International Consultancy to facilitate Mali's Country Programme Planning Process (90 days - Home based)

Consultant Programme & Policy Monitoring & Evaluation

Overview

Facilitate Mali's Country Programme Planning Process

You have:

• An advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in social sciences, programme management, Demography, Economy or other relevant disciplines, with specialized training in areas such as social statistics, planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience and proven expertise with planning and development, including strong understanding of UN’s relevant Programming Guidelines on UNSDCF process, Gender Equality, Human Rights Based Programming (HRBP) approach, Capacity Development, Environmental Sustainability and Rights Results Based Management (RRBM).
• Strong writing and analytical skills for quality report writing (sample of a recent analytical report will be requested).
• UNICEF experience in CPP Development required, UN Senior management an added advantage.
• Strong presentation and communication skills in French and English (fluency required).
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective relationships with national partners.
• Demonstrated leadership, coordination, and facilitation skills.
• Previous experience in facilitating meetings with large number of participants, including experience virtual facilitating of meetings.
• Familiarity with integrated programme design is required.
• Previous experience in linking CPD with the new UNSDCF will be a definite asset.

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, Hope

UNICEF continue to work with the Government and the National Transitional Council to fulfil its mandate to protect the rights of all children and adolescents. Through the 2020-2024 Country Programme of Cooperation, in partnership with a wide range of UN, multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental and civil society organisations, UNICEF is following a life-cycle approach, with a focus on children at different stages of both decades of their childhood. The aim is to deliver a mutually agreed integrated interventions that leaves no vulnerable and hard-to-reach children behind and assists Mali to meet its national and international commitments to its children. This means building a continuum of support to ensure a child's full development (Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 27).

The theories behind the lifecycle approach are that all stages of a child’s life are connected with each other, with the lives of other people, and are influenced by the broader social-ecological environment they live in; it is crucial to examine both risks and protective factors throughout a child’s life, including taking action to ensure the best start in life for children and their caregivers; there are two critical windows of opportunity to influence development and cognitive trajectories positively: early childhood and adolescence.

However, despite a 37-month political transition, structural reforms and the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation, insecurity is still widespread amid a climate of fear, crime, and population displacement. Conflicts often result in egregious violations of child rights. The damage to public institutions and mass population movements have cut children’s access to essential services and undermined social protection. Young children and adolescents continue to pay the highest price for family separation, displacement, violence, and exploitation.

About, 8.8 million people, 34 per cent of the population, need humanitarian assistance (52 per cent women, 56 per cent children and 15 per cent people with disabilities). The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has increased to 401,736. In 2022, it was estimated that 1.8 million Malians were food insecure, a 41 per cent increase over 2021. The Ukraine crisis has caused surges in the prices of food and fuel.

UNICEF_Mali_ToR_CPP_Consultant

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the assignment

The CPP should be developed through the lens of social inclusion and will cover the following UNICEF Strategic Plan (2022-2025) priority programme areas: Every child, including adolescents, survives and thrives with access to adequate diets, services, practices and supplies; Every child, including adolescents, learns and acquires skills for the future; Every child, including adolescents, is protected from violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices; Every child, including adolescents, has access to safe, resilient water, sanitation and hygiene services and lives in a safe and sustainable climate and environment; Every child, including adolescents, has access to social protection and lives free from poverty, taking into account three UNICEF cross-cutting priorities: Humanitarian action, Climate change and Gender Equality.

The purpose of this consultancy is the conduct of an independent facilitation of the key steps of the CPP development to allow the country team to identify programme priorities and to propose a first programme design, informed by the Programme Rationale Notes as per the latest CPP guidance and aligned national priorities and UNSDCF. This will include incorporating findings from the situation analysis, the common country assessments, national development plans, annual reports, as well as to review the programme theories of change clearly articulated for each programme priority goal area.

Major Tasks to be accomplished:

Under the supervision of the Representative and in close coordination with the Deputy Representative and the Chief PMDRE, the international consultant will work with the Chiefs of sections, Chiefs of Field Offices and Programme Staff.

The key tasks include:

a. Review of relevant documents on the Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Mali (Current SitAn, 2022 MTR reports, UN Common Country Assessment, CPD Evaluation Report, UNSDCF evaluation report, gender review report, conflict analysis report, recommendations from human rights treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review and other studies, research and evaluations conducted during the current programme).

b. Participate and co-lead the consolidation of the key finding from the “Moments of Strategic Reflection” (MSR) with UNICEF Country staff.

c. Undertake a series of consultations with staff and key relevant stakeholders and partners on problem analysis and identification of key priorities, in alignment with the UNSDCF, national priorities from the CREDD 2.0, sector’s strategic plans, and UNICEF Strategic Plan as well as other global agenda for children and women.

d. Co-facilitate the RRBM session for the Country Management Team members.

e. Support the quality control of the narrative of the Programme rationale and Theory of change formulation for each outcome/ priority area/ sector.

f. Provide technical advice and recommendation to the Country Representative and the Deputy Representative on the CPD development and programme design.

Methodology

The consultant UNICEF Mali will be following the CPP Guidance. The UNICEF Mali Country Office (MCO) has already initiated activities to undertake the Situation Analyses, which involve extensive reviews with all stakeholders to identify levels of coverage of key interventions for each sector, identify bottlenecks and barriers for increased coverage, change in programme environment, identify new development priorities.

In addition, internal Moment of Strategic Reflection (MSR) will be scheduled, aiming at consultation with UNICEF programmes and operations staff, in order to develop Country Programme Rationale for each programme component/outcome of the new Country Programme, and to describe the multi-year strategies that UNICEF will pursue to achieve the results outlined in the new CPD.

To ensure a participatory consultation process which is aligned with new corporate guidance, the international consultant will help facilitate the discussions on the prioritization as well as the programme design validation workshop, and other meetings if/when required. The role of the consultant will be to support programmes to develop the Theory of change and Programme Rationale, as well as all any supporting document needed for the formal submission of the CPD to the UNICEF Executive Board.

The MCO CPP Steering committee will have a leading role in facilitating and organizing the key milestones of the CPP preparation process, liaising with other UN agencies, Resident Coordinator office and other consultants working on evidence products (such as SitAn, CCA and UNSDCF Evaluation, and any other strategic documents from Government and development agencies).

Reporting line

The consultant will report to the Representative. For daily work, he / she e and will work in close collaboration and under the coordination of the Deputy Representative and the Chief PMDRE, WCAR PMDR Advisor and other programme colleagues.

Budget, Payment terms and deliverables

The proposed consultancy requires a senior international consultant (at the P5 level) who has experience in developing CPP, One UN Plans and related programme documents. The consultant is expected to be very familiar with UNICEF/UN standards for planning documents that are sent to the Executive Board for approval. The international consultant is also expected to have experience and familiarity of the context of working in low-income countries. The recommended rate is senior P5 level for the qualified candidate.

Conditions and procedures

• All payments will be based on successfully completed deliverables and must be within the contract agreement.

• Consultants are not paid for weekends or public holidays.

• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime.

• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant.

• For international consultants outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email. Signed contract copy or written agreement must be received by the office before Travel Authorization is issued.

• No consultant may travel without a signed travel authorization prior to the commencement of the journey to the duty station.

• Unless authorized, UNICEF will buy the tickets of the consultant. In some cases, the consultant may be authorized to buy their travel tickets and shall be reimbursed at the “most economical and direct route”, but this must be agreed beforehand.

• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.

• Consultant will be required to sign the Health Statement for consultants/Individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance, including Medical Evacuation.

• The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' must be completed by the consultant.

• Consultants are provided a workstation but need to bring their own lap-top and other working

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, programme management, Demography, Economy or other relevant disciplines, with specialized training in areas such as social statistics, planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience and proven expertise with planning and development, including strong understanding of UN’s relevant Programming Guidelines on UNSDCF process, Gender Equality, Human Rights Based Programming (HRBP) approach, Capacity Development, Environmental Sustainability and Rights Results Based Management (RRBM).
• Strategic thinking and influencing decision making.
• Strong writing and analytical skills for quality report writing (sample of a recent analytical report will be requested.
• UNICEF experience in CPP Development required, UN Senior management an added advantage. • Previous experience in facilitating meetings with large number of participants, including experience virtual facilitating of meetings.
• Strong presentation and communication skills in French and English (fluency required).
• Strong coordination skills and ability to adhere to deadlines.
• Previous work experience with UNICEF in a similar capacity is an advantage.
• Familiarity with integrated programme design is required.
• Previous experience in linking CPD with the new UNSDCF will be a definite asset

Other competencies

• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective relationships with national partners.
• Demonstrated leadership, coordination, and facilitation skills.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

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 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.

General Conditions Procedures and Logistics

The Consultant shall be responsible for undertaking suitable insurance for the contract period and taxes on this contract, as necessary, for the on-site part of the contract. Before commencing the travel, the consultant will be required to sign a Health Statement and to document that he/she has appropriate health insurance, covering possible evacuation and repatriation. The consultant will be responsible for the accuracy of that statement

The Consultant will be paid according to the financial proposal submitted and approved by UNICEF Mali. UNICEF will fund the international travel for the on-site mission to and from Bamako; the cost of the ticket should be included in the financial offer. The consultant will use her/his computer and other equipment.

The consultant will be subject to current work requirements at UNICEF including PSEA training (https://agora.unicef.org/ ) and be up to date on Security and Safety courses (https://dss.un.org/Home.aspx )

Submission of Applications

Interested candidates should submit their application online on UNICEF e-recruitment platform, following the advertisement link. They should attach to their application the following documents:(i) Most updated CV/e-profile; (ii) Motivation Letter; Technical proposal; (iii) Financial Offer: All-inclusive, entailing consultant fee; travel and living costs for the on-site mission; and any miscellaneous costs; (iv) Most recent university degree; (v) Covid vaccination certificates.

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Potential interview questions

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org