International Individual Consultancy Service to Develop Concept Notes for Private Sector Partnerships in Key Programmatic Areas

I. BACKGROUND

The business sector plays an important role in the well-being of children in the community in which they operate. Businesses have a strong impact on the life of their employees, their consumers, their suppliers, and on the communities they serve. From determining the working conditions, health coverage, training and employability of workers, to the environmental impact of their operations on the community, and the taxes levied by public authorities, private stakeholders and business organizations have a critical impact on children’s and society’s well-being.
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) identify children, alongside indigenous people, women and migrant workers (among others), as a particularly vulnerable group of rights holders, who may require particular attention from business as part of their human rights due diligence responsibilities. Children have a stake in business as consumers, dependents of employees, young workers, future employees, business leaders and as citizens in the communities and environments in which business operates. Business – whether large or small – therefore inevitably interacts with and affects the lives of children.
Understanding and partnering with business as one of the key stakeholders – along with government, civil society and local communities – is vital for achieving results at scale. UNICEF brings more than 70 years of field-tested expertise, a network that spans more than 190 countries and territories, a passion for innovation, and a commitment to make every dollar count. Together with the world’s leading companies, corporate foundations and private organizations, UNICEF aims to harness our collective strengths to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and help children survive, thrive and fulfil their potential.
There are approximately 1.7 million registered private companies in Turkey, representing a large potential for future various collaborations and partnerships. The new UNICEF Turkey Country Program Document (CPD) for 2021-2025 identifies a key role for business under Outcome 4, which aims to ensure that “public and private entities and civil society demonstrate a shared commitment and increased investments in child rights” by 2025. Moreover, in line with UNICEF’s “Business for Results” approach and taking into account the critical role of the private sector in achieving sustainable change for children, shared value partnerships with multi-national corporations, national companies and small- to medium-sized businesses are expected to contribute to accelerate results for children across most priority areas of the country program over the next five years.
In order to , to support the future engagement of the National Committee for UNICEF in Turkey and the UNICEF Turkey Country Office with the private/ business sector in support of the main programmatic priorities of its 2021-2025 Country Program, there is a need to adapt the current program documents and plans into a series of concept notes specifically tailored to the needs and expectations of private sector partners. These concept notes aim to mobilize private sector support to UNICEF in key areas, with a specific focus on integrated early childhood development and skills development and engagement of adolescents and young people. In view of the above, UNICEF Turkey is seeking the services of an international individual consultancy to develop such “modular” concept notes, using available evidence, including the approved UNICEF Turkey CPD, its Programme Strategy Notes and any other relevant documents which may be useful, while giving due consideration to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda, UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018-2021, UNICEF Gender Action Plan 2018-2021, and main national and global priorities.

II. PURPOSE of the ASSIGNMENT

The consultant will take the lead in the drafting of tailor-made concept notes based on the priorities of the new CPD (2021-2025) in the areas of early childhood development and adolescent and youth development, which are considered to be areas of high potential for collaboration between UNICEF and the private sector in Turkey. A vital part of the assignment is to be able to adapt the technical language of the UNICEF CPD into a more “private sector” friendly narrative, using a “modular approach”, adapting each concept note into three categories, depending on the scale of potential collaboration with small, medium-sized and large companies. It is expected that the concept notes will also include metrics which enable reporting of aggregated results, leveraging different modalities of business engagement depending on the nature and size of contribution and partnership, as well as diversified funding streams (e.g. donations, grants, foundations, etc.).

III. DESCRIPTION of the ASSIGNMENT

Under the guidance and supervision of the Programme Specialist of UNICEF Turkey Country Office, and in close collaboration with the Deputy Representative and programme sections, the consultant is expected to produce and submit the following deliverables:

 Desk review of available key analytical, planning and programme documents on TCO CPD 2021-2025 to understand its priorities and key targets, and their alignment to the national, regional and global agenda and priorities, with focus on UNICEF private sector agenda.
 Analyse available data from multiple sources inside and outside UNICEF to extract best practices and lessons learnt in view of UN and other public – private sector collaborations.
 Coordinate and consolidate inputs from relevant programme sections regarding possible areas of engagement of private sector in the selected programme areas.
 Develop two complete “modular” concept notes on outcomes 1 and 2 of the 2021-2025 CPD (Early Childhood Development and Youth Engagement), including a narrative which reflects business-friendly language and identifies opportunities for engagement and partnership beyond funding contributions (such as employee engagement, leveraging of business assets, market shaping, etc.)
 Refine and finalize the two draft concept notes mentioned above based on feedback received from the TCO program teams and management.
 Perform any other task related to and in support of the above-mentioned priorities.

In addition, for the purpose of reviewing, discussing and validating submitted materials, the consultant will be requested to deliver presentations to UNICEF. Therefore, a total of two presentations are expected (on draft concept notes and on final versions of the concept notes).
All submissions should be electronic. All materials submitted to UNICEF should be delivered in English.

IV. REPORTING, TIMEFRAME AND DELIVERABLES

The work is expected to be carried out within a period 01/03/2021 – 31/03/2021.

Up to 20 working days are estimated for this assignment with the following estimated share of days:
 Desk review and analysis of available data – up to 3 working days
 Coordinate and consolidate inputs – 7 working days
 Draft modular concept notes – up to 10 working days

The consultant is expected to produce and submit the following deliverables:
 Presentation of the outcome of the desk review and analysis performed
 Draft concept notes, based on the performed desk review and consolidated inputs, gathered from programme sections
 Final “modular” concept notes (approximately two concept notes or possibly more) (Comprehensive and Summary).

V. DUTY STATION

The international individual consultancy assignment will be home based.

VI. SUPERVISOR

Management: Supervision by Programme Specialist, UNICEF Turkey Country Office

The evaluation of the contractor(s)’ performance will be based on:
• Quality of produced outputs;
• Compliance with the established timelines;
• Compliance with ethical UNICEF standards related to reporting on children;
• Responsibility and communication.

VII. DURATION & COST

• Duration: This assignment will commence on 1 March 2021 and end at the end of March 2021.
• Payment Schedule: UNICEF will issue a contract in USD. The payment for the entire consultancy will take place in USD, will be done in instalments upon deliverables as per contractual agreement.
• Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract without a prior notice and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the project partners are not followed, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

VIII. QUALIFICATIONS and SPECIALIZATION REQUIRED FOR THE ASSIGNMENT

Qualifications:

The assignment is expected to be undertaken by an international individual consultant to produce the expected results.
Required background and experience for the consultant:

Background

Proven experience in business/ private sector and policy analysis, corporate social responsibility, and private sector fundraising.

Education

Advanced degree in social sciences or related fields relevant for the assignment

Expertise and skills

Knowledge of private sector engagement, social service systems, human rights, the development agenda, gender and equity issues;
At least 5 years of relevant experience in development of fundraising proposals, or analytical reports and strategy/policy documents;
Fluency in English;
Excellent writing skills.
Experience/familiarity with UNICEF planning and programming frameworks, including the Business for Results Approach, would be an advantage.

Ethical considerations
Consultants are required to clearly identify any potential ethical issue, as well as the processes for ethical review and oversight of the research/data collection process in their proposal. UNICEF Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis can be found at: https://www.unicef.org/supply/files/ATTACHMENT_IV-UNICEF_Procedure_for_Ethical_Standards.PDF and should be consistently applied throughout the research process. The procedure contains the minimum standards and required procedures for research, evaluation and data collection and analysis undertaken or commissioned by UNICEF (including activities undertaken by individual and institutional contractors, and partners) involving human subjects or the analysis of sensitive secondary data.

IX. APPLICATION AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Please note that this assignment can only be held by an individual consultant. Applications should be submitted in English.

I. Application procedure:

• To apply for the vacant position please submit P-11 form, available here;
• Candidates are requested to submit a financial offer, available here, as a separate document consisting of their daily rates and the total amount as per the number of anticipated working days for each deliverable and provide the breakdown of the lump sum amount, as well as incidentals of each deliverable in USD.
• Financial proposals should be submitted in separate folders from the remaining documentation. The submission deadline is 25 February 2021 by 11pm Turkey time. After the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of qualified candidates will be evaluated accordingly.

II. Selection Method:
All applicants will be screened against qualifications and requirements set above. Candidates fully meeting all the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

Criteria for technical evaluation Max points
Having the desired qualifications as requested in the ToR (education background, education and skills) 35
Having the desired work experience as requested in the ToR 35
Maximum total points: 70

The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed fifty (50) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ((lowest bid/bid) X 30 points).

REMARK:

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities to apply.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process;
• UNICEF Turkey Office holds copyrights for all deliverables. The documents (including raw materials, etc.) may not be reproduced, distributed or published without the written permission from UNICEF.
• UNICEF Turkey Office will share with the selected consultant all the relevant materials it has and provide required expertise.
• UNICEF Turkey Office and the Regional Office Business for Results (B4R) expert will review and provide feedback on deliverables/ concept notes prepared by consultant.
All information from produced deliverables cannot be shared with the media without the written approval of UNICEF Turkey Office.

 

 

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.