National Consultant - Monitoring and Evaluation systems to inform policy design and implementation in favor of children – (Part-time, Home-Based ), 55 working days, Bucharest, Romania

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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.

For every child, protection

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

Although important progress has been made in the past decades, Romania remains the EU country with the highest rate of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion (41.5% - almost double the EU-27 average of 23.8%), hindering the full realization of their rights. Inequality rates also remain high, with persistent disparities in economic opportunities and in access to quality services across different regions and especially between urban and rural areas, where over 47 per cent of children live. Children with disabilities, children from Roma communities and children out of family care are also among the most vulnerable and excluded categories. One of the system’s main bottlenecks is that the child social protection relies mainly on social transfers and less on social assistance services, which still lack qualified workforce and it is unevenly distributed nationwide.

Starting in 2015, the European Union began the development of a Child Guarantee, meant to ensure that all children in Europe who are at risk of poverty, social exclusion, or are otherwise disadvantaged, have access to essential services of good quality in the areas of healthcare, education, childcare, housing and nutrition. In July 2020, DG Employment, in partnership with UNICEF, launched a testing phase of the Child Guarantee in seven Member States and in June 2021, the Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation establishing an EU-wide Child Guarantee to combat child poverty and social exclusion of the most vulnerable children.

The recommendation also exhorted all EU countries to develop a National Action Plan for the implementation of the Child Guarantee up to 2030, process which the Government of Romania started in parallel with the finalization of the new National Strategy for the Promotion and Protection of Children Rights 2021-2027. Both these inter-sectoral policy documents are currently in an advanced draft phase and are being finalized under the coordination of the National Authority for the Protection of Children Rights and Adoption (NAPCRA).

Given the relevance of these documents in setting the framework of the Country’s strategies and investments in favor of children, UNICEF is working closely with the NAPCRA and other institutional counterparts in areas related to the financing, expenditure tracking, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and implementation of said policies. The major purpose of the assignment is to contribute to the strengthening of the M&E frameworks of the Child Guarantee National Action Plan (CG-NAP) and other public policy documents aimed at the protection of children rights.

Scope of Work

The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist and in close collaboration with the NAPCRA to support the process of analysis, review, comparison and to recommend concrete measures to strengthen the M&E frameworks of the different policy documents for the protection of children rights (in particular CG-NAP and National Child Rights Strategy). To achieve this, the consultant will fulfill the following tasks and responsibilities:

1. Review the indicators, including through indicator fiches, currently included in the different public policy documents aimed at the protection of children (M&E framework of CG-NAP, National Child Rights Strategy, Operational Programmes 2021-2027 relevant for the Child Guarantee, PNRR, Sector Strategies etc.), focusing on: a) sources of data; b) availability of data; c) authority responsible for data collection and data flow; d) periodicity of data collection; e) types of disaggregation collected; f) geographical coverage; g) milestones; h) targets; i) means of verification; j) periodicity of dissemination/publication

2. Compare the M&E Frameworks of the policy documents mentioned above to highlight synergies, complementarities and differences of data collection systems both in terms of data collected and quality, periodicity etc. of data

3. In close collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics, review of data needs and disaggregation required to report against international obligations, starting with the periodic EU monitoring on the Child Guarantee, and others related such as EU targets related to children, CRC obligations and recommendations, TransMonEE, SDGs etc. This with the goal of facilitating the availability of data for future planning (including the periodic review of the CG-NAP) and reporting

4. Based on the reviews and comparisons of available data and data needs, develop a set of recommendations and a roadmap to improve the quality, availability and international comparability of data collected to strengthen the existing M&E frameworks of policy documents (in particular CG-NAP and National Child Rights Strategy) in line with the European Statistical System and Standards, including:

• Proposing the integration of the current baseline values included in the M&E frameworks of the CG-NAP and National Child Rights Strategy (current version of CG-NAP includes 84 indicators, 35 of which count with a baseline value)

• Suggesting new necessary indicators to be potentially added to the CG-NAP, including at the level of Specific Objective, to complement those already set at Overall Objective and Measure levels

• Including a few children/stakeholders’ perception indicators to strengthen child participation into the monitoring process of the CG-NAP

Reviewing/modifying existing indicators if needed, including to align them with other M&E structures and data collection systems already in place and/or being set-up (e.g., NAPCRA’s National Database) during the periodic review of the CG-NAP

• Suggesting possible additional disaggregation to increase the availability of specific information for boys and girls, age groups and categories of children particularly at risk of poverty and social exclusion as identified in the CG-NAP

• Highlighting actions required to implement the abovementioned recommendations, in terms of changes to data collection forms, training of staff etc.

5. Based on all the above, compile a proposal of a list of pre-eminent indicators that target the field of children rights with corresponding definitions, means of verification, periodicity of reporting, disaggregation needed and responsible authority and organize and conduct a validation process with all relevant authorities including all members of the Coordinating Council, child-participation mechanisms, and the National Institute of Statistics

6. Develop a capacity building plan to disseminate the list at central and local levels, including in connection with NAPCRA’s National Database, implement the necessary adjustments to data collection forms and processes, and strengthen the capacity for an improvement in the quality of data collection and reporting

7. Based on the strengthened M&E frameworks of the different public policy instruments in favor of children rights and on the validated list of pre-eminent indicators, prepare a concept paper for the development of a digitalized child scoreboard to strengthen the institutional data visualization and evidence based-policy design and reporting. The concept paper will need to be validated with the NAPCRA and the National Institute of Statistics.

Work Assignment Overview

DeliverableTimelineReport on the indicators’ review and comparison with recommendations and roadmap for strengthening of the M&E frameworksMonths 1 to 3 – 25 daysProposed list of indicators with indicators’ fichesMonth 3 – 10 daysReport of validation processMonth 4 – 3 daysFinal list of indicators with indicators’ fichesMonth 4 – 2 daysCapacity building planMonth 4 – 5 daysValidated concept paper on the development of a digitalized scoreboardMonth 5 – 10 days

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required

• A Master Degree in one of the following disciplines: Social policies, social sciences, economics, statistics, or other relevant technical fields
• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in monitoring and evaluation of social programs
• Proven knowledge of public policies for the protection of children rights
• Proven strong analytical and planning skills, and familiarity with LogFrames and M&E frameworks
• Familiarity with the European Statistical System and Standards is an asset
• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English and Romanian
• Computer skills, including Internet navigation and various office applications
• Relevant experience in similar activities with UNICEF, other UN agencies or development partners will be considered as an asset

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.

Application procedure:

The application will be made in the dedicated UNICEF platform and it must include:

1. an Updated CV focused on the skills and experience matching those requested by the current consultancy
2. Financial Offer should indicate the GROSS amount in RON as per the attached template Financial Offer National Consultant.xlsx

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.