Child Protection - Birth Registration, Kenya (Re-advertisment)

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of the assignment is to support UNICEF Kenya Country Office (in particular working closely with the Child Protection - and Health Sections) in providing technical support to  the Government of Kenya (particularly the Civil Registration Department) and other UNICEF partners in strengthening the birth registration system in Kenya

Estimated level of  the assignment

P3/NOC

Location of Assignment

Nairobi, with frequent travel to counties

Duration of contract

11.5 months

Start date

From:    01/09/2017                   

    To: 15/08/2018                        

Total Days for Field Visits

 On an average 3 days a month and depending on the need

Reporting to:

Child Protection Specialist/Chief of Child Protection

Budget Code:

Regular Resources

Is consultancy assignment in the approved Technical Assistance Plan

Yes

If, Yes, attach copy of the approved page

N/A

If No, attach approved NFR/Justification for the consultancy

Background and Justification

Birth Registration, the official recording of a child's birth by the government, establishes the existence of the child under law and provides the foundation to ensuring that children are counted and have access to basic services such as health, social security and education. Knowing the age of a child is central to protecting them from child labour, being arrested and treated as adults in the justice system, forcible conscription in armed forces, child marriage, trafficking and sexual exploitation. A birth certificate as proof of birth can support the traceability of unaccompanied and separated children and promote safe migration. In effect, birth registration is their ‘passport to protection.’  Universal birth registration is one of the most powerful instruments to ensuring equity over a broad scope of services and interventions for children.

Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that every child has the right to be registered at birth without any discrimination. The Sustainable Development Goals, to which Kenya has signed on, include a target on birth registration, i.e. Target 16.9: ‘By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration.’ This comes under 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.’ The inclusion of target 16.9 means that the provision of legal documentation is being recognized and addressed as a global development issue.

The 2010 Constitution of Kenya (Article 53) recognizes that children are entitled to basic rights including the right to be registered at birth, to education, nutrition, shelter, health care and parental care.  Birth registration in Kenya is also captured under the 1928 ‘Births and Deaths Registration Act’ (Act. No, CAP. 149). It makes the registration of birth and death mandatory through prescribed process.  In Kenya, overall 60.4 per cent of children are registered, but only 24 per cent of under-five children have a birth certificate (Source: Economic Survey 2016, KDHS 2014). Though there are no significant variations in birth registration between boys and girls, there is a significant discrepancy between urban and rural registration rates with 81.9 per cent of children registered at birth in Nairobi, while only 16 per cent registered in Mandera in the North Eastern region (Source: Economic Survey 2016). Low awareness of the importance of birth registration may be an explanatory factor, as may the lack of access to health and registration facilities.

UNICEF places high priority on the registration of births for all children and ensuring that all registered children have birth certificates. Timely and efficient birth registration systems enable governments to know and plan for children born in a year and thereby plan for all required services that are key for their development. UNICEF Kenya is committed to working with Government at the national and county level to strengthen systems that will ensure birth registration targets are not only achieved but maintained and the data used to inform planning across various government sectors including resource allocation with focus on identifying and targeting marginalized population groups to bridge the equity gap.

The 2013-2017 Strategic Plan of the Civil Registration Department (CRD) outlines strategies aimed at realizing 100% birth registration coverage. They include the implementation of the Maternal Child Health (MCH) strategy of BR and CRVS system strengthening through automatic, digitalization and mop-up of unregistered children to populate the Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS). Other strategies include capacity development for data processing and utilization of vital statistics as well as enhanced timeliness in documenting vital events through strengthening capacity of registration agents, demand creation and use of birth certificates. The Government is now in the process of reviewing and updating the strategic plan. The main components of the plan are expected to be the same with some changes based on the achievements made against the Plan.

UNICEF has been supporting the CRD in implementing some of the components and will continue its support, mainly in the area of (a) strengthening national and local registration system through stronger legal and policy framework (b) institutional capacity development (c) digitalization of the birth registration including use of innovative new technologies (d) supporting implementation of MCH Strategy on BR  (e) creating demand for birth certificates and use of birth certificates, (d) linking birth certificates with service availability (e) evidence building through piloting, data collection, and monitoring.

Scope of the work

1.      Goal and Objective:  Under supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, with management oversight of the Chief, Child Protection, the consultant will provide technical support towards strengthening the birth registration system for achieving 100% birth registration in Kenya by 2030. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Health, PME, Education and Social Policy teams of UNICEF. These teams are represented in a Birth Registration task force chaired by the UNICEF Deputy Representative.

2.      Provide details/reference to RWP areas/UNDAF output covered:  This assignment is linked to UNDAF Outcome 1.2 (Policy and Institutional Framework) and 2.4 (Social Protection) and UNICEF Country Program Document (CPD) Outcome 4 and Output 4.1 activity 4.1.3 (Birth Registration System)

3.      Activities and Tasks:   Specifically, the SSA will:

1.         Support UNICEF, the CRD and other key partners for strengthening legal and policy framework in relation to birth and death registration:

a.      Review existing legal and policy frameworks including the draft law to identify gaps and recommend changes to the draft birth and death registration law;

b.      Review the current strategic plan and come up with new plan to accelerate 100% registration at birth by 2030;

c.       Elaboration of integrated strategies for UNICEF to support accelerated birth registration through various ongoing interventions supported by UNICEF sections (for example: Child Protection Centre, MCH interventions, ECD interventions, Immunization interventions) 

2.      A comprehensive report[1] with all the key areas of review as outlined above  (the gaps in legal and policy framework including recommendations for amendment, draft plan for CRD and specific strategies and modalities of implementing those strategies)

3.      Support UNICEF, the CRD and other key partners for institutional capacity development in the area of birth and death registration;

a.      Conduct capacity needs assessments of the birth and death registration and other civil registration actors from national to locational level;

b.      Develop comprehensive training materials for the birth and death registration actors;

c.       Capacity development trainings for all relevant CRVS actors across the country;

4.      Support implementation of inter-sectoral initiative to accelerate birth registration;

a.      Support the Health team and the CRD to roll out MCH Strategy on BR  in selected counties;

b.      Support Education team and Ministry of Education to position ECD centres as birth registration facilities to accelerate rate of registration;

c.       Support Child Protection team to use Child Protection Centres as registration points and raise awareness on birth registration and use of birth certificate;

d.      Support linking birth registration with immunization derive and routine vaccination programme    

5.      Support digitalization and innovative approaches to birth and death registration

a.      Work with the UNICEF Innovation team to explore use of technology for  improved birth registration and certifications aligned with the centralized birth and death registration database and review current GoK initiatives;

b.      Support CRD to accelerate implementation of its ongoing Birth and Death and other Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS)  digitization processes;

c.       Explore opportunities to link birth and death registration database with other relevant information management system as such CP IMS/ Child Helpline etc.  

6.      Support demand creation for birth registration, certification and use of birth certificates

a.      In close collaboration with UNICEF advocacy & communication and C4D sections, support development of a communication strategy for birth registration for national and county levels;

b.      Support the CRD and other key partners for implementation of the communication strategy such as awareness raising for birth registration and certifications

c.       Develop BR advocacy products for county and national engagement.

d.      Prepare briefing notes for high level advocacy for increased resource allocation by treasury, county governments, donor agencies and other financing mechanisms.

7.      Evidence building through piloting, data collection, and monitoring.

a.      In close collaboration with UNICEF, assist CRD in preparation of detailed annual work plan and budget estimates for the birth registration strategies;

b.      Support the establishment of County Multi-Sectoral CRVS working groups in the selected counties

c.       Document  best practices to support adoption and explore scale up of learnings

4.Outputs/Deliverables: 

Deliverables

Duration (Estimated # of days or months)

Timeline/Deadline

Schedule of Payment

Report on the gaps in legal and policy framework including recommendations for amendment

 one month

by 30 September  2017

Monthly based on satisfactory achievement of deliverables and submission of progress reports  

Recommendations package for the update of the CRD strategic plan on Birth and Death Registration

One month

By 31 October 2017

Communication strategy  document for demand creation for birth certificates and the plan and materials for communication campaign to accelerate birth registration 

One month

By 30 November 2017

Training needs assessment report

Two weeks

By 15 December 2017

Comprehensive training manual for BR stakeholders 

One month

By 31 December 2017

Training of the birth registration stakeholders at the national and in selected counties

Three months

15 March 2018

Organize birth and death registration awareness raising campaign as per the communications strategy

Two months

By 15 May 2018

Coordination at the national and county level for accelerated birth registration

Continuous throughout the assignment 

Continuous throughout the assignment 

Sectoral strategy for BR for ECD, Immunization and the CPC including strategy to catch with delayed and late registration

One month

By30 June 2018

Strategy for interoperable systems of BR (digital)

two weeks

By 15 July 2018

Advocacy pieces for the UNICEF Country office as well as for the CRD

Two weeks

15 August 2018

4. Work relationships:   The Consultant will work as part of the UNICEF Child Protection team based in Nairobi. H/she will report to the Child Protection Specialist (VAC and Social Welfare System with oversight from the Chief of Section and work closely with Health, Education, and PME team and other colleagues as appropriate (i.e. C4D, Social Policy, Innovation). H/she will also work closely with Government partners particularly with Civil Registration Department, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education.  This section to come after deliverables-

Required qualifications, desired competencies, technical background and experience

(Consult with HR on this prior to signing off on the TOR)

a)         Education: An advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics or in any other relevant field-may want background in law, since we are dealing with legal issues

b)         Specialist skills/Training: 

·         Analytical and coordination skills

·         Good writing and communication skills with ability to present ideas and concepts concisely in written and oral form

·         Good facilitation skills

·         Be able to work under minimum supervision and to meet tight deadlines

c)      Experience:   
- A minimum of 5 years working experience in the area child rights/protection related programme within government, UN or civil society organizations

-Experience in civil registration, vital statistics, or related matters is required

- Experience, knowledge in information technology, software development is an added advantage

d)      Competencies: 

Core competencies: i) communication- level 2, ii) working with people level 1and iii) Drive for results level 1

      Functional Competencies i) Applying technical expertise-level 2 ii) analysing level 1iii) relating and networking- level 2

v) Deciding and initiating actions level 2.

e) Languages required:  Excellent written and spoken English. Knowledge of local languages spoken at duty station an asset.