Consultancy – Child SDG’s Index Development, Data and Analytics (D&A) Section, DAPM NYHQ (home based)

Consultancy Title: Child SDGs Index Development

Section/Division/Duty Station: Data and Analytics (D&A)/DAPM/HQ

Duration: 40 days over 3 months

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

UNICEF is a global leader in monitoring the realization of child rights and progress towards achieving internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For instance, it has been conducting assessments towards achieving child-related SDG targets, using 44 indicators[1]. This information provides insights and valuable tools for advocating for children’s rights and influencing policy discussions at the national, regional and global levels. 

UNICEF hopes to take such data work further for more relevant assessments of the progress and bottlenecks of realizing child rights, achieving SDGs and improving welling for children in all contexts, both low- and middle-income countries and upper middle-income and high-income ones.  Such analyses and products are expected to reach wider audiences, better inform advocacy and policy and programme prioritization, including through such reports as the World Fit For Children report and the State of World Children report.

The purpose of the consultancy is to (a) develop a conceptual framework of Child SDGs Index to measure the status and progress towards achieving a set of child-related SDG targets and child rights and wellbeing at global, regional and country levels by conducting a literature review of various monitoring frameworks, (b) organize consultations with sectoral statistical experts to finalize the framework and methodology, (c) carry out data analysis and produce initial results based on the agreed framework, and (d) develop a final report which can be used as documentation with the rationale and methodology of the summary measure. 

The report drafted by the consultant could be used for dissemination and advocacy strategy, linking the Index to wider UNICEF’s advocacy, partnership and programming efforts at the global, regional and country level.  Such wider UNICEF efforts would include, but no limited to, the World Fit For Children Report, the State of World Children Report, UNICEF’s global positioning in high-income countries, rights-based programming in country offices, and partnership with rights-based organizations and other UN and international organizations. Finally, the consultant will develop a strategic document on Child SDGs Index by consolidating above outputs and by developing milestones, activities, budget needed for implementation.

[1] https://data.unicef.org/resources/progress-for-every-child-in-the-sdg-era-2019/

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

The consultant will report to the Chief of Data Analysis and Innovation Unit (DAIU), but also closely interface with Senior Advisors in the DAIU who cover various sectors including Health, Child Protection, Child Poverty, Water and Sanitation, Nutrition, Education, and Child Mortality.  The incumbent will be responsible for delivering the following:

1. Development of a technical paper on the conceptual framework of the Child SDGs Index

• Conduct a literature review of existing SDG progress assessment approaches and propose a conceptual framework to use a summary index to measure status and progress towards achieving a set of child-related SDG targets at global, regional and country levels. The paper should include discussions of conceptual differences among monitoring of child rights, child SDGs and child wellbeing with a list of existing frameworks, including Lancet commission paper on health, Climate Change and Child Vulnerability Index, and child well-being and Human Security.  The report needs to discuss the pros and cons of each conceptual approach for UNICEF to develop a child SDGs index.  
• Organize a series of internal consultations to analyze pros and cons of different methodological approaches with experts from the Data and Analytics Section, Office of Research, OGIP, Programme Division, Division of communication, Division of Private Fundraising and Partnerships and others in order to explain the objective of the summary measure as well as to gather their opinions and ideas
• Once DAIU decides on an approach and conceptual framework, the consultant will produce the report documenting the rationale and methodology of the summary measure that helps UNICEF to communicate child issues better with various stakeholders for children

2)  Development of a technical paper about the methodology to calculate the Index

• The consultant will work with DAIU to develop a defined set of indicators for the index.  Based on the indicators and data provided by the Sector leads of DAIU, the consult will calculate the indicator at least for 5-6 pilot countries in order to explore various practical issues of estimation (from data availability to aggregation methods across indicators).  Once technical issues are addressed through consultation with DAIU.  Once these technical issues are solved, the consultant will calculate the index/summary measure for all countries.

3) Development of an external-facing methodological note

• Based on the two products above, the consultant will produce an external-facing final methodological paper.

Qualifications

(1) Education

• Master’s degree or higher in economics, sociology, demography, statistics, or related social science is required

2) Work experience

• At least eight years of experience in leading and implementing analytical and research projects on SDG progress assessment, child poverty, child-wellbeing or social index development, child policy research, particularly at the international level, are required.   Experience in Principal Component Analysis and other analyses for index development is required.

3) Competencies

• Advanced statistical analysis skills such as STATA, R, and SPSS.
• Knowledge of index development
• Strong analytical skills, ability to analyze raw data, draw conclusions, and understand how best to visualize. 
• Fluency in English. Advanced skills in a second UN language desirable.
• Good judgment, initiative, high sense of responsibility, tact and discretion.
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.)

Requirements:

• Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include:
• Your daily rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference (can be downloaded here: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html 
  • Travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

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

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.

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 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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.