Individual Consultants - Long Term Agreement for Services on: Social and Behaviour Change - Capacity Building

Individual Consultants - Long Term Agreement for Services on: Social and Behaviour Change - Capacity Building Location: Global – Remote (some travel may be required)

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1. BACKGROUND / RATIONALE

To ensure the delivery of quality and innovative SBC at scale, there is a need to identify existing SBC capacities among UNICEF staff, partners and governments, as well as gaps and learning needs, ultimately informing capacity development priorities and guiding the development or improvement of tailored initiatives and products.

Beyond individual skills mapping, analysis and planning and, the development and implementation of capacity development initiatives, it is also important to assess if the environment in which individuals deploy their SBC skills is adequate, or if there are structural or financial bottlenecks that need to be overcome.

This Long-Term Arrangement for Services (LTAS) will provide UNICEF with a pool of individual consultants who can support SBC capacity development initiatives, across the different levels of the organization and across continents. The arrangement will enable teams to request training, workshops, individual and institutional assessments, tailored strategies and guidance to map, analyse and improve existing SBC skills. It also creates a mechanism to maintain shared learning through communities of practice, case studies, knowledge products, and peer-to-peer mentoring and learning. By securing this specialised expertise, UNICEF SBC teams can integrate SBC capacity development more consistently across programmes, identify capacity development priorities, promote standardized tools and trainings and tailor plans to ensure teams can implement high-quality SBC at scale.

Selected consultants will be eligible for a long-term agreement contract to provide on-demand technical support to UNICEF Centers of Excellence (CoE) and possibly to COs and to other UN agencies. LTASs are non-binding arrangements that do not constitute a commitment to acquire a consultant’s services.

2. PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT

 The purpose of this Terms of Reference (ToR) is to establish LTASs with multiple rostered individual consultants that give UNICEF reliable access to specialised support in SBC capacity development. The arrangement ensures that CoE and CO teams can draw on consistent expertise to support institutional capacity assessments, individual and team SBC skills mapping, analysis and planning and, the development and delivery of capacity development initiatives.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

The individual consultant is required to apply their knowledge, international standards, best practices, and previous experiences, supplemented by relevant data and studies, to the task. In collaboration with UNICEF teams, the consultants will provide support as requested. The consultant will carry out the following activities as well as any other activities deemed necessary to successfully complete the task:

• Institutional capacity assessments to ensure the delivery of quality and innovative SBC at scale: Consultants will analyze available demand promotion, SBC or RCCE strategies and frameworks among government entities to assess the strategic needs of a country or entity. They will map relevant bodies and stakeholders in charge of developing, implementing and monitoring SBC/RCCE strategies and plans, as well as reporting lines to determine if they are fit for purpose. By doing so, they will identify structural bottlenecks –including financial- and opportunities to support the development of tailored institutional recommendations and way forward.
• Individual and team SBC skills mapping, analysis and planning: Consultants will support UNICEF in mapping and analyzing individual and teams’ Social and Behaviour Change capacity development needs, both externally and internally, considering complimentary in-house skills that could be leveraged by SBC teams. Based on the identified capacity development needs and exiting tools, they will support the co-creation of tailored capacity building strategies and plans that include monitoring, evaluation, and iteration components.

N.B.: Consultants will need to get acquainted with the UNICEF SBC Skills mapping tool. The multilingual, offline skills mapping tool is available here. The online generic survey that can be duplicated, then adapted to other contexts is available here. The consultant will be able to request access once the assignment starts.

• Development and delivery of capacity development initiatives: Consultants will develop tailored tools, guidelines and training materials –including innovative, engaging multimedia formats- targeting UNICEF staff, government and partners. They will be responsible for designing and conducting hands-on skill trainings and for setting up mentorships for Social and Behaviour Change, ensuring adequate output monitoring, evaluation and iteration. Consultants will also provide technical support in the development and/or improvement of in-service and post-service curricula for professional development of frontline workers on SBC domains (e.g. inter-personal communication skills, community engagement approaches, conscious and unconscious biases). They will facilitate and coordinate peer-to-peer learning initiatives such as webinars and mentorship programmes across teams, regions, implementing partners and/or governmental bodies.

N.B.: Before starting any initiative, consultants will need to get acquainted with the existing capacity development resources to ensure alignment and avoid overlaps. All the resources are available in the SBC Capacity Development Repository and the Agora SBC Learning Channel, these include:

• SBC Theory and Practice Course  
• Introduction to Behavioural Insights
• Exploring the Drivers of Behaviour: The Case of Child Marriage,
• CHAT – a toolkit to improve Community Engagement in emergencies,
• Accountability to Affected Populations

4. RESPONSIBILITY OF CONSULTANT(S):

1. The consultant(s) will use their own equipment; laptops, software, and other accessories that may be required for this task.
2. The consultant(s) will not give the content/material or any part thereof to any third party without the written permission of UNICEF. All components will be the property of UNICEF, and the consultant will not share the same with anyone else.
3. Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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 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.
4. The selected candidate(s) is solely responsible for ensuring that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract.

5. RESPONSIBILITIES OF UNICEF:

1. UNICEF will provide all available details pertaining to the activity and the requirements.
2. UNICEF will orient the consultant on UNICEF’s branding guidelines.
3. UNICEF will provide access to specialized SCL and MM tools deemed necessary by UNICEF to successfully complete the assignment

6. DELIVERABLES

8. TRAVEL

Consultants may need to travel to UNICEF offices for on-site or in-country support. Consultants will need to make their travel arrangements and will be reimbursed for travel costs and subsistence allowance in line with and limited to those payable by UNICEF.

The payment of travel costs shall be limited to economy class air travel, regardless of the length of travel. Airfare and terminal expenses will be paid upon completion of each duty travel against the invoices.

9. ESTIMATED DURATION OF LTAS

The Long-Term Agreement will be for a duration of three years. The initial period would be for two years with an option for renewal for a subsequent year on the same rates, terms and conditions, subject to satisfactory performance evaluation and continuing need for the service. The services of the individual consultants selected under the LTAS would also be made available to other UN agencies, UNICEF Regional and Country offices.

• 1. QUALIFICATIONS / SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE/ LANGUAGE SKILLS REQUIRED
  • Advanced university degree (master's or higher) in a social and behavioral science, including sociology, anthropology, communication studies, psychology and/or related field is required.
  • Demonstrated experience in individual and institutional Social and Behaviour Change capacity development.
  • Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret qualitative and quantitative data and translate findings into practical recommendations for programmes.
  • Hands on experience in co-development of tailored capacity development workshops.
  • Experience designing and delivering capacity building activities such as trainings, workshops, simulations, or webinars for technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Demonstrated ability to produce high quality written outputs including analytical reports, dashboards, strategies, and case studies.
  • Experience working with or supporting UN agencies, humanitarian organisations, or development programmes is an asset.
  • Strong understanding of social and behaviour change (SBC) programmatic, analytical and monitoring frameworks.
  • Ability to manage multiple workstreams, coordinate with diverse stakeholders, and deliver outputs under tight timelines.
  • Fluency in English required; knowledge of additional UNICEF regional languages is an advantage.

11. TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA (WITH WEIGHTS FOR EACH CRITERIA)

12. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL: 

The application to be submitted through the online portal should contain four separate attachments:

1. A Cover letter explaining the motivation for applying and explaining how the qualifications and skillset of the candidate (to be uploaded online)
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV) detailing responsibilities relevant to this assignment under each applicable role (to be uploaded online)
3. A financial proposal indicating professional fee as per the template provided. Please do not forget to specify your name in the file while saving. (To be uploaded under other supporting documents).
4. Copy of educational qualifications (to be uploaded online)

Without all the above 4 documents your application will be considered incomplete and invalid and will not be considered further.

13. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Note: Courses will be required for the successful LTAS holders: Certificates of mandatory courses (Ethics and Integrity at UNICEF (2020 version); Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority (2021 version) & Sexual Exploitation Abuse (PSEA) (2021 version) consolidated in one single pdf. For LTAs which include travel assignments, BSAFE will be a mandatory course requirement to be added to the list of certificates to be uploaded.

• Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
• Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
• Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.
• Female candidates meeting the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds including persons living with disabilities to apply.
• 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 for ensuring 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.