Support implementation of UNICEF response interventions to prevent and respond to teenage pregnancy in Uganda, Kampala, Uganda, 10 Months (Open to Ugandan Nationals only)

Contract

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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 fair chance

Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path. Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.

Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/

How can you make a difference?

In Uganda, 10.86 million people (25.33 percent of the population) are adolescents (10-19 years) out of which 5.4 million (49.8 percent) are girls. The country has the 16th highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world and tenth highest absolute number (787,000) of children in union. Teenage pregnancy and motherhood have been a major health and social concern in Uganda for some time. According to the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS 2016), 34% of women aged 20-24 married before the age of 18, while 7.3 percent before the age of 15 and 25%of teenage girls aged 15-19 years were pregnant or had started childbearing. The proportion of teenage girls who have begun childbearing increases dramatically with age, rising from three percent among teenage girls aged 15 to 54% among those aged 19. Teenagers in rural areas are more likely to have started childbearing than those in urban areas (27% vs 19%), while teenage childbearing varies by region. The percentage of women aged 15-19 who have begun childbearing ranges from 16% to 17% in Kigezi and Kampala regions to between 30% and 31% in North Central, Bukedi, Teso, and Tooro regions. Teenage childbearing decreases with increasing education and wealth. In addition, Uganda is host to over 1.5 million refugees, mostly women and children (81%) from South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia. This humanitarian situation predisposes girls to teenage pregnancy and high risks of sexual and gender-based violence and sexual exploitation.

At the regional level, the Commission of African Union led a campaign to end child marriage in Africa in 2014, while nationally, Uganda developed and implemented a National Strategy to End child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy (NSCM&TP) 2014/2015 – 2019/2020. The strategy was based on the fact that for more than 30 years prior, there had been very little or no change in median age at first marriage (averaging at 17.9 years), in spite of the multiple interventions in place. Teenage pregnancy has direct linkages to school dropout, limited life skills that inhibit the ability of children to generate future economic opportunities, increased health risks that lead to a higher likelihood of mortality for girls and their newborns, among others. Teenage pregnancy has terrible consequences for the future of children, their families and, ultimately, the country as a whole.

Inadequate access to reproductive health information increases girls’ risk of getting pregnant. Complications related to childbirth and pregnancy are the leading cause of death worldwide for girls ages 15 to 19. A girl between the age of 15 and 19 is twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as a woman in her 20s. If she is under 15, the risk is 5 times higher1. Factors contributing to increased teenage pregnancies in Uganda include high fertility rate, risky sexual behaviors, sex as a coping strategy including transactional sex (sex in exchange for food, money or other services) peer pressure into early sex, lack of education, lack of family support, low socio-economic status, low education levels and low use of contraceptives among young people/teenagers2.

The containment measures of the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted the lives of children and families, impacting on efforts to prevent harmful practices such as child marriage and teenage pregnancies. Anecdotal evidence from various sources including the media and health facilities, point to an increase in cases of teenage pregnancy resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown measures, they led to the depletion of household incomes and erosion of livelihoods – leading to a disproportionate negative impact on children who form the biggest proportion of the population (54 percent). For example; millions of children in Uganda stayed out of school for over one and a half years and the plight of the working poor worsened because a significant proportion of informal and small-scale enterprises closed, leading to loss of income for many households, which led to transactional sex – among others.

Justification

UNICEF plans to support the National Campaign for collective action to address teenage pregnancy led by the Government of Uganda through a cross-sectoral set of activities given that the needs of pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers go beyond one sector. In view of this background, UNICEF is looking for a consultant who can support implementation of UNICEF prevention and response interventions in addressing the challenge of teenage pregnancy with special focus on prevention of teenage pregnancy, protection of teenage mothers and their babies and social protection for teenage mothers. This consultant will collaborate with institutional partner working on development and implementation of the multimedia intervention on teenage pregnancy. He/she will also work in close collaboration with consultancy on development of a national SBCC Communication Plan for Adolescent Health and other related consultancies on prevention of teenage pregnancy and protection of teenage mothers and their babies.

Objective

The consultant will support the implementation of cross-sectoral UNICEF prevention and response interventions in addressing the challenge of teenage pregnancy with special focus on prevention of teenage pregnancy, protection of teenage mothers and their babies and social protection for teenage mothers. Under the supervision of Chief, Child Protection, the consultant will work with a cross-sectoral team for both coordination and implementation of prevention and response interventions on teenage pregnancy across child protection, health, education, C4D, social policy and other sectoral areas as relevant.

Scope

The scope of work involves providing support to the implementation of ongoing interventions, with special reference to the Adolescent Development Programming and the Adolescent Volunteer Initiative as per the UNICEF/GoU Rolling Work Plans for the Education, Child Protection and Child Survival and Development programmes, including Emergencies. The consultant, under the supervision and guidance of the Chief of Child Protection, is to work closely with other sections and units team members (BEAD, CP, Comms, C4D and CSD), UNICEF zonal office, relevant Government entities and other UN sister agencies to support interventions to prevent and respond to teenage pregnancy in Uganda. The Consultant will facilitate interagency coordination in consultation with the two-lead agency (UNICEF and UNFPA) and ensure agencies sectoral coordination is in place to support interventions to prevent and respond to teenage pregnancy across the country.

Major Tasks

1. Consolidate all the available analysis and work with the technical team in UNICEF and UNFPA to develop a clear theory of change and to define the relevant actions for change.
2. Support the development of an integrated and multisectoral one-year action plan/roadmap of activities with indicators, results, budget and geographical coverage to guide the campaign’s interventions.
3. Lead discussion and work with relevant UNICEF sections, Govt, UN sister agency, CSOs, private sectors and other relevant stakeholders on what activities we implement– and where (mapping geographically) – mentioned in the TOR and planned outputs
4. Work with the technical team to ensure clarity on the deliverables for prevention, social protection and protection of Newborns including ensuring the clarity on the psychosocial support to be provided.
5. Work with PME to develop an appropriate M&E framework for this intervention that includes tracking the results of advocacy and SBCC as well as the service access.
6. Coordinate with the institutional partner working on development and implementation of the multimedia intervention on teenage pregnancy to avoid overlap and observe linkages but also ensure proper monitoring of SBC interventions.
7. Act as focal point for the coordination of prevention and response interventions within UNICEF’s cross-sectoral team and between UNICEF and UNFPA. This will include sending out invites, preparing the meeting agenda, preparing meeting minutes and following up on agreed upon action points.
8. Act as focal point for coordination with the Government (MoGLSD, MoES, MoH, etc.), private sectors and other actors involved in the national campaign and implementation of interventions. This may involve supporting the government in organizing monthly inter-ministerial coordination forum.
9. Support the coordination on implementation of activities on prevention and response to teenage pregnancy focusing on the scope of the national campaign as outlined in the action plan.
10. Monitor the results and develop matrix tracking UNFPA/UNICEF supported activities of the Action Plan of the campaign
11. Coordinate engagement with religious, cultural institutions and community-based organizations including youth groups as a component of teenage pregnancy prevention support system
12. Support development of social mobilization work plan of religious, cultural institutions, community-based and youth groups
13. Ensure documentation of the planning, implementation, and results of interventions on prevention of teenage pregnancy, protection of teenage mothers and protection of the babies of teenage mothers
14. Submit final report with recommendations and lessons learnt on the implementation of the national campaign and the programmatic interventions on prevention and response to teenage pregnancy in Uganda.

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

Education

Advanced university degree in the social work, public health community development behavioral sciences, (Communication, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology) with emphasis on strategic communication planning for behavior change, social mobilization, participatory communication, and research. Knowledge in HRBA, Child Rights, gender issues and child participation.

Work Experience

A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of child protection or communication for development involving advocacy, partnership building. Experience of working with government and civil society groups. Field work experience. Background/familiarity with country contexts is an asset.

Language Proficiency

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of local Ugandan local languages is an asset.

Conditions:

• Under the consultancy agreements, a month is defined as 21 working days, and fees are prorated accordingly. Consultants are not paid for weekends or public holidays
• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement
• No contract may commence unless the consultant provides a certificate of completion of a mandatory course on “Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”. A certificate to be submitted with the signed contract should have been obtained in the last three months.

• Clearance from DHR will be required for former UNICEF staff

• Clearance from the Government required for civil servants

• The consultancy will commence after signing of the contract.

• The consultant will use their personal computers and will be facilitated in case they have to do any printing or photocopying.

• Transport will be arranged as per approved TAs.
• A consultant will be paid upon presentation of a deliverable report
• Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities nor authority on UNICEF budget and other resources.
• Consultants will be required to sign the Health statement for consultants/Individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance, if applicable.
• The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' has to be completed by the consultant upon arrival, at the HR Section

Application Procedure/Call for Proposals

Interested candidates are required to submit their application with a detailed CV of the consultant.

Evaluation of Candidate:

The consultant will be competitively selected from a list of applicants based on their past experience of doing similar work.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

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