MBPJ CFCI Evaluation Consultant, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9 weeks (Open to All Nationalities)

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, hope

Together with the Malaysian government and others who are truly passionate about child rights, UNICEF works in Malaysia to ensure every child has the opportunity to grow healthy and happy; live safely; and achieve their full potential.

With the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the 11th Malaysia plan as our guides, we endeavor to change minds, change policies, and in turn change the lives of all children in Malaysia.

https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/

How can you make a difference?

OBJECTIVES AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Purpose: To conduct the evaluation of the implementation of MBPJ’s CFCI Plan of Action (PoA)

Objective(s):

1. To conduct the evaluation of the implementation of the CFCI Plan of Action in accordance with the CFCI Global Guidelines (2018)
2. To give recommendation for the Plan of Action for the next round of CFCI.

Required Conceptual approach to Evaluation

The evaluation of the implementation of the CFCI Action Plan should be carried out at the end of the CFCI cycle to assess the degree to which the local council was able to achieve the results and targets established in the Plan of Action and whether it meets the minimum criteria following the global CFCI guidance. The evaluation also intends to capture intended and unintended effects and investigates the reasons why certain aspects of the implementation have or have not been implemented as planned. It is recommended that evaluation of CFCI should follow the two evaluation criteria:

• Relevance: Are MBPJ doing the right thing? How important is the relevance or significance of the intervention regarding local requirements and priorities?
• Effectiveness: Are the objectives of the interventions being achieved?

Even though the impact criteria as such is not included, the evaluation should assess whether the activities carried out under the action plan started to make a change in the lives of children. As the implementation time was only one year, only initial changes and potential for impact can be assessed. Tools and analysis should also consider this lend.

The Evaluation will adopt the three global criteria for UNICEF-recognized Child Friendly City are:

• Demonstrated results for children within the scope of the Plan of Action
• Meaningful and inclusive child participation within the scope of the Plan of Action
• Demonstrated dedication to eliminating discrimination against children and young people in policies and actions within the scope of the Plan of Action.

The methodology should be suitable to address the objective of the evaluation and should seek to include a mixed method approach based on a review on the documentations, interviews with the key stakeholders (both rights holders and duty bearers) and observation, where applicable. This information should be captured in an evaluation matrix which also identify the indicators, the criteria, data sources and the analytics methods to be used to address the potential for or early impact and the progress made towards the agreed objectives and indicators in the Plan of Action. It is important to note that the evaluation criteria need to be developed with clear passing criteria and thresholds to quantify progress need to be defined at the inception stage of the evaluation, as these were not included in the plan of action itself. These need to be discussed and validated with both MBPJ and UNICEF.

Time scope: The evaluation should cover the period when the CFCI PoA was approved to its completion.

UNICEF will share with the selected consultant the selected Evaluation Committee members and the committee’s terms of reference. The role of the committee would help strengthen the legitimacy of the recognition (and possible rejection), will reduce the risk of having potential conflicts of interest and will be the key validation group on the evaluation findings. The committee should comprise members of civil society, academia, relevant professionals, representative of MBPJ and representative of UNICEF Malaysia Office, provided there is a balanced political representation and no conflicts of interest. The involvement of children/youth people in the process would be an asset and strengthen its effectiveness and legitimacy.

Note: It is advised that the selected consultant refers to the Child Friendly Cities Initiative Handbook (2018) as its PoA was developed based on this guideline. MBPJ final Plan of Action with the M&E framework will be shared with the selected consultant.

While the evaluation’s unit of analysis is the Plan of Action and recognition of MBPJ as a Child Friendly City depends on implementation of this PoA, MBPJ is the first city in Malaysia to be part of the CFCI. As such, the evaluation is expected to also provide comments and recommendations beyond the evaluation of the implementation of the plan of action. Ideally, a reflection on the PoA itself, how well it aligns with the CFCI global guidance, how ambitious it is in the goal of advancing child rights (within the scope of action of a local council in Malaysia). This will help shape upcoming plans of action of other cities that are starting their CFCI journey in Malaysia.

Finally, recommendations on which areas of the Plan of Action could be strengthened and continued in the future and which areas could be considered to be included in the future will help shape the future of MBPJs work on and with children.

The consultants are expected to refer to the following documents:

• Child Friendly Cities Initiative Handbook (2018)

• UNICEF’s Guidance Note: The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (2022)

• UNICEF’s Enhancing subnational and local governance to accelerate results for children (2022)

• UNICEF’s Procedure on ethical standards in research, evaluation, data collection and analysis (2021)

• UNICEF’s Guidance Note: Child Participation in Local Governance

• UNICEF’s Guidance on Consultations with Young People (2022)

SCOPE OF WORK

The development of the evaluation will proceed as follows:

• Development of the Inception report (IR) including the evaluation methodology, the development of the evaluation criteria for achieving the CFCI recognition, outline of the evaluation matrix and the outline of the report (including the manner the recommendation would be presented). If children are included (to review child participation) in the data collection, then ethical approval needs to be obtained.
• Evaluation of MBPJ’s implementation of CFCI Plan of Action and writing of the evaluation report, executive summary and a powerpoint.
• Recommendation to recognize MBPJ as CFCI or if needed, to be recognized under certain categories based on evaluation results and consultation with Evaluation Committee
• Develop recommendations based on the findings for the next CFCI cycle, both on content as well as structure of the PoA and its M&E framework

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Public Policy, Economics, Social Sciences, Public Administration, or another relevant subject.
• At least 5 years’ relevant professional experience in leading and managing evaluations and practical experience conducting evaluation.
• Previous experience in evaluations with/for UN agencies (particularly with UNICEF) or other international agencies is an advantage.
• Skills and experience in developing results frameworks, tools or guides for monitoring and evaluation.
• Familiarity with results-based management orientation and practices and preparing products in the UN style; familiarity with UNICEF’s programming and management systems will be an advantage.
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills in English.
• Any conflict of interest in this evaluation should be declared earlier on in the process, during the bidding and contracting stages.

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.

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.