Consultant for Child Marriage Stakeholder Analysis

UNICEF in Serbia is seeking a Consultant to produce a stakeholder analysis report that includes recommendations for the effective composition, functioning and communication of a future national coalition on child marriage in Serbia. The duration of the assignment is up to 15 working days in period 1 March to 31 March 2018.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of this assignment is to produce a stakeholder analysis report that includes recommendations for the effective composition, functioning and communication of a future national coalition on child marriage in Serbia.

Background:

Child marriage is a global phenomenon with one-third of girls being married before age 18 and one in nine being married before 15 in many low- and middle-income countries.  Child marriage is very often driven by poverty, social norms, and discrimination against girls. Due to its harmful effects and slow trends of reduction, child marriage is an important social issue.  These consequences can include: dropping out of school; health risks that result from early sexual activity and pregnancy, including sexually transmitted diseases and maternal mortality; being prevented from taking advantage of economic opportunities; and if they have children, child malnutrition and mortality.  There is also concern that child marriage deprives girls of their basic human rights and puts them at risk for harmful practices and disadvantage, including exploitation, intimate partner violence, and abuse.  Given these concerns, there is increased interest in efforts to empower children and adolescent girls to protect their human rights and the overall well-being.

In Serbia, child marriage is rare within the general population, concentrated mostly among poorer families in rural areas and girls with restricted access to education, but is very frequent in Roma settlements, where more than half of girls are married before the age of 18. As part of a global effort to end child marriage, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Serbian Government, civil society organisations and Roma communities, aims to support action to bring to an end harmful child marriage practices in Serbia by 2030, focusing efforts on Roma settlement communities.

The process of tackling the many factors that drive child marriage in Serbia is in its infancy. Mechanisms for collecting reliable data, identifying girls at risk of child marriage, and evidence-based practice to prevent child marriage and provide support to girls that are already married must be developed. The work must be supported through action to tackle the underlying poverty, social exclusion and gender norms that drive child marriage.

UNICEF strategic approach to ending child marriage in Serbia is to target interventions at three levels: national, municipal/local and community. At a national level, leveraging Serbia commitment to end child marriage by 2030, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals, UNICEF will focus on engaging national political decision makers in the issue and garnering their commitment to action as a basis for establishing a broad national coalition of stakeholders from across relevant sectors, bringing together ministries, independent institutions, civil society organizations, academic bodies, the Roma community and the private sector, with the aim of creating a platform for learning and sharing knowledge, advocacy, action and accountability on the issue of child marriage.

In order to facilitate the mobilisation of stakeholders for the future national coalition on child marriage, UNICEF in Serbia is contracting a consultant to map the influence of individuals, groups and institutions who have the potential to achieve change towards the goal of ending child marriage.

Basing the analysis on existing knowledge and efforts towards addressing child marriage in the country, the consultant will focus on strengths, weaknesses, limitations and untapped influencing potential of current stakeholders in the area of child marriage, but also suggest new engagement approaches and partnerships that can contribute towards effective public advocacy. The analysis will clearly map out under-utilised communication space, explicitly locate potential leading actors and assess the degree of influence they can achieve with the required support and coordination. Using a phased approach, the analysis will propose a set of specific objectives for the future coalition.

Specific tasks of the assignment:

-To perform and document a mapping of stakeholders potential for influence and stratify the importance and value of their engagement towards ending child marriage in Serbia. Specific attention will be given to voices that are supportive of effective and replicable interventions and strive to amplify good practices, achievements, lessons learnt and further action and policy changes required to include representatives of government, institutions, civil society, international agencies, private sector, media at national and selected localities at local level as well as voices of young girls from the target communities;

-To propose a theory of change, specific objectives (ToR) and an initial action plan for the work of the future coalition that will include existing and potential new and innovative partnerships between stakeholders, their engagement levels and strategies with a specific focus on giving voices to girls;

-To produce an analytical report that will guide the mobilization of the future coalition and its phased communication strategy and objectives for achieving social and policy change in the area of child marriage.

 

Start Date:01-03-2018 

End Date: 30-03-2018

Number of Days (working) 15 days

 

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

1. Conduct desk review of relevant literature and at least 12 interviews with key stakeholders to be agreed upon with UNICEF prior to start of assignment. [Note: Most interviews will take place in Belgrade, but 2 day trips 1 to Novi Becej and 1 to Pirot should be anticipated.]

Deliverables/Outputs:

Note: all deliverables are to be submitted in both English and Serbian.

A)A map of stakeholders (including graphical and narrative presentation) using Spheres of Influence for Equity (siEQ) framework, or other appropriate framework as agreed upon with UNICEF prior to start of assignment

B)A proposed theory of change (ToC) for the future coalition, including graphical and narrative presentation, to be submitted to UNICEF for review

Timeframe

By 15 March 2018

(Desk review: 2 days, interviews: 4 days, mapping and ToC documents: 3 days)

 

Tasks/Milestone:

2.Facilitate a joint meeting in Belgrade with key partners to present the main findings of the mapping, obtain feedback on and validate a proposed coalition structure, mandate and action plan

Deliverables/Outputs:

Meeting materials (PPT presentation, handouts etc.)

Timeframe

20 March 2018

(Meeting preparation, facilitation and follow-up: 1 day)

 

Tasks/Milestone:

3.Develop a stakeholder analysis report, with proposed engagement levels and strategies for social influence, mobilisation and communication as well as specific and phased recommendations for the future child marriage coalition 

Deliverables/Outputs:

Draft stakeholder analysis report (in English and Serbian), to be submitted to UNICEF for review, to include:

A)A ToR for the coalition, with engagement levels and strategies

B)An action plan for the coalition, including roles and responsibilities 

Timeframe

By 30 March 2018

(Draft report: 3 days)

 

Tasks/Milestone:

4.Integrate comments and develop final report and Powerpoint presentation in English  

Deliverables/Outputs:

Final report and Powerpoint presentation in English and Serbian

Timeframe

By 10 April 2018

(Final report and PPT: 2 days)

 

Minimum Qualifications required: 

Master university degree in social sciences, communication or international development;

 

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

-Demonstrable experience in conducting social policy and stakeholder analysis;

-Specific experience in the area of child marriage, social mobilisation, communication strategies and/or coalition-building is desirable;

-Practical experience in social and behavioural change communication is an asset;

-Experience and knowledge in the field of child rights, especially in domain of child protection;

-Reasonable knowledge of the situation of girls, boys, women and men in Serbia;

-Excellent analytical and report writing skills;

-Excellent communication skills; ability to explain complex concepts in a simple manner

-Fluency in English oral and written

-Fluency in Serbian oral and written (to comply with this requirement, if the applicant is not a native speaker, he/she may submit a financial offer that includes translation costs for all deliverables, including for interviews).

 

The application must include a financial offer with the following:

1.Daily consultancy rate (all health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone included)

2.Travel costs (all international/local travel costs included)

3.Translation costs (if applicable)

 

Important note: Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. 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.