UNICEF recruits 01 Technical Assistance to revise and update

Consultancy – Technical Assistance to revise and update the National Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) Framework, Namibia

Job Number: 530381 | Vacancy Link

Locations: Africa: Namibia

Work Type : Consultancy

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, deserves the best start in life.

Background:

Every child deserves the best start in life. There is strong evidence that the early years from conception up to the age of 8 years are very critical in terms of building a strong foundation for healthy development, lifelong learning and well-being, successful communities, economic productivity, and harmonious civil societies. With quality implementation, integrated early childhood development is a highly effective and cost-efficient approach to ensure that all children develop their full potential. In 2010 WHO indicated that there is strong evidence that quality service provision, including robust parenting programmes, are effective in preparing the child for lifelong learning and development. The first 1000 days, which cover the period from conception to a child’s second birthday, is known as the critical window of opportunity because it is within this time frame that learning challenges and the negative effects of malnutrition can be prevented or reversed, and is a period when the child’s critical skills are developed.  The 2017 Lancet series on ECD stressed that the human brain develops faster between conception and the ages of 2-3 than at any other time in life. It further points out that it is during the first 1000 days that a child’s development responds most readily to nurturing care in terms of health, nutrition, responsive care giving, safety and security, and early learning. The agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for nations to ensure that children survive and thrive. In particular SDG Goals 4.2. (education); 3.2 (health); 2.2 (nutrition) and 16.2 (protection) address key outcomes to realise young children’s developmental potential.

Although Namibia has made commendable progress since independence in 1990, and has attained Upper Middle-Income status, poverty remains very high in Namibia, with a big disconnect between economic development and social development, creating inequities among regions, ethnic groups and wealth quintiles. Disparities continue to persist in the provision of quality early childhood development (ECD) services, especially amongst the rural and poor communities. 14% of Namibia’s population are under 5 years old and 87% of children between 0-4 years old do not attend any early childhood development centres while 60% of children of pre-primary age do not access pre-primary education. But Namibia’s Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) 2017/18-2021/22 has identified ECD as one of the contributing factors to harnessing the demographic dividends and contribute to human capital development.

In Namibia, ECD service provision falls under the responsibility of individuals (parents/educarers/caregivers), communities, churches and the private sector. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) has the mandate to register and supervise ECD centres notably their level of compliance with established minimum standards for ECD centres (Namibian Standards for ECD Centres, 2012). The Ministry also provides subsidies to educarers working in registered centres and having qualifications in ECD. As of 2018, there are 3,010 ECD centres operating in all the 14 regions of the country with 5,531 ECD Educarers providing services to 96 154 children from 6 months to 4 years old.

ECD in Namibia is guided by the 2007 ECD Policy, and in 2017 the Integrated ECD Framework was launched as an implementation document to guide the coordination of ECD across the three main sector of Health, Education and Gender. Since the implementation of the framework coordination at the national level has improved considerably. However, gaps in planning, budgeting and community level implementation remain.

Justification:

Although adopted in 2017, the IECD Framework was developed in 2015 and as such, no longer fully responds to the priorities of the key-line ministries and strategic developments enshrined in the 5th National Development Plan and ministerial strategic five-year plans. Further, the framework needs to be costed to allow for improved budgeting and planning.

In December 2019, the National IECD Committee, the body responsible for the coordination and oversight of implementation called for a revision of the framework’s action plan to bring it in line with developments and priorities. The focus of the review should be on the action plan.  However, some tweaks and updates are required in the body text.

Further, development partner in the field of the ECD, Interteam Swiss, with the support of the BOTNAR foundation conducted a cost of inaction study looking at the field of ECD in 2019. Based on the findings of this study, the leadership of the ECD sector have requested support from Interteam Swiss to accurately cost the Framework once revised.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work

The consultant will be responsible for reviewing and updating of the IECD Framework, specifically undertaking the following tasks:

Conduct interviews with Keyline officials at the national and regional level, as well as key informants from NGOs and Development Partners, to understand the current challenges and priorities in ECD.

Conduct interviews with key IECD coordination bodies including the National IECD Committee, the National School Health Task Force and relevant coordination bodies in the visited regions.

Identify priorities and targets related to ECD from existing strategic documents, nationally and at ministerial level (looking beyond three key-line ministries of Education, Health and Gender, to include Home Affairs, Youth, Disability Affairs etc.).

Remaining within the framework’s existing components, update activities and timelines in line with priorities and challenges identified.

Update and maintain contact with financial specialist recruited to undertake the framework costing.

Disseminate updated document with key partners for inputs and validation before finalisation.

Due to the timeframe for this activity travel to the regions should be limited to ten days.

Deliverable	Number of days	Due by
1.    Inception report with detailed steps to be followed (including stakeholders/bodies to be interviewed)	2	09 April 2020
2.    No. Interview and consultations	10	24 April 2020
3.    Review of existing strategic and planning documents	5	08 May 2020
4.    Development of draft updated Framework including presentation to partners and validation.	5	22 May 2020
5. Delivery of Final Framework	3	29 May 2020
TOTAL	25 days

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Desired profile

UNICEF is seeking the services of an individual expert with the following qualifications and skills:

Advanced degree (Master’s degree) in ECD, Education, Social Policy, Public Administration or related field.

Minimum 7 years of experience working in development field in Namibia or sub-Saharan country with similar dynamic, including with communities, government officials and high-level decision makers.

Demonstrated knowledge in working on stakeholder consultation and social behaviour communication change strategy development

Experience working in ECD, education, child health or another relevant sector in Namibia.

Solid knowledge of planning and operational management.

Demonstrated ability to develop, organise and implement effective workplans.

Strong analytical ability and capacity to prepare strategies and proposals.

Dynamic interpersonal and communication skills.

Energetic, creative and pragmatic.

Excellent writing skills.

Well organised.

Competent with digital technology.

Fluency in English.

Conditions:

The contractor will work on their own computer(s) and will be home-based other than the minimum of 2 x in-country visits.

The contractor must be eligible to work in Namibia and is responsible for arranging required visa to Namibia.

UNICEF shall be entitled to all property rights, including but not limited to patents, copyrights and trademarks, with regard to material which bears a direct relation to, or is made in consequence of, the services provided to the Organization by the consultant. In certain cases, UNICEF may be prepared to share intellectual property rights, requiring at a minimum, that UNICEF must be acknowledged in all use and publications of the data generated under the present consultancy, and retains the right to use the data for further analysis and publication with acknowledgement of the research institution concerned.

Financial proposals must be inclusive of all costs including to-country and in-country travel.

Please refer also to the UNICEF’s Standard Terms and Conditions attached.

Payment Schedule:

The proposed payment schedule is as follows:

Deliverable	% Payment
Inception report	20%
Delivery of draft Framework document.	30%
Delivery of final Framework document signed off by UNICEF

As per UNICEF Department of Financial Administration and Management (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.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

How to Apply?

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an application including profile to the respective advertisement on  https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/.

Proposals should be submitted by close of business (17h00) on 12 March 2020 Proposals should include;

Interpretation of the Terms of Reference and deliverable (identify relevance or possible gaps),

Brief proposal outlining approach to undertaking activities detailed including travel plan and proposed training plan,

Consultancy profile and summary of similar work completed, examples of previous work to be included.

Detailed budget including travel. Tax to be included as separate line item. Applications submitted without financial proposals will not be considered.

Evaluation weighting

            70% technical

            30% financial

            100% total

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

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

Consultants and Individual contractors are responsible for paying any taxes derived from the earnings received from UNICEF.

Closing Date Thu Mar 12 2020 16:00:00 GMT+0100 (Paris, Madrid)