Consultant to Analyse the Cost of Inaction: Economic Burden of Violence against Children in South Asia

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Background and Rationale:

Building on the findings of the systematic review of evidence on violence against children in South Asia, the Child Protection Section is seeking to develop research to document the economic cost of violence against children in the region.  Estimating the economic cost of violence against children will support regional and country level advocacy for investment in child protection systems and provide baseline data for further reviews of investment and results in prevention and response to violence against children.  It will also help inform governments about the economic cost of inaction, and the implications this has for the achievement of, or lack of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on VAC. The research will inform policy makers of the impact of violence against children on economic and social development and support investment cases for SDG achievement. 

 The research contributes to the output 2.6 Child Protection; intermediate results 2; activity 2.3 on evidence generation.  As the research is of a highly technical nature, support is required from experts in economic costing which is not available within the regional office.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose:

UNICEF is seeking to hire a consultant to analyze the economic cost of violence against children in South Asia region[1] using a globally tested methodology and model, to inform advocacy and programming to end violence against children in the region.

A systematic review of the prevalence, drivers and consequences of violence against children in South Asia (UNICEF & University of Edinburgh, 2020) provides compelling evidence of the extent and scope of violence children experience.  The systematic review assessed 127 studies carried out in the region since 2015, as well as conducting analyses using 7 datasets on school related violence.  Data from cross-sectional studies show that approximately half of all children report experiencing some type of physical violence during their lifetime – this can be from parents/caregivers in the form of violent discipline or from teachers, intimate partners or peers. Over a quarter (27.8%) to nearly half (47.6%) of children experience more severe forms of physical punishment by caregivers/mothers in three out of four of the countries in the region where this is comparably measured.

 In all countries in the region the prevalence of physical attacks, (based on the Global School Based Health Survey (GSHS) among adolescents is higher than the global median, one to two thirds of boys have experienced being physically attacked in the past year and nearly a  quarter to half of girls have been physically attacked at some point in the past year.

 Approximately 9–14% – or 1 in 10 children – report experiencing sexual violence in childhood, although this is likely to be an underestimation of the true prevalence due to lack population-based prevalence data.  Studies in the region also show that witnessing violence, either between parents or between known adults, is frequently reported by children. Emotional violence is prevalent throughout the region and is almost always present when other types of violence are measured, suggesting that all forms of violence against children contain elements of emotional violence within the South Asia region.

 Bullying is prevalent in the South Asia region and gender dynamics are complex across countries. In all countries that measure comparable data on school violence and bullying (7 out of the 8 countries in the region), among adolescents aged 13–15, boys experience more bullying overall (except in Afghanistan), more physical bullying (except in Pakistan), more physical attacks and more physical fighting than girls. Both boys and girls experience an approximately similar amount of exclusionary bullying, while more girls in the region experience bullying based on physical appearance.

Children in the region also experience conflict related violence with several countries in South Asia report some of the highest student and educator-targeted attacks (killings, abductions, and threats) globally. According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), student and educator-targeted attacks in Afghanistan were among the most prevalent in the world, and among countries in the South Asia region, Afghanistan experienced the most attacks on schools (300) between 2017–2019, followed by Pakistan with 50 attacks and India with 43 attacks.

The consequences of violence against children in South Asia are profound and long-lasting, impacting children’s physical health, mental health, behavior and educational impacts. Suicide ideation linked with bullying experiences ranged from 41.8% of bullied adolescents in Bhutan to a high of 63.1% of adolescents in Nepal. This is quite significant when we look at actual adolescent suicide rates in the Southeast Asia region where self-harm is the leading cause of death among adolescent girls and the second leading cause of death among adolescent boys (WHO 2012).   Data demonstrates the link between violence against children and negative educational outcomes, which has significant implications for the future of the region.  Evidence in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan shows that experiencing corporal punishment in school is highly related to having poor educational outcomes and test scores and is a factor in school dropout.

Adapt costing models used in UNICEF EAPRO and UNICEF Nigeria to the South Asia context with focus on the health, mental health and educational consequences of child maltreatment and losses in life years from specific conditions, to determine the economic cost of violence against children to the region.

Methodology

This study will estimate population attributable fractions (PAFs) for various costs and consequences of violence against children, apply the regional costing model to estimate minimum lifetime costs of violence against children in South Asia, and estimate the economic burden that violence against children will bring to public budgets and society. The specific steps of the study are:

1. Briefing and research planning meeting (remotely) among the consultant and UNICEF South Asia: to review and agree on the study plan and suggested methodology.
2. Desk review of available data: to ensure the research team is highly familiar with relevant and existing research on violence in South Asia including the Violence against Children in South Asia systematic review of evidence since 2015 as a foundational document, and additional relevant documentation including the India DHS 2019-2020, Bangladesh DHS 2017-2018, Nepal MICS 2019, etc.
3. Calculate population attributable fractions (PAFs) by type of violence: based on available data, primarily data from systematic review and other key data sets available, information needed for the calculation of PAFs will be extracted and compiled into a data set for analysis. PAFs will be estimated by major type of violence against children (physical violence, emotional violence, sexual violence, and witnessing violence in the home and community), the overlap between types of violence against children, and for each of the major categories of impact. These categories are: 1) effects on education, 2) effects on mental health and behaviour, 3) effects on physical health, sexual behaviour and substance use, and 4) effects on intimate partner violence perpetration and revictimization (where data is sufficient). The PAF is an epidemiologic concept which is widely used to attribute the proportion of morbidity or mortality to a risk factor. All PAF formulas required two pieces of data: 1) relative risk (RR) of a disease or outcome (e.g., depression) given exposure to a risk factors (e.g., child sexual abuse); and 2) and appropriate measure of prevalence. Three steps will be applied to estimate PAFs: 1) estimate the prevalence of violence against children for each major type of violence; 2) estimate violence against children – outcome relationships for each type of violence and each selected outcome; and 3) use the standard formula to calculate population attributable fractions.
4. Apply the regional costing model to the South Asia context: PAFs represent a proportion and are scaled from 0.0-1.0. For translation into public health policy and communication to stakeholders, PAFs are multiplied by a measure of total burden (e.g., deaths, DALYs, or economic costs) to estimate the burden that is responsible to the risk factors. For example, a PAF of 0.4 would imply a 40% of the burden attributable to the risk factor. If the total burden is $100 million, then $40 million is attributable to the risk factor.

Accurate estimates of both the PAF and the total burden figure are essential when estimating the share of burden due to a risk factor. Therefore, data availability and appropriate levels of aggregation must be considered when deciding about the types of measures of total burden to multiply by the estimated PAFs. The burden must be matched as closely as possible to the evidence underlying the PAF. For this study, two different estimates of total burden will be used to provide multiple measures of the burden of violence against children in South Asia:

1. DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years). The non-fatal burden of health from child maltreatment is substantial. DALYs formally capture this by adding together morbidity and mortality. Morbidity is defined in terms of years lived with “disability” (YLD)—reduced health—and mortality in terms of years of life lost (YLL) relative to the expected lifespan. DALYs are widely used in international health comparisons and may be especially valuable as a common metric. DALY estimates from the WHO will be used.
2. Economic costs. Economic costs are a desirable measure since they are influential for policymakers. The DALY estimates will be monetized to indirectly estimate the costs of morbidity (and mortality). Regarding the estimate of the value of a DALY, this study will use the method taken by WHO (2001), Brown (2008), and others, which assumes that a year lost to disability (YLD) is equal to the country’s per-capita GDP; in other words, this is a “human capital” approach to valuing YLDs.

6. Calculation of the costing of violence against children using the model described above: using prevalence data the model shall be used to estimate the costing upon different assumptions about true lifetime prevalence.
7. Technical meetings (remote) among the research team, UNICEF South Asia and expert group: conducting at least two meetings with UNICEF South Asia and expert group: one to discuss the proposed methodology and one at the end of the study to review the preliminary findings.
8. Presentation of findings in a research report and presentation format.

Deliverables:

Desk review of available literature including the VAC South Asia systematic review and other key data sets

Draft research concept note including detailed methodology

Presentation of the concept note/methodology to expert group and UNICEF ROSA, based on input finalise

Application of the economic costing model, data analysis and drafting of report

Present preliminary findings to UNICEF ROSA and expert group

Finalise report and presentations

Duration: 54 days in total from the start of the contract, working remotely.

Note: Please submit your applications with financial proposal. Applications without the financial proposal will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advanced to the next stage of the selection process.

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

1. Education:

• Advanced university degree in Social Sciences or health/welfare economics, preferably relating to child welfare or public health

2. Work Experience:

• Over 10 years of research experience in related field
• Experience in attributable fraction methodology relating violence against children or interpersonal violence
• Expertise and experience in health macroeconomics and statistical analysis
• Sound knowledge of research methodologies
• Expertise in violence against children and its consequences
• Experience in undertaking research on the subject matter for other UNICEF Country Offices is an asset
• Strong English report writing skills and a proven record of producing high quality reportsLanguage Proficiency:

C. Language proficiency

English report writing skills

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.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

– Good communication skills

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

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.