International Consultant for Development of Evidence Strategy for UNICEF Bangladesh (Not for Bangladeshis) 74 Work days (Remote/Work from home)

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.

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Background:

UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office (BCO) aspires to continuously learn and improve based on evidence in order to provide the best support and service to all children in the country. To do this well, the office needs more than abstract evidence frameworks but instead a practical strategy that maps the ways in which evidence generation will be conducted and utilized for learning and improving. UNICEF BCO engages in a multitude of evidence generation spanning all aspects of the institution’s vast expertise, including evaluation, research, and studies. On average, 120+ evidence activities are conducted as part of UNICEF’s Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (IMEP) every Country Programme cycle, spanning national and sub-national levels, all sectors and development and humanitarian contexts. Currently, BCO has no comprehensive strategy for evidence generation, likely has evidence gaps with current activity coverage, engages in more opportunistic activities versus strategic ones, and needs further guidance for prioritization and assurance of quality. More strategic review and thought leadership is needed to refine and guide BCO’s ambitious agenda.

To this end, this Terms of Reference (ToR) has been commissioned to assist leadership in UNICEF BCO to jointly develop an Evidence Strategy that will span the next Country Programme (2021-2026) and beyond. This strategy and deliverables leading to it will shed light on the building blocks needed at the development of programmes in order to have the type and depth of evidence at the end, as well as help guide teams in shifting evidence generation activities towards designs that demonstrate effectiveness and impact of programmes.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The overall purpose of the ToR is to develop a comprehensive Evidence Strategy 2021-2030 for UNICEF BCO in collaboration with the Research & Evaluation Specialist. The work builds on existing efforts from the design of the Country Programme Document (CPD) 2022-2026 and will aid sections in systematically documenting the foundation, gaps and strategic direction for evidence. This consultancy will ultimately lead to three tangible deliverables, each building on the subsequent one and each valuable in their own right. The process of implementing the work will also strengthen the capacity of individual programme sections in evidence generation strategic thinking and design as well as contribute to the institutional culture change towards learning (and failing fast) for improvement, and seeing evaluative thinking and evidence generation as a strategy key to improving children’s lives.

This ToR will consist of the following detailed work, organized by the three main (groups) of deliverables:

Deliverable 1: Evidence Matrixes (Health, Nutrition, Child Protection, Education, WASH, Social Protection & Social Policy, Communication for Development, and Adolescents). This work will be in collaboration with Social Policy, Evaluation, Analytics, and Research (SPEAR) and Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting (PMR) sections. The specific work involved in creating these includes:

• Conduct a systematic evidence and literature review on the major programmatic areas of work outlined in the relevant section’s Programme Strategy Notes (PSNs), any key focus areas within the new Country Programme, and identified trends for children and the next decade of development in Bangladesh
• Conduct guided discussions with UNICEF leadership (Rep, Dep Rep, and each programme and cross-sectoral section Chiefs and ROSA) and select partner leaders on trends and UNICEF’s strategic positioning around evidence generation and internal and external data needs at national and subnational levels.
• Utilizing the discussion content, literature/evidence review of PSNs, and the “indicator/data needs assessment of the CPD/PSNs”, create evidence matrixes, with column headers outlining the different major programme areas of work/sub-areas within each programme and cross-sectoral area across the top, followed by vertical cells with an assessment of quality/strength of evidence. Key gaps and “evidence questions” of interest would be outlined at the bottom of each column and would be accompanied by narrative briefs below the matrix outlining the available empirical evidence for each investigated area on the matrix. The format will be provided and further refined with the consultant.
• Prepare a Powerpoint presentation outlining the process and main findings of the evidence matrixes for presentation to UNICEF leadership and key team members

Deliverable 2: Evidence Agenda. This “agenda” builds on the evidence matrixes and is one component of the larger Evidence Strategy, 2022-2026 (Deliverable 3). The work to build this out consists of:

• Utilizing the discussion content, internal PSN review and evidence matrixes, identify priority areas (or evidence questions) and specific topics on the evidence agenda
• Hold informal discussions with key internal stakeholders (in country and regional office) and necessary external stakeholders
• Present (alongside SPEAR) the draft Evidence Agenda to Programme Management Team (PMT) (Powerpoint and Word document)
• Incorporate feedback and revise draft into final evidence agenda for PMT’s endorsement; draft final version with accompanying narrative on details behind the main focal and sub-areas
• Develop a visually-appealing brief for sharing and implementation

Deliverable 3: Evidence Strategy (2022-2026). This is the final product and is inclusive of the evidence agenda (Deliverable 2) as well as other components that will outline BCO’s strategy towards work, both internally and externally, as it relates to evidence. The following work will be necessary, alongside the Research & Evaluation Specialist:

• Identify the necessary components of BCO’s evidence strategy (standards, evidence agenda and the process of how it is periodically updated, evidence-related partnerships, internal and external capacity development, knowledge management, funding, etc.)
• Meet with various sections and stakeholders and review promising practices to build out each component of the strategy
• Meet with key internal stakeholders to understand inputs, current and anticipated activities and needs, and recommended ways forward, as relevant for each component
• In collaboration with Research & Evaluation Specialist, present draft strategy to PMT (and ROSA evaluation colleagues) and solicit feedback
• Incorporate feedback and revise draft into final evidence strategy for Rep’s endorsement
• Prepare presentation for Research & Evaluation Specialist to give to all programme staff/CMT

Tasks/Milestone:

1. Produce evidence matrixes (with “evidence questions” and gaps highlighted, accompanied by source data) for each programme and relevant cross-sectoral section, based on a review of existing literature and data needs, internal and external to UNICEF
2. Identify priority areas and specific topic with details for the evidence agenda, based upon the evidence matrixes/questions and discussions with key stakeholders
3. Build out each component of the evidence strategy, based on consultations with programme sections and relevant cross-sectoral teams and review of promising practices

Output:

1. Evidence Matrixes (8)
2. Evidence Agenda
3. Evidence Strategy

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Social sciences, statistics, demography, economics public health, monitoring and evaluation, or related fields
• 8 or more years of conducting evaluation and research
• Experience conducting comprehensive literature reviews and evidence gap mapping methodology, as well as drawing synopses of evidence translatable for the average UNICEF staff member and partners
• 5+ years of experience designing learning, research, or evidence agendas for institutions
• Experience creating an evidence strategy for large country-level institutions, including components of funding, knowledge management, capacity development, and market engagement
• Experience conducting qualitative research and analysing large amounts of narrative data into synthesized summaries
• Experience working with host country governments
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s organizational procedure and systems
• Excellent English speaking and writing skills
• Ability to produce appealing dissemination products based on data and communicate them in concise and visual format
• Team player mentality and desire to collaborate with multicultural and diverse colleagues, as well as, work independently
• An inquisitive and creative mindset, as well as, excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating across teams
• Ability to work remotely efficiently

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.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

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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:

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.