UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

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, HOPE

Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

 Consultancy Title: Team Member Follow-up Evaluation to the Formative Evaluation of UNICEF work to reduce multi-dimensional deprivations for children living in slums and information settlements.

Section/Division/Duty Station: Evaluation , NYHQ

Duration: 1 October 2024 to 28 Feburary 2025

Home/ Office Based: NYHQ / Remote

 About UNICEF – DO NOT EDIT

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 for developing 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.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The overall purpose of this follow-up evaluation is to better position UNICEF to improve the well-being of children living in urban settings. Its specific purpose is to determine whether the 2019 evaluation’s recommended actions have been implemented and their associated risks have been adequately managed, assessing the anticipated benefits and the residual risk exposure. The 2010 UNEG Good Practice Guidance for Follow up to Evaluations state that management response and systematic follow-up activities are necessary elements for evaluations to contribute to knowledge building and organizational improvement. Follow-up evaluations are important for the purpose of accountability, and they aim at determining the effectiveness of the management response actions to address the issues and findings identified during the original evaluation process. Follow-up evaluations must follow a process that includes ownership, consultation, and transparency. Following up on the evaluation of UNICEF work in urban settings will provide critical feedback to the UNICEF Executive Board’s request for a follow-up evaluation. It will update stakeholders on the progress made around UNICEF work in urban settings, including the Program Group, DAPM, PFP, Regional Offices, and country offices on affected by large urban population movements and urban drivers of change identified in the 2021 evaluation. The primary purpose of this exercise is to: 1. Accelerate and improve the completion of the main actions listed in the evaluation management response. 2. Enhance UNICEF efforts to support children living in urban settings by identifying emergent needs and ongoing organizational changes. 3. Manage the risks of inaction around priority areas identified in the evaluation. To this end, the objectives of this follow-up evaluation are: 1. To assess the completion of the main actions listed in the evaluation management response. 2. To determine whether actions taken on findings and recommendations have addressed the issues and associated risks. 3. To evaluate the risks of inaction around priority areas identified in the evaluation. 4. To identify emergent needs and ongoing organizational changes in efforts to support children in urban settings

Scope of Work:

The thematic scope of this exercise aligns with that of the evaluation of UNICEF work for children in urban settings and the objectives of the follow-up evaluation, including additional emerging needs and ongoing organizational changes around UNICEF work in urban settings. Risk analyses will be produced in areas identified as key in the evaluation, vis-à-vis current global emerging needs, and organizational changes around urban work. Particular attention will be given to ongoing work on urban resilience and peacebuilding for in-depth analyses. The geographical scope of this follow-up evaluation is global, with regional and country level assessments of progress, prioritizing regions where limited progress has been made between 2021 until 2024. In deemed relevant, field-based primary data collection and country selection will follow similar selection criteria as those utilized for the 2021 urban evaluation. Particular attention will be given to countries with ongoing work on urban resilience and peacebuilding

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Inception phase (4 weeks): During this phase, the evaluation team is expected to gain a deep understanding of the evaluation topic, desk review all relevant documentation and datasets, assess possible information gaps, and refine the evaluation questions and methodology. Exploratory key informant interviews may be conducted as deemed helpful.

Deliverable 1: Contribution to inception phase (presentation, final inception summary report) – By 30 Nov 2024

Data collection phase (8 weeks): The evaluation team will conduct an in-depth document and data review and carry out key informant interviews, focus group discussions, as well as online surveys as deemed helpful.

Deliverable 2: Contribution to collection phase (summary synthesis of preliminary findings) – 31 Jan 2025

Data analysis and reporting phase (8 weeks): the evaluation team can fill existing data gaps and deepen the analysis and triangulation of evidence to identify findings, preliminary conclusions, and suggested areas for actions/recommendations. Based on these, a first draft of the final evaluation report will be produced

Deliverable 3: Contribution to data analysis and reporting phase (presentation findings of validation, final evaluation report) – By 31 March 2025

Qualifications

Education: Masters

Evaluation, social science, urban development, demography, economics

 Work experience:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

The team member is expected to have the following qualifications and experience:

 • More than 5 years of experience conducting evaluations, preferably global evaluations of urban development with a focus on child rights;

 • Expertise with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analytical methods;

• Expertise working with AI tools (for data mining, text classification models, Named Entity Recognition model), advanced statistical analyses, and visualization tools such as Power BI-Excel, STATA, R, Python, or Tableau

Knowledge of UNICEF mandate, structure, culture, and programmatic work;

• Knowledge of UNICEF and UNEG standards and principles on evaluation ethics and quality;

 • Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with stakeholders from different backgrounds;

 • Fluency in English and at least working knowledge of French and Spanish (while fluency is desirable); knowledge of Arabic, Russian and Chinese is an asset; and,

 • Excellent report writing skills, writing clear and concise analytical reports

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.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

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.