International Consultant to lead the Comprehensive Civil Registration Vital Statistics (CRVS) Assessment and development of National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan in Ethiopia

To provide technical leadership and guidance to the Government of Ethiopia to undertake a Comprehensive CRVS Assessment and develop a National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan

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Objective of the assignment

The overall objective of the assignment, following the recommendations of the Second Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration (2012), is to examine the operations of the systems in all their functions and at all levels (including refugees) holistically and review of the impacts of external and internal environment of the systems. In this respect, the fundamental components of the assessment should include:

1. Stakeholders analysis - One of the first tasks in the early stages of the participatory improvement process is identifying which institutions are important to the CRVS system and can influence its performance and outcomes by conducting a stakeholder analysis.   
2. Business process analysis - Business process mapping or enterprise architecture for process mapping is important to understand the current functioning of the systems and identifying interventions that would improve the functions of the systems.
3. Value chain analysis - A tool that breaks down the CRVS system into strategic relevant pieces to provide a complete picture of the key role players and how inputs are transformed into outputs relevant to the needs of users.
4. Comprehensive assessment – to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of the CRVS legislative framework, the organization and management of the CRVS systems, supply and demand factors and the adequacy of CRVS infrastructure and resources and listing of all possible recommendations to resolve the weaknesses and gaps identified; and make recommendations on how to resolve the weaknesses and threats.
5. Prioritization and ranking of the recommendations – procedure to identify those recommendations that will have the greatest effect on CRVS improvement. These are the major inputs in the development of a strategic plan. The activities identified are then costed to prepare the national CRVS Costed Strategic Plan over an agreed period of time for an optimal functioning of CRVS functioning at the federal level and the regions and that encompasses both nationals and refugees. 

 

 

The specific objectives are to contribute to the following:

• To provide an in-depth analysis of the current situation of CRVS system at federal and regional levels and key social, economic, environmental and cultural factors including those affecting the delivery of services to pastoralists, refugees and children on the move;
• To present a comprehensive picture of the following;

1. Existence of relevant indicators
2. Political commitment and demand creation
3. Policies, laws and regulations and their enforcement
4. Infrastructure and resource (human, finance, supplies and technology)
5. Data flow and feedback
6. M&E structures and coordination mechanisms 
7. Production, quality assurance, dissemination and use of vital events data
8. Business Process Analysis

• To determine the status, capacity and maturity level of existing CRVS related institutions and the resources available at Kebele, Woreda and zonal level, including physical, human and financial resources.
• To provide information that can be used later as a baseline when comparative analysis is undertaken (control and treatment as well as differences in intervention combinations) for strategic planning.
• To identify major bottlenecks at different stages of the CRVS system including legal and administrative, organizational structure, human and financial resources, infrastructure, operation and management and set priorities for strategic planning.
• To review inter-sectoral linkages and coordination at different level and identify entry points to capitalize for accelerating performance of the civil registration system.   

 

Scope of the work

The International Consultant will undertake the following tasks during the six months consultancy period between December 2019 - May 2020:

 

1.   Desk review of relevant documents on Ethiopia’s Vital Events Registration and Vital Statistics and related systems across all contexts including development and humanitarian, including refugee), with focus on legal frameworks, registration process and records flow by reviewing relevant materials to be provided by the stakeholders as well as obtained via web scanning;

2.   Guide the National Consultant (NC) in the desk review process; provide relevant materials to the NC related to relevant international treaties, principles and recommendations, other countries’ experience etc.

3.   Develop Inception Report, as outlined below, for approval by the National CRVS Steering Committee (NSC);

4.   Carry out a comprehensive assessment of CRVS systems with the overall guidance and oversight of the NSC and as per APAI-CRVS guidelines and tools that provide comprehensive guidance on how to systematically evaluate the quality and functioning of civil registration and vital statistics systems; this major task will include, among others:

5.     

6.     

7.     

·     Undertake at least one or two field visit missions to one urban and one rural Ethiopia to observe current work flows, notification and registration, etc. processes;

·     Conduct individual meetings and liaise with key CRVS stakeholders including the Members of the National CRVS Steering Committee, as needed;

·     Facilitate a round table with all stakeholders including the Members of the National CRVS Steering Committee, to assess expectations and potentials.

·     Support the national consultant in reviewing and contextualization of data collection tools

5. Support the national consultant in preparing training materials and provision of training the Thematic Task Teams and nationals selected to work on the strategic planning document and data collectors;

6. Provide remote and on-site support to the national consultant in finalizing the comprehensive assessment report.

7. Guide the write up pf the comprehensive assessment and provide input in the comprehensive assessment report validation workshop.

8. Provide required guidance in prioritization of recommendations

9. Provide close guidance during the elaboration of the CRVS envisioning process; strategic outcomes, objectives, activities, and outputs

10. Assist the national consultant and the planning team in preparing the National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan

 

Team Composition

Given the magnitude of the assignment, the following positions with their respective responsibilities are envisioned:  

 

International Consultant (1): - Would act as the team lead and provide international best practices, provide vision, sound methodology, roadmap, ensure overall technical supervision, meetings with stakeholders, focus group discussions, development of data collection tools, supervise field work, data analysis, draft report and organize dissemination workshop, provide technical support in priority setting and the strategic planning process.  

 

National Consultant (1): - Would assist the International Consultant in all the above roles in general, but particularly, coordinate with major National and regional CRVS Steering Committees and Stakeholders to get the detailed status of functions, SOPs, procedures, CRVS data collection and use and gap analysis for human, physical and financial resources. Would be responsible to coordinate and supervise task teams in data collection process and lead the analysis and compiling of reports from different task teams. 

 

The Plan Drafting Team: - A specialized and multi-disciplinary group of experts that takes responsibility of converting the assessment findings into the plan and development of the national CRVS costed strategy plan. The formation of the Plan Drafting Team will be coordinated by INVEA, and the Team comprise subject matter specialists and planning experts drawn members of the National CRVS Steering Committee. 

 

Secretarial Support: - A small team of two persons Data Coordination/ Analyst (1) and Technical Assistant would be engaged by INVEA for the study period to manage and assist the secretariat work. They would also provide inter sectoral coordination/meetings setting support etc.

 

Thematic Task Teams: - INVEA forms the Thematic Task Teams by drawing experts drawn from relevant institutions that are members of the National CRVS Steering Committee including INVEA, CSA, Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Women, Children and Youth, Ministry of Innovations and Federal Attorney General will be divided into task teams as proposed by APAI-CRVS framework and guidelines to coordinate and support data collection at national and regional level and supervise data collectors at zonal, woreda and kebele levels as well as prepare their respective thematic reports.

 

Data Collectors: - A team of Data Collectors drawn from relevant regional bureaus including vital events registration agencies, Bureau of Health, Bureau of Justice will be engaged for a period of two months during the study period. INVEA staff should be able to help collate the data and development of Data Entry, transfer and analysis mechanism, if so desired. 

 

Duration and Working Schedule

 

The assignment as described above is expected to fit into the period of December 1, 2019 – May 30, 2020. The following stages are defined:

1. Preparation and Inception

  

1. December 2019 - Starting the desk-review of existing documents (legal and policy documents, strategic plans, research, Census and other survey data, administrative data from INVEA, RVERA and ARRA on registration on Ethiopian nationals and refugees, minutes and action points from Technical Working Group and Annual and Biannual Review meetingsetc.) on the context of the assessment topics; meeting with relevant stakeholders /the national expert (s), on-site review of issues and clarify roles and responsibilities among the task team members. It is anticipated that the international expert will spend about 4-5 working days in the country for various meetings and in person meetings with stakeholders on key issues. Deliver brief (max 7-10 pages) Inception Report detailing the proposed approach to the task in hand, analysis /methodological approaches to cover the context, work plan, division of labour among the task teams and the roles of the national consultant. The Inception Report will be reviewed by members of the National CRVS Steering Committee.

2. Support conduct of the assessment

1. December 2019- Participate in the National CRVS Steering Committee meeting to share the Inception report and guide the Thematic Task Team in developing the work plan and review schedule, as well as adapt assessment guidelines and tools, and reporting template for Thematic Task Teams. 
2. January 2020 - Conduct training for all members of the Thematic Task Teams on assessment tools for identified thematic areas. Pre-test and revise the data collection tools, support the data collection process and prepare current or As-Is Business Process Analysis (BPA).

3. Prepare the Assessment report with recommendations

1. January 2020 – Guide the preparation of thematic report and compilation of the comprehensive assessment report. Draft to be presented to the National CRVS Steering Committee to seek input and feedback.
2. February 2020 – finalization and validation of the comprehensive assessment report

4. Final National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan to be presented to the Committee

1. April 2020 - International consultant to lead the consultation workshop for Plan Drafting Team on APAI-CRVS planning approach and costing of activities and support the drafting of the strategy document.
2. May 2020 - The International Consultant will support the National Consultant in incorporating comments from reviewers and the stakeholders. Review final draft and clear for submission to the TWG.  The International Consultant will work with the National Consultant to finalize the draft National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan.

 

Role of INVEA/UNICEF/UNECA/The World Bank

• UNICEF and INVEA to select and hire the International and National Consultant/s, to supervise the work of two consultants.
• UNICEF, INVEA, UNECA, World Bank to provide technical assistance and oversight in the process of the comprehensive assessment and strategic plan,
• World Bank to provide technical, logistical and financial support for operations

• INVEA as secretariat of the NSC facilitates inter-sectoral coordination, document collection and provide advice and contextual information, and set-up relevant meetings.

 

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements:

Monitoring of work progress and deliverables will be undertaken jointly by INVEA and UNICEF through a regular meeting convened by INVEA every month.  In addition to the final copy of CRVS National Comprehensive Assessment and the National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan the Consultant is expected to submit an inception report during the assignment period. 

 

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirement

 

The selection and management of the International Consultant is the responsibility of UNICEF Ethiopia with INVEA’s involvement.  The following are the criteria for the international consultant: 

Education:   

Post-graduate University Degree or equivalent (preferably Ph. D.) in Demography, Social Statistics, international development and/or other related sciences.

 

Knowledge and Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in providing technical support to national CRVS systems across a range of contexts related to assessments and developing action plans and developing technical papers and reports;
• Prior experience in Ethiopia with knowledge of the APAI-CRVS guidelines and tools on CRVS comprehensive assessment desirable;
• Demonstrated capacity for strategic thinking, excellent qualitative and quantitative data analysis and report writing skills for policy use;
• Proven ability to work in a team;
• Experience in developing and delivering country-specific and regional trainings / workshops related to CRVS;
• Familiarity with APAI-CRVS programme key principles for improving national and regional CRVS systems will be an advantage;
• Must be committed to respecting deadlines of delivery outputs within the agreed time-frame;
• Be fluent in English with strong writing skills.

 

6. Payment Modality and Schedule           

1. The fees for this contract shall paid based on the attainment of deliverables.
2. The total remuneration of the consultancy is [TBC] upon successful delivery of and approval of the deliverables. Payment will be:

• • 10% upon completion of the Desk Review
  • 20% upon completion of the Inception Report
  • 20% on the completion of the draft comprehensive assessment report
  • 50% upon completion of the final report and National CRVS Costed Strategic Plan

 

7. General Conditions: Procedures and Logistics

1. Field trips outside of Addis Ababa will be required as per the work plan.
2. He/she is not entitled to payment of overtime.  All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
3. Daily subsistence allowance will be paid to the consultant in accordance with the provisions of the consultancy contract. 
4. The Form 'Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary' must be completed by the consultant upon arrival, at the HR Section.

    

 

8. Policy both parties should be aware of:

 

• Under the consultancy agreements, a month is defined as 21 working days, and fees are prorated accordingly.  Consultants are not paid for weekends or public holidays.
• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime. 
• All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor.
• For international consultants outside the duty station, signed contracts must be sent by fax or email. 
• Signed contract copy or written agreement must be received by the office before Travel Authorisation is issued.

• • No consultant may travel without a signed travel authorisation prior to the commencement of the journey to the duty station.
  • Unless authorised, UNICEF will buy the tickets of the consultant.  In exceptional cases, the consultant may be authorised to buy their travel tickets and shall be reimbursed at the “most economical and direct route” but this must be agreed to beforehand.
  • Consultants will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) 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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.