National consultant for the Design of the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Operational Manual (Open to Zimbabwean Nationals Only)

Consultant Programme & Policy

Overview

Support the redesign of the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Operational Manual.

You have:

• A Masters degree in Social Sciences, Social/Public Policy Management, Economics or related, Social Protection and/or evaluation studies qualifications.
• A Bachelors Degree in relevant field with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum 5 years experience in Social Protection and knowledge of cash transfers in Zimbabwe.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of main local languages (Shona and Ndebele) is an asset.

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights.

Supporting the Government’s vision of a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society, the country programme is aimed at contributing to sustainable socioeconomic development that provides all children, including adolescents, with opportunities to fulfil their potential, lead a healthy life, access quality learning and protection and meaningfully participate in society.

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How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Zimbabwe is seeking to hire an energetic and self-motivated individual consultant to Support the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) Department of Social Development in redesigning the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Operational Manual.

BACKGROUND:

The Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) Programme is Government of Zimbabwe’s primary social assistance programme that provides cash payments to its beneficiaries. The programme, implemented under the Ministry of Public, Service, Labour and Social Welfare, was introduced in 2011 focused on 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 in order to reduce their reliance on risky coping behaviour and improve their socioeconomic status.

Households are eligible for the programme if they are food poor and labour constrained. A household is labour constrained when:

• It has no able-bodied household member in the age group 18 to 59, who are 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 (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
• Four person household or more = USD65

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

The programme has expanded to cover 33 districts by 2023. The expansion has, however been slow mainly due to several factors including limited financial resources, weak and costly targeting system which inhibited rapid expansion. Beneficiaries to the programme have not changed since 2011 due to high costs involved in retargeting and reviewing of the existing beneficiaries. According to the programme design, households were to remain in the programme for at least two years when retargeting would be done.

The reform of this programme has become a key priority of government as the current operational guidelines are no longer in sync with changes that have been introduced in the design of the programme as well as operations on the ground. In 2023 through technical support from UNICEF the HSCT operation modalities have been reformed to enable the programme to sustainably expand into a truly national programme. To this end a more cost-effective targeting system to promote a stronger focus on inclusion of beneficiaries across life course, with a new registration approach has been developed. Eligibility criteria are still in line with the initial HSCT criteria especially for economic vulnerability but will also include other vulnerable categories to include pregnant woman, children under two years of age, elderly (over 65), households with persons with disability and child-headed households. These groups are highly correlated with being labour-constrained and will be used as proxies for labour-constrained households.

A new registration approach – pooled registration - is also under pilot in the rural districts where HSCT beneficiaries are being retargeted.

Additionally, the Ministry of public service is interested in ensuring that its social protection system, including its various programmes are more responsive to shocks. To this effect, an assessment was carried out, looking at the shock responsiveness of the existing system and recommendations on how it can better prepare and respond to shocks. A road map emanated from this work with a set of recommendations at the system and programme levels.

It is against this background that MPSLSW with technical and financial support from UNICEF is aiming at reviewing the operational guidelines of the HSCT programme for effective implementation of the programme.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT: To support the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MoPSLSW) Department of Social Development in redesigning the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Operational Manual.

ASSIGNMENTS: The overall purpose of this consultancy is to review the current HSCT Operational Guidelines in line with the changes effected to the programme design and operational modalities.

The following are the tasks for the national consultant:

• Consult with the government departments and development partners for relevant policies, frameworks and documents necessary for literature review and provide technical input to the desk review.
• Support the development of the Inception Report including methodology, data collection tools and stakeholder mapping.
• Capture lessons learned from the implementation of the HSCT data and capture recommendations on ways in which things can be improved
• Facilitate and participate in national level data collection and field visits.
• In collaboration with MPSLSW, support HSCT stakeholder consultative workshop for mapping and reviewing HSCT processes.
• Liaise with UNICEF, MPSLSW and other relevant national stakeholders for gap data and information gap filling.
• Provide technical input and support the drafting of HSCT operational guidelines document, aligning the document to the current programmatic context including laws and relevant policies.
• Facilitate the organization of the stakeholder validation workshop to present the final draft HSCT operational guidelines and participate in the preparation of the workshop report
• Support finalization of HSCT operational guidelines.

The main audience of this study is the MPSLSW, other development partners and NGOs involved in implementing the HSCT programme.

Major tasks and deliverables:

Tasks/Milestone:****Deliverables/Outputs:

Level of effort (indicative), timeline & payment schedule Support the development of the Inception Report including methodology, data collection tools and stakeholder mappingInception Report methodology, data collection tools and interview schedule5 days (20%)

Stakeholders consultative workshop for Process mapping of current steps and lessons learned workshop- Workshop invitations

Agreed workshop programme Workshop report 5 days (15%)Field VisitPopulated data collection tools and Field Visit Report8 days (10%)Inputs into the Draft HSCT operational guidelines document;Draft operational guidelines 5 days (20%)Planning and preparation of the Validation workshop that presents the draft guidelines; andWorkshop report 5 days (15%)Support to the development of the final guidelines with comments from validation workshop incorporatedFinal operational guidelines5 days (20%)To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education: A Masters degree in Social Sciences, Social/Public Policy Management, Economics or related, Social Protection and/or evaluation studies qualifications;

* A Bachelors 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 and knowledge of cash transfers in Zimbabwe;

Desirable: Working experience of working on similar assignments, in the region and Zimbabwe

Languages: 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.

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Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org