National Consultancy: Costing of Social Cash Transfer Programme Strategic Plan

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For every child, Safety...

The Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) is an unconditional cash transfer programme which aims at reducing poverty and improving education outcomes among ultra-poor households in Malawi. It is managed by the Ministry of Gender Community Development and Social Welfare and co-financed by international development institutions including the World Bank, European Union, Germany via KfW and the Irish Embassy. UNICEF and other partners focus on technical assistance. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Division (PRSP) provides policy oversight and coordination. The SCTP now reaches more than 300,000 households, about 10 percent of all households in the country. The programme started as a pilot project in Mchinji district in 2006, reaching all 28 districts in 2018.

The Government, with support from UNICEF, has developed a five-year Strategic Plan with the aim of improving the impact and delivery of the programme. The strategy identified several SCTP reforms to be implemented in the next five years. Some of these reforms include (i) moving towards categorical targeting; (ii) switching payment of cash transfers to from manual payment to electronic payment system; (iii) making the SCTP shock-sensitive and (iv) strengthening linkages to social sectors and other available services.

The SCTP operates under the framework of the Malawi National Social Support Programme (MNSSP) II. To reduce sector fragmentation, the Government in collaboration with development partners intends to establish the Social Support Fund (SSF). The SSF will be a pooled funding mechanism for Government and donors to jointly fund all social support programmes in the country including the SCTP. Financing SCTP through the SSF will have both operational and cost implications which should be considered in the strategy. In addition to the reforms and the possibility of implementing the SCTP through the SSF, Government is also considering to increase the SCTP beneficiaries to cover 15% ultra poor households.

The introduction of the above reforms is expected to affect the cost of implementing the programme. The reforms are at different levels of implementation. For instance, e-payments are being roll-out to additional districts after a successful pilot in Balaka and Ntcheu while categorical targeting is being tested in Thyolo. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive costing of the programme to ensure that both Government and Development Partners have a forecast of cost changes. Considering that the reforms and the expansion will not take place at the same time, there will also be a need to identify costs for specific reforms or mix of reforms. Currently, the SCTP cost can only be established through budgets submitted by Ministry of Gender Community Development and Social Welfare (MoGCDSW) to specific donors and a transfer costing model which was developed however, with the new reforms being proposed in the strategy, the cost of implementing the programme will likely change. In this view, UNICEF would like to hire an individual consultant to undertake a comprehensive costing of the SCTP Strategy.

How can you make a difference?

The consultant will be required to:

1. Engage key senior Government officers in the Ministry of Gender Community Development and Social Welfare (MoGCDSW), Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs as well as representatives of the SCTP donors including European Union Commission, the German Government, Irish Aid, the World Bank and other key SCTP stakeholders to establish institutional commitment and plans on SCTP financing.
2. Design a costing methodology/model, to be validated by the relevant stakeholders. The model will be used to establish the cost of implementing the new SCTP strategy as a whole and specific reforms.

3. Collect data required for estimating the cost of implementing the SCTP in its present format and also when reforms being proposed in the SCTP Strategic Plan have been rolled out. This includes;

4. Expansion of Coverage: Ultra poverty statistics per District; Ultra poverty projections per District; category specific transfer amounts; Breakdown of administrative costs per transfer per household; current donor budget commitments; Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) expansion costs.

5. Transition to categorical targeting: targeting and retargeting roll-out costs; target populations projections per district; category/individual/household-specific transfers.
6. Transfer Adequacy and Shock Sensitive Social Protection: The cost of additional households outside the SCTP (horizontal expansion - HE) and periodic increase of transfer level to existing beneficiaries (Vertical expansion VE); Projections for target population per district for HE and VE; Inflation projections; Inflation adjustment mechanism and entity; Exchange rate projections.
7. Programme Delivery and Administration Costs: E-payments roll-out costs; E-payments admin costs and projections; Admin cost for VE and HE; GRM adaptation costs; MIS adaptation to categorical targeting costs; MIS data migration costs; SCTP annual and multi-year budgets from Government and donors.
8. Harmonized Financing for SCTP: SSF specifications and related costs; Donor financing rules and limitations; Contingency funds for VE and HE.

9. The cost of integration and linkages to social services; exit packages and service packages (e.g. light touch add-ons).

10. Establish once-off costs for implementing new SCTP reforms.

11. Estimate the cost for implementing the SCTP when the new reforms are incorporated in the programme and in each case estimate the cost per household.
12. Establish the cost for implementing each reform area in each SCTP districts as well as nationally.
13. Assess the cost implications of establishing the social support fund on the SCTP.

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

Academic qualification:

• Advanced University degree in in Economics, Development Studies, Public Policy or other related fields.

Work experience:

• 10 or more years of demonstrable experience in socio-economic analysis and research is required.
• Proven experience in costing social protection plans, policies, strategies and programmes is an asset.
• Proven experience in economic modelling and costing exercises is required.
• Proven experience and understanding of public financial management.
• Experience in assignments related to the social protection financing and costing of social support interventions would be an asset.

Technical skills and knowledge:

• Strong writing and professional verbal communications skills, with demonstrable evidence producing high quality products is required.
• Advanced knowledge and understanding of social protection is required.
• Proven ability to work in collaboration with Government institutions is an asset.

Competencies:

• Highly organized with ability to multi-task and prioritize.
• Ability to work remotely and with minimum supervision.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Versatile and flexible team player.
• Adherence to timeframes provided.

Languages: Fluency in English – both written and verbal skills are required.

Please refer to the attached full Terms of Reference Terms Of Reference SCTP Strategy Costing.pdf for more details on the consultancy and requirements.

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.

HOW TO APPLY...

Interested Individual Consultant should provide the following:

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Academic certificates
3. Application letter
4. Brief technical proposal (no longer than five pages) demonstrating the Individual Consultant's understanding of the assignment and approach/methodology to the assignment
5. Financial proposal including a breakdown of their all-inclusive fees (including professional fees, stationery, communication, and other miscellaneous costs). Financial Proposal for Consultancy.xlsx Complete the attached form.
6. References details

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.