Strengthen Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems across Eastern and Southern Africa Region (ESAR)
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Job no: 581575
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Nairobi
Level: Consultancy
Location: Kenya
Categories: Child Protection
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Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, reimagine the future.
Background and Justification
In 2025, UNICEF released a report highlighting significant progress in civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) across sub-Saharan Africa, with over 60 million children under the age of five having their births registered over the past five years. While this achievement is commendable, it also draws attention to the urgent challenge that remains: an estimated 60 million children are still unregistered, with the highest concentration—43 million—residing in Eastern Africa.
The challenges of birth registration in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAR), are multifaceted and deeply interconnected. Key barriers include weak interoperability between CRVS and health, education, social protection, and identity management systems, which limits timely and continuous registration. Outdated and often discriminatory legal and policy frameworks, coupled with complex and burdensome registration procedures, disproportionately exclude vulnerable populations such as children born outside health facilities, those in rural or remote areas, stateless children, and children of unmarried mothers. Operational capacity remains limited, particularly at the local level, due to insufficient decentralisation, inadequate staffing, and poor infrastructure. Digitalisation efforts are often fragmented and under-resourced, with countries facing challenges related to system interoperability, data security, and vendor dependence. In conflict-affected or disaster-prone areas, CRVS systems are further strained by displacement, service disruption, and the loss of vital records. Together, these challenges create systemic gaps that hinder universal and equitable access to birth registration in the region.
To address these challenges, there is a clear need for a dedicated regional technical support mechanism that can provide countries with structured and responsive assistance. Such a mechanism would build national capacity, enhance cross-sectoral collaboration, and support the adoption of innovative, context-appropriate solutions. It would also facilitate peer learning, promote knowledge exchange, and ensure countries can access high-quality technical expertise tailored to their specific needs, while aligning efforts across regional economic communities, development partners, and other stakeholders. By doing so, it would accelerate
progress toward universal registration and ensure that every individual—especially children—is recognized, protected, and made visible in national systems and global development agendas.
Scope of Work
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State the purpose and/or objectives for the consultancy. Objectives should be SMART, i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time (Timed/ time bound).
This consultancy assignment builds upon previous efforts to enhance birth registration systems, improve CRVS data management, and foster strategic collaboration among key stakeholders.
To support the effective rollout of this framework for CRVs systems developed from ESARO, UNICEF is establishing a technical support mechanism designed to assist countries in accelerating and scaling up CRVS programs, closely aligned with national priorities and development plans. Strengthening CRVS systems has
also been identified as a core priority under UNICEF’s Africa Strategy, further reinforcing its strategic importance. To do so, the consultancy is expected to provide targeted technical support to countries, leverage existing studies, policy documents, and national assessments, and ensure that interventions are evidence- based, sustainable, and strategically positioned within broader national and regional agendas. Key partners in this initiative include government agencies, UNICEF country offices, and regional and continental stakeholders.
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List specific tasks/activities and issues to be addressed under this assignment, including expected boundaries of the assignment.
The institution will:
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Provide Country-Level Technical Support on CRVS Systems
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Lead in-depth assessments of CRVS systems in four selected countries, building on existing national reviews and evaluations where available.
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Engage strategically with government agencies, UN Country Teams (UNCTs), national statistical offices, civil society organizations, and development partners to strengthen collaboration and ownership.
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Identify systemic bottlenecks and opportunities for strengthening CRVS systems, including legislative frameworks, policy environments, digitalization efforts, inter-agency coordination, financing, and community-level registration processes.
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Provide country-specific, actionable recommendations and strategic roadmaps for CRVS system strengthening, aligned with national priorities and development plans.
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Deliver high-quality technical reports and strategic presentations to UNICEF and relevant stakeholders, ensuring that recommendations promote sustainability, scalability, and alignment with broader national and regional strategies.
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Support strategic Engagement and Advocacy on CRVS in Africa
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Lead and support UNICEF’s strategic engagement with key African regional and continental actors, including the African Union (AU), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the Africa Programme for Accelerated Improvement of CRVS (APAI-CRVS).
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Provide high-quality technical and strategic inputs for high-level policy dialogues, advocacy campaigns, and regional meetings to position CRVS strengthening as a critical development priority.
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Develop evidence-based briefing notes, advocacy materials, and targeted policy recommendations to influence CRVS reforms at national, regional, and continental levels.
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Facilitate and actively promote knowledge exchange, peer learning, and dissemination of best practices among countries to foster a community of practice around CRVS system strengthening.
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State the responsibilities of the parties involved in the assignment.
The consultant will be expected to deliver the following key outputs:
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In-depth assessment reports and strategic roadmaps for CRVS strengthening in four selected countries (one report per country).
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Technical presentations summarizing findings and recommendations for each country and at regional forums.
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High-quality briefing notes, advocacy materials, and policy recommendations to support UNICEF’s
engagement with regional and continental partners.
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Documentation of knowledge exchange events and a synthesis report of best practices and lessons learned across countries.
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Final consultancy report summarizing achievements, challenges encountered, and strategic recommendations for sustaining CRVS systems strengthening in Eastern and Southern Africa.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Desired competencies, technical background and experience
The consulting institution should possess the following qualifications:
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In-depth knowledge of CRVS systems, including digitization and integration with other national registries.
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Proven experience with CRVS assessments, bottlenecks identification and development of roadmaps and developments for strengthening CRVS National Systems.
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Understanding of the technical aspects of civil registration systems, including software and hardware requirements
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Familiarity with the legal requirements and regulations governing civil registration.
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Experience working with UNICEF, government agencies, or international organizations is an asset
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Demonstrated experience in conducting CRVS assessments and delivering training programs
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Proven track record in training and capacity building for CRVS systems.
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Ability to analyze data and trends to provide actionable insights
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Ability to work with various stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, and international organizations.
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Experience in conducting research and evaluations related to CRVS.
Administrative Issues
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The consulting institution will have access to relevant UNICEF focal points and resources.
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The consultant will participate in monthly check-in meetings with the UNICEF ESARO technical team and ad-hoc meetings necessary to review progress and adjust strategies in response to emerging needs or opportunities
Conditions
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The consultant will report directly to the Regional Child Protection Advisor at UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), with technical oversight from the CPSS focal point and ICTD Regional Advisor. The ESAR CRVS technical group members from Education, Health, SBC will also be included in this initiative.
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Regular coordination will be maintained with UNICEF Country Offices, national government counterparts, and key regional stakeholders.
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The consulting institution will be responsible for its own office space and equipment.
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Payment will be made against approved deliverables, following UNICEF DFAM policy. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional cases, subject to a maximum of 30% of the total contract value with bank guarantee.
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The selected consulting institution will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for institutional contracts.
Risks
All reasonable and likely risks should be identified, with relevant risk response and possible mitigating actions defined.
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Risk: Delay in delivery.
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Mitigation: Frequent meetings, can be weekly or bi-weekly /Weekly meetings while sharing of the progress reports on the deliverables
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.
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.
Advertised: E. Africa Standard Time
Deadline: E. Africa Standard Time