National consultant to support deployment of the regional parenting mobile app in Montenegro

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Terms of Reference

Job title: National consultant to support deployment of the regional parenting mobile app in Montenegro

Duty Station: home based and Podgorica, Montenegro

Type of Position: National (short-term)

Type of Assignment: Individual Consultancy

Contract Duration: 1 July 2021 until 31 December 2021

  1. Background and justification

UNICEF’s work on early childhood development in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) recognizes that every growing child need nurturing care, good health, optimal nutrition and a stimulating and safe environment that offers plenty of support for early learning. To ensure the best start for their children, all families need some support. But some vulnerable families, who face additional challenges such as poverty, adversity disability or social exclusion, need more help than others. Typically, support is provided through various services in health, education and child protection sectors and through interaction of children and parents with early childhood development (ECD) workforce but such support is not always sufficient and is particularly impacted by the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

A number of parenting aps that could provide guidance to parents are available on the market, but they are mainly available in English and provide limited thematic content (mainly play activities) without the a possibility for a parent to learn about , track and support all aspects of child health and development. Secondly, the majority of apps are not free of charge which presents a significant barrier, particularly for the most vulnerable families.

In order to support parents to receive timely and quality guidance even when direct contact with service providers is not possible and overcome barriers in access to digital solutions, the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) initiated development of a mobile parenting app (Parent Buddy – working title). The app is developed based on the prototype developed by UNICEF Serbia and the first public release of the app in Serbian took place in late 2021.

The app was envisioned as a regional and global solution that should allow for easy translation and adaptation of the centrally developed content and deployment in multiple counties and languages. Development of the regional app and the accompanying platform hosting its content is recognized as a cost-effective solution that will significantly reduce costs that would arise from individual country investments into development of similar tools.

Another important requirement for the mobile application was that it can adequately support the most vulnerable parents with lower education level, in terms of the navigation modalities, off-line operability and selection of the core content.

In order to deploy the app in Montenegro, the content of the app needs to be translated and adapted to be aligned with the contextual and cultural specificities and program priorities in Montenegro, in collaboration with national partners, especially the Institute for Public Health of Montenegro.

UNICEF seeks to contract a national consultant who will support the process of deployment of the Parent Buddy app in Montenegro.

This activity is part of the EU-funded Action “EU and UNICEF for Early Childhood Development in Montenegro” (2020-2023).

1.1. Current version of the Parent Buddy system – Objectives and Overview

The Parent Buddy system was developed to respond to the following objectives:

  • provide guidance to parents about early childhood development and parental care, including play and communication activities, via information database on an easily accessible platform,
  • disseminate targeted messages and information on how to prevent COVID19, where to seek assistance, and how to talk with children to minimize stress,
  • support parents to expand their knowledge of how to provide nurturing care at home,
  • support and engage parents to apply new knowledge in everyday practices to stimulate child development,
  • assist parents to monitor their children’s health and development,
  • become a safe and interactive parents’ repository of parameters relevant to the health and development of the child,
  • reduce pressure on service providers.

The cornerstone of the system is a mobile application which was developed with an aim to support responsive, positive parenting. Its aim is to provide information about early childhood development and parental care in a parent-friendly format and to encourage parents to apply guidance and provide nurturing care at home and to apply it in everyday practices. Parent Buddy also supports dissemination of targeted messages and information on how to prevent and protect children from COVID-19. The mobile application can also be used by service providers as a resource in their work with parents and as a tool for building trustworthy relationships and a partnership for the benefit of young children.

Parent Buddy contains wide assortment of articles and videos grouped under thematic categories of Play and Learning, Nutrition and breastfeeding, Responsive parenting, Safety and protection, Health and wellbeing, Parental wellbeing. Visually and content-wise, this part is currently in focus of the mobile application as it takes most of the screen space.

The mobile application is using the information on child’s date of birth, gender, season of the year and other information entered by a parent to recommend suitable content and tailored guidance.

The articles and videos are complemented by a set of questions and answers from many years of parental, pedagogical and medical experience. The parent can search the contents and find answers to all questions regarding the child and parenthood - the answers are organized by age and thematic categories for better visibility and easier navigation.

Parents also have a possibility to use some or all four functional features of the app: Child growth, Developmental milestones, Vaccinations and Health check-ups. Growth feature is used to monitor growth of the child (height and weight) and receive personalized guidance on how to further support it. Development feature is used to monitor developmental milestones reached and receive personalized guidance on how to further support it. Vaccinations feature is used to help parents monitor administered vaccinations according to country’s immunization calendar. Finally, health checkups feature, used to track the scheduled health check-up appointments. All features from the developmental diary are optional. They can be used to track more children for cases where a parent has more than one child.

The landing page, i.e. the home screen contains home screen message box feature, used to encourage and support parents via daily support message, reminders about actions needed for the developmental diary, notifications on baby’s progress, and personalized content feature, used to display the articles which are the most relevant for the child’s developmental stage (e.g. articles that are thematically-relevant for children between 1 or 2 months will be shown to a parent who has a 6-weeks old child).

The app also includes a number of supplementary features (such as login/registration feature[1], multi-baby feature used to add a new baby profile or switch to another existing baby profile, content sync feature, used to check and update the content available from CMS on a regular basis, polls feature, used to get a feedback on the mobile application as well as on parenting experience, offline mode feature, used to support the operation of most features in an offline mode etc. The app operates in an off-line mode in environments with the limited internet connectivity where all the articles, FAQ and their filtering will be available but interactive monitoring features will not be available.

  1. Purpose of the ToR

The purpose of the assignment is to support parents of children aged 0-6 in Montenegro to receive timely and quality guidance on nurturing care and responsive parenting.

The objective of the assignment is to support deployment of the Parent buddy app in Montenegro.

  1. Key Tasks

Under the supervision of the Early Childhood Development Officer and in close consultation with other Country Office staff involved in the rollout of the app, the consultant is expected to complete the following tasks:

3.1. Provide support in administration of the content (review of content, translated articles, edited articles, adaptation, upload of new content) in the Central Management System (CMS);

3.2. Undertake detailed review of the app content in terms of its relevance, applicability and cultural appropriateness;

3.3. Coordinate review, adaptation and translation process among the key UNICEF staff and stakeholders (UNICEF communications staff, ECD and health staff, translators, proofreaders, national experts, key partners);

3.4. Provide assistance in building/strengthening/facilitating partnerships with the key partners around promotion, fundraising and deployment of the app;

3.5. Lead content curation, review, adaptation of additional country specific content to be included in the app;

3.6. Provide training on CSM functionalities to key personnel engaged in app deployment;

3.7. Provide support development of the communication and promotion package for the launch of the app in collaboration with UNICEF communications staff;

3.8. Support communication with the RO and follow up on further developments with technical partners supporting app deployment;

3.9. Support development of the national M&E framework for the monitoring of the uptake and usefulness of the app;

3.10. Support communication and build partnerships with user groups, including gathering of the user feedback;

3.11. Provide suggestions and recommendations for the potential improvements of the app functionalities;

3.12. Support development of the broader plan on how to integrate the app and use it as a programmatic tool to complement program efforts (identify key partners, programs, ways of engagement with them and app promotion);

3.13. Monthly reports outlining tasks completed in the previous month, including final report/handover.

  1. Key Deliverables and Timeframe

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables by the following tentative deadlines (which may shift depending on the dynamics of the regional level rollout):

  • Mandatory content ready for use in the app, by 1 August 2021;
  • Mandatory videos uploaded in the app, by 20 July 2021;
  • National promotion and launch plan finalized, by 2 August 2021;
  • Feedback on test releases, 13 August and 24 September 2021;
  • App launch, 14 October 2021;
  • A selection of non-mandatory articles (agreed in advance with ECD Officer) made available in the app, until 31 December 2021;
  • Deliver training on CSM functionalities to key personnel as needs arise.
  • Monthly reports, monthly until the end of the contract.
  1. Management and Organisation

Management: The consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF Early Childhood Education Officer.

Organization: National Consultancy, individual, is required, meeting the criteria described below.

This is a part-time position.

The consultant is expected to work mostly from home except for meeting with UNICEF and stakeholders.

The consultant will be issued a UNICEF email address.

Schedule: The consultant will be engaged over the period from 1 July 2021 until 31 December 2021.

  1. Qualifications and Background

The Consultant is expected to have the following qualifications/specialized knowledge/experience required to complete the task:

Education:

  • University degree in psychology, social work, health, nutrition, human development, child development, family studies, or other social science field is required. Advanced degree will be considered as an asset.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of experience in programming, monitoring or evaluation in early childhood development and/or related areas.
  • Professional experience in a UN system agency or other international organization is an asset.
  • Experience related to development of digital solutions or applications for children and parents will be considered as a strong asset.
  • Ability to manage relationships with UNICEF programmes and partners, including government, universities, UN organizations, NGOs and the private sector.
  • Understanding of UNICEF programmes, policy, and principles, including knowledge of communication, technology, and human centered design.

  • Proven experience of delivering training and capacity building.

Language:

  • Fluency of both English and Montenegrin language (written) is required.

Other:

  • Strong computer literacy skills (Microsoft Word suite, Internet)
  • Proven ability to work and collaborate in a team and maintain excellent collegial and respectful working relations.
  • Attentive to detail.
  • Demonstrated ability and experience in coordination.
  • Capacity to research, evaluate and synthesize information.
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
  • Strong interpersonal and communications skills – ability to convey information, produce clear reports.
  1. Budget and Remuneration
  • Consultancy fee

The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer consisting of a daily fee for the services to

be provided, travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.

  • Payment schedule

The payments will be made on monthly basis upon successful completion of the deliverables and submission of invoices.

  • Recourse

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

  1. Selection Method

All applicants will be screened against qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

The proposal will be evaluated against the following criteria:

A) Technical criteria – Interview evaluation process / Maximum points: 70

1. Technical Criteria - Interview – 70 % of total evaluation– max. 70 points

• Education: 20 points

• Previous experience: 20 points

• Technical questions at the interview: 20 points

• Other: (Language/IT skills, etc): 10 points

Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the technical part (who will score at least 49 points) will be qualified for considering for financial proposal evaluation

B) Financial criteria – evaluation of financial proposal - Maximum points: 30

The applicants are requested to submit their financial proposal consisting of professional fee for the services to be provided.

• Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].

  1. Remarks****:

Upon conducting the recruitment process and prior to the signing of the contract, the consultant will be required to complete the following online courses. All certificates should be presented as part of the contract. ​

• Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF

• Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority (PSHAA)

• Sexual Exploitation Abuse (PSEA)

Consultants and Individual Contractors must complete the following course before commencement of any travel on behalf of UNICEF.

• BSAFE security training

Any consultant or individual contractor who is issued a UNICEF email address must complete the following courses no later than 30 days after signature of contract.

• Fraud Awareness

• Information Awareness Security Course (only for consultants/individual contractors with a UNICEF email address)

The above courses can be found on Agora through the following link: AGORA: Log in to the site (unicef.org).

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities to apply.

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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process


[1] The app requires parents to log in and use their e-mail, Google or Facebook accounts to be able to access the content of the app. Both parents can use the app and enter data for their children and synchronize their entries.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org