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. T
he 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.
Purpose of
the Assignment
Despite its
impressive record in development and economic growth, Rwanda continues to face
some challenges linked to the first critical years of children’s lives,
including high prevalence of stunting and low developmental achievements among
young children. Close to 800,000 children under five (38 per cent) are stunted.
Stunting increases with the age of the child, from 18 per cent among children
aged 6-8 months to a peak of 49 per cent among children aged 18-23 months,
which highlights the importance of investing in children’s nutrition as early
as possible. Stunting is more prevalent among boys (43 per cent) than girls (33
per cent); and it is highest in Western Province (45 per cent), among children
living in the poorest households (49 per cent) and in rural areas (41 per
cent).
In order to address
the above challenges, UNICEF has modelled and implemented integrated approaches
to delivery of programmes addressing the needs and rights of young children in
Rwanda.
In collaboration
with the Embassy of the Netherlands, UNICEF Rwanda is currently implementing
the programme titled Developing Human Capital in Rwanda – Harnessing the Power
of Integrated Programming for Nutrition and ECD Programme. The four-year
programme prioritizes improvement in developmental outcomes of children 0-6 in
14 Districts in Rwanda. The programme focuses on improving the selected
nutrition and development outcomes of children achieved through integrated
nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive, ECD, WASH and Social Protection
interventions.
The responsibilities
and tasks to be undertaken by the EPW consultant are additional to UNICEF’s
regular staff responsibilities and outside the current capacity of in-house
personnel. The EPW consultant will be based full time within LODA, to directly
work with, and complement/strengthen the capacity of LODA/VUP EPW team in
planning and budgeting, coordinating, monitoring and reporting on the
implementation of expanded public works activities as well as supporting LODA
team in building capacities of local government officials in the 14 districts
funded by UNICEF/EKN. While the UNICEF SPR team works closely with LODA/VUP,
there is currently insufficient UNICEF in-house human resources to second an
EPW officer full-time to LODA for the required amount of time (12 months) on a
renewable basis in line with UNICEF Rules and Regulations. The contract renewal
will depend on a discussion between LODA, UNICEF and other various donors
supporting expanded public works programme to assess the continuing need for
these services.
Assignment
Tasks
The overall
objective of the consultancy is to provide support to LODA in their
coordination and monitoring for the implementation of the expanded public
works. The following key tasks are expected to be achieved by the consultant:
Planning and
targeting Expanded Public Works activities
with the planning of the expanded public works programme with a focus on
providing support to families with young children;
guidance for the implementation of expanded public works programme by the
Districts in the selected sectors covering targeting, selection of suitable
projects, provision of benefits, monitoring and reporting;
technical inputs to assist in the selection of appropriate beneficiaries for
participation in expanded public works who meet the criteria agreed between
LODA and UNICEF;
Collection of targeting data, including timeframes, training, and data
collection tool design;
technical inputs to ensure accurate and timely targeting data which will be
used to drive the scale up of SP programmes and the establishment of systems to
support this;
the establishment of a baseline status of households selected to receive
benefits under the programme;
the design and implementation process of expanded public works projects
periodic reviews to ensure it is on track;
Monitoring,
Impact Evaluation and lesson learning
necessary tools to ensure routine monitoring of EPW implementation activities
Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the EPW component as it
relates to the benefits provided and prepare recommendations and guidelines for
discussion and adoption on related technical fields;
Co-ordinate lesson learning and support the planning for subsequent
scale up in close collaboration with the entities involved in SP
and coordinate research carried out by LODA and external collaborators;
Capacity
Building
on the identify capacity building needs (training and administrative support),
coordinate community capacity development initiatives to support successful
implementation of the programme;
Contribute to the capacity-building activities of the LODA in the area
of the EPW component and the provision of benefits to households with young
children and supervise the drafting of manuals and user guides;
Disseminate information on action programmes through publications as
well as ensuring representation with Head of SP Division at donor’s meetings,
regional and national fora and advocacy campaigns, as necessary.
Expected
Deliverables
Approved targeting list for all EPW beneficiaries selected to receive
benefits from EKN funds, demonstrating compliance with the selection criteria
agreement with UNICEF – by end of September 2017 and annually thereafter
Production of guidelines for the selection of beneficiaries to be
incorporated in the FY2018-19 MTEF planning cycle;
Establishment of a logframe and targets for the programme interventions
in each District;
Production of quarterly and annual reports showing (i) physical progress
against target in each sector (ii) financial progress of benefits to each
selected household against budget (iii) transfers received/disbursed to
Districts
Production of a baseline report by end of December 2017 and of a report
of the impact of the programme benefits on the targeted households by end of
September 2018
timely reporting on utilization of UNICEF funds
Monthly progress reports
Qualifications
and experienceof Successful Candidate
Master’s degree in social sciences or engineering discipline plus at
least 5 years’ experience of working in the social protection sector in Rwanda
with public works programmes, OR a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences plus 15
years of experience in the related fields;
Areas of
relevant experience
Experience in working on poverty reduction/social protection programmes,
(including poverty targeting, child protection and equity issues) in Rwanda or
elsewhere;
depth knowledge of local government policy and operations in Rwanda, preferably
gained from having worked in a District;
Knowledge of working with different development partners (experience
working with UNICEF an asset) and their planning, monitoring and results-based
reporting requirements;
Experience in conducting monitoring and evaluation activities;
expertise and experience in participatory planning processes at national and
local levels;
Capacity to understand Rwanda’s Local government priorities based on
EDPRS II and linking it with District’s potentialities; Experience in designing
capacity building activities; IT literate, excellent skills in Excel and Word
Experience of developing and delivering training to Government officials
an asset;
Capacity to work in a team and to keep the projects aligned with the
entire intra-Government social protection sectors;
Competencies
of Successful Candidate
To view our
competency framework, please click here.
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.
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
organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=508885