International Consultant – Study on digital health platforms and services for young people, UNICEF Thailand Country Office, Bangkok, Job No

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 fulfilling 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, a better future

UNICEF works to ensure the rights of all children in the East Asia and Pacific Region. This means the rights of every child living in this country, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or ethnicity, to:

• survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security;
• development – to a good education, a loving home and adequate nutrition;
• protection – from abuse, neglect, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation; and
• participation – to express opinions, be listened to and take part in making any decisions that affect them

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Thailand Country Office is seeking a qualified consultant and/or researcher to lead the development of a landscape analysis of Thailand’s current digital health services and platforms for young people. This assignment is led by UNICEF, in collaboration with UNAIDS, UNESCO and UNFPA.

The consultant is expected to conduct the assignment in close collaboration with a national researcher, who will be identified by UNICEF, and to have good knowledge of online health services for young people and demonstrate excellent literature review skills to synthesize global data related to digital healthcare for young people. The selected consultant will engage with a Steering Committee led by UNICEF an composed of UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA and other UN agencies staff to design the methodology for the study and present the draft results.. Additionally, the consultant will be responsible for preparing the methodology for engaging with young people who access/have accessed online services and platforms, in order to obtain their perspectives on their experiences with the use of existing online platforms.

Work Assignment:

The main activities of this assignment include a review of literature related to best practices and case studies of online health services for young people (including the most marginalized) implemented in other countries; and an analytical mapping of existing online services and platforms for young people in Thailand, synthesizing data from various relevant stakeholders including young people themselves. The final product is a comprehensive report containing strategic information to help UNICEF and partners better understand the young people’s health needs, their barriers to accessing online health platforms, and gaps in the services and platforms that need improvement by service providers. The assignment can be summarized into four phases, as follows.

Phase 1: Development of research plan and inception report (November 2022-February 2023)

In this phase, the selected consultant will will develop a research plan and detailed inception report (Deliverable 1), which is fundamental to have a mutual understanding of the scope and approach of the research. This will be developed with inputs from UNICEF and a Steering Committee composed of UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNESCO and representatives of the Ministry of Public Health. Additional stakeholders might be included. A kick-off meeting with UNICEF and the Steering Committee will be set up by the selected consultant to discuss the key elements of the landscape analysis, including (but not limited to): purpose, objectives and intended use of the study, scope and content of literature/desk review; methodological approach and rationale for choosing specific data collection methods and analysis and ethical considerations, based on UNICEF’s PROCEDURE FOR ETHICAL STANDARDS IN RESEARCH, EVALUATION, DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS. As a minimum, data collection methods need to include qualitative analysis through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KII).

The aim of the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) is not only to complement missing information from the desk review, but also identify the gaps in the digital health services and platforms for young people, and possible solutions to address these factors. Through the FGDs and KIIs, first-hand perspectives of digital health platform developers and young-people users will be collected, to reflect gaps, barriers, and opportunities of the digital health services and platforms. The FGDs will be conducted by a national consultant with youth who access/have accessed the digital health services to better understand whether the current platforms address their needs and explore their other unmet health needs. The KIIs with other key stakeholders (including NGOs, UN organisations, government partners) in Thailand will complement the desk review on the types of current digital platforms and services and capacities of those actors to address young people’s health needs through their digital interventions.

In the FGDs, special attention needs to be paid to the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable groups such as girls, youth with disabilities, young key populations, teenage mothers, adolescents from ethnic minorities, young people with HIV/chronic conditions, and young people of diverse gender orientations etc. The aim is to ensure their voices and unique experiences are reflected in the discussions. The initial list of participants of the FGDs will be proposed by the researchers, but it is expected that the consultant will work closely with UNICEF to finalise the list of participants for the FGDs and KIIs. It is anticipated that there will be a minimum of 6 focus group discussions with a maximum of 8 participants in each FGD. The contracted national research consultant will also conduct at least 20 interviews with key stakeholders, including youth. The full list of key informants will be proposed by the international consultant and finalised together with the Steering Committee.

The findings of FGDs and KIIs will be analysed and included in the draft report (Deliverable 3).

Phase 2: Capacity building of national researcher (March 2023)

In this phase, the international research consultant will conduct a 3-day capacity building workshop (Deliverable 3) for the national researcher, in order to familiarise the national researcher with the following: onboarding to study, orientation on desk review and how to address gaps; training on focus group discussion methodology and training of key informant interview methodology; ethical guidelines. The national researcher will conduct the FGDs and KIIs between mid-March and end April 2023.

Phase 3: In-depth analysis of transcripts and data from national consultant and preparation of draft report (May -July 2023)

For this phase, after receiving the the transcripts and desk review data from the national consultant (in English), the international consultant is expected to:

1. Conduct data analysis and insight generation. This includes analysis of further desk review conducted by the local researcher; analysis of FGD transcripts; analysis of KII transcripts; insight generation, consolidation and structuring; development of archetypal user personas for segments of Thai youth; documenting of requirements and priorities from key stakeholders.
2. Develop evidence-based strategy recommendations and roadmap to meet the needs and motivations of those Thai youth personas, while balancing stakeholder requirements.
3. Prepare a draft report and validation of the findings

The international consultant will a draft report of maximum of 50 pages (excluding annexes) to the Steering Committee and prepare a power point presentation summarizing the key findings. He/she will also present the preliminary results of research including recommendations, and to gather feedback from these stakeholders to be incorporated in the final version of the report.

Phase 4: Preparation of final report

Based on the feedback from the internal and external consultations and validation process through the validation workshop, a final report (Deliverable 4), will be prepared by the international consultant according to the outline agreed in the Inception Report. The content of the final report is included in the next section of the TOR. The report will include a clear highlight of existing gaps in existing health platforms for young people and contain a set of actionable recommendations for targeted interventions to improve the platforms.

The research shall be undertaken in English.

Work Schedule and deliverables: 68 days total in the period November 2022 – July 2023

• Deliverable 1. A final inception report describing the complete methodology approach to conduct the work, including all data collection tools fully drafted. The Inception Report will be key in confirming a mutual understanding of what is to be assessed, including additional insights into executing the consultancy. At this stage, the contracted consultant will refine and verify assessment questions, confirm the scope of the assignment, and further improve on the methodology proposed in the ToR to strengthen its rigor.

The report will include, among other elements: i) assessment purpose and scope, confirmation of objectives of the assessment; ii) assessment questions; iii) methodology along with a description of data collection methods and data sources, iv) work plan, and deliverables timeline; v) annexes (i.e., draft data collection instruments, for example, questionnaires, with a data collection toolkit, matrix for evaluation questions data analysis framework).

The report will be in English with obtained ethical clearance if necessary.

Expected by 28 February 2022.

• Deliverable 2: 3-day capacity building workshop for national researcher.

Expected by: 17 March 2023.

• Deliverable 3: Draft Assessment Report in English of ideally 50 pages but not more than 80 plus executive summary and annexes that will be revised until approved by UNICEF.

Expected by 30 June 2023.

• Deliverable 4: Final report and a PowerPoint presentation with findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Both products will be in English

  Expected by 15 July 2023.

End Products:

- Inception Report (28 February 2022)

- Capacity building workshop for national researcher (17 March 2023)

- Draft Final Report (30 June 2023)

- Final Report (15 July 2023)

Duration of Contract: November 2022 – July 2023 (8 months)

Official Travel: No official travel required.

Work Location:

- Home based, or any venue with regular communication via email /Skype/Zoom/MS Teams

- Consultant to use their laptop and other necessary infrastructure/equipment

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

Mandatory

• Advanced university degree in health policy and management, public health, public policy, social development, and other relevant fields. A doctorate would be an asset.
• At least 8 years of experience in providing technical assistance on health-related issues, including digital health.
• Experience of undertaking mapping and capacity analysis of health and public services
• Excellent understanding of assessment principles and methodologies, including capacity in an array of qualitative and quantitative assessment methods.
• A minimum of 5 research experience with international organizations.
• Experience in conducting evaluations for UN agencies or major bilateral donor country programmes, and familiarity with UNEG Norms and Standards.
• Excellent English report writing skills and a track record of producing high quality reports in English.

Desirable

• Experience of undertaking research (Focus group discussions or key informant interviews) with young people.

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV, full contact information of minimum 3 references, availability, and proposed monthly professional fee in USD by 15 November 2022****.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People, and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.