National Individual Contractor to support engagement with Private Sector Partners, Kigali-Rwanda, 11.5 Months (Open to Rwandans Only)

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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For every child, Advocacy

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Background and Purpose

UNICEF Rwanda is expanding and exploring new opportunities to engage with the private sector in Rwanda as a tool to accelerate results for children and to align with the UNICEF – Government of Rwanda country programme. To achieve this, UNICEF Rwanda has developed a comprehensive Private Sector Engagement (PSE) strategy that outlines its vision and goals as well as key actions to be taken. UNICEF Rwanda’s private sector mapping identifies nine strategic sectors for engagement and the first tier consists of the Agriculture sector (specifically, the agro-processing industry), Mining and Tourism (that includes the Hospitality industry). These are the three priority engagement sectors based on an assessment that combines a) the risks posed to children and communities; b) the willingness of leading sector players to engage in partnership (based on preliminary discussion with leading companies); c) pre-existing CSR/Social investment-oriented partnerships in these sectors and current opportunities. In 2016, UNICEF Rwanda started its private sector partnership with the tea industry in Rwanda, to scale up ECD services to children whose parents work in the tea plantations, and surrounding communities. In 2017, an industry approach was embraced with a partnership agreement with NAEB to scale this to the whole sector. Similar discussions with government bodies such as the National Early Childhood Development Programme and Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board among others have taken place resulting in planned expansion to the rice and other sectors. The entry point with the Private sector has been in Early childhood development (ECD) and has been informed by multiple assessments done in these sectors which revealed that workers especially women of reproductive age spend several hours working per day, often in unsafe spaces for their young children leading to multiple deprivations. These partnerships which aim at mobilising resources through the private sector and communities, to invest in the welfare of children and their families, especially young children from 3 months to 6 years of age. To guide its support, UNICEF will employ the overarching strategy of systems-strengthening, focusing on private partnership development and capacity building of service providers and related stakeholders, to increase coverage and quality of integrated ECD services. Within the context of ECD and stunting reduction, UNICEF Rwanda seeks to recruit a national consultant to support in the implementation of the partnership’s agreement, in collaboration with the ECD and CAP teams as well as the implementing partners. This will involve supporting good planning of interventions, capacity building, social mobilisation and advocacy activities aimed at increasing demand and uptake of services as well as to improve norms, behaviours and practices related to good early childhood care and nutrition.

Justification

With the success in establishing child friendly work spaces in the tea sector, there is need to scale up similar initiatives to other sectors. There are existing MoUs and implementation plans with stakeholders which will need the support of a contractor . The partnerships are on a shared value basis and are non-financial which aim at mobilising resources through the private sector and communities, to invest in the welfare of children and their families, especially young children from 3 months to 6 years of age. UNICEF in turn provides technical support by building capacities of partners and the community caregivers to provide basic ECD services to children whose parents work in these sites.

The responsibilities and tasks to be undertaken by the contractor are additional to UNICEF’s regular staff responsibilities. The contractor will support the UNICEF Communications Advocacy and Partnerships section in fulfilling existing and new partnership obligations in terms of planning for inputs, trainings, monitoring and overall technical support for the implementation of the child friendly workplaces. The contractor will respond to the emerging training needs and work closely with UNICEF and its partners.

Objectives

The overall objective of the consultancy is to provide support in the implementation of the Private sector engagement strategy which includes but not limited to supporting implementation of all existing MoU’s related to establishment of child friendly workspaces.

Specific objectives are as follows:

a) Support the development of private sector partnerships for provision of integrated ECD services for children b) Build capacities of the private sector, their employees, local communities and implementing partners in providing integrated ECD services including social mobilization c) Build consensus around mutual accountability for children’s rights to integrated ECD through a shared value approach d) Elaborate training, monitoring and coaching plans to scale up capacity building on “child care development” for private sector

The consultant will be based at UNICEF Rwanda office, in Kigali for the contract duration of 11.5 months with a possibility of extension based on performance, priority rating and availability of funding.

Evaluation Criteria

The Technical proposal is weighted at 70% and 30% for the Financial proposal.

Please note that the final remuneration will be negotiated by HR.

Payment Schedule

Payment is linked to agreed deliverables on a monthly basis upon satisfactory completion and certification of deliverables by the supervisor.

General Conditions: Procedures & Logistics

The contractor will be supervised by UNICEF’s Partnerships Specialist

The contractor will be provided transport within and outside of Kigali by UNICEF for all official work. The Contractor is required to provide for her/his own laptop.

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

Education requirement: Degree in one of the following fields; Communications, Social Sciences, Public health, Business Administration and Management or related fields. • Advanced degree will be an added advantage. A first level University Degree in combination with significant private sector experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. • Employment experience: a minimum of four years progressively responsible professional work experience in programme management, private sector partnerships and/or engagement strategies Early Childhood Development • Language skills: Fluency in English and Kinyarwanda. Knowledge of French would be an asset.

• Strong communication skills, including writing skills, with a strong preference for knowledge and experience in writing for the UN, private sector, and public sector. • Knowledge of children’s rights, gender equality and human rights based frameworks, and understanding of an equity-based approach. • Strong understanding and experience working with Government Ministries/Departments. • Experience working with the UN will be an added advantage. • Experience in Eastern and Southern Africa Region and/or good knowledge of the development and private sector context preferably in Rwanda. •Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (French) and Kinyarwanda is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

• How to Apply

UNICEF is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well qualified candidates, particularly females are strongly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates should send their complete Personal History (P11) form, which can be downloaded form (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc).) or a CV/resume, as well as a cover letter explaining what makes them suitable for this consultancy.

Qualified and experienced candidates are requested to submit a letter of interest including a Technical Proposal outlining a road map for review and implementation timeline. In their letter of interest, candidates should highlight their previous work experience relevant to the assignment, the attributes that make them suitable, their proposed approach to the assignment.

Only successful candidates from the technical evaluation exercise will be contacted and requested to submit their most competitive Financial Proposal.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.