Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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.

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.

The Object of the Evaluation

The evaluation will have both summative and formative dimensions. It will provide recommendations for improvements of the effectiveness, scale up and sustainability of Government’s work in the area of child rights and UNICEF’s support.

Objects of the evaluation are:

• National Plan of Action for Realization of Children’s rights in Turkmenistan for 2018-2022 (NAP), with a Road Map for Its implementation and Indicator’s Framework
• UNICEF’s contribution to the design, implementation and monitoring of the NAP
• Impact of COVID-19 global pandemic on the full implementation of NAP
• Contribution of the NAP into the implementation of SDGs

WORKPLAN AND DELIVERABLES

The evaluation is expected to be completed within 30 days.[1] This might be subject to change depending on the prevailing situation on ground at the time of the evaluation.

The evaluation process at all stages should follow UNICEF Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis.

The Evaluation Consultant is responsible to submit the following Deliverables (subject to external Quality Assurance):

Detailed Inception Report (IR) in English (Electronic version to be submitted within two months after signing a contract and initial briefing with the Evaluation Manager, ERB and ERG). This report should be 20 to 25 pages in length and should be in line with UN standards for IRs. The IR should outline detailed scope, evaluation framework; methodology; sampling, field visit timing and modality, data collection methods, timeline for activities and submission of deliverables, dissemination plan). The IR should also include initial data and findings based on the documentary review and final evaluation design/plan. The Inception Phase will be used as an evaluability phase and phase to collect and review all available evidence. This report will be used as an initial point of agreement and understanding between the Evaluation Consultant and Evaluation Manager. A draft will be shared in advance for comments and approved by the ERG. Final inception report will be presented by the Evaluation Consultant to the ERB and ERG and quality assured by RSE Steering Committee, Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor and external QA institution. Young SDG Ambassadors will be involved to cover visits into to the velayats to have interviews with local representatives in partnership with the evaluation Consultant, who will be supporting them on-line. The final list of sites/ institutions as well as respondents will be defined with the evaluation Consultant.

Draft Evaluation Report in English and Russian (Electronic version of the first draft should be submitted after completion of the data collection). The draft report should be in line with UNICEF adapted UNEG Evaluation Report Standards and contain the same sections as the final report (described in the p. 10) and will be at least 50 pages in length (excluding annexes). It will also contain an executive summary of no more than 5 pages that includes a brief description of the context and current situation, the purpose of the evaluation, its methodology and its main findings, conclusions and recommendations. The draft will be shared with the ERG to seek their comments. The drafts report will be quality assured by RSE Steering Committee and Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor. The final draft will be quality assured by external QA institution.

Evaluation Report (Final draft) in English and Russian (Electronic and hard copy versions to be submitted after receiving consolidated comments and feedback from UNICEF). The final report will be 50 to 60 pages in length. It will also contain an executive summary of no more than 5 pages. The final report should include all received comments and suggestions provided by QA review providers. The Evaluation Report should systematically answer the key evaluation questions posed. It should fairly and clearly represent the views of the different actors/stakeholders. It should clearly give the conclusions and recommends in a way that is substantiated by evidence. The Final Report should be submitted along with the Power point presentation in English and Russian (electronic version). Presentation should be based on the finalized evaluation report summarizing the entire process, purpose, objectives, methodology, findings and recommendations and conclusions.

Dissemination plan and advocacy approaches should be developed as part of the IR and then discussed/agreed with the CO. Primarily, the result will be disseminated to the CO senior management. The findings will be discussed at the management team meetings, programmatic reviews to inform the CO’s programming. The plan for dissemination and advocacy of the Evaluation result will be cleared by the CO’s Representative.

The Evaluation Consultant should propose a timeline to submit the deliverables in their implementation plan (in proposals). Necessary and adequate time (at least two weeks) should be allocated for review and quality assurance processes of the deliverables by the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor and External Institution.

The Evaluation Consultant should produce the above assessment and conduct the meetings for submitting each Deliverable. Deadline for each deliverable to be agreed between the Evaluation Consultant and UNICEF.

[1] interested candidates should indicate the expected time to complete the assessment in their proposals

UNICEF is seeking to contract an international consultant, corresponding to the following requirements:

Duration: 21 June 2021 – 21 June 2022 (30 days)

The International Consultant should have the following qualifications:

• Advanced university degree, preferably in evaluation, human rights, social studies or a related field. A combination of relevant academic background and relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;
• At least three years’ experience in evaluation, including experience in human rights area; evaluations using non-experimental approaches; familiarity with UNICEF and the UN system (CVs required);
• Expertise to analyse, good understanding of human rights issues;
• Geographical scope of professional experience;
• Familiarity with UNICEF work and procedures (possible but not necessary);
• Strong analytical skills and statistical data analysis experience;
• Ability to produce content for high standard deliverables in Russian and English;
• Language skills, ICT skills;
• Sensitivity towards ethics with regards to human and child rights issues, different cultures, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, personal interaction and gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity.

Specific aspects of the evaluation and its scope will be revisited/defined during the inception phase. It is envisioned, that 10 SDG Ambassadors (2 in each region) will accompany the evaluation processes as part of UNICEF’s overall vision of youth inclusion and professional development. The youth will be expected to provide their insights and observations to contribute to informing the data analysis exercises. A role of youth in the evaluation process will need to be further specified in the scope of evaluation.

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.