International Consultancy - Donor Report Quality Assessment (2 months); Home-Based

The consultant will work under the supervision of the Donor Relationship Manager and in collaboration with the Partnership and Reports Officer, who will be responsible for assessing a set of quality sample donor reports against quality criteria and will provide guidance throughout the process.

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, Hope

The Partnership and Resource Mobilization section in the Middle East and Northern Africa provides guidance and technical support to 16 country offices and the regional office for engagement and stewardship for public and private partners. The Regional Office also ensures that country offices comply with systems, processes, and tools that are maintained and strengthened to ensure quality donor reporting in the region.

Due to the importance of high-quality reporting, in May 2007, the Office of Internal Audit recommended that all regional offices exercise a greater role in oversight and quality assurance of donor reports. Undertaking an independent annual quality assurance review of donor reports is also a best practice in the area of reporting.

Based on this background, the Middle East and Northern Africa regional office seeks the services of a remote/ homebased consultant to independently assess the quality of the 2023 country and regional office donor reports. This will involve reviewing the quality of 2023 reports submitted by the 16 countries in the region and putting forward concrete recommendations for stronger and more consistent donor reporting in the region.

In 2023, offices in the Middle East and Northern Africa submitted 846 donor reports to its public and private donors; the region still faces issues such as report timeliness, results-based reporting, etc; which are major risks to our donors. The purpose of donor reporting cannot be overemphasized; it ensures transparency and accountability and enforces donor trust. 

MENARO conducted the donor report assessment in 2020, and some key recommendations put forward during the first assessment were implemented such as a capacity building workshop on donor reports in the region, putting in place a system to systematize the routine use of the donor reports checklist, drafted the guidance note on strengthening gender in donor reporting and shared to reports focal point.  Three years later, it’s time to assess the 2023 donor reports quality to ensure continuous quality and new recommendations. 

How can you make a difference? 

The consultant will work under the supervision of the Donor Relationship Manager and in collaboration with the Partnership and Reports Officer, who will be responsible for assessing a set of quality sample donor reports against quality criteria and will provide guidance throughout the process.

Activities and tasks    

Phase I (15 April 2024): Start of review. 

• The consultant will review the methodology, tool, and sample for the exercise and produce the outline of the report. He/she can also propose a methodology. The consultant will discuss the assessment criteria (including the scoring system and ranking) with the MENARO team. 
• Consultant will review a sample of reports (covering approximately 5% of total reports submitted by offices/regional office in 2023- 42 in total) selected by MENARO based on the selection criteria. MENARO will share report package consisting of narrative donor report, proposal, financial report(s), and, if applicable i.e., National Committee reports, Human Interest Stories, or visibility information selected from the random sampling exercise  

Phase II (27 April 2024):  Assessment of reports using checklist: 

• Consultant will assess the donor reports using the checklist and produce ratings and relevant comments for each report.  A one-page summary for each report will accompany the scoring. The summaries will include analysis, highlighting the positive elements as well as the areas of improvement, and identifying specific recommendations for improvements to the relevant office.

Phase III (12 May 2024): Synthesis report with annexes, including checklists. 

• Consultant to produce a synthesis report including background, purpose of review, methodology, key findings, trends in terms of quality in the region comparing previous years’ assessments and summarizing findings and concrete recommendations.  Recommend guidelines on the drafting process of a stronger and more consistent way of donor reporting, including but not limited to PPD guidelines, and reaffirming suggested workflow for country offices and the regional office. (Refer to previous report)   
• In the aspect of capacity building, the consultant will provide recommendations on the type of training based on the assessment of the issues identified from the country/regional office on donor reports.

Phase IV (31 May 2024): Country office feedback on the draft report 

MENARO will share the synthesis report with country offices for comments before finalization. The consultant will produce a final assessment report internalizing comments from the country offices.

Phase V (15 June 2024) PowerPoint Presentation and Cover Letters to Country Offices.

• The consultant will prepare a PowerPoint presentation summarizing the report assessment findings and recommendations and a cover letter for each office for which the reports have been assessed to be sent by the Regional Director.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Communication, International Development or similar field.
• A minimum of Five (5) years of relevant professional experience in writing/editing and layout of reports and publications.
• Proven experience in drafting as well as ensuring quality assessment for high-quality reports in line with the UNICEF writing style, branding, and reporting guidelines.
• Good knowledge of development and programme issues, especially with children's issues and UNICEF's work in an asset.
• Geographic knowledge of the Middle East and Northern Africa is an added advantage.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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. 

Remarks:  

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract 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 and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors 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.