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.
Background and Justification
The concept and practice of Social Protection as a tool and instrument for poverty reduction, economic growth and development has rapidly gained global popularity particularly in the last decade with many developing countries slowly embracing it as a strategy for fighting poverty and reducing vulnerability amongst their citizens. This has been evidenced by increased governments’ spending and investment in the sector which in turn has also had significant positive effects in socio-economic development and livelihood improvement of the communities.
The main objective of Social Protection is to help cushion the poor and vulnerable members of the society from the hard socio-economic ‘risks’ and ‘shocks’ and to being able to prevent them from falling deeper into poverty situation, while at the same time boosting their resilience to such shocks and risks through the provision of an income support or regular social transfers.
Social Protection in Kenya, according to the National Social Protection Policy (NSPP), has been undertaken through three main pillars of Social Assistance, Social Security and Health Insurance. This has also been undertaken by different agencies, both State and non-State actors across the different sectors of the Country. Prominent amongst these programmes are the four Cash Transfers (CTs), National Safety Net Programmes (NSNP) under the Social Assistance pillar.
The Social Protection Sector in Kenya has grown very rapidly especially after the introduction of the Cash Transfer programmes in 2004. This has not only been quantitatively in terms of increase in the number of beneficiaries and actors in the sector but also qualitatively in terms of knowledge, skills and capacity development. This is spurred by the fact that the Social Protection sector, at both local and global level, is very dynamic and prone to the development of new ideas and concepts that shape and continue influence the design and implementation of Social Protection interventions.
Despite all these achievements, we still witness weak linkages and low coordination across programmes and sectors with no formal and interactive platform in the Country that brings together these various skills and specialties and be able to proactively harness and tap into this wealth of knowledge; building synergy and mentorship to the newly emerging Social Protection practitioners, aggregating to a more robust, vibrant and efficient Social Protection system for the Country.
International evidence shows that integrated services significantly enhance the impact of social protection programming, making them more effective in improving children’s life chances and addressing children’s economic and social rights. UNICEF’s rolling work plan includes the development of four models:
- A model linking cash transfer payments to improved use of antenatal, maternity, newborn and infant health services in Kakamega county
- A model linking cash transfer payments with nutrition services to improve nutritional outcomes in Kitui county
- A model of Social protection links with adolescent skills development and HIV prevention and treatment and
- A model supporting vulnerable households with energy and cash transfers in Machakos and Kitui County
Additionally, the Government has identified a need for enhanced co-ordination at county level and through the development of guidelines for county governments and a mechanism for delegation. As part of the UNDAF programming framework for Outcome 2.4, UNICEF is supporting government in reviewing the current status of co-ordination, assessing capacity building requirements for management and coordination of social protection in counties, developing appropriate guidance on co-ordination mechanisms and instruments, and supporting capacity development in a select number of counties
UNICEF in partnership with the Government of Kenya would like to engage the services of an experienced and competent Consultant to support the social policy section in implantation of the above models and support the county and national government to build capacities in coordination and harmonization of the social assistance programmes with clear linkages to the cash plus agenda.
Scope of Work
Goal and Objective
Under the guidance of the Social Policy (Social Protection) Specialist, and in full collaboration with the Protective Environment, Health, Communication for Development, and Nutrition Outcome teams, the heads of the UNICEF Zonal offices, and with focal staff from the respective county governments, the support through this contract will:
Kakamega
- Support the development, training and roll out of the Management Information System and linkages to the Single Registry,
- Support co-ordination and harmonization of social protection initiatives at county level and coordination between county and national government initiatives as required
- Take lead in the scale up plans of the programmes and document success
Kitui
- Support the progress of payments and monitoring of the beneficiaries by regular data cleaning and production of payrolls
- Act as county focal point for social protection for UNICEF in Kitui county
- Provide ongoing management and monitoring of contracts implementation, field monitoring and HACT management
Kilifi and Machakos
- Coordinate the county level design phase of the model, including planning, stakeholder engagement, field programmes, and oversight of design missions in county
- Act as county focal point for social protection for UNICEF
- Support the progress of designs to implementation and engaging the suppliers, communities and government
Kisumu
- Coordinate the county level design phase of the model, including planning, stakeholder engagement, field programmes, and oversight of design missions in county
- Act as county focal point for social protection for UNICEF
- Support the progress of designs to implementation of PCA and engagement with the Children Department and providing linkages to the Social Assistance Unit and Single registry
Support to coordination mechanisms for Social Protection at county and national levels
- Oversee the presentation of the county coordination study results at the national, county and UNDAF fora
- Oversee the development of guidance on county level co-ordination and on county guidelines for social protection programming, and a training programme / capacity building module for county level social protection actors
- Participate in Joint Social protection review missions
- Support establishment of the Community of practise and oversee the coordination of the Social Protection Conference week
RWPPCR/IRs areas covered
Outcome 6: By 2018, social protection mechanisms and systems for vulnerable children and adolescents are integrated, adequately resourced, coordinated and sustainable in regular and emergency situations
Output 2: Improved linkages between social protection and services to address child vulnerabilities modelled and evidence generated
Activities
- Modelling of social protection links with maternal and child health (Kakamega)
- Modelling of social protection links with young child nutrition (Kitui);
- Modelling of social protection links with energy for the poor (Kilifi and Machakos);
- Modelling of social protection links with youth empowerment / HIV (Kisumu)
Output 3: Capacity of national and county governments developed for co-ordination, harmonization, and emergency response of social assistance linked to child vulnerability
Activities
- Technical support to finalization of the county coordination and mapping study with validation workshops with the Social Protection Secretariat
- Technical assistance to county co-ordination mechanisms in select counties based on modelling
Deliverables:
Deliverables
Duration (Estimated # of days )
Timeline/Deadline
Schedule of Payment
- i) A monthly progress report on the models and September- October NICHE payroll and Validation workshop reports
22
December
1st Instalment
January
- A monthly progress report on the models
22
January
2nd Instalment
iii) A monthly progress report and field monitoring reports
22
February
3rd Instalment
- iv) A monthly progress report on the models and the county coordination implementation work plan and
22
March
4th Instalment
- v) Final assignment report
22
April
5th Instalment
TOTAL person days
110 days
N.B.
- · · · Payment is on satisfactory completion of deliverables duly authorized by the Supervisor of contract.
- Specific deliverables of acceptable quality must be submitted at the planned times.
- Performance will be evaluated considering quality of deliverables, consultation with stakeholders, timeliness of deliverables of and comprehensiveness of work as defined in the terms of reference.
- The consultant is expected to carry out the documentation process in accordance with professional communication development standards
Required qualifications, desired competencies, technical background and experience
(Consult with HR on this prior to signing off on the TOR)
The consultant should have the following skills and qualifications: –
- At least a master’s degree in social sciences, economics, communication or any other relevant area.
- A minimum of 5-7 years of professional practical experience in designing, conducting reporting and documenting projects, programmes, or interventions in the area of Social Protection.
- Proven ability to handle technical matters with excellent organizational and interpersonal skills.
- Proven experience in working with the Government and the development Partners will be an added advantage.
Conditions
- The consultant is expected to commit fully to this task as per the TOR and adhere to the timeline, subject to changes and revisions by UNICEF KCO team.
- The consultant will not have supervisory responsibilities nor authority on UNICEF budget and other resources.
- As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.
- The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.
Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable). Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
