International Consultant: Identifying and documenting Lessons Learnt, Good Practices and Innovations from implementation of Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE) for Refugees in Tur

Consultant Programme & Policy Finance & Economy

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, an advocate!

1. Background

The Syrian refugee crisis is in its 11th year, with no end in sight. Millions have been forced to flee their homes to neighbouring countries, their futures remain uncertain. Children continue to pay the highest price and bear the heaviest burden of the crisis: their education, their hopes, and dreams, and even their lives, all continue to be at risk. Turkey is home to the largest number of refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers, standing at over 4 million. More than 3.6 million are Syrian including over 1.6 million children. At the beginning of 2016, only about 320,000 refugee children were enrolled in school (approximately 36% of the school-age refugee population), posing a significant challenge to include an unprecedented number of additional children in school.

Not only an important number of refugee children are out of school but many of those in school face difficulties maintaining regular attendance, which puts them at risks of drop-out and may lead to poor learning. Irregular school attendance is due to several socio-economic barriers. According to the qualitative study by UNICEF, financial difficulties was cited as the key barrier to regular attendance and school enrolment which includes costs related to school transport, clothing, possible parental fees charged by schools, and the opportunity-cost of sending children to school rather than working or taking care of domestic tasks

The CCTE for refugees has two components: Cash Transfer component and Child Protection component.

Cash Component: The families receive cash support every two months through Kızılaykarts on the condition that the child has attended school regularly (at least 80%) in the relevant preceding school months. Families of students enrolled in Turkish public schools and Accelerated Learning Programme are eligible to benefit from the programme. The cash component of the programme is nationwide and has benefited more than 700,000 children from the inception of the programme till September 2021. The amounts paid depend on the gender and the grades of the school-going children. Kindergarten and primary school children (from kindergarten to 8th grades) are entitled to monthly amounts of 45 TL for boys and 50 TL for girls. Students in high school (from 9th to 12th grades) receive monthly amounts of 55 TL for boys and 75 TL for girls. Students in ALP receive a monthly amount of 75 TL regardless of gender. Furthermore, additional support is provided to families at the beginning of each school term in the form of 100 TL per beneficiary child in primary school (including Kindergarten), 200 TL per beneficiary child in lower secondary school and 250 TL per beneficiary child in upper secondary school or ALP. This financial support is expected to help refugee families sustain school-related costs as well as cope with poverty (especially when coupled with the ESSN), thereby contributing to reduce or eliminate their reliance on negative coping mechanisms and keep their children in school. In November 2020, an additional one-time top-up payment was provided to support families facing increased challenges due to the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, benefitting 518,794 children. About 70-80% of CCTE beneficiaries also benefit from the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) and Complementary ESSN programme which provides monthly cash transfers of 155 TL per family member.

Child Protection Component: The CCTE Programme also includes a strategic child protection component to ensure the continued school enrolment and attendance of the most vulnerable refugee children, as well as their referral to child protection services, when needed. Through this component, the programme contributes not only to sustain positive education outcomes by addressing non-financial barriers of access to education; but also to mitigate child protection risks and violations, which are closely related with socio-economic vulnerabilities; as well as to reduce the damage caused by exposure of children to violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. This component is implemented by outreach teams consisting of case workers and translators working in the field. The outreach teams visit families whose children are not meeting, or are at risk of not meeting, the attendance condition of the CCTE programme. These teams assess and identify the children’s and families’ needs in order to address them in a personalized and systematic manner. Through this component, the CCTE programme is expected to mitigate child protection risks and violations, which are closely intertwined with economic vulnerabilities and contribute to non-attendance at school as well as child labor, child marriage, physical and emotional violence and family separation. The child protection component is focusing on 15 provinces with the highest number of refugees and integrates two mobile teams that cover Adiyaman and adjacent provinces and the Black Sea Region. So far, the CCTE CP teams have reached 83,677 children, including 7,270 children with medium or high protection risk who have been referred to specialized services.

How can you make a difference?

1. Purpose of Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to conduct in-depth lessons learnt exercise by identifying and documenting lessons learnt, good practices and innovations in design and implementation of the CCTE programme from its inception/2017 to date, with a view to inform CCTE-IV and beyond. The lessons learnt exercise is expected to cover i) design aspects of the CCTE programme (both cash and child protection component); ii) implementation aspects of the programme including programme management, communication, coordination, and monitoring; and iii) review of existing literature/M&E reports relevant to CCTE in order to identify key learning for the future.

2. Scope of Work/Expected Outputs

The consultant is expected to produce following outputs:

3.1 Desk Review and Inception: As this exercise will build on the programmatic design, implementation and key learning aspects already captured in the CCTE documents such as programme procedural guidelines/SOPs, documents on roles and responsibilities, programme cooperation agreements, rolling workplans, UNICEF CO relevant strategies, M&E documents including third party monitoring reports, CCTE programme evaluation among others, The consultant is required to review these documents and to be familiar with the CCTE programme through documents/materials to be provided by the SP team during the inception phase (at least 10 key programme documents are envisaged as part of the desk review).

Since this exercise will dive deeper into the CCTE design and implementation experiences and learning, the consultant is expected to pay particular attention to the programme cycle of CCTE Cash + CP among others while highlighting key learning.

Based on the desk review and inception meetings with CCTE Team and One-CCTE members, the Consultant is expected to prepare an inception report covering approach/methodology, technical areas to be covered during the assignment, preliminary work plan with timeline and outline for the final lessons learnt report. The inception report may include different combination of methods (meetings/discussions, interviews, and workshops) to be used by the consultant in order to accomplish the key deliverables. UNICEF Social Policy team will support in arrangements and logistics (if involved) for the meetings, discussions, workshops. Most of the interaction is expected to be online (via Teams/Zoom), however at the inception phase possibility of the face to face workshops/meetings will be discussed/agreed.

3.2 Discussions, Interviews and Workshops:

As agreed at the inception phase on the number and frequency of different meetings, semi-structured or group interviews, discussions and workshops, the Consultant is expected carry out following activities to identify the lessons learnt, good practices and innovations related to the CCTE programme.

3.2.1 Discussions & Consultations (in the form of meetings or interviews) with UNICEF Staff: The Consultant is expected to hold consultation/discussions as bilateral or group meetings with different UNICEF sections i.e. Social Policy, Child Protection, Education, PME, C4D, Partnership, Communication and relevant operations team involved in the CCTE programme to obtain information on the programme and identify lessons learnt, good practices and innovation.

3.2.2 Discussions & Consultations (in the form of meetings or interviews) with relevant Government Staff: The Consultant is expected to hold consultation/discussions as bilateral or group meetings with different government officials, such as CCTE relevant staff from Ministry of Family, Social Services (MoFSS) and Ministry of National Education (MoNE) among others who have been supporting CCTE programme since its inception. The main objectives of these meetings will be to obtain information on the programme, lessons learnt, good practices and innovation.

3.2.3 Discussions & Consultations (in the form of meetings or interviews) with other key stakeholders: The Consultant is expected to hold consultation/discussions as bilateral or group meetings with other key stakeholders of the CCTE which will be jointly identified at the inception phase in addition to actors mentioned in this TORs. The main objectives of these meetings will be to obtain information on the programme, lessons learnt, good practices and innovation.

3.2.4 One-day workshop with Implementing Partner’s Staff: The Consultant is expected to co-facilitate a lesson learning workshop along with Social Protection and Child Protection Specialist of TCO on the lessons learnt. A one-day workshop will be organized by UNICEF with CCTE’s implementing partners i.e. Turkish Red crescent (TRC) staff involved in cash and child protection component of the CCTE programme. The main objectives of the workshop will be to generate discussion, stock take on the CCTE’s progress, achievements, identify key lessons learnt, good practices and innovation.

3.2.5 One-day Validation workshop: Based on activities carried out by the Consultant, a validation workshop will be arranged and co-facilitated by UNICEF and the Consultant. The consultant is expected to: i) present the preliminary findings from assignment for validation; ii) share reflections on lessons learnt, good practices and innovations from the CCTE emerged as part of assignment; and iii) discuss and consult on key recommendations for the future of the CCTE.

3.3 Comprehensive Lessons Learnt Report and Advocacy Brief:

The consultant is expected to draft a comprehensive report on lessons learnt, good practices, innovations as result of 3.1 activities and in line with outline and length of the report agreed at the inception phase. This report should include an overview of the programme since 2017, programme components-wise analysis of information obtained, key findings (Achievements; Challenges; Success Factors; Lessons Learned) and recommendations for the future phases of the CCTE on the outline agreed with UNICEF. In addition to this, the consultant is expected to develop a four-pager advocacy brief highlighting key messages. The Consultant will share the draft report and brief for review and inputs of UNICEF Social Policy and Child Protection team and based on the inputs, revised/final products are expected from the consultant. As the final report and brief is expected to be shared with range of stakeholders (at national and subnational level), the narrative report is expected to be very well-written.

Deliverables and payment schedule

Based on the scope of work outlined in section 3, the consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

Sr. No.

Activity

Deliverable

Duration

(Estimated # of days)

Timelines

Payment

%

1

Desk Review and Inception

Inception Report along with Work plan (Word document – 15 pages)

8

Within 20 days after signing of the contract

25%

2

Consultations – meetings/discussions, Interviews and Workshops

Preliminary draft report for validation including findings, reflections on lessons learnt, good practices, innovations and recommendations for the future CCTE phases (20 pages word document excluding annexes)

A PowerPoint presentation for Validation Workshop

17

Within 60 days after signing of the contract

50%

3

Comprehensive Lessons Learnt Report and Advocacy Brief

Final Report (30-40 pages word document excluding annexes).

Advocacy brief on the lessons learnt exercise (6-8 pager)

5

Within 75 days after signing of the contract

25%

* All deliverables as per scope of work must be satisfactorily completed and accepted by UNICEF TCO in order to facilitate payment. Delivery dates are tentative.

Duration of Consultancy Expected start date for this consultancy is 15 December 2021. The contract will be effective from the date of signing until successful submission of the deliverables and will be valid until 15 March 2022 with a total of thirty (30) working days.

Duty Station This consultancy is home based predominantly with option to attend face-to-face workshops with key stakeholders. The travel and related expenditures will be separately processed based on UNICEF Consultant’s rates if any travel/face to face meetings/workshops agreed at the inception phase.

Supervision The consultant will be supervised by the Social Policy Specialist (Social Protection) of UNICEF Turkey Country Office in close collaboration with Social Policy and Child Protection Section teams.

Cost of Consultancy UNICEF will issue a contract in USD. Payments will be provided upon submission of completing the activity demonstrating satisfactory progress/completion of the deliverables as mentioned above.

The financial offer should be submitted stating daily fee and total number of days required to complete all assignments and deliverables above. Travel and DSA if physical presence involved/agreed at contract signing stage will be provided separately at UNICEF Consultants’ rates.

Reservations

UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract without prior notice and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and its partners are not followed, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All relevant intellectual property rights in the developed materials/products/documents and associated tools will, upon their development, belong to UNICEF TCO and cannot be published, disseminated or used without prior written permission of UNICEF.

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

• 1. Master’s Degree in Project Management, Economics, Development Studies or related field of Social Sciences.

  2. At least 8 years of proven experience in programme reviews, documenting and reporting on programme management such as programmatic analysis, reviews, evaluation, lessons learnt, good practices and recommendations etc.

  3. Relevant experience in writing reports, documentation to convey programming efforts, conducting focus group discussions, facilitating workshops/discussions and documenting case studies in an international development context is required.

  4. Knowledge and exposure to UNICEF programming, particularly in the areas of Social policy, social protection, child protection and education will be a big advantage.

  5. Previous experience in Turkey is an asset
  6. Fluency in English is required, fluency in Turkish is an asset.

Please note that the assignment can only be held by an individual international consultant. Applications should be submitted in English and should include:

1. P11 Form.doc and CV providing required experience in detail.
2. Sample of programmatic knowledge products, reviews, research, evaluation reports developed by the consultant
3. Financial proposal ( Financial Offer template_CCTE Lessons Learnt Consultancy_10Nov2021.docx).
4. Submit sample of at least two (02) reports produced by you for the similar nature of assignment in the past

The applications will be evaluated from the technical and financial point of view. Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:

Criteria for technical evaluation

Max points

Having the required qualifications as requested in the TOR (education background and familiarity with context – work experience of Turkey and familiarity with UNICEF work)

Max points: 10

Having the required work experience as requested in the TOR

Max points: 35

Quality and relevance of the Sample of programmatic knowledge products, reviews, research, evaluation reports submitted

Max points: 25

Maximum total points

Max points: 70

The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed fifty (50) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points)

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.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and 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 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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

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