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If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines fordeveloping countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

Consultancy: Specialized technical assistance for Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) Consultancy

Duty Station: DAPM, Data & Analytics Section

Duration: 24 November 2025 - 15 December 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

MICS enables countries to produce statistically sound and internationally comparable estimates of a range of indicators on the situation of children, women and their families, in areas such as health, education, early childhood development, child protection, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene. For many countries, MICS surveys are among the most important sources of data used for situation analyses, policy decisions, programme interventions, and for informing the public about the situation of children and women. 

Currently, the MICS programme is in its 7^th round and  over 50 surveys are already formally listed as part of MICS7: Just over 20 have or are completing fieldwork, with the remaining still in the design phase. The number of MICS7 surveys is expected to increase by 10-20% in 2026 mainly due to closure of USAID’s Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program and a few other countries currently in the process of finalizing the Memorandum of Understanding documents.

Current work on the questionnaire architecture and content of standard MICS7 questionnaires is nearly completed and 8 regional/global Survey Design and 5 Data Processing Workshops have been completed so far. Current and future MICS participating country/survey teams will need additional technical support on:

• ongoing and future MICS surveys including planning, sample design, questionnaire customisation, pre-test of questionnaires, customisation of tabulation plans, fieldworkers training, fieldwork monitoring, data analysis and report drafting, and dissemination, and
• planning and organisation of any potential local, regional, or global MICS Survey Design, Data Processing and Data Interpretation and Further Analysis workshops

Scope of Work:

In order to fully provide expert technical support for the implementation of MICS, UNICEF HQ needs to hire a household survey expert with experience in household surveys like MICS and DHS. The consultant will be supporting the existing Data Collection Unit staff monitoring the survey implementation worldwide.

This assignment will contribute to the following outcomes: (a) support the design and implementation of ongoing and upcoming MICS, and (b) support MICS regional, global or local Survey Design Workshops and other MICS review meetings.

The consultant is expected to support MICS implementation worldwide, with specific focus on francophone, lusophone and Spanish-speaking countries 

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

(A) Support the design and implementation of MICS surveys in 9 francophone, lusophone and Spanish-speaking countries

-  Timely review of 9 surveys related tools submitted by regional offices including but not limited to survey plans and budgets, country customized questionnaires, pre-test reports, tabulation plans, and survey reports.

31 March 2025

30 June 2026

30 September 2026

15 December 2026

(B) Provide specialized assistance to countries in the design and operationalization of MICS topics in 9 francophone, lusophone and Spanish-speaking countries

Finalized documentation of all key survey materials for each 9 supported MICS surveys and regular updates to survey metadata monitoring files, maintained in designated SharePoint folders and Teams channels

31 March 2025

30 June 2026

30 September 2026

15 December 2026

(C) Support the MICS7 Progress Review Meeting, Global MICS Consultation Meeting and Survey Design Workshops organized by the Global MICS team (Location and dates TBC)

3. Documentation reflecting the contributions made to the meetings including but not limited to presentations for meeting sessions and background materials for the participants

15 December 2026 

Travel:  MICS7 Progress Review and Global MICS Consultation Meetings (Location and dates TBC), 6 days 

Qualifications

Education:

Advanced University degree in Social Sciences, Demography, Statistics, Epidemiology, or other related technical field with significant measurement or analysis component

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• At least a master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Demography, Statistics, Epidemiology, or other related technical field with significant measurement or analysis component is required;

Work experience:

• At least 5 years of working experience in survey planning and budgeting, customization of standard questionnaires  to local context, questionnaire reviews, survey reports reviews, customization of tabulation plans, facilitation of trainings on household surveys;
• Familiarity and experience with the customization and implementation of topics that have been recently added to MICS (e.g., Mental Health, Violence Against Women, Foundational Learning, MICS Link-Education).
•  

Computer skills: Competent in advanced Excel, Word, PowerPoint, SPSS. Also R, Python, and GitHub experience is an asset;

Languages needed: Native or near-native proficiency in English (oral and written) is required. Native or near-native proficiency in French (oral and written) is preferred. Knowledge of Portuguese and Spanish is an asset;

• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks;
• Strong writing and interpersonal communication skills. to local context, questionnaire reviews, survey reports reviews, customization of tabulation plans, facilitation of trainings on household surveys;

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.