Consultancy: Consultant for Methodological and Ethical Guidelines on VAC - D&A, DRP - NYHQ, Requisition# 504977

The Data and Analytics section is seeking a highly qualified and experienced consultant to support with key activities included in the methodological workplan on violence against children.

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 & Rationale

The protection of children from all forms of violence is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights treaties and standards. Yet violence remains an all-too-real part of life for children around the globe – regardless of their economic and social circumstances, culture, religion or ethnicity – with both immediate and long-term consequences. The last two decades have witnessed a growing recognition of the pervasive nature and impact of violence against children as well as a proliferation of different measurement activities aimed at shedding light on this phenomenon and filling existing data gaps. Despite the numerous research activities on violence against children, there is currently no established best practice for measuring and producing statistics on this sensitive issue that has been agreed upon internationally. As a result, existing research and data on violence against children tend to be inconsistent, unreliable and of varying scope and quality, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In some cases, this has stemmed from a country’s lack of capacity and resources for data collection and, in other cases, from insufficient investment in improving measurement. Additionally, different approaches have been developed to gather data, including the use of diverse definitions, methodologies, questionnaires and indicators that has made comparisons between countries problematic. Therefore, rigorous evidence and robust data on the extent, nature and impact of violence against children is limited and this has long compromised the ability of countries and the international community to accurately document the widespread nature of violence, to support government planning and budgeting for child protection services, and to inform the development of effective laws, policies and prevention efforts worldwide. 

The need to improve the collection, analysis, dissemination and use of data on violence against children and to harmonize measurement tools in order to produce estimates that are reliable, valid, comprehensive and internationally comparable could not be more timely as the international community recently adopted a new set of goals and targets – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Crucial issues for children have been captured across the SDGs and targets, and several areas where the MDGs were silent – including violence against children – are now recognized and addressed. In particular, goal 16 “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” includes targets to: “Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere,” (16.1) and “End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children” (16.2). In March 2016, the UN Statistical Commission officially adopted the global indicator framework that outlines the final set of indicators for which countries will be expected to collect data in order to monitor and report on progress towards achievement of the SDGs and its targets.

Two of the indicators selected to monitor target 16.2 are: proportion of children aged 1-17 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month (indicator 16.2.1) and proportion of young women and men aged 18‑29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18 (indicator 16.2.3). Currently, both indicators have been classified as tier II meaning that the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators has decided that there are existing methodologies for collecting these data but low data availability. With this in mind and as custodian agency of both indicators 16.2.1 and 16.2.3, UNICEF has decided to develop guidelines for countries on how best to collect, analyse and use data on violence against children.

Purpose

The Data and Analytics section is seeking a highly qualified and experienced consultant to support with key activities included in the methodological workplan on violence against children.

Scope of Work

Building on existing work that has been undertaken by the Child Protection Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group (CP MERG), and other key partner agencies, the consultant will work in collaboration with the technical lead from UNICEF and a group of international experts to create a set of comprehensive methodological and ethical guidelines for the collection of data on violence against children based on existing best practice approaches, with particular attention to methods used in low-resource settings.[1] The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance for those considering collecting data on violence against children and to outline the necessary steps for designing, planning and implementing a data collection effort on violence against children. The manual will discuss conceptual and theoretical issues related to measuring violence against children and will need to outline the minimum qualifications for interviewers; steps to undertake before, during, and after data collection in order to ensure data quality; how to follow required ethical codes; and how to guarantee appropriate follow-up/referral if needed. The guidelines will also comprise an analytical framework for the analysis of findings and strategies for validation and field testing. The guidelines will also need to include a set of core indicators for reporting on VAC as well as the corresponding metadata for each outlined in a detailed appendix. 

The consultant will be responsible for developing content as well as coordinating the review of the guidelines and consolidating feedback and inputs received from other contributors.  To support the preparation of these guidelines, the consultant will also be responsible for organizing and coordinating technical meetings with key experts, in consultation with the technical lead from UNICEF. The goal of the consultations will be to bring together academic experts in the respective fields of VAC, as well as those with technical expertise in measurement.

Expected results:

1. Draft methodological and ethical guidelines for collecting data on VAC
2. Meeting reports summarizing the technical consultations

Duty Station

Office-based in UNICEF New York

Travel

No travel is planned at the moment. If the consultant is requested to travel, expenses related to the trip will be paid for by UNICEF according to its rules and regulations.

Timeframe

Start date:  3 July 2017                       

End date: 31 January 2018    

Deliverables

Duration

(Estimated # of Days)

Deadline

Outline of the guidelines and concept note on process for their development

23

28 July 2017

Desk review of existing guidelines

24

1 September 2017

Meeting report of first technical consultation

24

6 October 2017

First full draft  - methodological and ethical guidelines for collecting data on VAC

25

10 November 2017

Meeting report of second technical consultation

14

1 December 2017

Second full draft - methodological and ethical guidelines for collecting data on VAC

19

29 December 2017

Final draft methodological and ethical guidelines for collecting data on VAC

22

31 January 2018

total

151

 

Copyright

UNICEF will retain all copyrights of any materials produced by the consultant under this contract.

Remuneration

Payments will be made upon the satisfactory and timely submission and approval of the deliverables and not actual number of days worked. The consultant will be paid on the basis of a daily rate and will be responsible to cover all living expenses. No extra allowances will be provided to cover cost of living in NYC.

Key competences, technical background, and experience required 

1. An advanced university degree (preferably at the PhD level) in demography, statistics, public health or other social science field is required
2. A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience in designing data collection tools or leading research projects is required
3. Technical expertise in the area of violence against children is required
4. Prior experience with conducting systematic reviews, particularly on violence against children, is required
5. Previous experience developing manuals, guidelines or standards for research, data collection or data analysis on VAC is an asset
6.  Strong coordination and organization skills are required
7.  Previous experience with planning and facilitating meetings/consultations is required
8. Proven experience in report writing is required
9. Excellent command of English is required. Proficiency in Spanish or French is an asset
10. Analytical, methodical and precise style of writing
11. Demonstrated communication skills, both written and oral
12. Ability to work in an international environment and under tight deadlines
13. Previous experience working with UNICEF, other UN agencies is highly desirable

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.