National consultancy to provide technical support in carrying out costing of Tajikistan Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan

The proposed national consultancy aims to provide necessary technical support to MQSUN+ in carrying out costing of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan 2019 to 2025.

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Background

Tajikistan is a mostly mountainous and landlocked country covering an area of 143,000 square kilometers, and sharing borders with Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, China and Afghanistan. Despite the strong economic growth over the past decade, Tajikistan remains the poorest nation in the CIS region with a Gross National Income (GNI) of US$1,060 per capita (Atlas method, World Bank, 2014) and an estimated 36% of its population living below the national poverty line in 2013. Despite improvements over the last decade, under nutrition in Tajikistan remains a significant public health problem. In response, major efforts have been made by the Government and various donors through implementation of nutrition specific interventions such as promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, salt iodization, management of acute malnutrition, and Vitamin A and micronutrient powder distribution. However, the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) found that 26 percent of children under 5 years old are stunted, 10 percent are wasted, and 12 percent are underweight.

Tajikistan joined the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in 2013 and nutrition became a national priority, firmly rooted in the national development agenda. Tajikistan's SUN Secretariat with the support of Maximizing the Quality of Scaling Up Nutrition Plus (MQSUN+) and SUN partners are developing a national Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan, based on the Common Results Framework developed in 2017 as a starting point.  The plan is being developed through extensive engagement with government stakeholders, development partners, UN agencies, I/NGOs, civil society, and academia. An extensive analysis of secondary data including recent national surveys and ongoing programmes is a core activity of the nutrition sectoral plan development. The plan will describe how actors across the different sectors can contribute and invest, in order to achieve national nutrition and development goals in Tajikistan with an equity focus. Drafts of chapters of the plan had been developed and are under review and the plan is expected to be completed by end of 2019 and to be costed to facilitate resources mobilization and leveraging. 

To fast track the process of costing of the plan, there is a need to initiate action on data collection and review or relevant documents to inform the costing exercise. In this regard,

UNICEF Tajikistan Country Office is looking to engage the services of a national consultant to support the SUN National Coordination committee in costing of the multi-sectoral nutrition plan.

How can you make a difference?

The proposed national consultancy aims to provide necessary technical support to MQSUN+ in carrying out costing of the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan 2019 to 2025.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

The consultant (NNC) will work closely with UNICEF Tajikistan, the MQSUN+ Team Lead and the MQSUN+ international costing expert and in collaboration with the national SUN Coordination Committee to support the initial conceptualization, development of costed model, data collection and management, cleaning and analysis and presentation.  The NCC will work closely with the MQSUN+ assignment team lead, international costing expert and national consultant throughout the process.

The costing exercise will employ the methodology macro-costing from the perspective of the service provider (excluding costs to the individuals or society). The costing will use available unit costs for specific interventions or will build unit costs using an ingredient-based approach, for those interventions where unit costs do not exist. The annual targets shall be provided in the Plan and the current coverage rates will be obtained from the implementing agencies or available reports. The costing model shall then apply the price (unit costs) to the annual quantities (the targeted proportion of the population to be reached by each intervention) to get to the annual total costs. All costs shall use 2019 prices and be presented in local currency.

The national consultants are expected to perform the following specific tasks:

• Participate in and arrange meetings with the key ministries and stakeholders to collect the required data and solicit costing inputs.
• Together with the international costing consultant, develop the macro-level costing model
• Together with the local consultant preparing the POA, develop the log-frame which includes actionable interventions, their current coverage rates, the target population sizes, and the annual targets for each year of the Plan.
• Collect and collate available unit costs, expenditure and financing data from literature and implementing agencies (this involves extensive interviews with relevant implementers and funding sources)
• Build ingredient-based unit costs where unit costs are not available through interviews with implementing agencies
• Communication, and preparations with the respondents/ implementers
• Plan and oversee all required in-country preparations for the data collection to run smoothly and timeously
• Support data quality assurance processes, and review the accuracy of the available unit costs
• Deliver a cleaned database of all the unit costs (with details of sources, assumptions), the population size estimates and current coverage rates for each intervention, and all other data required for the population of the costing model
• Undertake the analysis, with the international costing consultant, reviewing draft outputs and taking action to improve these
• Undertake validation of the preliminary cost estimates with relevant stakeholders
• Adjust, collect additional data, as required
• Rerun the analysis
• Input into the costing report preparation

KEY DELIVERABLES:

Estimated duration of contract and remuneration: The assignment will be carried out in days spread over a period ranging from 15 July to 31 October 2019 (50 working days).

Reporting to: Nutrition Officer, UNICEF Tajikistan

Insurances: UNICEF does not provide or arrange life or health insurance coverage for consultants and individual contractors, and consultants and individual contractors are not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to United Nations staff members. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for assuming all costs related to required inoculations, vaccinations and medical examinations.  
Consultants and individual contractors are fully responsible for arranging, at their own expense, such life, health and other forms of insurance covering the period of their services as they consider appropriate. The responsibility of UNICEF is limited solely to the payment of compensation for service-incurred death, injury or illness as per the provisions detailed below.

Recourse: UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

Ethical considerations: Adequate measures should be taken to ensure that the process responds to quality and ethical requirements. The contracted consultant should be sensitive to beliefs, manners, and customs and act with integrity and honesty in their relationships with all stakeholders. It should also protect the anonymity and confidentiality of individual information.

Mandatory trainings: Consultants and individual contractors, regardless of contract duration, must complete the applicable mandatory trainings. The link will be provided during the selection process for the successful candidates.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

Education: Advanced University Degree in Health Economics, or relevant degree with required experience.

Work Experience: 3-5 years experience in costing health interventions and policies;

Competencies: Working experience and knowledge of the Tajikistan health and social sectors; knowledge of nutrition programme would be beneficial, but not essential.

Technical Knowledge: Excellent facilitation, analytical and report writing skills.

 Language: Fluency in English. Communication in the Tajik and Russian languages is an asset.

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter/application and Curricula Vitae.
2. A technical proposal with proposed methodology/approach to managing the project, showing understanding of tasks and work plan.
3. Financial quote for the consultancy in Somoni per deliverable, stating also the timeframe for completion of deliverable and/or daily rate in Tajik Somoni.
4. Examples of previous, relevant work related to the deliverables.
5. At least 2 References

Queries can be sent to: tad-procurement@unicef.org  with subject line National consultancy to provide technical support in carrying out costing of Tajikistan Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Plan. Applications must be received in the system by the 12 July 2019 at our website: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index.php   

UNICEF considers best value for money as criteria for evaluating potential candidates.  As a general principle, the fees payable to a consultant or individual contractor follow the best value for money principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Please note that consultants and individual contractors are responsible for assuming costs for obtaining visas and travel insurance.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis methodology. The award of the Contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a weighted set of technical and financial criteria.

* Technical Criteria weight - 70%;

* Financial Criteria weight - 30%;

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in Technical Criteria evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

TOTAL SCORE (max. 100 points)  

The formula for the rating of the Financial Proposals will be as follows: FP Rating = (Lowest Priced Offer / Price of the Offer Being Reviewed) x 30

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF's core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
 
Remarks:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.