National Consultants - Child Protection at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2 Positions

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - 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.

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.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: National Consultant - Child Protection

Job Number: 513131
Locations: In two states out of Plateau, Gombe, Cross River, Lagos
Work Type: Consultancy
Slots: 2

Purpose of Assignment

• Provision of technical assistance and advocacy support for the development of MDA's 2019 budget submissions on Child Protection services in two states out of Plateau, Gombe, Cross River, Lagos.

Background
The results of the 2014 Violence Against Children Survey provide, for the first time, national estimates that describe the magnitude and nature of sexual, physical and emotional violence experienced by girls and boys in Nigeria. The findings indicate that violence against children is a serious problem in Nigeria, with over half of children (60%) experiencing at least one form of violence before the age of 18. UNICEF believes that in order to tackle this issue and achieve the eradication of Violence against Children as expected by Goal 16.2 of the SDGs, Nigeria ought to strengthen its Child Protection System, consisting of legislative measures, services and structures to allow for an holistic and comprehensive intervention to both prevent and respond to Violence against Children.

Since 2015, UNICEF has been supporting the roll out of a modeling system for Child Protection System Strengthening led by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, as well as the relevant Ministries in the States of Gombe, Plateau, Lagos and Cross River. A precondition for a successful strengthening of child protection system is dependent upon the extent to which the State and Federal Government sufficiently allocate and release funds to coordinate and provide a minimum package of both preventive and protective child protection services at state, local government area and ward level. In order to advocate for increased public funding for child protection services, there is a need for solid evidence not only on what the extent of current budget allocations and expenditure is but also what the economic cost of inaction would be in case the Government does not make the necessary investments to end violence against children.

To generate evidence for advocacy, UNICEF conducted a series of studies and analyses in 2017, including a) the Child Protection Financial Benchmark which provides a comparative baseline assessment of state expenditure on child protection services in 2014-2015; b) the Economic Burden of Violence against Children study, which examines the economic loss of GDP due to life-long consequences of violence against children, specifically with regards selected health and education outcomes; c) the Costing of Child Protection services which provides various scenarios of costs for the set up and roll out of the minimum package of services needed for a functional Child Protection system.

UNICEF seeks now to hire two National Consultants to provide technical assistance to the next phase of this work by:

• Facilitating advocacy with the key Government agencies for the allocation of adequate and specific budget allocations for child protection services and programmes at Federal and State level in the four focus states;
• Provide direct technical assistance to selected agencies both at Federal and State level in the four focus states for the inclusion of specific Child Protection lines in the budget submissions for 2019 and follow up their approval by the National Assembly and the respective State assemblies;
• Contribute to the documentation of the process and the consolidation of budgetary guidelines for use by relevant MDAs in future and lead their validation by Government.

The National Consultants will work under the technical supervision of an expert International Consultancy firm which will provide both remote and in-country technical oversight and guidance. Each of the national consultants will be assigned 2 states out of the 4 mentioned above.

Working Modalities
Contract Management:

• UNICEF Nigeria Child Protection Section is responsible for the management of this consultancy contract
• All final deliverable must be submitted for review to the Supervisor of the post, who will be responsible for approving payment/s according to the proposed payment schedule.

Technical Oversight:

• The national consultant is expected to coordinate closely and work under the technical supervision of Cornerstone Economic Research, a consulting firm based in South Africa and under institutional contract with UNICEF Nigeria.
• The National Consultants will be responsible for working directly with the task teams in each of the key MDAs at Federal level and in the four states to develop the budget submissions and supporting advocacy brief that covers the child protection services provided by the MDA. In doing so they will use and be guided by:
  • The CP Costing Model prepared by Cornerstone Economic Research on behalf of UNICEF for the MDAs
  • The budget guideline template prepared by Cornerstone Economic Research on behalf of UNICEF; and
  • The draft sector advocacy briefs prepared by Cornerstone Economic Research on behalf of UNICEF.
  • Cornerstone will liaise with the national consultants and the UNICEF staff to assist and advise on the work. This may involve accompanying the national consultants on some of their visits to MDAs.
  • Cornerstone will review and provide feedback on the budget submissions and advocacy briefs consolidated by the national consultants with the inputs from relevant MDAs and UNICEF staff.
  • The national consultants will be responsible for preparing for and presenting at the workshops to co-ordinate MDAs budget submissions in each state and at Federal level.

Collaboration with UNICEF Field Offices:

• While the national consultants report to UNICEF Nigeria Country Office and the Supervisor of the post based in Abuja, they are expected to collaborate closely with UNICEF Field Offices responsible for the relevant states and specifically with the Field Offices Child Protection Specialists.

This will entail arranging joint visits with the MDAs, informing the specialists of communication with the MDAs, incorporating Field Offices feedback and comments during the consolidation of the the expected de liverable and other cooperation modalities as advised by the Supervisor of the post:

• End Product/Deliverables: (eg. final report, article, document etc.)- give specific descriptions of end products and specific time/dates they are expected for contract running into several months.
• Detailed Work Plan with timeline. Est. Delivery Date Mid July, 2018
• Technical Inputs for advocacy materials. Estimated Delivery date. End July, 2018.
• Technical Inputs to Advocacy strategy and States' implementation plan. End July, 2018
• Consolidated technical inputs for the inclusion of specific CP Budget Lines in 2019 MDAs Budget submissions in the assigned States. By end of August (Task to be completed depending on State Budget cycle/ Federal budget cycle)
• Technical Inputs to Ministers/Commissioners talking points for budget defense. By end of September deliverable to be completed depending on each State budget Cycle / Federal budget cycle).
• Technical inputs to guideline budget template and technical assistance programme documentation.

Academic Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience and Competencies Required

• At least 7 years of professional experience in the field of Public Finance Management, Budgeting and/or Accounting, preferably in relation to public civil service or in the no-profit sector;
• An Advanced Degree in Economics, Public Policy, Development Studies, Public Finance, or similar disciplines.
• Demonstrable experience working and advocating with Nigerian government agencies at Federal and/or State level, particularly in the field of economic planning and budgeting.
• Knowledge and understanding of current development issues, with particular focus on child poverty and child protection is a strong asset.
• Excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing; particularly demonstrable capacity to train, coach and impart knowledge will be considered an asset;
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent drafting skills in English;
• Good Computer skills, including internet navigation and various office application, specifically good  working knowledge of  Excel is required.
• Fluency in the local languages of the Focus states is an asset.
• Excellent planning skills and capacity for autonomous work is a strong asset.
• UNICEF key competencies of Communication, Working with People and Drive for Result will also be considered during the selection process.

Estimated time of consultancy and deadline for submission of end product:

• 12 working weeks spread across 6 months. Estimated July to December 2018

Application Closing Date
30th May, 2018.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online
 
Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.