National Individual Consultancy - Technical support in the area of Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) in UNICEF BiH, 65 working days, Remote with occasional field trips

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.

And we never give up.

For every child, a champion

Since the beginning of 2018, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has faced an increased influx of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees after previously popular migration routes to Western Europe through the Balkans shut down in 2017. The national system to protect unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in BiH - from identification and registration, to referral and protective services – was initially overwhelmed, but the response is increasingly stable. Nevertheless, UASC and other children on the move are exposed to heightened protection risks, including incidences of (gender-based) violence, abuse, and exploitation (smuggling and human trafficking).

UNICEF's humanitarian response to children on the move transiting through/stranded in BiH takes a two-track approach:

(1) Immediate humanitarian assistance and protection to refugee and migrant children, especially UASC, working in close collaboration with government authorities at all levels, UN agencies and NGOs; and

(2) Strengthening child protection systems to provide better services to all vulnerable children in BiH through capacity building, policy reform and technical assistance.

As UNICEF, we are strongly committed to putting affected families, children and adolescents at the center of our work, as reflected in the Core Commitments for Children, in the recently revised IASC commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP), or in the World Humanitarian Summit, the Grand Bargain and wider 2030 Agenda commitments. These are central elements for improving the quality and effectiveness of our humanitarian and development programmes and ensuring affected communities can fulfil their rights to participate and be heard. However, efforts on Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) at country, regional and global levels remain ad hoc and not pursued with a coherent approach. UNICEF programmes have not fully connected the feedback from affected communities with the management processes that inform our actions.

Engaging communities and facilitating their participation enables people, vulnerable to and affected by crises, to lead and shape positive, sustainable change in their own lives, communities and society. To do so, it is important to provide accessible information, ensure that an effective process for participation and feedback is in place, and that design and management decisions are responsive to the views of affected people and communities. UNICEF is working to ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable groups are heard and acted upon – considering gender, age, abilities and other diversities. This will create an environment of greater trust, transparency and accountability.

UNICEF has developed an AAP scale-up strategy, laying out the next steps in the process of integrating AAP within the humanitarian response programmes, but also ensuring scale-up to developmental programmes.

The consultant will work closely with UNICEF BiH Country Office (CO), UNICEF Regional Office (RO) and UNICEF Head Quarters (HQ) AAP teams in order to support the implementation of UNICARE. Additionally, the consultant will strengthen the capacities of selected humanitarian and developmental partners to diversify feedback channels including developing a Post Distribution Monitoring System with technical support from UNICEF.

Additionally, the consultant will support the UNICEF BiH CO in developing Feedback and Complaints Channels for selected interventions that are not part of the humanitarian response. The consultant will also conduct regular field visits and asses the implementation and quality of community engagement initiatives and feedback and complaints mechanisms.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Officer, Education and Health and in collaboration with Planning Officer, Emergency Coordinator, the emergency team and chiefs of UNICEF Sections, the consultant is responsible for providing technical support in designing and implementing Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) interventions, ensuring views , preferences and priorities of affected populations, in particular refugee and migrant population in the country, effectively inform the humanitarian response and contribute to AAP integration in Country programme design and implementation in general.

The purpose of this consultancy is to expedite some core AAP activities, in support of UNICEF existing engagement with partners in the humanitarian response. In particular, it will contribute to the following results identified:

Description of activities:

• Conduct a desk review of AAP documentation relating to BiH CO programmes and of AAP documentation and guidance and provide technical support to relevant programmes and sections in UNICEF BiH CO.
• Conduct desk review of UNICEF BiH developmental programmes and propose the design of Complaints and Feedback Mechanisms in relation to these services with technical support from UNICEF Regional Office (RO).
• Support the implementation of the UNICEF BiH CO AAP strategy within the humanitarian response programmes, but also within the developmental programmes as needed.
• Develop and edit surveys and questionnaires using pre-existing tools such as UNICEF InForm, KoBo Toolbox or other suitable platforms and validate these tools in the field through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to ensure their effectiveness and appropriateness for data collection.
• Assess priority learning needs relating to AAP/CCE at different levels within the response (senior; management, programme managers front line staff etc.) and develop appropriate awareness raising and skill building approaches;
• Design and facilitate training modules on AAP/CCE for UNICEF and implementing partner staff based on global examples on data collection and survey deployment, including on tool familiarization, quality assurance, and data confidentiality;
• Support the set-up of a sustainable AAP mechanisms at humanitarian and developmental programme level highlighting opportunities, gaps to be addressed and preconditions;
• Strengthen the capacities of selected humanitarian and developmental partners to diversify feedback channels including developing a Post Distribution Monitoring System with technical support from UNICEF
• Advise on the integration of AAP/CCE approaches into the Country Programme
• Design a feedback loop ensuring feedback, concerns and priorities from affected populations are consistently and systematically consistently highlighted during internal meetings and planning processes.

• Provide technical support and coordination of collective AAP approaches and initiatives within CO and RO

  Description of deliverables:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Developed report on activities in line with the UNICARE project plan and timeline. (English)

8 days

Developed scale-up plan based on global best practices and progress achieved in UNICEF CO (English)

10 days

Developed report with concrete recommendations on how to improve AAP in select programme interventions. (English)

10 days

Developed report with concrete recommendations on how to improve AAP in select programme interventions. (English)

5 days

One developed digital tool for post distribution monitoring

5 days

Adjusted forms shared with UNICEF in xls format.

6 days

A written report on the activities conducted and materials developed (English)

6 days

A written report on the activities implemented at the targeted locations (English)

12 days

A written final report with set of clear recommendations for CO plan

3 days

Total

65 days

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

• University degree in Education, Social Sciences, Public Policy, International Relations, Political Science, or other relevant disciplines.
• 3-5 years’ of experience in the humanitarian sector with significant field experience working on AAP/CCE interventions in technical roles or similar experience in the field of market research and customer satisfaction analysis, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning experience
• Fluency in English and BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian) mandatory.
• Strong ICT skills, including the use of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, data collection tools such as InForm, KoboToolbox, PowerBI
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, intercultural sensitivity;
• Strong facilitation skills and ability to work independently and proactively
• Excellent attention to detail, organisational skills and discretion with confidential information
• Humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergency situations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable
• Experience in the UN Common System is desirable.

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.