Individual Contractor, Social Policy, LAC Regional Office, Panama City, Panama (11.5 months)

Consultant Programme & Policy

Overview

Provide technical support for social policy programming in LAC region

You have:

• A Bachelor’s university degree in Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or a relevant technical field is required.
• A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required.
• Experience working in a developing country is required.
• Experience in the public sector is considered a strong asset.
• Previous experience in Social Policy or related fields in the UN or UNICEF is a strong advantage.
• Relevant experience in the LAC Region is a strong asset.
• Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered a strong asset.
• Professional technical knowledge and expertise in social protection in emergencies, local governance, and child poverty measurement is considered a strong asset.
• Extensive knowledge of UNICEF programme and management processes is considered a strong asset.
• Proficiency in Spanish and English is required.
• Knowledge of French or Portuguese will be considered an asset.
• Demonstrated excellent writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and independently.
• Ability to work efficiently under tight deadlines.
• Must be detail-oriented and intellectually curious.
• Able to work effectively in a multicultural and multisectoral environment.
• Sets high levels of quality and productivity for self.
• Ability to clearly define objectives and plan activities.
• Demonstrated experience on UNICEF will be an asset.

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices.

UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children.

For information of the work of our organization in the LAC Region, please visit our website: UNICEF LAC Region

For every child, hope

Purpose of the Job

Under the general guidance of the Regional Social Policy Adviser, the Regional Social Policy Individual Contractor is accountable for providing technical support and assistance in all stages of social policy programming, from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results and support to policy dialogue processes. This includes programmes aimed at improving (a) public policies to reduce child poverty; (b) social protection coverage and impact on children; (c) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and financial management; and (d) governance, decentralization and accountability measures to increase public participation and the quality, equity and coverage of social services. This encompasses both direct programme work with government and civil society partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on education, emergencies health, child protection, water and sanitation, and HIV. It also entails supporting the Social Policy Unit with LACRO’s internal processes.

How can you make a difference?

Specific Tasks

1. Improving data on child poverty & vulnerability for increased use for policy and programme action

• Supports the collection, analysis and user-friendly presentation of data on multidimensional and monetary child poverty, including strengthening national capacity to collect routinely, report and use data for policy decision-making.

• Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives to reduce child poverty.

• Analyzes the macroeconomic context and its impact on social development, emerging issues and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effect of social welfare policies on the rights of children

2. Strengthening social protection coverage and impact for children

• Supports the development of social protection policies, legislation and programmes with attention to increasing coverage of and impact on children, with special attention the most marginalized. Identifies, generates and presents evidence to support this goal in collaboration with partners.

• Supports strengthening of integrated social protection systems, providing technical support to partners to improve the design of cash transfers and child grants and improve linkages with other social protection interventions such as health insurance, public works and social care services as well as complementary services and intervention related to nutrition, health, education, water and sanitation, child protection and HIV.

• Supports improved monitoring and research around social protection impact on child outcomes, and use of data and research findings for strengthening programme results.

3. Improving use of public financial resources for children

• Undertakes budget analysis to inform UNICEF’s advocacy and technical assistance to Ministries of Finance, planning commissions and social sector ministries to improve equitable allocations for essential services for children. Works with sector colleagues to build capacity to undertake costing and cost effectiveness analysis on priority interventions to help inform policy decisions on child-focused investments.

• Supports the identification of policy options for improved domestic financing of child-sensitive social protection interventions.

• Undertakes and builds capacity of partners for improved monitoring and tracking of public expenditure to support transparency, accountability and effective financial flows for essential service delivery, including through support to district level planning, budgeting and public financial management as well as facilitating community participation

4. Strengthening capacity of local governments to plan, budget, consult on and monitor child-focused social services.

• Where national decentralization processes are taking place, collaborates with central and local authorities to improve policies, planning, budgeting, consultation and accountability processes so that decisions and child-focused service delivery more closely respond to the needs of local communities.

• Collaborates with the central and local authorities to strengthen capacity on quality data collection, analysis for policy development, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring of essential social services, with emphasis on community participation and accountability.

5. Strengthened advocacy and partnerships for child-sensitive social policy

• Supports correct and compelling use of data and evidence on the situation of children and coverage and impact of child focused services – in support of the social policy programme and the country programme overall.

• Establishes effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.

6. UNICEF Programme Management

• Helps manage and coordinate technical support around child poverty, social protection, public finance and governance ensuring it is well planned, monitored, and implemented in a timely fashion so as to adequately support scale-up and delivery. Ensures risk analysis and risk mitigation are embedded into overall management of the support, in close consultation with UNICEF programme sections, Cooperating Partners, and governments.

• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme. Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.

Expected Results

1. Organization of the Social Policy Network meeting in 2023, a 4-day meeting with the participation of Social Policy Officers in the region, touching upon the four areas of social policy portfolio, combining internal and external speakers.

2. Management of the section’s ongoing contracts: - Diagramacion de Nota de Cuidados - Traduccion de Resumen Ejecutivo de Nota de Cuidados - Casos de estudio sobre proteccion social reactiva a emergencias - Estudio sobre financiamiento de proteccion social en emergencias

3. Inputs to the following processes: - Emergency Preparedness Platform submissions - Results Assessment Module submissions - Country Strategic Indicators submissions

4. Contributions to the SPU’s analytical work during 2022 and 2023

Deliverables

A monthly activity report at the end of each month for the duration of the consultancy.

Contributions to the SPU’s knowledge management strategy (newsletter, social media messages, network surveys, etc)

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… Education: A Bachelor’s university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Science, or another relevant technical field. Work Experience: - A minimum of five years of relevant professional work experience is required. - Experience working in a developing country is required. - Experience working in the public sector is considered as a strong asset. - Candidates with previous experience in Social Policy or related fields in the UN, UNICEF will have a strong advantage. - Relevant experience in the LAC Region is a strong asset. - Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as a strong asset. - Professional technical knowledge and expertise in social protection in emergencies, local governance and child poverty measurement is considered as a strong asset. - Extensive knowledge of UNICEF programme and management processes is considered as a strong asset.

Language: Proficiency in Spanish and English is required. Knowledge of French or Portuguese will be considered an asset.

Others Skills and Attributes: - Demonstrated excellent writing skill. - Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and independently. - Ability to work efficiently under tight deadlines. - Must be detail-oriented and intellectually curious. - Able to work effectively in a multicultural and multisectoral environment. - Sets high levels of quality and productivity for self… - Ability to clearly defined objectives and plan activities. - Demonstrated experience on UNICEF will be an asset.

Supervision: The contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Social Policy Regional Adviser and in close collaboration with the Social Policy colleagues.

Workplace: This is a remote, home-based consultancy.

Duration: This consultancy has an expected duration of 11.5 months, and an estimated start date on 17 October 2022.

How to Apply: Application should be submitted online and should include Resume, Cover Letter and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily, monthly and total fees in their financial proposal.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and the following core competencies: Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness, Works Collaboratively with others, Builds and Maintains Partnerships, Innovates and Embraces Change, Thinks and Acts Strategically, Drive to achieve impactful results, and Manages ambiguity and complexity.

To view our values and competency framework please visit the following links: Our Values and Our 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 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.

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Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org