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For every child, the right to survive and thrive
Background:
The Iraq Country Office (ICO) is seeking the services of a National Consultant to support the Social Policy Section in implementing a Formative Lessons Learned and Costed Scale-up Plan for the Child Benefit Pilots in Iraq. The national consultant will work under the technical guidance of an international expert, and manage the on-the-ground liaison, coordination and data collection to gather 1/ lessons on the implementation of 3 Cash Plus pilots in Iraq, and 2/ insights to develop a strategy for a scale-up plan. This assignment is expected to support the institutionalization of a Child Benefit in Iraq, building on an independent, learning-oriented, assessment of the pilots.
Context:
In 2021, the Government of Iraq (GoI) engaged in a Social Protection Reform, funded by the EU Joint Programme “Social Protection Programme- Leveraging Effective Response and Accelerating Reform”, implemented with the World Food Progamme (WFP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Notably, the progamme supports all social protection building blocks: i/ Policy and coordination level through the development of the Social Protection Strategy, and governance mechanisms; ii/ programme level, including notably the development of a child-sensitive cash transfer pilot with linkages to social services (“Cash Plus” model), iii/ administrative and capacity level, with the development of tailor-made trainings for the social workforce to strengthen the environment and foster the implementation of child-sensitive Cash Plus programmes for children, and iv/ system, with the enhancement of Management Information System, to transition to comprehensive digital platform to support the new scheme.
The Cash Plus Pilot seeks to address the disproportionate exclusion faced by the most vulnerable, through a multisectoral approach to increasing access to integrated services. In response to high level of poverty and vulnerability faced by children and a fragmented social protection system, UNICEF has been supporting the government to pilot “Cash Plus” pilot that combine financial support with complementary services, such as behaviour change communication, in-kind benefits, and links to education, health, and psychosocial support, to strengthen families’ resilience and human capital. Key stakeholders include Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education.
Its development is the result of a collaborative effort and ultimately aims to test the feasibility of a child benefit and the integration of social care services with social assistance. The ‘Child Plus Benefit’ development is the result of a collaborative effort and ultimately aims to test the feasibility of a child benefit and the integration of social care services with social assistance. The pilot implementation is meant to lay the building blocks of an integrated child benefit, to support systems-building and strengthen linkages between financial support, social services and behavioural change actions. As such, it is expected that the pilots can serve as a model for the development of a national integrated child benefit for Iraq.
• In Federal Iraq, in Al Muthanna governorate, SSN beneficiaries with children aged 0-2 and pregnant women, receive quarterly allowances. In the case that families are seen to drop out of health service utilization such as regular visits and vaccination, the SSN social workers provide additional support to families, especially in the form of referral to additional services where families face specific vulnerabilities.
• In Kurdistan, in Duhok and Suleimania, SSN beneficiaries in families where children are transitioning from primary to secondary education in the current school year, receive quarterly allowances. The SSN social workers and educators in school, provide additional support to families, especially in the form of referral to additional services where families face specific vulnerabilities.
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical support in the following areas:
1. Field data collection: gather & collect qualitative and quantitative data (post-distribution monitoring data, admin data, KIIs, group discussion…) on the development and implementation processes of the pilots, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and area for improvement, building on a methodological approach and tools developed by an international expert.
2. Coordination and liaison: establish a workplan, lists of stakeholders to meet with, organize and conduct relevant meetings, under the guidance of the international expert.
3. Dissemination and translation: translate and adapt the tools and documents into Arabic and Kurdish, as relevant, and support logistically in organizing 2 workshops to presents the initial findings and final products.
The consultancy will support the generation of comprehensive lessons learned to guide the potential scale up of the pilots, and to develop a costed scale-up and institutionalization proposal for the Child Plus Pilot Programmes, led by the international technical expert.
Scope of Work:
The national consultant will work under the remote guidance of the international technical expert to carry out in-country activities required for the formative lessons learned study of the Child Plus Pilots in Federal Iraq and KRI. The consultant will focus on field-level engagement, data collection, coordination and liaison.
1. Inception (13 days)
▪ Establish a workplan in collaboration with the international expert
▪ Support identification of key stakeholders for data collection, and coordinate with UNICEF and relevant stakeholders to schedule interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and site visits.
▪ Review the methodological plan and tools to ensure it is context-specific, and translation development and quality assurance
▪ Maintain continuous communication
Deliverables/Outputs
▪ Workplan including travel plans and field work schedule
▪ Finalized list of stakeholders
▪ Weekly field progress notes summarizing meeting notes from stakeholder consultations, including key findings.
▪ Note on key findings and lessons learned based on stakeholder consultations.
▪ Final methodological approach and data collection tools in relevant languages.
Timeline: October 2025
2. Data collection (18 days)
▪ Conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) with central and local government officials, social workers, partner agencies, and implementing partners as per the agreed list of stakeholders and tools developed during inception.
▪ Facilitate and document FGDs with child benefit recipient households, as well as with relevant community actors.
▪ Ensure ethical procedures are followed, including informed consent and confidentiality.
Deliverables/Outputs
▪ Minute of meetings as part of data collection, including KIIs and FGDs in English
▪ Minutes from weekly meetings with the technical expert.
Timeline: From October 2025 – December 2025
3. Document Review Support (12 days)
▪ Light review of relevant pilot programme documents, especially operational manuals, monitoring reports and inputs to the Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) analysis for the 3 locations.
▪ Based on on-the-ground experience, contribute contextual insights and content to supplement lessons learned report and costed scale-up plan drafted by technical lead.
Deliverables/Outputs
▪ Comments on key operational documents (operational manuals, and monitoring reports)
▪ Annotate drafts of lessons learned and costed scale-up plan
▪ Draft executive summary and initial findings PPT translated in Arabic and Kurdish
Timeline: From December2025 – January 2026
4. Support to Validation Workshop (34 days)
▪ Support the integration of comments in the final products, providing follow-up as needed
▪ Support in-country logistics preparations for the Final Validation Workshop.
▪ Provide support in translating the final executive summary PPT in Arabic and Kurdish
Deliverables/Outputs
▪ Concept note and agenda for validation workshop.
▪ Final reports: Executive summary, main findings and recommendations and PPT for validation workshop in Arabic and Kurkish
Timeline: March 2026 to May 2026
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- Education:
• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields: Social Sciences, programme management, logistics, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant filed with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
- Work Experience:
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience is required
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members and authorities at different levels;
• Experience in leading data collection, including KIIS and FDGs with a range of stakeholders;
• Ability to quickly grasp and synthesize inputs;
• Previous experience in Social Policy, social protection is an asset;
• Previous experience with the UN is an asset;
• Desirable: experience with project development and management, monitoring and evaluation, human rights-based approaches, capacity development approaches, are all assets;
- Language Requirements: Proficiency in English, and knowledge in Arabic and Kurdish are required.
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 here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.
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:
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.
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