International Consultancy Service to Conduct Situation Analysis (SitAn) of Children and Adolescents in Lesotho

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, education

The Situation Analysis (the SitAn) of children's rights and well-being is a flagship product designed to inform policy dialogue, partnerships, and interventions to improve the lives of children. It assesses and analyzes the country's situation concerning children's rights and critical issues affecting their realization. The SitAn is crucial to the child rights monitoring (CRM) framework. It represents a key UNICEF programmatic output that helps focus on knowledge gaps related to inequities and child deprivations. Furthermore, by promoting the broad engagement of all stakeholders, SitAn is expected to inform policy dialogue in the country and child-focused policy advocacy to make an essential contribution to accelerating the achievement of child-related goals with equity.

The SitAn reflects UNICEF's role to urge all levels of governments and all key stakeholders to use the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a guiding mechanism in policy making and legislation to:

• Develop a comprehensive national agenda.

• Develop permanent bodies or mechanisms to promote coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of activities throughout all government sectors.

• Ensure that all legislation is fully compatible with the Convention and, if applicable, the Optional Protocols by incorporating the provisions into domestic law or ensuring that they take precedence in cases of conflict with national legislation.

• Make children visible in policy development processes throughout the government by introducing child impact assessments.

• Analyze government spending to determine the portion of public funds spent on children and to ensure that these resources are being used effectively.

• Ensure that sufficient data are collected and used to improve the situation of all children in each jurisdiction.

• Raise awareness and disseminate information on the Convention and the Optional Protocols by providing training to all involved in government policy-making and working with or for children.

• Involve civil society – including children–in implementing and raising awareness of child rights.

Bearing in mind the findings of the 2011 Situation analysis of children and women in the Kingdom of Lesotho, as well as recommendations provided by the CRC (2014) and CRPD (2015), and conducted extensive consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including children, UNICEF and the Government of Lesotho agreed to adopt a Country Programme Document (CPD 2019-2023) with a budget of USD 52.4 million, that looks towards improving the lives of children in Lesotho through four critical outcomes of Child Survival and Development, Basic Education and Adolescent Development (BEADS), Child Protection, and Social Policy, all of which are supported by the cross-cutting Programme Effectiveness Outcome.

As we are approaching the new Country Programme cycle, there is a growing need to update the analysis and provide UNICEF and its partners with new and robust evidence on the situation of children and adolescents in the country, particularly the most vulnerable, to inform programme decisions and guide policy advocacy and partnership efforts, as well as to track the progress of child rights implementation.

UNICEF, its partners, and other stakeholders conducted several major pieces of research, studies, and evaluations that provided new evidence that could be used to strengthen and broaden data/information evidence on the situation of children and adolescents in the country.

Given the above, UNICEF Lesotho CO is seeking the services of an individual international consultant to develop the SitAn report using the available evidence while paying due consideration to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda, UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2018-2021, UNICEF Gender Action Plan 2018-2021, and the Lesotho National Strategic Development Plan II (2018-19 – 2022-23) and various global priorities.

How can you make a difference?

The main objectives of rights-based, equity-focused SitAn in Lesotho are the following:

▪ Develop a deep understanding of the situation of children and adolescents (including relevant groups of young people in particularly vulnerable situations) by analyzing the policies and strategies and social and economic trends affecting them (data disaggregated by age, gender, urban/rural, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and other relevant factors).

▪ Identify and analyze the barriers and bottlenecks that prevent children, especially the most disadvantaged children and families, from benefiting from social services across sectors and enjoying their rights.

▪ For result-based decision-making, provide national government partners with comprehensive equity-sensitive and evidence-based analysis of children and adolescents.

▪ Provide essential information to non-government partners (NGOs, community-based organizations, civil society, media, and business sector) to be used in their planning and interventions to address the most urgent issues affecting children and adolescents and contribute to the (re)formulation of vital national strategies so that the priorities for the most disadvantaged children and adolescents are integrated into the socio-economic development agenda.

▪ Identify critical data gaps and contribute to the generation of evidence that can improve the monitoring of the rights of children and adolescents, especially the most vulnerable groups

▪ Assess the current or potential presence of emergency risks (disaster risks and other potential shocks), the likelihood of their occurrence, the underlying vulnerabilities, and the capacities and coping mechanisms of families, communities, and local and national institutions.

▪ Analyze to what extent there is an enabling environment for the realization of the rights of all children and adolescents, and analyze how evidence-based interventions and services needed to address deprivations are prioritized in national policies, laws, strategies, plans, and budgets

▪ Capture new or emerging areas of concern regarding children and adolescents, such as environmental issues affecting them, mental health issues, etc.

▪ Analyze the role/impact of the business sector on child and adolescent rights fulfillment and public financial management.

The Situation Analysis is relevant to a broader audience, including government bodies, all development partners (including UNICEF), civil society, ombudspersons, children and adolescents, academia, private sector actors, media, and others. Developing the Situation Analysis, therefore, anticipates engagement with the government and key stakeholders, including children and young people. In addition, it serves as an opportunity to promote meaningful dialogue between the main child rights actors in the country on children's and adolescents' issues.

A total of 50 consultancy working days are estimated for this assignment with the following estimated share of days:

Tasks/Milestone:****Deliverables/Outputs:****Timeline (period/deadline****Payment structure (% of the total fee)▪ Inception Phase – a total of 14 working days▪ SitAn inception reportOctober 30th, 202220%▪ Data Collection Phase – a total of 10 working days▪ Preliminary report on key findings and conclusions; up to 30 pagesNovember 30th, 202210%▪ Analysis and Reporting Phase, including validation presentation – a total of 26 working day▪ Comprehensive SitAn information – for UNICEF's internal usage – up to 150 pagesFebruary 28th, 202330% ▪ Summary SitAn Report (Alpha SitAn) – 40 pagesApril 30th, 202340%

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s) in social sciences, international development, or related fields relevant to the assignment
• Work experienceRecognized institution/researcher with proven experience in public policy, social policy, and policy analysis, public finance, and child/human rights

• Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

  • Strong analytical skills – references to previous work or institutions

  • Excellent knowledge of statistics, social service systems, development agenda

  • Previous experience with UNICEF is an advantage.

  • At least five years of relevant experience in the development of analytical reports and policy documents related to children and adolescents;

  • Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, policy (and finance) analysis (including experience in the consistent use of age and sex-disaggregated and gender-sensitive data), and report preparation;

  • Knowledge of human rights-based approach to programming

  • Experience in facilitating consultations with government representatives, NGOs, academia, children, adolescents, and other stakeholders.

• Language:
• Fluency in English

For detailed terms of reference click here: Sitan Tor HR 280922.pdf

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should submit an online application through the Talent Management System (TMS) that consists as a minimum of the following:

-TMS Profile/ Curriculum Vitae

-Financial proposal must be ‘all inclusive’ of all expenses related to the assignment

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.