Consultant: Consultancy for review of quality programming in humanitarian action - Req.#580433
Poste numéro: 580433
Type de contrat: Consultant
Situation géographique: United States
Catégorie: Programme Management
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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant
Consultancy Title: Consultant for review of quality programming in humanitarian action
Section/Division/Duty Station: Programme Coordination and Strategy Hub, Resilience and Recovery, Programme Group – NYHQ
Duration: April 1, 2025 to 30 September 2025
Home/ Office Based: Remote
About UNICEF
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. 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
UNICEF is committed to multisectoral and integrated programming, ensuring equity, linking humanitarian with long-term development, resilience building and climate action, localization, and the use of community engagement for social behavior change and humanitarian cash transfers to enhance the effectiveness and reach of humanitarian interventions.
Humanitarian crises demand swift and effective responses that not only address the immediate needs of affected populations but also safeguard their dignity and promote long-term recovery. UNICEF’s high-quality programming in humanitarian action is designed to achieve these goals by working in alignment with its Core Commitments to Children (CCCs), which ensure that interventions are grounded in humanitarian principles, human rights, and global standards.
UNICEF Program Group (PG) Division is accountable for the provision of quality programming in all settings and “focuses on strategic actions that enhance and assure UNICEF programme excellence in all contexts, that project UNICEF global technical leadership, and that shape the global environment in favour of actions that protect and promote children’s rights everywhere”.
UNICEF is currently in the process of developing its new Strategic Plan, 2026–2030 which will guide the organization’s overall approach for the next four years. In parallel, UNICEF is undergoing an organization-wide reflection towards a new generation of Humanitarian Action in UNICEF, and a review of internal related procedures which set out the mandatory actions for all country offices (COs), regional offices (ROs) and headquarters (HQ) divisions responding to humanitarian crises.
Against this backdrop, and in the context of the ongoing implementation of the outcome of the Humanitarian Review mid-term review, the purpose of this consultancy is to conduct an analysis that can provide essential insights into the quality of UNICEF’s programming in humanitarian action, with a focus on how well the organization is adhering to its CCCs and addressing the various challenges identified in recent evaluations.
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
Recent evaluations of humanitarian responses (including thematic reviews and specific response evaluations such as those for the Horn of Africa and Haiti), and the UNICEF Humanitarian Review, have identified persistent challenges in the quality of UNICEF programme’s implementation. While these evaluations have offered valuable recommendations, there is a need to further consider programme-specific aspects to understand how UNICEF can improve its humanitarian programming to better serve affected populations.
Focusing on trends and recurring challenges, the outcome of this consultancy will better inform UNICEF’s capacity to support the delivery of quality programming in humanitarian settings as defined in the CCCs. It will seek to make recommendations regarding required capacity and system changes and accountabilities amongst HQ divisions, and vis-à-vis regional and country offices to better ensure predictable, timely, and high-quality programme support.
This work is critical to ensuring that UNICEF’s humanitarian interventions continue to save lives, alleviate suffering, and support long-term recovery and resilience for the most vulnerable populations affected by crises.
The output of this consultancy will be a written report summarizing the main findings and conclusions of the review and providing sharp, actionable recommendations for Programme Group and regional and country programme teams, including a proposed standard operating procedure/business model for support in emergencies.
Scope of Work:
The work will proceed in two phases.
Phase 1: Evidence review:
The consultant will review recent evidence on the quality of UNICEF programming in humanitarian action, identifying trends and recurring challenges, with a particular focus on the following areas of inquiry:
• What are the key challenges to programme quality in UNICEF’s humanitarian action, as identified in the existing body of evidence and against the Core Commitments for Children?
Phase 2: Review of the programming models through case studies that will notably address the following points:
• What does quality programming in humanitarian mean in practice?
• To what extent are the programme-related CCCs realistic and achievable? Is there a need to distinguish between minimum standards and programme excellence, and what could this look like in practice? Are the CCCs adequate to guide quality humanitarian programming and if not, what could be the alternative standards?
• What changes are required to address the shortcomings in quality programming? What recommendations should be prioritized?
• Are the systems, processes and accountabilities for supporting quality humanitarian programming in UNICEF sufficiently clear and efficient?
Activities and Tasks:
1. Inception report elaborating the proposed methodology, work plan, and timeline.
2. Conduct a desk review meta-analysis of existing body of evidence, including evaluations, the Humanitarian Review, and other evaluative exercises in UNICEF, to identify a key set of findings, conclusions, and recommendations most relevant to programme quality.
3. Conduct 3 cases studies to examine what quality programming in humanitarian action mean in practice.
4. Run key informant interviews (KIIs) with select stakeholders from relevant HQ divisions, clusters, regional offices (ROs), and a select number of country offices (COs) in relations to the meta-analysis and the case studies. Interviews with select donors and external partners may also be considered.
5. Draft a report consolidating the findings from the desk review and interviews, summarizing key observations including:
o Adequacy of CCCs to guide quality humanitarian programming or if other standards should be considered.
o an analysis of the gaps and bottlenecks to implement the recommendations related to quality programming.
o 3 cases studies on quality programming in humanitarian action.
o a proposed standard operating procedure/business model to strengthen quality programming in humanitarian action; and
o other actionable recommendations.
Methodology
The methodology will be detailed by the consultant.
A small technical reference group, consisting of representatives from PG, EMOPS, PPD, EO, SD, DPAM as well as two representatives from ROs, will be established to support the implementation of the consultancy, help refine its scope and validate its results.
Terms of Reference / Deliverables
Work Assignment Overview
Deliverables/ Outputs
Delivery deadline
1. Inception Report
- 1 short report elaborating the proposed methodology, work plan, and timeline for the review
April 15th
2. Desk Review (meta-analysis)
- 1 report containing the desk review of existing evaluations, the humanitarian review and other evaluative exercises
May 15th
3. Draft Report
- Conduct +- 10 interviews with key stakeholders.
- Draft 1 report consolidating findings and recommendations
May 30th
4. Review and feedback
- Circulate the draft report to key stakeholders within the organization for review and feedback.
- 1 revised report addressing any comments or suggestions is provided.
June 15th
5. Draft 3 case studies (max 10 pages each) on the delivery of quality programming in different contexts
- Conduct +- 20 interviews with key stakeholders.
- 3 case studies on quality programming in humanitarian action.
August 15th
6. Review and feedback
- Circulate the draft case studies to key stakeholders within the organization for review and feedback.
- 3 revised case studies addressing any comments or suggestions are issued.
September 15th
7. Final Report including the case studies and presentation
- 1 Consolidated report, incorporating the case studies
- Prepare for 1 presentation, highlighting key insights and actionable recommendations for enhancing quality programming in humanitarian action
September 30th
Qualifications
(1) Education
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields: social sciences, public administration, law, international relations, policy, business administration or other related disciplines.
(2) Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
• At least 7 years’ experience in global humanitarian action issues and emergency management.
• Proven track record in conducting multi-disciplinary assessments, evaluations, and reviews in the humanitarian sector.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Familiarity with international standards, guidelines, and frameworks for humanitarian response, including the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian action
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in humanitarian action.
• Experience with remote and in-person data collection.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Strong ability to rationalize and process quantitative and qualitative data using dedicated analytical tools and software.
Knowledge of the UN system, UN programming and UNICEF emergency responses considered a plus.
Requirements:
Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and
- Upload copy of academic credentials
- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :
o the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
o travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
o Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
o 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.
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.
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