Consultancy: Stock-Take of Evidence Generation and Use in UNICEF MENA Country and Regional Offices

UNICEF MENARO would like to take stock of the evidence generation and use strategies in MENA country offices and regional office in the past 3 years to inform ROMP’s MTR discussions and adjustment for the remaining two years.

LOCATION/DURATION:

Duration:  2.5 months

Location: home-based

Estimated Start Date: 15^th October 2019

Estimated end Date: 30^th December 2019

 

BACKGROUND:

UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 (SP) anchored in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, set out 5 Goal Areas, 8 Change Strategies and 4 Internal Enablers to drive progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The overarching goal of the UNICEF Strategic Plan is to drive results for the most disadvantaged children and young people around the world. Towards this, a key strategy in the SP is leveraging the power of evidence for achieving results for children. UNICEF invests substantial portion of its resources for generating evidence, and using it to drive evidence-informed programmes, policies and advocacy efforts.

Similarly, UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office’s (MENARO) Regional Office Management Plan (ROMP) 2018-2021 has generation, dissemination and use of knowledge products as a strategic pillar for driving positive change across the region.

Regional and country offices develop annual (rolling) evidence generation plans (IMEPs/PRIME) which include research, studies, surveys and evaluations^[1]. Country offices develop these plans based on knowledge gaps identified during the development of Country Programme Documents (CPD) with relevant national counterparts and other partners and agencies. The consolidated regional evidence generation plan for 2017, 2018 and 2019 included 150, 165 and 180 distinct activities.

UNICEF MENARO will be embarking on its Mid Term Review (MTR) of its ROMP towards end of 2019. The MTR is a good opportunity to reflect on the implementation of the ROMP in the light of the experiences so far and the changes affecting the delivery of services for children in the MENA region.  And since the development of the MENARO ROMP, the situation in the region as well as globally has evolved. And therefore, a Mid Term Review (MTR) of the ROMP will:

• Ensure that it is on the right path for achieving planned ROMP results
• Capture lessons from the implementation of the plan
• Redirect implementation for the remaining period of the ROMP, if there is a need. 

PURPOSE:

To better inform the MTR and the strategic way forward on evidence function, UNICEF MENARO would like to take stock of the evidence generation and use strategies in MENA country offices[2] and regional office in the past 3 years to inform ROMP’s MTR discussions and adjustment for the remaining two years.

The main users of the study are the Regional Office management team and Strategic Monitoring and Research, and Evaluation section to inform the strategic MTR discussions early 2020.

To this end, UNICEF MENARO is seeking to hire a consultant with experience and understanding of evidence generation, uptake use mechanisms, and Monitoring, research and evaluation systems preferably within multilateral knowledge-based organizations.

 

OBJECTIVES:

The stock-take will review the cycle of evidence generation from inception to dissemination, uptake and use within the context of UNICEF work in the region covering the last 3 years (2017, 2018 and 2019 to date) at regional and country levels.

The specific objectives of the exercise are:

1. Provide an overview of the trend of evidence generation portfolio across the MENA region (by year, type, thematic area, purpose, budget, expenditure and use)
2. Assess the effectiveness of the evidence generation plans versus actual implementation and identify bottlenecks thereof.
3. Provide an independent assessment of the quality of a sample (8) of evidence production and use at country and regional levels (quality assurance frameworks are available will need to be adapted somewhat).
4. Assess the evidence generation processes and capacities in MENA country and regional offices detailing the various stages; from identification of needs/gaps for evidence, planning and implementation, quality assurance and dissemination plans.
5. Assess the uptake and use of evidence across the country and regional offices for improved programme, policy and advocacy the region and articulate a framework for further strengthening and monitoring uptake and use.
6. Articulate 2-3 key strategic areas for strengthening (or shift) for the remainder of ROMP period for supporting country and regional evidence generation and use.

The stock-take will cover all 16 country offices and the regional office in MENA region, and include resources from 2017 till 2019.

 

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

The tasks to be completed by the contractor include:

1. Conduct a focused desk review of global frameworks and UNICEF policies (UNICEF research Policy), procedures (research QA and ethical research) and regional/country SoPs and analysis of country and regional programme and management plans for articulating a background and analytical framework;
2. Compile and assess evidence generation plans across MENA country and regional offices;
3. Develop an interview guide and undertake in-depth (skype) interviews with CO and RO colleagues for further insight on bottlenecks and challenges they face in the various stages of evidence generation (one per CO and 3-4 RO level)
4. Select (in consultation with RO) and conduct quality assessment of 8 evidence products and produce an analytical report.
5. Produce an analytical draft report and final report no more than 20 pages covering main analysis and findings. The remaining analysis tools should be annexed if needed.
6. Produce Executive sumary 2-3 pager strategic recommendations to feed into MTR, a PowerPoint covering main findings.

 

KEY DELIVERABLES:

1. An inception report, detailing the:

• Understanding of the objectives and summary of the desk review
• Description of the portfolios that have been identified, analytical framework to be used/constructed
• Detailed methodology including design specifications and criteria for judgment
• Analysis plan, and
• Detailed work plan and timeline
• Tools (interview guides, quality assessment tools)

Analysis of the quality of 8 evidence reports (individual assessments and summary findings – this can then be annexed to the final report)

A final Report (no more than 20-30 pages), which should include

• Executive summary
• Methodology:  description of the methodology used, framework and limitations
• Findings: description of the main findings of the study,
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• Powerpoint of the findings and recommendations

 

The final report should be provided in electronic version in English in MS word document format.

The final report will also be formatted in UNICEF style publication (see examples here).

A PowerPoint summary of key findings is also required.

 

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:

The above list of deliverables capture the key milestone products which are expected to be delivered on specific deadlines (see payment schedule below). In addition, it is expected that at minimum the consultant would be proactive, and share regular updates on progress, challenges and discuss any action needed throughout the contract period to mitigate any delay.

A bi-weekly formal update on progress will be required via email.

 

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS:

This study is mainly based on the revision of documents where some internal UNICEF documents and/or are already available in the public domain. A pertinent aspect in this regard would be that established protocols for the acquisition and use of the documents are followed, and diligence should be exercised to follow the ethical principles and guidelines stipulated by the providing agency and governments.

Given there are interviews envisaged with people the consultant should make relevant precautions to ensure UNICEF ethical procedure and guidelines are implemented throughout the stock-taking exercise.

 

ICT CONSIDERATIONS:

The consultant is expected to have and use his/her own ICT hardware and software for the proper implementation of the objectives of this assignment.

 

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS:

The consultant will be working from home and no travel is expected under this contract.

 

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Education: A Master’s or higher degree in Social Sciences with strong Research component, research methods, organizational culture and learning, or other related social or technical field with significant research and analysis component is required.

Work experience: At least 10 years of experience in research, evaluation and monitoring functions within multilateral organizations is required, in addition to previous experience with organizational uptake and use of evidence is preferred.

 

Technical knowledge:

• Excellent report writing and analytical skills;
• Strong background in research, evaluation and monitoring approaches.
• Demonstrated experience in designing, conducting and analyzing key informant interviews;
• Experience of working in MENA region is an asset;
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s mission and mandate an asset;
• Prior experience in working with multilateral agencies an asset.

 

Language: Fluency and strong writing skills in English is required.

 

Payment Schedule:

The duration for the contract is estimated to be 35 working days starting on the date of the signature of the contract.

Payments will be made by UNICEF upon its review and approval of the deliverables submitted by the consultant. The payment and deliverable schedule will be as follows:

ACCOUNTABILITIES

The Monitoring and Research specialist in UNICEF MENA regional office will serve as the primary contact with the consultant. The specialist will also liaise with a technical committee that will include other relevant regional and global experts on the topic to provide timely and quality feedback on the various products.

 

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. 3 Referees

Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

“UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, 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.”