International Consultant: Policy Analysis Advisor in Lao PDR

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,

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UNICEF in Vientiane, Lao PDR seeks UNICEF seeks to UNICEF seeks to hire an international consultant for the post of Policy Analysis Advisor with strong experience in institutional capacity strengthening, policy analysis and report writing skills (policies, papers and publications) for diverse audience and stakeholders. The duration of this assignment is 12 months, starting 01st July 2023 to 30 June 2024 and the consultant is expected to spend a minimum of 9 months in country and based at the Socio-economic Policy Research Institute (SPRI), Lao Academy for Social and Economic Sciences (LASES), Lao PDR.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

She/he supports various streams of work at the Policy Analysis Unit, hosted by the Socio-economic Policy Research Institute (SPRI) of the Lao Academy for Social and Economic Sciences (LASES), Lao PDR with frequent travel to the provincial level.

This shall include the following:

1. Support the functions of the NIPN Policy Analysis Unit

• Support the development of workplans including milestones, for implementation of NIPN workplan as well as foster linkages between the Data Analysis and Policy Analysis Units.
• Provide technical guidance to review existing policies related to nutrition and generate evidence to inform planning and budgeting at national and sub national levels
• Guide the collection, analysis and synthesis of the nutrition situation in Lao PDR based on the country context and internationally standards and in response to questions posed by the NIPN Advisory Committee and decision makers.
• Facilitate the identification of policy-relevant questions from nutrition stakeholders and develop a framework for answering them
• Work closely with the Data Analysis Unit, UNICEF Country Office and other stakeholders to generate research topics on nutrition, and to provide technical support in drafting research proposals, conducting assessments and report writing.

2. Strengthen the capacities of the NIPN Policy Analysis Unit:

• Support national and sub-national capacity strengthening through learning by doing to conduct policy analysis and reporting across line ministries and departments under the National Nutrition Committee.
• Develop a clear capacity development plan to strengthen the existing capacity of Government institutions based on NIPN priorities by focusing on the quality of research and policy formulation.
• Develop national expertise towards formulating national nutrition strategies/policies and improve coherence across different sectors on nutrition policy development and implementation.

3. Present the findings of analysis and knowledge materials in suitable formats to multiple stakeholders

• Support to interpret results of data analysis in the light of current knowledge
• Support to produce written documents for multiple audiences and stakeholders, such as analytical papers, reports, reviews and policy briefs
• Facilitate the dissemination of findings and new evidence to policymakers and programme planners at national and sub-national levels as per visibility and communication plan.
• Support Policy Analysis Unit in preparing reader-friendly materials that could be disseminated using multiple channels. This could involve web and media communications; publications; policy briefs; organizing local events; and participation in conferences, meetings and annual NIPN events.
• Undertake other relevant tasks to support the work of the Policy Analysis Unit as requested by the Head of the Policy Analysis Unit and Nutrition Section of UNICEF.

4. Strengthen the knowledge management and implementation of the sustainability plan

• Support in knowledge management for the sustainability of related activities under the project through documentation and archiving of the policies, reports and related information.
• Build the capacity of national institutions to update and manage the knowledge management plan
• Support the preparation of a sustainability plan with input from multi-stakeholders, incorporating the recommendations of phase 1 and adapting to the Lao context
• Undertake other relevant tasks to support the work of the Policy Analysis Unit as requested by the Head of the Policy Analysis Unit, and the UNICEF Nutrition Section.

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

Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required:

• An advanced university degree, Master's or above in any relevant field including, but not limited to social science, social policy, policy development or international Health and Nutrition.
• Minimum 8 years of International development experience, including work in developing countries.
• Demonstrated experience in formulating social policies, designing and implementing analytical activities.
• Proven ability to write policy briefs, research papers, articles, technical reports and documents in English.
• Demonstrated experience in global health & Nutrition and/or social services, legislative processes and policy formulation.
• Demonstrated professional and interpersonal communications skills suited for donor clients, government and other stakeholders (including data visualization, report writing and presentations).
• Track record of successful delivery of high-level expert advice to governments and international organizations
• Experience in providing technical assistance to the government for sector development and capacity building
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team and have the initiative to work independently to meet deadlines.
• Experience using statistical software and relevant analytical tools for quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is mandatory. Understanding of Lao language would be an added advantage.

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

• Letter of Interest (cover letter)
• CV or Resume
• Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available)
• Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost(Consultancy fee, medical insurance Travel costs – international and local)
• The deadline for applications is 14 June 2023

Assessment Criteria:

For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment:

A) Technical Evaluation (maximum 100 points), weight 75 %

Degree Education in ……… (20 points)

• Masters or an advanced university degree in Public Health, Nutrition, Statistics, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Mathematics and Social science

Knowledge of ........... (20 points)

• Demonstrated experience in managing, organizing, creating, analysing and archiving data sets from multiple sources and sectors.
• Proven ability to write policy briefs, research papers, articles, technical reports and documents in English.
• Demonstrated professional and interpersonal communications skills suited for donor clients, government and other stakeholders (including data visualization, report writing and presentations).
• Track record of successful delivery of high-level expert advice to governments and international organizations;

Experience in ......... (40 points)

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in the management, analysis and reporting of biomedical data, ideally including data on human nutrition
• Experience in providing technical assistance to government for sector development and capacity building
• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team and have the initiative to work independently to meet deadlines.
• Experience in using statistical software and relevant analytical tools for both quantitative and qualitative analysis such as STATA, SPSS, R and ARC-GIS etc

Quality of past work (e.g. understanding, methodology) (20 points)

• Assessment of previous work including written and analytical skills
• Reference checks

B) Financial Proposal (100 points), weight 25%

• The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened /evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 70 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview.

Medical Insurance: the cost of medical insurance, including Medical Evacuation and mandatory COVID-19 insurance for working in Lao PDR should be included in the proposal.

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.