Consultancy: ROMP Analysis Support

Background

UNICEF promotes the rights and welfare of all children and adolescents in everything we do. Together with our allies, we work in 190 countries and territories to transform this commitment into practical actions that benefit all children, especially focusing our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, worldwide.

The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices.

UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children.

For more information about UNICEF and its work. www.unicef.org/lac

For every child, …Hope

Purpose of the Job UNICEF LACRO’s Regional Office Management Plan (ROMP) 2018-2021 enters its final year in 2021 where a new ROMP preparation takes place. To inform the new ROMP 2022-2025, LACRO intends to recruit a consultant to review its programmatic and operational experience and outline specific lessons learned from the current programming cycle, overall lessons of the past three years and the specific impact the COVID-19 has had on the work of the Regional Office in its penultimate year. The following briefly summarizes some of the key milestone processes and evidence products that yield the substance, which will also inform the ROMP 2022-2025:

• VAC evaluation (2020)

• Multi-country Children on the Move Evaluation (ongoing)

• Formative Evaluation of the UNICEF LAC Response to the ZIKA Virus Pandemic

•  Multi-country evaluation of Early Child Education Policies in LAC

• COVID RTA Exercise (Regional synthesis and country-level reports)

• Sector-specific policy and technical notes (details to be provided additionaly)

In early 2020, LACRO conducted the Mid-Term Review (MTR), on the back of the 2019 Annual Review (AR), which further consolidates the defined flagship and regional priorities and yielded a set of strategic shifts needed in 2020-2021 to fully achieve the targets of LAC ROMPT and ramp up the RO’s contribution towards the achievement of child related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the country offices of the region.

Barely three months after the MTR/AR, COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the LAC region, which saw some of the most prolonged and draconian confinement measures governments launched in response. LACRO shifted gears to adapt and respond, while adjusting to new ways of working imposed by pandemic. The RO undertook a Mid-year Review in July 2020 to review its response to COVID-19, in a light-touch process, focusing simply on identifying areas of work that were accelerated and/or deprioritized in response to COVID19. Each section, in addition, documented key lessons gathered during the first three months of the pandemic as part of a stock taking exercise which contributed to the RTA.

In November LACRO commissioned a real time assessment of its Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Venezuela COVID 19 response as a means to support its oversight role. This will also inform a forward-looking reflection on the current implementation of the country offices and regional office response as a means to sustain their strengths and improve weaknesses.

December 2020, LACRO conducted its Annual Review to take stock of its work and learnings emanating from the pandemic. A number of additional analytical exercises and further deep dives to grasp the meaning and implications of the lessons of COVID-19 were also launched to inform LACRO’s strategic direction and areas that need to be sustained and strengthened moving forward.

The on-going new UNICEF Strategic Plan (SP) 2022-2025 preparations at the global level also anchors the preparation of the new ROMP. The global lessons learned from the SP’s MTR and evaluation, and its collective experience of COVID-19 around what and how UNICEF delivers for children, and how it works, will also form an integral backdrop that shapes the new ROMP for LAC.

How can you make a difference?

Specific Tasks

This consultancy assignment aims at supporting UNICEF LACRO undertake the analytical phase towards the preparation of the ROMP 2022-2025 and the related CPMP submission to global PBR in/around April 2021. This will broadly involve review and distillation of the evidence base and development of the analysis on key achievements, challenges and lessons learned from the 2018-2021 ROMP, as well as support to the drafting of the new ROMP. The analysis will focus on the following components:

• Updated context analysis: political and socioeconomic trends in the region

• Updated children’s situation analysis in LAC

• Progress toward planned results in the current ROMP

• Lessons learned from evaluations

It should also look into addressing the following questions:

• How could LACRO strengthen LACRO capacity to learn and to adapt?

Specific questions:

• To what extent has the evidence generated improved LACRO’s oversight, guidance, QA and TA role in supporting Country Offices deliver results for Children in the region?

• What human and financial resources should LACRO invest in learning, evidence generation, use and analysis?

Expected Results: (measurable)

Generate robust evidence base and analysis of the key achievements and lessons learned from the 2018-2021 LACRO ROMP to be used to underpin and shape the development of the new LACRO ROMP.

 

Deliverables
Description	Duration [in days]	Aprox Expected   deadline
Desk review of key evidence and research products across programmes, Mid-term Review and Annual Review 2020 and analytical documents of LACRO, annual feedback of COs, and global (HQ and other ROs) files on evolving Strategic Plan discussion	5 days	25 February
Develop robust synthesis and analysis of key achievements and lessons learned from the 2018-2021 LACRO ROMP	5 days	5 March
Support the drafting of the ROMP document	5 days	15 April
Total	15 days

Minimum Requirements and Qualifications: 

Education:

Master’s degree in social science, with strong quantitative and qualitative research background

Work Experience

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience at the national and international levels in conducting research and analysis on topics of relevance to children and UNICEF’s work in the LAC region

• Experience in applying both quantitative and qualitative methods and able to effectively communicate findings and analysis

• Strong writing skills and extensive experience in producing technical reports and/or peer reviewed journal articles

• Very good analytical skills in relation to development challenges and relevant transformation processes

• Familiarity with UNICEF’s organizational procedure and systems

• Extensive knowledge of UNICEF programme work in the LAC Region considered an asset

Languages:

Fluency in Spanish and English is required.

Other skills and attributes (optional) Ability to work efficiently under tight deadlines Must be detail-oriented and set high levels of quality and productivity for self Ability to clearly defined objectives and plan activities.

For every Child, you demonstrate UNICEF… Core values of care, respect, integrity, trust, and accountability. UNICEF competencies: building and maintains partnerships, demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness, drive to achieve results for impact, innovates and embraces change, manages ambiguity and complexity, thinks and acts strategically, works collaboratively with others and nurtures, and, leads and manages people.

Supervision:  The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Chief of Programme and Planning and the Regional Evaluation Adviser

Workplace:  The consultant will be requested to work remotely.

Duration:  Estimated start date of this individual contract is 15 days between February to April 2021.

How to apply:  Application should be submitted online and should include: CV, cover letter and financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

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.