Individual Consultant (International) to Assess the shock responsive readiness of the social protection system, UNICEF State of Palestine

Contract

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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, Resilience

UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access services and protection, from early childhood through to adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. We are working for every child and young person in the State of Palestine.

In line with UNICEF's strategic objective to support national government partners to develop and strengthen social protection systems to address needs in crisis contexts, the UNICEF State of Palestine Country Office (CO) has been working closely with the Ministry of Social Development (MOSD) over the programme cycle to support the strengthening of the national social protection system. In 2020 as part of the response to the devastating socio-economic consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CO initiated a cash transfer pilot as a top-up on the National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) which supported 687 vulnerable households who were severely affected by this shock. This experience highlighted the limitations of the social protection system to respond to humanitarian needs in an efficient and effective manner and the need to enhance the risk informed components of the system to enhance its responsiveness to shocks. More recently UNICEF’s humanitarian response in Gaza in May 2021 further reinforced the need to invest in strengthening the shock responsiveness of the social protection system in Palestine. To this end, UNICEF plans to embark on a process to assess the readiness of the existing social protection system in order to develop and operationalize a capacity building plan to better guide efforts to risk inform and strengthen the shock responsiveness of the national social protection system

How can you make a difference

1. Lead a consultative process to develop a shock responsive social protection capacity building plan, focusing on the four dimensions of UNICEF social protection systems’ framework (see points 2-5 in figure 1) and clearly outlining the role of the key stakeholders, including UNICEF. The process must include the following:

• Assess the political, technical, operational and financial feasibility, or ‘readiness’, of the National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) to maintain and scale up cash assistance to people affected by the covariate shocks (including escalation of violence and conflicts and climate change).
• Develop a capacity building plan for the integration of Shock Responsive Social Protection into the NCTP, through mapping and comparison of (appropriate and feasible) options for social protection responses to an escalation of violence or conflicts across the State of Palestine.
• Identify opportunities and challenges for developing or supporting a ‘cash plus’ approach[1] in the social cash transfer programming to better impact on children in emergency contexts.
• Based on various social protection initiatives ongoing, identify gaps and opportunities for synergy and complementarity to better support the national social system strengthening

2. Assess the capacity, or ‘readiness’ of the UNICEF CO to provide technical and operational support to relevant government authorities to design and implement cash transfer programmes in response to future crises.

[1] Complementary programming where cash transfer programmes (conditional or unconditional) are combined with other modalities or activities. UNICEF uses this approach and terminology to refer to one-off or regular cash grants that link with complementary services and/or activities. Examples include unrestricted cash grants linked to school attendance or to referrals to specific services.

MAIN TASKS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

Final Deliverables

• Report of the Shock Responsive Social Protection Readiness Assessment, including the completed questionnaire.
• Shock Responsive Social Protection Readiness Assessment capacity building plan.

Given that this work is to serve the capacity development of the national system, these deliverables will be required to be translated into Arabic following the work undertaken by the consultant, for consultation with national stakeholders. The translation will be undertaken by the Country Office and not the consultant. As such Arabic is a distinct advantage to undertake this work.

Process Weekly debrief on work progress with the key findings, challenges, and bottlenecks to the supervisor.

• Timely delivery of draft and final report according to the schedule agreed upon in the format provided in the user guide.
• A PPT summarizing the assessment process, findings, and the proposed capacity building plan.
• Based upon on the key findings a national shock responsiveness capacity plan is developed with an estimated budget.
• Key results and recommendations of the assessment are presented to the government and social protection actors to secure stakeholder's buy-in.
• Satisfactory quality of the final report.

METHODOLOGY AND DELIVERABLES: Please refer to the ToR attached

Deliverables and timelines: Please refer to the ToR attached TOR SRSP Readiness Assessment.pdf

Recourse:

UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines. The deliverables will remain the copyright of UNICEF.

The consultant must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

ESTIMATED DURATION OF CONTRACT AND TENTATIVE DATES

Duration: 27 working days (January to February 2022)

COSTS AND TERMS OF PAYMENT

The consultancy will be paid for 27 working days.

Candidates should submit a financial proposal for the assignment in USD, outlining all-inclusive fees (including professional fees, other professional expenses, insurance etc.).

The agreed fee will be paid to the consultant in 2 installments on receipt of the agreed deliverables as below:

• Payment 1 – Assessment Plan and Inception Report: 30%
• Payment 2 – Upon completion of the final deliverable to a level accepted by UNICEF: 70%

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

• Master’s degree in Economics, International Development, Social Policy, or other relevant disciplines. Bachelor's degree can be considered with additional professional experience in the areas of social protection and humanitarian cash transfer programming.
• 7 years of relevant work experience in designing and/or implementing cash transfers, especially as a part of the social protection system development and/or strengthening process.
• Demonstrated experience in strengthening the linkages between humanitarian cash transfer and social protection in line with the approach to strengthen humanitarian-development & peace nexus.
• Prior experience in supporting governments to embark on a cash transfer based social protection response will be advantageous.
• Understanding of inclusive and child-sensitive social protection concepts, and practices, including cash plus approaches.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting similar assessments, feasibility studies, research and analysis.
• Excellent writing, and communication skills.
• Familiarity with international norms and standards for humanitarian action.
• Previous experience in carrying out social protection shock responsiveness assessment, using the UNICEF readiness assessment tool is an asset
• Familiarity with the work of the United Nations is an asset
• Fluency in verbal and written English is required, and fluency in Arabic is highly desirable.

The terms of reference is attached for more information.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.