, ACTP[1]). Mid-line reports are available, end-line research is currently conducted for the LUL and some preliminary findings might be available during the consultancy
• Completed and ongoing studies on social protection, including: i) the programmatic review to increase the inclusiveness of the national safety nets programme, ii) the gender review of social protection programmes.
• A report prepared by Terres des Hommes in 2019 on child labour in Madagascar’s mica sector[2]
• Baseline survey that will be conducted for the impact evaluation of the joint mica programme in Tranomaro in June 2021 (data might be exploited from August 2021 -This will be confirmed)
• Baseline data and qualitative surveys that will be conducted for the UCB programme in other locations in the Amboasary district in April-June 2021(some data will be available from July)
• Baseline survey that will be conducted under the RVO funding by Terres des Hommes in selected mica communes in July 2021 (TBC)
• Database of beneficiaries of the UCB programme in mica communes as well as in other communes if needed

All the documents mentioned above will be provided to the consultant by UNICEF Madagascar Country Office.

In addition to the existing documents and database it is expected that the consultant will travel in the mica villages to gather additional information and evidence as well as human interest stories and photos to be included in the report. A local expert provided by UNICEF will travel in the field with the consultant to facilitate translation in the local language. During field work the consultant will respect COVID-19 protection measures, avoiding large gathering of people (more than 50), maintaining necessary social distancing and when/if required providing negative PCR tests for national and international travels. The consultant will also respect UNICEF ethical research standards[3].

2. DELIVERABLES

The following deliverables are expected from this consultancy:

• An inception report. The inception report is due 2 weeks after the signature of the contract. It will detail the methodology, timeline and outline of the proposed report (15% of total fees).
• A draft advocacy paper on “Investing in Social Protection to reduce child labor and improve child well-being in Mica villages in the South of Madagascar” and a PowerPoint presentation to be discussed with various national and international stakeholders (50% of total fees). This is due 10 weeks after the signature of the contract.
• A final advocacy paper on “Investing in Social Protection to reduce child labor and improve child well-being in Mica villages in the South of Madagascar” associated with a 4-5 pages brief and a revised PowerPoint presentation to be discussed with various national and international stakeholders (35% of total fees). This advocacy paper will be presented by the consultant during a national workshop that will be organized by UNICEF in October 2021. The advocacy paper and presentation are due 15 weeks after the signature of the contract.

The consultancy will require 35 days (7 weeks) over a period of three months and half (15 weeks).

The paper targets a non-technical social protection audience. The advocacy messages should be based on sound evidence and expected measurable results, they have to be expressed in clear terms and adapted to a non-technical audience and will be accompanied by a video/photo reportage. The paper will be around 30 pages plus annexes, a short policy brief of 4-5 pages will also be prepared by the consultant. UNICEF will recruit a separate video producer to accompany the consultant in the field and make video and photo reportage.

The consultant will prepare the report in English, it will be translated in French and Malagasy by the Madagascar UNICEF country office. Power Point presentation should be prepared both in English and French by the consultant for presentation with local and international stakeholders.

[1] Those are the main national social protection programmes in the country: FIAVOTA/TMDH/LUL are conditional cash transfer linked to education enrollment in primary (FIAVOTA/TMDH) and secondary (LUL) and ACTP is a productive safety nets programme.

[2] Child Labour in Madagascar’s mica sector, Impact of the mica supply chain on children’s rights from the Malagasy mines to the international product line, SOMO, Terres des Hommes, November 2019

[3] Letterhead English (unicef.org)

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

• Advanced degrees (Master or PhD) in economics or social sciences
• Senior Social Protection Specialist with minimum 15 years of professional experience, particularly in Africa.
• Excellent English and French written and oral.
• Excellent writing skills proven by previous publications targeting technical and non-technical audience.
• Analytical skills (use of Stata and SPSS to exploit large survey data).

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.

UNICEF 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.

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.