Design of an observatory of donor financial support to education, child protection, and adolescents and youth sectors for the Syria crisis

To establish the “appetite”, feasibility and propose possible designs of a mechanism or framework to track all funds contributing to education, child protection and youth programming in Syria crisis countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt), including funding contributed outside of the humanitarian frameworks.

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Design of an observatory of donor financial support to education, child protection, and adolescents and youth sectors for the Syria crisis

 LOCATION/DURATION:

Duration:   20 days

Location: Amman

On-site working days:

Off-site working days: 20

Field Missions/Travel: none

BACKGROUND:

The on-going humanitarian crisis in Syria poses extreme challenges to people in the country, as well as to those who fled to neighbouring countries and vulnerable people in refugee-hosting communities. In this context, children – boys and girls alike - are among the most vulnerable and in some cases are prevented from access to schooling and protection; and adolescents and youth are lacking opportunities to access positive engagement opportunities.  

At a conference on the Syria crisis in London in February 2016, humanitarian partners convened under the No Lost Generation (NLG) initiative presented a Syria Crisis Education Strategic Paper, in which ambitious targets were outlined. Participants to the conference committed to reach all refugee children, vulnerable host communities, and out of school children inside Syria with education. In order to achieve this goal, donors emphasized that $1.4bn per year was needed for education. Since then, donors have continued to pledge large amounts in support of education and participants renewed their commitments to education in following conferences that took place in Brussels in 2017 and 2018. Yet, around 2.08 million school-age Syrian children (36 per cent) remain out of school inside Syria and 689,000 school-age Syrian children (35 per cent) remain out of school in the five host countries. It is difficult to assess whether donors have met the funding promise made at the London Conference as funding amounts requested and received for the education sector are obtained from HRP/3RP financial tracking systems (FTS) and refer to HRP/3RP funding only. This tracking does not cover funding directed to development budgets, loans and investments by governments (whether in crisis response or other responses) which have increased due to the new approach introduced in the London Conference. Timely, consistent and transparent tracking is needed in order to better identify gaps and encourage donors to address them.

Moreover, better transparency for funding would benefit other NLG areas to incentivize donors to better prioritise child protection and youth adolescents programming. These sectors experience even more difficulties in tracking funding

for several reasons:

• Child Protection is a sub-sector of broader Protection and funding information can sometimes be hard to extract from this larger category
• Adolescents and Youth is also not defined as a sector in its own right but relates to some activities within several sectors (such as Education, Health, Social Protection, Labour and Education). Information about cross-sectoral programming targeting adolescents and youth specifically would be key to understanding the gaps in reaching this particularly vulnerable age-group).

Thus, in order to facilitate results based monitoring for Education, Child Protection and Adolescents and Youth in countries affected by the countries, NLG partners and donors are prioritizing setting up monitoring mechanisms to be jointly accountable for the timely, consistent and transparent tracking of all funding provided.

About No Lost Generation:

The No Lost Generation initiative is an ambitious commitment to action by donors, UN agencies, NGOs and governments to ensure children and young people affected by the crises in Syria and Iraq have access to education, protection and opportunities to engage positively in their community and society. The initiative was launched in October 2013 and and is now in Phase II, which covers the period 2016-2018. The initiative is led jointly by UNICEF, Mercy Corps, Save the Children and World Vision. Partners include UN agencies, international and national NGOs, institutional donors, private sector companies and the startup community; governments, and individuals.

Covering the crises inside Syria and Iraq, as well as the refugee hosting countries in the region (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey), No Lost Generation:

• Provides an overarching regional framework for key areas success of the response.
• Provides platform for joint advocacysuch an exercise will depend on the priorities for children and youth.
• Amplifies the voices and perspectiveswillingness of adolescents and youth.
• Links efforts in different sectors to achieve resultsdonors to report on issues which cannot be addressed by one sector alone, such as child labourspecific funding to these areas beyond or child marriage.
• Combines immediate response with strategic investments for the future.

• Mobilises resources for sectors at risk as a result of underfundingthe HRP and 3RP.

  OBJECTIVE:

  To establish the “appetite”, feasibility and propose possible designs of a mechanism or framework to track all funds contributing to education, child protection and youth programming in Syria crisis countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt), including funding contributed outside of the humanitarian frameworks. 

  DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

  The consultant(s) will consult will undertake the following activities in order to achieve the above objective:

   

• Review the existing mechanisms and methodologies used to track funding for NLG programme areas for the Syria crisis (e.g. London conference and Post-Brussels conference financial tracking reports, IATI data, the published ODA accounts for top NLG donors, mechanisms in other contexts etc.)
• Review the recommendations made by NLG partners and others on funding transparency (including reports from the Education sector, Human Rights Watch, SIRF, etc.) which may inform or inspire a mechanism to track NLG funding.
• Consult with NLG partners and key donors to on possible sources and methodologies for tracking funding for NLG sectors in order to understand the pros, cons and feasibility of each.
• Develop potential criteria for an improved funds-tracking mechanism, e.g. a breakdown by donor, recipient country, school year, level and type of education funded (primary, secondary etc. and formal/nonformal), multi-year funding, date of delivery, specific purpose or beneficiary group (e.g. inclusive education).
• Design and model 2-3 possible mechanisms /frameworks for tracking funding for NLG programme areas on an ongoing or regular basis and more accurately than is currently the case, along with pros, cons, required inputs (staffing and other) and assessment of feasibility.
• Present these mechanisms / frameworks to the NLG partners for comment and consideration, and, taking their inputs into consideration, produce a final report with options and recommendations.

KEY DELIVERABLES:

1. Inception report (proposed methodology for the consultancy, key references and criteria to be used to design and model potential mechanisms / framework for tracking funding for NLG programme areas) by 5 August
2. Presentation in writing and in person of design and modeling of potential mechanisms / framework to track funding to NLG programme areas on an ongoing or regular basis by 20 September
3. Final report incorporating inputs from NLG partners by 10 October

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS (IF APPLICABLE):

The consultant will have weekly meetings with the supervisor (or her/his delegate) to review progress and will need to remain available to prepare progress briefs for the No Lost Generation advisor in the UNICEF Regional Office, who will chair a steering committee for this piece of work.   

TRAVEL: (not applicable.)

For individual contractors and consultants, all travel arrangements to commence the assignment, including insurance and visas, will be managed and paid by the individual.  Therefore, expected travel costs must be included as a budget item in the financial proposal.  Should “mission travel” be required, UNICEF will manage and pay for travel via Travel Authorization.  However, this will be subject to the following prerequisites:  Medical Clearance, Security Clearance through the Travel Request Information Process (TRIP) system, the Basic and Advanced Security in the Field Trainings, Travel Visa, and liability waiver. Trip prerequisites will be met at the expense of the consultant.

Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel.  Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC at http://icsc.un.org).  The consultant must travel on UNICEF approved airlines.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. Education: Advanced Degree in a relevant field including Economics, Political Science, Development Studies, Public Finance or any related Social Science Degree.
2. Work experience: at least 10 years of experience in humanitarian and/or development financing architecture and policy.
3. Technical knowledge: Work on humanitarian financing and policy and in NLG sectors (education, child protection, and Adolescents and youth) preferable.  
4. Language: fluent in English with knowledge of Arabic as a plus.

Payment Schedule:

Lump sum upon completion: UNICEF will only make payment in full upon successful completion of the contract. Expected payment date is 14 October 2018.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter/application.
2. Financial quote as lump sum for professional fees, and lump sum for travel/administrative/subsistence, if applicable.
3. CV.
4. Examples of previous, relevant work as applicable
5. Proposed methodology/approach to managing the project.
6. At least 2 Referees

7. P 11 form (which can be downloaded from our website at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_53129.html ).

   - Late submissions, incomplete packets, or submissions with an incorrect email subject heading will not be considered.

   - Successful applicants may be invited for further technical assessment and offers will be evaluated by the following criteria: