Individual contractor- Social Policy, UNICEF Regional Office For South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 months

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Monday 21 Nov 2022 at 18:10 UTC

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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, a future

How can you make a difference?

The South Asia region, home to over 26% of the world’s children, carries a disproportionate share of deprivations for its children, including malnutrition, lack of access to learning and skills, and harmful practices such as child marriage. In addition to those longstanding deprivations, the impact of COVID-19 and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis has been devastating. Decades of development gains in children’s health, nutrition, education, and protection are at risk of being wiped out. Social protection can have a stabilizing effect in this context and prevent shock-induced poverty and inequality. However, coverage of social protection systems is riddled with gaps, with vulnerable segments—children, women, people with disability, and youths, especially from informal sectors and marginalized communities, falling through the cracks.

While COVID-19 and the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine have amplified challenges in South Asia, social protection systems and governance strengthening efforts have acquired a certain degree of momentum in many countries in the region. These covariate shocks have led governments to prioritize establishing mechanisms and initiating reforms that enable quick identification and delivery of cash and other support. However, the protracted crisis has significantly constrained capacities at a time when along with system strengthening, there is also a need for greater support to households as their purchasing power depletes with high levels of inflation across the region.

UNICEF at all levels has committed itself to supporting governments amid these challenges to achieve inclusive, resilient, and equitable social protection, including through analysis, evidence-based advocacy, technical support, and capacity-building support governments. UNICEF RO in South Asia is therefore seeking the services of an expert in the area of social protection to provide technical support to the Regional Office (RO) and the Country Offices (COs) to identify policy windows, generate dialogues, and leverage evidence-based to strengthen systems and expand coverage.

Purpose:

It is expected that the contractor will provide technical support to work towards strengthening inclusive social protection systems and expanding coverage of social protection in the region: • Support social protection for regional-level evidence generation and advocacy strategies and capacity building for inclusive and equitable social protection systems and coverage. • Provide assistance in preparation for, delivery, and follow-up of regional events and scanning the horizon in terms of evidence and networking opportunities for ROSA’s region-wide Leadership in Evidence and Child-focused Advocacy initiative.

Key Assignments/Tasks:

  1. Technical assistance in social protection in SAR.
  • Support in the regional mapping of social protection responses to the COVID-19, cost-of-living crisis, and climate-induced crisis, conduct background research on social protection and shock responsiveness, as well as liaise with Social Policy country teams.
  • Assistance with social protection policy and planning documents, review reports and knowledge documents, and support to COs in these areas.
  • Maintain inventory of relevant research on social protection and various cross-sectoral collaboration with an emergency, nutrition, SBC, etc. in the region. Liaise with communications and support to update and maintain the Social Policy website and SharePoint.
  1. Technical support for cross-sectoral collaboration on social protection, with a special focus on nutrition, gender, and social behavioral change.
  • Coordinate with SBC and support the joint perception study of social protection in shocks in South Asia since Covid-19 and its role in strengthening social cohesion.
  • Support in finalizing case studies on nutrition-sensitive social protection, following up progress on the commitments of gender-responsive social protection, and shock-responsive social protection workshop.
  • Support disability-inclusive social protection across the SA countries, furthering the agenda through research and advocacy.
  1. Capacity building and advocacy
  • Support the organization of key regional events and capacity building within the region. Report documenting regional engagements in social protection.
  • Identify and liaise with strategic regional partners (institutions/individuals) working on social protection for potential engagement, including internal knowledge sharing and dialogues, with a focus on the regional mega-trends such as climate change, food security, demographic dividend, and urbanization, among others.
  • Support ROSA’s region-wide initiatives on youth engagement and advocacy.
  1. Technical support on shock-responsive social protection about COVID-19, climate-related, and other covariate shocks.
  • Support in consolidating evidence and learnings on regional COVID-19 response and advances in strengthening the shock-responsiveness of social protection systems in the region since the pandemic.
  • Support in identifying climate-related shocks responsiveness of social protection systems, working together with other partners.
  • Support in preparing regional briefs and knowledge products on shock-responsiveness of social protection measures to climate-induced crises/disasters and other covariate shocks to inform regional efforts.

Key function/day-to-day activities:

  1. Provide technical advice in social protection, including undertaking research, drafting briefs, and supporting country programming goals.
  2. Cross-sectoral coordination to advance regional efforts on social protection with nutrition, gender, and SBC among others. Support in setting priorities and liaise with COs.
  3. Support capacity building for RO, COs, management, and government partners

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

Education:

Advanced university degree in Development Studies, Public Policy, Public Administration, and/or related field.

Work Experience:

  1. Minimum of 3 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in consultancy, research, teaching/training, policy analysis, and development on social protection and/or broader social policy issues.
  2. Specific experience in social protection, including research and policy analysis, and prior experience in planning and organizing workshops and meetings.
  3. Specific experience in regional social protection issues will be considered an asset.
  4. Experiences in low and lower-middle-income countries will be highly preferred.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

Competencies:

Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)

Works Collaboratively with others (1)

Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)

Innovates and Embraces Change (1)

Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)

Drive to achieve impactful results (1)

Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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 afterward 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.

Working Condition: Work from the ROSA Office

Duration: 1 December 2022 – 31 October 2023

Please quote your all-inclusive daily rate (USD) and other cost estimates while applying. Application without daily rate, etc. will not be entertained.

Only Nepali citizens are eligible to apply.

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, program 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.

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