Re-advertised: National Consultant: To Develop UNICEF Nepal's Government Partners Engagement Strategy and Revise Civil Society Organization Partnership Standard Operating Procedure, Kathmand

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, result

UNICEF works in close collaboration with the Government of Nepal and other organizations in the United Nations system, multi- and bilateral donor partners, civil society organizations and Academic Institution and private sector companies and networks at federal, provincial, and local level to achieve results that have a wide-ranging impact. Dynamic and effective partnership with the Government entities and the CSOs are central to ensure the accountability for results and intended use of resources. UNICEF has been committed to ensure through partnership that country programmes are accountable to children and communities. Therefore, it’s important to assess to what extent the past and ongoing partnership and collaborative relationship with government are contributing to achieve results for children and identify areas of improvement and develop/revise strategy and procedures accordingly.

In this context, UNICEF seeks to hire a consultant to:

• review current partnership practice with the government partners and develop a comprehensive Government Partners Engagement Strategy that focuses on strengthening accountability for results and optimizing the intended use of resources in UNICEF Nepal's programmes and initiatives.
• update UNICEF Nepal's Partnership Standard Operating Procedures to enhance clarity, effectiveness, and alignment with UNICEF's global partnership principles and procedures.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Development of Government engagement strategy

• Conduct a thorough assessment of UNICEF's current engagement with government entities at various levels (local, provincial and federal) to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
• Engage in stakeholder consultations with key government officials and relevant UNICEF staff to gather insights and understand priorities, challenges, and expectations for partnerships.
• Research and present international best practices in engaging government partners.
• Analyze existing policies, frameworks, and regulations (both government and UNICEF) and provide cull out the relevant provision to strengthen UNICEF's partnerships with the government at different federal levels.
• Develop a comprehensive partnership strategy document that outlines clear approaches, activities, and tools to enhance accountability; fund transfer modality for federal, provincial and local level government and resource utilization as per the recent audit recommendation.

Review/update UNICEF Partnership SOP

• Conduct a thorough review of the existing Partnership SOP, identifying areas that require updates, additions, or removal in line with the UNICEF’s global partnership guidelines, and the specific needs and context of Nepal.
• Consult with relevant UNICEF Nepal staff to gather insights and feedback on the current SOP and their suggestions for improvements.
• Develop a revised Partnership SOP document that reflects the best practices and recommendations identified during the review and consultation process.
• Ensure that the revised SOP aligns with UNICEF's global partnership principles, guidelines, and any other relevant policies.

These are also in line with two of the recommendations resulted from the audit undertaken by the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI) between January 2021 and August 2022, which include a) Develop a government partners engagement strategy, ensuring accountability for results and intended use of resources are strengthened and b) Establish and implement a formal review process for identifying and addressing bottlenecks in completing partnership agreements.

Duration of Contract: The total duration of the contract is for 45 working days within a period of 3 months.

Deliverables for this Assignment:

Tasks/Milestone

Deliverables/Outputs

Timeline

Proposed Fee ( In Nepalese Currency)

Inception report

Submission of inception report highlighting detailed methodology, timeline, and outline for developing (i) UNICEF Nepal’s Government Partners Engagement Strategy (ii) UNICEF Nepal's Partnership SOP

10 working days

Document review and stakeholder consultation

Submission of preliminary drafts incorporating findings and recommendation arising from the review/assessment and consultation at the federal and local level.

20 working days

Final Products

• Submission of UNICEF Nepal’s Government Partners Engagement Strategy document and PowerPoint PPT highlighting key components of the strategy

• Submission of UNICEF Nepal's Partnership SOP document and PowerPoint PPT highlighting key components of the SOP

  15 working days

* Candidate must stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs.

Travel to three UNICEF Field Offices (Janakpur, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj) to conduct consultation with the selected local level and provincial government partners (@4 days per Field Office location to conduct subnational consultation)

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

• Master’s in social science (sociology, economics, anthropology, development studies, etc.), law or related fields relevant to the assignment
• Minimum 8 years of experience in developing strategies for engaging government partners, preferably in the context of international development.
• Strong understanding of accountability mechanisms and resource utilization strategies.
• Strong understanding of partnership dynamics, particularly in the context of international development or humanitarian organizations and implementing partnership-related standard operating procedures or guidelines.
• Excellent analytical, research, and writing skills.

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:

Request to submit financial proposal stipulating all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs.

Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Candidates from under-represented ethnic groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

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.

'This is a re-advertisement. Candidates who already applied, kindly be advised that you do not need to apply again because your application was well received and is still valid'