Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi, Kenya

Contract

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

Title of Assignment

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Consultant

Section

Child Protection section

Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Duration

35 days

Start/End date

From:9-Jan-23

To: 28-Apr-23

Background and Justification

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) is an institutional priority for the United Nations, including for UNICEF. The UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022 - 2025 identifies MHPSS as a priority area for children, caregivers, parents and young people, with newly defined indicators and priorities within Goal Areas 1 (Survive and Thrive), 2 (Every Child Learns) and 3 (Every Child is protected from violence and exploitation) and a further emphasis on change agents required to realise the organization vision and commitments. Alongside its Strategic Plan, UNICEF has recently released its new Operational Framework for MHPSS which emphasizes the cross and intersectoral approach of integrating MHPSS into Emergency and Development programmes and working at multiple levels of system change. Combined, these documents demonstrate a clear scaling up of MHPSS within UNICEF shifting away from siloed programming to effecting long term system change to ensure that children, adolescents, families and communities, benefit from supportive and nurturing environments to develop and maintain good mental as a fundamental human right.

Core Standards Indicators (CSIs) were introduced as a core set of country-level standards indicators that also generates the data required for global reporting. In 2022, they will be used for the first time to collect data for reporting on UNICEF global results and commitments outlined in the new Strategic Plan.

A review of the new MHPSS CSIs will help getting a better overview of various programme’s engagement on MHPSS in the region and help refining the ESAR narrative and contribution to the global agenda.

Eastern and Southern Africa was one of three UNICEF regions to be awarded 7% set aside funding to pilot MHPSS acceleration (2021- 2022) with funds directed to the Regional Office, Ethiopia and Rwanda Country Offices. These funds were used to support specific MHPSS programming and increasing technical support at regional level. The success of this initial investment in scaling up engagement in cross sectoral MHPSS dialogue, programming and coordination has influenced UNICEF’s HQ decision to provide a further 2 years 7% set aside funding specifically for investment in MHPSS capacity at ESARO level.

Scope of work

1. *Goal and Objective*****: The overall objective of this assignment is to oversee the development and implementation of the regional strategy on MHPSS in line with the Strategic Plan and the Regional Office Management Plan and Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Collaboration for Children (ESAR C4C) to scale-up integrated and cross-sectoral MHPSS programming in both development and emergency settings. Under the supervision of the Child Protection Regional Advisor, the Consultant will support the continued efforts of the regional office and country offices to realise the goals and commitments on MHPSS expressed with the UNICEF Strategic Plan and sector specific frameworks pending the recruitment of a Programme Specialist (MHPSS) on TA.
2. Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: Enhanced capacity of COs to prevent and respond to exploitation, abuse, neglect, harmful practices (child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation) and violence against children in all settings through systems strengthening across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus and throughout the lifecycle of children.
3. Activities and Tasks: The incumbent will coordinate cross-sectoral programming in order to help shape strategic programmatic response on MHPSS. The contractor will work with UNICEF country and regional level teams and with external partner organisations to shape and deliver the regional and global priorities. Through its work, the holder of the post should adopt a life-course approach to address 1) first and second decade differences and the nuances within each decade; 2) a rights-based gender-transformative approach and; 3) ensure that actions are informed by children, adolescents and young people agency.

More specifically, the post holder will support the Regional Office in 3 main areas of work and will be expected to complete the following tasks:

1. Complete a comprehensive review of the CSIs for MHPSS in the system as part of the RO’s overall review of CO reporting (5 days – beginning on 9th January)
2. Quality assure the end of year 7% set aside reporting for MHPSS from Ethiopia and Rwanda and complete ESARO’s Annual Report (deadline – mid-February)

3. Development of 2-year ESARO multi-sectoral MHPSS Work Plan (2023 – 2024) in consultation with the RO MHPSS Working Group (deadline end of April)

4. Working relationship: The contractor will work under the supervision of the ESARO Regional Advisor for Child Protection and under the overall leadership of the Deputy Regional Director. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the ESARO sectoral MHPSS focal persons, especially in Child Protection, Health, Gender, ECD, HIV and Education sections. The contractor is also expected to interact with the Regional Staff Counsellor and support colleagues across the different sectors of work of UNICEF at country level.

The contractor shall participate, contribute to and leverage the use of existing internal and inter-agency cross-sectoral coordination platforms related to MHPSS such as the Programme Management Team meeting, ESARO Gender and Adolescent Working Group, ESARO Disability Working Group, the Regional inter-agency MHPSS Group led by UNICEF within the WHO Case management ESAR Technical Working Group and the Global Health H6 Partnership. The contractor will contribute to building the capacities of other sectors. The contractor is also working closely with the Innovation and Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) teams.

5. Outputs/Deliverables:

Tasks/Milestone****Deliverables/Outputs****Timeline Schedule payment 1.Complete a comprehensive review of the Core Standards Indicators (CSIs) for MHPSS in the system as part of the RO’s overall review of CO reportingCSIs are reviewed5 days 2.

Quality assure the end of year 7% set aside reporting for MHPSS from Ethiopia and Rwanda and complete ESARO’s Annual Report

The final 7% set aside report is issued10 days and by the end of February Deliverables for 1 & 2

50% end of February 2023

3.Development of 2-year ESARO multi-sectoral MHPSS Work Plan (2023 – 2024) in consultation with the RO MHPSS Working GroupThe final 2-year ESARO multi-sectoral MHPSS work plan (2023-2024) is submitted20 days by the end of April50% by 5th May 2023Desired competencies, technical background, and experience

1. Education: Advanced university degree in one of the following fields: in social sciences; psychology; international development; public health or similar relevant discipline.

Experience

• At least 8 years of MHPSS programming, including in humanitarian contexts.
• Solid knowledge and understanding of health and social work systems, humanitarian principles, child safeguarding measures and established international standards on mental health and psychosocial support for children and adolescents.
• Strong coordination, organizational and facilitation skills whether face to face or remotely with diverse stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience with multi-sectoral programme design and knowledge management, preferably including remote coordination.
• Comfortable to work independently while coordinating closely with different

Must exhibit the UNICEF Core Values of:

1. Care
2. Respect
3. Integrity
4. Trust
5. Accountability
6. Sustainability

Competencies: list the competencies that the consultant should have for the assignment.

1. 1. Builds and maintains partnerships
   2. Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
   3. Drive to achieve results for impact
   4. Innovates and embraces change
   5. Manages ambiguity and complexity
   6. Thinks and acts strategically
   7. Works collaboratively with others

Language Proficiency

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French or Portuguese an asset

Administrative issues

The Contractor is required to be home-based and interaction with UNICEF staff and partners in the region and countries will be held remotely.

Conditions

• The contractor is expected to use his/her own IT equipment (laptop, cellphone etc.), where operating communication costs – long-distance calls, internet if any should be part of the overall quoted fees (no reimbursement will be applied).
• As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor.
• For international contractor outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email. Signed contract copy or written agreement must be received by the office before Travel Authorization is issued.
• The contractor selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual / institutional contracts.
• The selected candidate will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts and the assignment will be conducted in accordance with the UN Evaluation Group Code of Conduct and ethical standards.
• 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 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.

Risks

NA

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter, CV and their technical proposals to the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System) or email provided.

Interested candidates to indicate ability, availability, and daily expressed in US$ to undertake the terms of reference.

Applications submitted without a fee/ rate will not be considered.