Individual Consultants for Costing Exercise of the National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN) for the period of 2021-2025, Viet Nam

Consultant Programme & Policy

Contract

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For every child, nutrition

Background:

Viet Nam has achieved great results in reducing stunting from 29.3 per cent in 2010 to 19.6 per cent in 2019[1]. This achievement is attributed by the strong political commitment and leadership of the Government, and effective implementation of the strategies and action plans on nutrition by relevant line ministries at national and provincial levels to address multiple causes of malnutrition. However, there are still considerable disparities in child stunting prevalence by regions, provinces and among ethnic minority groups. For example, the stunting rate in Northern Mountains is still very high at 37.4 per cent and Central Highlands at 29 per cent. The same trend is noted between Kinh majority (17 per cent) and ethnic minorities (32 per cent)[2].

Nutrition is key to improving a child’s optimal cognitive and physical development and the stature of Vietnamese people. Therefore, investment in healthier and well-nourished generation is attributable to productivity and economic growth. Global evidence has shown that the return on investment in nutrition is very high. For example, on average, every dollar invested in stunting reduction will bring economic benefits of 18 USD. Viet Nam will be one of the countries with high rates of returns among the group of 34 countries that participated in this study, with an economic return of 48 USD for every US dollar invested in nutritional intervention package[3].

Viet Nam’s 2021-2025 National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN) is a great venue to advocate for strategically planning and allocating resources (both financial and human resources) for nutrition interventions on annual and five-year bases. The inadequate costing of nutrition-sensitive interventions makes it difficult to track the contributions of other sectors to nutrition programmes. Therefore, there is an urgent and critical need for undertaking a costing exercise of the NPAN (2021-2025) which will include nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive, and governance actions. The costing focuses specifically on estimating the costs of nutrition-sensitive interventions. Cost estimation should provide the real cost of implementing the entire plan to achieve the stated nutrition goals in the 2021-2025 NPAN. This costing exercise is part of the approved joint programme funded under the Joint SDG Fund to supporting Viet Nam towards the 2030 integrated finance strategy for accelerating the achievement of the SDGs.

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[1] National Institute for Nutrition (2020). Data from 2019 survey on nutrition

[2] ibid

[3] The World Bank (2019). Persistent Malnutrition in Ethnic Minority Community in Viet Nam

Purpose, Objectives and Audiences:

The consultancy will support UNICEF Viet Nam and the Ministry of Health (the National Institute for Nutrition – NIN) and the Nutrition Technical Working Group to undertake the costing exercise of the 2021-25 NPAN with the ultimate goal to make better investments in nutrition by the government and all stakeholders and to track the commitment and financial contributions of relevant ministries and stakeholders towards the reduction of stunting in Viet Nam.

Following are the specific objectives of the exercise:

- To review the expenditures of all nutrition interventions and activities under 2017-20 NPAN

- To estimate the required budget for all nutrition interventions and activities of the 2021-25 NPAN and provide options for allocation and mobilization of the required funds.

The key audiences of this assignment will be the MOH and other key members of the nutrition partnership group, including UNICEF.

Scope and methodology:

Scope: This assignment will be based on the performance of the 2017-2020 and key factors influencing its planned and actual budget, financing and disbursement, to provide an estimation and options for financing the new NPAN 2021-2025. The study will look at its performance from the national and subnational perspectives, in consultation with a range of stakeholders including independent nutrition experts.

Key tasks:

1/ Overview of expenditures for activities and interventions related to NPAN (2017-20)

- Overview of operational expenditures related to nutrition programmes in the period (2017-2020).

- Analysis of the total expenditures of activities and interventions related to nutrition programmes (2017-20) according to the structure/classification of expenditures namely (contributions of ministries, sectors, agencies and organizations, etc.) and groups of activities: nutrition specific activities and nutrition sensitive activities.

- Assessment of budget allocation and expenditures of the implementation of the 2017-2020 NPAN by comparing the planned targets with the actual results achieved by end of 2020.

- Analysis of gaps, weaknesses, key factors and challenges and guidance on resource allocation and expenditures.

2/ Estimation of the required budgets for the activities of NPAN (2021-25):

- Estimation of financial resources required for each activity under the relevant outputs of the 2021-25 NPAN, including estimation of costs based on different groups of priority programmes with a focus on two groups namely:

+ Nutrition specific activities (infant and young child feeding, micronutrient supplementation, nutrition interventions for communicable diseases, nutrition counselling, integrated management of acute malnutrition; control of overweight and obesity/other non-communicable diseases, breastfeeding promotion, deworming, etc.).

+ Nutrition-sensitive activities (nutrition education, food security, food safety, family planning, malaria prevention, etc.).

+ Design different scenarios for the government contributions (ministries, organizations at all levels (central and local) to ensure the budget required for implementing activities of NPAN 2021-2025 include national programs, targeted programs related nutrition programs or funds/resources raised from relevant stakeholders at central and provincial levels.

3/ Design of different scenarios for the government contributions (ministries, organizations at all levels (central and local) to ensure the budget required for implementing activities of 2021-25 NPAN include national programs, targeted programs related nutrition programs or funds/resources raised from relevant stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.

Methodology: This exercise will employ both qualitative and quantitative methods. Specifically, it will involve data collection and desk reviews and analysis to understand how and how much state budgets were spent on nutrition over the past years and develop an overview of expenditures for activities and interventions related to NPAN (2017-20). In addition, the research team is also expected to conduct interviews with key informants at both national and sub-national levels, especially to capture the perspectives of key sectors including education, social affairs, water and sanitation, etc. to fill data gaps. It is suggested that sub-national stakeholders will be selected to reflect comprehensive views of both rural and urban settings about the double burden of nutrition (stunting and overweight/obesity). However, depending on COVID-19 situation, on-line or off-line interviews will be planned.

Tasks, deliverables and timelines:

- Develop an inception report with clear methodology and technical approach, a costing analysis plan and a timeline, including an overview of expenditures for activities related to nutrition programs during the period of 2016-20 and division of labour among the team.

Submission of an inception report with a costing analysis plan which includes data sets and reports on expenditures for activities related to 2017-20 NPAN. This is expected to include total and structural expenditures of the ministries of health and line ministries involved in the implementation of the Plan.

20 days.

- Estimate costs for the 5 years for all nutrition related activities and interventions for the period of 2021-25.

Available report on the estimated costs of 2021-25 NPAN with different scenarios including estimated total cost of scaling up nutrition and prioritizing interventions based on different levels of support (government budgets and donor support).

Availability of a mechanism/database to track the shared contributions of different relevant sectors and stakeholders to the total costs of the NPAN which can be periodically adjusted.

28 days.

- Presentation of the cost estimation of the NPAN at the advocacy meetings; Final report and policy brief.

Available presentation on the cost estimation of the NPAN, including all assumptions, gaps and recommendations for further improvements (including the methodology for data collection, calculation as well as initial assessment of cost-effectiveness or value for money).

Submission of a summary report and a manuscript of the costing methodology and findings.

4 days.

Total: 52 days.

Management and Reporting:

The assignment will be undertaken under the supervision of the Chiefs of Child Survival and Development and Social Policy and Governance Programme (SPG) with the support of the Nutrition and Social Policy and Governance Specialists. UNICEF Viet Nam’s focal point will ensure that the consultants will consult and capture the inputs from all relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Health’s respective departments and agencies (Maternal and Child Health Department and National Institute for Nutrition).

Performance indicators for evaluation:

- Quality of deliverables meet the standards set by UNICEF and specifications outlined in the contract.

- Deliverables are submitted in a timely manner as indicated in the contract.

- Technical assistance delivered in a contextualized and tactful manner, drawing on the inputs of the partners.

- Performance evaluation will be completed at the end of the assignment.

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

In view of the purpose, scope, focus of the costing work, UNICEF is looking for a qualified individual consultant as a lead consultant for this exercise. This lead consultant is responsible for proposing two member consultants to support him/her throughout the exercise.

Qualification/Specialized Knowledge and Experience:

Team Leader:

- Must hold at least a Master’s Degree in related field (Public Administration, Economics, preferably health economics, or any other related field);

- At least 10 years of recognized experience in conducting or managing/leading costing exercise, research or review of development programmes, and experience as team leader of research team and as main writer of research reports;

- At least 10 years of experience providing professional advice in the area of public administration, public health, socio-economic planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluation.

- Excellent knowledge and understanding of the country’s political context and PFM structure.

- Excellent research and analytical skills and experience, especially in facilitating key informant interviews and focused groups discussions with various groups of stakeholders.

- Excellent communication and facilitation skills and ability to manage diversity of views in different contexts, especially in the finalization of research reports.

- Language: Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English.

Team Members:

- Must hold at least a Master’s Degree in relevant social science field (Public Administration, Public Policy, Economics, etc.);

- Minimum 5 years of experience providing professional advice in the area of public/health financing and socio-economic planning, budgeting, implementing and evaluation.

- Proven experience and skills on research, especially in facilitating key informant interviews and focused groups discussions with various groups of stakeholders; data collection and processing, data analysis and production of analytical research reports for different international development agencies preferably UN system in the field of health financing.

- Demonstrated familiarity with the Vietnamese social, economic and political contexts as well as PFM structure;

- Language: Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English and Vietnamese.

Assessment criteria:

For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment:

a) Technical Qualification (max. 100 points) weight 70 %:

- Qualifications and Experience (35 points)

- Knowledge, Skills and competencies (55 points)

- Languages (10 points)

b) Financial Proposal (max. 100 points) weight 30 %

The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 70 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview [if needed.]

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to the assigned requisition in UNICEF Vacancies: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

1. Letter of interest and confirmation of availability;
2. Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably less than 2 pages);
3. Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available);
4. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, travel and accommodation cost for this assignment as per work assignment.
5. CV/P11 form (UN Personal History Form) P 11 form.doc

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.

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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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

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Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org