National MICS Consultant, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 18 months (Remote)

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, results.

The UNICEF Mongolia Country Office has already supported MICS surveys named as Child and Development Survey in 1996, 2000, 2005, 2010 and named as Social Indicator Cluster Survey (SISS) in 2013 and 2018. In addition, provincial and district Child and Development Surveys based on the MICS platform were conducted in 2012 and 2016. To support the update and establishment of key indicators and baselines for the Country Programme 2023-2027, monitoring purposes of CRC and other national programmes related to children and adolescents, the UNICEF Mongolia Country Office will support a MICS (SISS) as part of the 7th round of the survey programme in 2023-2024. To ensure the timely and effective implementation of the MICS survey and the necessary technical support to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the UNICEF Mongolia Country Office seeks for a full-time consultant to oversee the MICS process.

How can you make a difference?

Under the overall supervision of the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) Specialist, the National MICS/MICS Plus Consultant (NMC) will support and provide guidance to UNICEF Country and the NSO for the preparation, implementation and completion of the MICS/MICS Plus survey in the Country. The NMC will advise and support the NSO, especially the Survey Coordinator and sampling and data processing experts, during survey planning, questionnaire design, sampling, training, fieldwork, data processing, data analysis, reporting, dissemination and archiving, ensuring that MICS protocols and recommendations are being followed at all times. The NMC will communicate effectively between the UNICEF CO and NSO, responding promptly to MICS-related needs and issues as they arise.

Scope of Work:

• Provide technical and managerial support to the MICS/MICS Plus;
• Present the MICS methodology, tools, and guidelines to partners/stakeholders (e.g. ministries, UN Agencies, etc.);
• Finalise, in collaboration with national partners and UNICEF, the MICS/MICS Plus survey tools and documentations and share with UNICEF Regional Office (RO);
• Ensure that the Ethical Protocol and other ethical recommendations are addressed in the survey implementation process and that all MICS related documents are shared with the national Ethical Committee on time for approval;
• Coordinate for each stage of the survey process and ensure that the MICS protocols and standards are followed by the NSO, especially during training and field supervision visits;
• Communicate regularly with UNICEF CO, RO and/or Headquarters (HQ) responding to all MICS/MICS Plus related issues in a timely manner;
• Provide monthly updates on MICS activities to the UNICEF CO and Regional MICS Coordinator,
• Coordinate the work of NSO specialists and the UNICEF MICS Team, and other resource persons assigned by the UNICEF CO and/or the UNICEF MICS Team to support different survey stages,
• Ensure that external technical reviews by experts (i.e., Sampling, Data Processing, and Household Survey experts and consultants) are carried out at key survey stages and coordinate the feedback and response between the CO, the UNICEF MICS Team and the NSO,
• Ensure that all survey related documents and deliverables are properly archived throughout the survey process (for example: Memorandum of Understanding, Survey Plan and Budget, questionnaires, manuals, sample design, training/pre-test reports, expert reports, CAPI application, output and tabulation plan tables, syntaxes, datasets, Survey Findings Report (and Final Report), dissemination materials etc.);
• Participate in all MICS Steering and Technical Committee meetings;
• Organise, as required, and facilitate the national Data Interpretation and Report Compilation Workshop,
• Ensure that lessons learned, problems, and good practices are documented throughout the MICS process and rapidly shared with the MICS community (other MICS implementing countries and the UNICEF MICS Team) through all means available,
• Support planning and customization of other MICS initiatives (MICS Plus, MICS GIS, MICS Link) in collaboration with the relevant experts of these initiatives from the Global MICS Team.

Contract duration (start and end date): The NMC is sought for a total of 18 Months: 25 May, 2023 to 25 Oct, 2024

Type of engagement: Deliverable based (home based)

Deliverable based consultant: Consultants are responsible for their own time management. The time invested for each deliverable is at discretion of the consultant, in consultation with the supervisor. Consultants are not entitled to Paid Time Off.

Deliverables, Timeframe and Payment Schedule:

• Monthly Progress Report of activities, describing activities undertaken during the month and highlighting problems met and solutions put in place to mitigate them,
• Field trip reports, regional workshop trip reports,
• Presentations and training materials used in trainings, workshops, and other meetings.

Please click here for detailed Terms of Reference: MICS Consultant_ToR_ad.pdf

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

1. Minimum qualifications required:

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Demography, Statistics, Epidemiology or any other related technical field is required;

2. Relevant working experience

• At least three to five years of experience in the coordination and/or management of quantitative household surveys (prior MICS or Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) coordination experience highly desirable);

3. Knowledge/expertise/ skills required

• Extensive experience with collecting data using CATI or similar approach;
• Working knowledge of data capture, mobile technology, survey methodology;
• Strong computer skills and strong expertise in statistical analyses (familiarity with data processing and data analysis software, particularly SPSS);
• Expertise in coordination, logistics and planning;
• Training experience and ability to organize and facilitate training and presentations;
• Experience in data analysis and survey report writing;
• Excellent oral and written communications in Mongolian and in English;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and to establish harmonious and effective relationships both within and outside the organization;
• Demonstrated leadership, managerial and supervisory ability.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our Competency framework and its different levels: competency framework 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.