Consultancy - Winter Preparedness and Shock-responsive Social Protection Pilot, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

UNICEF Mongolia is seeking an international consultant to support the pilot implementation, monitoring and evaluation, documentation and scale-up of the cash assistance programme for rural children.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, care

Mongolia faces unique challenges related to its vast territory, dispersed population and extreme weather conditions.

The situation is worsened by environmental degradation and climate change that is already affecting Mongolia and fundamentally undermining the lives of children in rural Mongolia.

UNICEF, with support of an international consultant, supported the assessment of the current situation of the country’s overall capacity for climate-resilient social protection, availability of financial resources including government budget allocation, commitment from Government, effectiveness and suitability of the cash transfer for resilience building and humanitarian situations in terms of reducing a negative impact of a specific climate-hazard such as dzud on child health and development outputs.

The assessment also included the capacity of the existing markets and services, assessment of the national capacity and systems in place, mapping of financial service providers, assessment of the existing cash transfer mechanism and delivery system and coordination for delivery of the cash.

Based on the assessment, and under the leadership of the MLSP, UNICEF supported the implementation of the  pilot programme for cash assistance for rural children living under climate related risks in the Zavkhan province. The Pilot aims to test the capacity and flexibility of current national social protection system to scale-up in shocks, including payment system, databases, processes, staff, existing inter-ministerial and service provider agreements (e.g. Bank), as well as the usefulness of using cash assistance to prepare for and respond to dzud.

How can you make a difference?

To achieve the purpose of this consultancy, the consultant will be expected to perform the following tasks:

• Support for the design and implementation of the Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM)  for the post-dzud early response payments and impact evaluation;
• Update and expand the operational manual (OM), with the support of the Pilot Team Leader;
• Support the pilot data manager to develop the paper-based MIS and data templates
• Advice on improvement of daily program operations, including the payment verification and reconciliation processes;
• Facilitate/support coordination with relevant development partners to keep the discussion and work on the institutionalization of the shock-responsive social protection (SRSP) programmes into the national social protection system.

• Support meetings with government to discuss the expansion of the pilot in year 2;

• Support meetings with the Ministry of Finance to touch base on potential long-term financing (i.e. Special Reserve Fund).
• Support coordination with impact evaluation actors and UNICEF Mongolia for planning, obtaining data, provide feedback, context and support for the development of the impact evaluation questionnaires;

Please visit the TOR for more detailed description on the  deliverables and timeframe -  Terms of Reference for International consultancy - for VA 20200316.docx

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An advanced university degree (Master, PhD) in the field of finance, Humanitarian action, economics, environment, climate change or other relevant field
• Relevant working experience in designing and conducting rapid impact assessment, post distribution monitoring, and impact evaluation on climate resilient social protection, humanitarian cash transfer or related field
• Demonstrated experience in conducting analyses or similar studies, and design or recommend social protection measures/cash transfer programmes
• Proven track record on successful delivery of high-quality reports and recommendations
• At least 10 years relevant work experience in developing countries
• Previous work with the UN  and/or UNICEF will be considered an asset
• Demonstrated analytical, negotiating, advocacy, reporting and writing skills.
• Good qualitative and quantitative analytical skills;
• Good reporting and presenting skills;
• Punctuality and availability to complete the work on time;
• Excellent attention to detail and evidence of quality outputs from previous assignments;

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results

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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.