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For every child, Safety...

The Malawi Social Cash Transfer Programme (MSCTP), a key social protection programme, is designed to alleviate poverty, and malnutrition, and improve school attendance by offering cash transfers to the ultra- poor and vulnerable households. However, the programme's effectiveness is hindered by the households' vulnerability to climatic shocks, like droughts and floods, indicating a need for further support to bolster their resilience and facilitate their progression out of extreme poverty.

Despite various programmes targeting the most vulnerable, over 20% of Malawi's 19.6 million population still live in extreme poverty. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable, facing disproportionate levels of poverty and inequality to men. This disparity significantly restricts their access to essential social services and economic opportunities. Notably, women head more than 75% of impoverished households, and approximately 42% of girls endure physical violence before reaching 18 years. Such violence, alongside other harmful social practices and norms, severely hampers the empowerment and active participation of women and girls in the nation's development.

The resilience of poor households to periodic shocks is compromised due to their inability to accumulate savings, a result of limited financial literacy, and absence of a savings culture, inadequate business management skills, and restricted access to diversified income sources, formal financial institutions, and markets. Nevertheless, the establishment of informal Savings and Loans Groups (SLGs) in rural areas has shown significant positive impacts on the rural poor. In response, UNICEF is supporting the Government of Malawi (GoM) to implement a three-year Social Protection for Gender Empowerment and Resilience (SP GEAR) (Amai Titukuke) Programme financed by European Union Delegation and the Embassy of Ireland in 9 District councils. The SP-GEAR aims to empower the most vulnerable women and girls in Malawi by integrating complementary services into the social protection system to enhance resilience to shocks and encourage livelihood diversification for those under the MSCTP or in similar circumstances through the creation of SLGs (4000), customized training in business skills and financial inclusion, and provision of tailor- made support for business management and skills development.

How can you make a difference? 

This consultancy is task-specific, aimed at providing technical expertise and facilitation to create user- friendly assessment tools and disbursement guidelines. The consultant will engage Government representatives, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS), Civil Society Organization (CSOs) and other relevant key stakeholders, to gather knowledge, practical insights and document best practices and relevant information. The following tasks will be fulfilled by the consultant as part of the scope of work.

To achieve the task the consultant will deliver the following tasks.

1.      Situational analysis, desk review and documentation of best practices 

• Conduct a desk review of the best global and national practices in cash-plus interventions linked to SLGs and provision of seed capital.
• Review relevant policies, guidelines, and operational documents of existing donor and government-led social protection and livelihoods programs in Malawi.
• Identify best practices and lessons learnt (challenges and successes) from previous cash+ and resilience building interventions in the country.

2.        Stakeholder Consultations and data Collection

• Collect data from purposively selected districts based on the outcomes of the desk review to support the identification of key focus areas and best practices at National districts, District and community levels.

• Conduct consultative meetings and in-person interviews with staff from MoGCDSW, other relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), UNICEF, Development Partners including the European, Embassy of Ireland, IFAD, WFP, GIZ and the World Bank to identify key strategic considerations which need to be addressed to support the development of the guidelines.
• Conduct in-depth interviews with the current SP-GEAR CSOs (YONECO, Find Your Feet and CRECCOM) and other CSOs implementing similar economic empowerment programs including (but not limited to) COMSIP, FARMSE, Self Help Africa, Concern Worldwide, CARE,World Vison and Microfinance lending institutions to share their lessons/ insight and recommendations.
• Conduct field visits to interact with existing SLGs and beneficiaries of social protection interventions involved in similar activities.

3.        Development of draft Guidelines, assessment tool and related guidelines 

• Develop guidelines for provision of seed capital, aligning with SP-GEAR objectives and government frameworks.

• Design and develop a comprehensive feasibility assessment tool for beneficiary selection, grant disbursement, monitoring, and reporting. The tool should be capable of collecting key data from the IGAs that support assessment through scores or similar quantitative results to support objective selection of recipients.
• Developed related guidelines to support data collection and analysis and ensure these are translated to Chichewa.
• Identify any capacity gaps and/or needs to support continuous coaching and mentoring of recipients of the grants to support effective and efficient utilization.

4.        Draft validation and Finalization 

• Present draft guidelines, disbursement plan and related assessment tools to UNICEF and key stakeholders for validation.
• Conduct a test pilot of the guidelines on selected SLGs to enhance the usability of the tools.
• Incorporate feedback and submit final tools and guidelines document, disbursement plan and related assessment tools and production of the final plan and assessment tools.

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

Academic qualification:

• A master’s degree or PhD in the following areas Social Policy, Development Studies, Economics, Public Administration, or related fields with specialization in women's economic empowerment.

Work experience:

• 5 years of experience and 2 years’ experience for master’s and PhD, respectively of professional work in social protection programming, livelihoods interventions or financial inclusion initiatives at both national and international levels with proven experience in conducting sectoral economic empowerment of women analysis in any relevant sector.
• Experience in designing and implementing grant-based interventions for vulnerable populations, developing strategies and on the same.
• Experience in leading large surveys including design of tools, development of guidelines, data analysis and reporting.
• Track record in working with women groups and business, financial institution and other microfinance institutions involving government is a distinct advantage.

Technical skills, knowledge and strength areas:

• Essential: Knowledge of gender issues and the prevailing social and economic challenges faced by women in Malawi, specifically in social protection, including social cash transfer programmes.
• Essential: Strong knowledge of child rights and women's rights, about developmental and humanitarian programming, with a focus on social protection in general, and social cash transfer programmes in particular.
• An in-depth understanding of the development context of Malawi and/or the region and experience in working with the government at national and sub-national levels is required.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in conducting sectoral gender and policy analysis and related capacity building at different levels.
• Knowledge of Malawi’s social protection landscape and prior engagement with SCTP or similar programs is an advantage.

• Excellent computer skills – MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint is required.

Language

• Excellent verbal and written skills in English and Chichewa is essential.

Please refer to the attached full Terms of Reference  Terms of Reference Development of Seed Capital Disbursement Tools.pdf for more details on the consultancy and requirements.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).   

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

HOW TO APPLY...

Interested consultants should provide the following:

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Brief technical proposal (no longer than five pages) demonstrating the consultant’s understanding of the assignment and approach/methodology to the assignment
3. Financial proposal including a breakdown of their all-inclusive fees (including professional fees, travel, living cost, visa and other costs). Financial Proposal for Consultancy.xlsx Complete the attached form.
4. References details

Remarks:  

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. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.