National consultant for the design of a Grievance Redress Mechanism for Government of Zimbabwe HSCT programme (Open to nationals of Zimbabwe Only)

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UNICEF Zimbabwe is seeking to hire an innovative and self-motivated individual consultant to support the Government of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) in designing Grievance Redress Mechanism for the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer programme.

BACKGROUND:

The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare is the coordinating ministry for all social protection programmes in Zimbabwe. The ministry implements several social protection programmes, among them the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) programme. The HSCT programme is one of the government flagship programmes and is located within the social assistance pillar of the National Social Protection Policy Framework. The programme was introduced in 2011 and targets the food-poor and labour- constrained households. The primary objective of the unconditional HSCT programme is to increase the purchasing power and thus the food consumption of the most food-poor and labour-constrained members of the population to reduce their reliance on risky coping behaviour and improve their socioeconomic status.

According to the current HSCT manual of operations, households are eligible for support if they are food-poor, and they are labour-constrained. A household is labour-constrained when:

• it has no able-bodied household member in the age group 18 to 59, who is fit for productive work; or
• when one household member in the age group 18 to 59 years, who is fit for work, has to care for more than 3 dependents. i.e. household members that are under 18 years of age or over 59 or are unfit for work because they are chronically ill, or disabled or handicapped or are still schooling); or
• when a household has a dependency ratio between 2 and 3 but has a severely disabled or chronically sick household member who requires intensive care.

The level of benefits to households varies by size of household and are capped at 4 members as follows:

• One person household = USD20.
• Two-person household = USD35.
• Three-person household = USD45; and
• Four-person household or more = USD65.

The benefits are paid in local currency (ZWL) indexed to the USD official exchange rate.

The HSCT programme has expanded to cover 33 districts by 2023, of which eight are urban districts to which Government has extended its support with the financial and technical assistance from UNICEF. The expansion has, however, been slow mainly due to several factors including limited financial resources, weak and costly targeting system which inhibits rapid expansion. Beneficiaries to the programme have not changed since 2011 due to high costs involved in retargeting of beneficiaries. According to the programme design, households were to remain in the programme for at least two years when retargeting would be done.

The HSCT programme does not have an effective Grievance Redress System (GRM). Since the programme inception in 2012, attempts have been made to develop and roll out the GRM system which was mainly paper- based and did not give effective results. The programme has been operating without a GRM system in place.

According to literature, setting up a grievance mechanism to handle appeals and complaints is widely seen as best practice in social protection and development programming. A functioning grievance mechanism is expected to strengthen accountability to beneficiaries and communities, bringing about a wide range of benefits. These include: direct programmatic benefits, such as reduced risks of error and fraud; indirect programmatic benefits, such as increased programme credibility and support, and increased willingness of communities to actively engage with the programme; and spillover programme benefits, such as a stronger citizen-state compact, empowerment of some of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens, and reduced social tension. GRM is also expected to improve programme operations.

It is against this background that the MPSLSW with support from UNICEF is seeking the engagement of a national consultant to support in the development of a Grievance Redress Mechanism for the government HSCT programme.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

To support the Government of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) in designing Grievance Redress Mechanism for the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer programme.

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Conduct literature review of grievance redress systems by government and other partners in Zimbabwe and document useful approaches.
2. Hold national stakeholder consultations and support in the development of the inception report.
3. Working in collaboration with MPSLSW organise and participate in a stakeholder’s workshop to discuss grievance Redress systems applying in different countries, based on the literature review and agencies in Zimbabwe;
4. Conduct a field visits in one or two districts and document experiences relevant to the assignment.
5. Participate in the review of the HSCT programme design including its business processes to come up with an effective GRM framework of operation;
6. Support the development of a draft GRM document;
7. Organise validation workshop for the draft and produce a workshop report;
8. Support integration of the GRM system into the into the MIS system and the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Operational manual;
9. Contribute to the development of the Final GRM document

Major tasks and deliverables:

Tasks/Milestone:****Deliverables/Outputs:****Timeline PaymentLiterature Review and stakeholder consultations

Inception report elaborating on the final approach to this assignment and timeline for delivery of each workstream.10 days20%Conduct field Visits for inputs into the draft GRM reportField Visit Report7 days Develop inputs for the draft GRM DocumentDraft report with the Grievance Redress Procedures and processes7 days30%Develop Validation workshopValidation workshop report5 days20%Support development of the Final ReportFinal document produced.7 days30%To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

Masters degree in Social Sciences, social policy or public policy, economics. *Bachelor’s degree in relevant field with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree

Experience:

A minimum 5 years experience in Social Protection. Working experience of working on similar assignments, in the region / globally

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

Demonstrated expertise and capability in collaborating with Government and development partners;

Good understanding of the development context in Zimbabwe, including development policies and social protection interventions;

Excellent communication and interview skills; and

Ability to carry out research at district and community levels.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of main local languages (Shona and Ndebele) is an asset.

The detailed consultancy terms of reference is downloadable via this link Terms of Reference.pdf

If interested and available to undertake the individual consultancy, please submit your application online and attach the required documents including the technical proposal and an all-inclusive financial proposal incorporating an approximate number of travel days for field (local) travel.

Technical proposal: The Technical Proposal should articulate an understanding of the TOR and include the proposed Tasks/Milestones, Deliverables/Outputs, Timeline and level of effort by deliverable. The similar table provided in the TOR is indicative. Applicants may use the indicative table as a guide or deviate as per the proposed approach. The proposal should also cost-effectively propose the local travel proposed by the applicant to undertake the assignment.

Financial proposal: The Financial Proposal should include the costs (providing a daily rate as justification) for each task, including consultant fee, proposed travel costs and perdiem, communications costs and any other proposed cost.

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.