Consultancy for study on ‘Creating a Business Case for Nurseries’ – Develop ECD Models - Nationals only (2 months)

As part of the study on creating a business model for nurseries, the objective is to develop average 5 models on providing childcare solution, providing options for implementation by Egyptian enterprises. This would include childcare facilities at work but also childcare allocations, more flexible working hours, and other innovative solutions.

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.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace. The ILO brings together governments, employers and workers representatives of 187 Member States to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men. Today, the ILO's Decent Work Agenda helps advance the economic and working conditions that give all workers, employers and governments a stake in lasting peace, prosperity and progress.

Policies, programmes and other support that enable parents and caregivers to provide the best start for every child pay off in healthier, better educated children, a better equipped workforce and more sustainable growth.UNICEFs "Early Childhood Development (ECD)"programme contributes to strengthen the knowledge base for more child-sensitive social protection and improve three fundamental elements of the early childhood years (health, nutrition and development). UNICEF's work on learning and protection covers all children of all ages, focusing on the most vulnerable children, children with disabilities and adolescent girls.

The importance of having a gender-responsive private sector has been demonstrated in many global studies, and many have been published on the link between providing care provisions, improving women's economic participation and redistributing working parents' care responsibilities. Case studies from diverse contexts across the globe, have shown that providing care facilities increases women's likelihood of both joining and staying in the labor market, whether the facilities provided are public or private. The IFC's study "Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare and ILO's study "Workplace Solutions for Childcare" that is aimed towards government, employers and workers began to fill an important gap in existing research by compiling evidence and case studies on the benefits of providing childcare with the corporate community as the audience in mind. While the discussion on the importance of quality, publicly provided childcare is essential to women's labor force participation, there is also an equally important and different case to be made to encourage employer-provided care for employees, in addition to the means to consider childcare facilities as public good that could be subsidized to share the responsibility by the state besides the employers.

It is important to note that investing in childcare solutions also serves as an investment into the future workforce. Research over the past 30 years has shown that the first 1000 days of a child's life are the most important period of their brain development, and it is critical that the agenda of getting women into the workplace intersect with the importance of early childhood development goals. Essential questions about quality and affordability of care arise for any working parent.  UNICEF Egypt is working with both the private and public sector to provide quality care for young children. Moreover, ILO Egypt is supporting facilities for working parents with care responsibilities to ensure gender equality in labor participation and promote decent work conditions.

When it comes to the Egyptian context, there are numerous studies that demonstrate ways childcare is an added benefit to the economy and to businesses, but so far none that have attempted to create compelling evidence that will encourage Egyptian business owners to invest in childcare provisions for their workers using a "smart economics" standpoint. The lack of context-specific research that shows the benefit employers stand to gain if they invest in childcare facilities, tends to make employers perceive it as a cost, rather than an investment towards the future. Thus, the below is a proposal for a study to begin filling that gap in research.

In 2018, ILO published a report on " Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work" that highlights how the disproportionate responsibility of unpaid care work on women is perpetuating gender inequality in the workplace. Women mostly bear the burden of childcare, besides care for the elder and other family members in need of care. Importantly, the large care demand imposed by very young children, combined with poor quality and inaccessible childcare services, is likely to have a negative impact on the employment rates and working conditions of their mothers, who may face a trade-off between working and providing care. They are forced to make choices such as not working or accepting work which is more flexible, can be done from home, but less regulated, such as in the informal economy.

This can be done through the direct provision of childcare and eldercare services or care-related social protection transfers. Additionally, companies can play an important role in providing childcare facilities and leave policies to support workers with family and care responsibilities. Family-friendly workplace arrangements can yield long-term benefits for employers by reducing turnover rates and absenteeism, and by increasing workers' labour market participation, motivation and productivity.

Accordingly, the report recommends:

• Adoption of transformative policies in the following five areas: care, macroeconomics, social protection, labour and migration.
• Investments in good-quality care work.

In 2019, UNICEF published a policy brief "Family Friendly Policies - Redesigning the Workplace of the Future" supported by the evidence brief "Childcare and Working Environments - New Opportunity or Missing Link". The policy brief reiterates the idea that family friendly policies can potentially increase employee retention, reduce absenteeism, lower recruitment costs and boost female participation in the workforce. It also suggests that by enabling fathers to share in parenting responsibilities, women are less likely to drop out of the workforce thus reducing the gender pay gap, improving gender parity and economic productivity.Furthermore, the evidence brief provides recommendations to Government and businesses on how to make their policies and/or workplace more family friendly. These recommendations include:

• Investing in subsidized childcare on premises, through community facilities or nearby nurseries
• Investing in capacity - building of the childcare workforce
• Investing in solutions on family friendly work policies and that support the surrounding community.

The study on Creating a "Business Case for Nurseries" will use both a rights and business case approach to assess the state of childcare facilities in FEI member companies, develop case studies and recommend childcare models that could be implemented by companies. The study consists of three parts as follows:

1. Evidence: data collection

Generate evidence on how the improvement/introduction of childcare services and allocations to the workforce positively impact overall business performance, employers and employees. The evidence can be observed from companies that have recently established childcare facilities. The data collected will help in reaching a comparative analysis on the impact on business performance before and after the establishment of childcare facilities on both employers and employees.

2. Evidence: case studies

Based on evidence so generated (part 1), develop case studies that identify elements of success, providing a basis for 5 childcare models to be based on.

3. Childcare models

Based on the evidence so generated (parts 1 and 2), develop 5 childcare models.

The consultant hired for this ToR is meant to cater to the 3^rd part of the study, to be developed separately from the consultant for the 1^st and 2^nd part of the study. There will be an overlap with the 2 consultants during a) the inception phase and b) during the data collection preparation to ensure availability of all data needed to generate the childcare models.

Following the ILO's tripartite structure, the study will be conducted in collaboration with the Federation of Egyptian Industries (the ILO's main partnering employers' organization), UNICEF and ILO.

Purpose

The study will be used by the FEI, UNICEF and ILO to gain insight into various angles of the issue. UNICEF will use the childcare models as a part of the Early Childhood Development programme to promote the establishment of nurseries/alternative childcare solutions in the workplace. ILO, in collaboration with FEI will use the study findings (survey and case studies) to validate the positive impact establishing childcare facilities can have on families and promote the further participation of fathers in childcare. Moreover, UNICEF, ILO and FEI will advocate for the implementation of the recommended childcare models with numerous actors including public entities, private sector, financial institutions and civil society organizations.

This assignment will focus on the third part of the study as mentioned above. The "Childcare models" part of the study, aims to develop evidence-based ECD models) to provide a variety of options for childcare solutions. The consultant is to develop a minimum of 5 childcare models but may develop more models as identified. These models will be used by UNICEF, ILO and FEI to advocate for childcare practices in the workplaces.

These models are intended to be implemented by private sector companies who are already engaged in providing childcare services/solutions or want to begin to implement alternative childcare solutions within their organizations, as well as, community workers with expertise in child, gender, equality, business and cooperative development, facilitators, trainers and leaders who want to support private sector companies to provide affordable, quality childcare solutions.

Scope:

The consultant will build on the results of part 1 and part 2 of the study (compiled evidence on the impact of childcare services on business performance and case studies that identify elements of successful model) to design a minimum of 5 childcare models to be adopted by Egyptian enterprises.

The consultant will be provided with the data collected from the survey carried out, developed case studies, inception report, methodology and desk review from the 1^st part of the study. The childcare models will be developed based on successful models that are being implemented by the companies or recommend other innovative models if applicable based on desk review and observations.

As part of the study on creating a business model for nurseries, the objective is to develop average 5 models on providing childcare solution, providing options for implementation by Egyptian enterprises. This would include childcare facilities at work but also childcare allocations, more flexible working hours, and other innovative solutions.

The consultant will build on global insights and evidence in UNICEF publications, "Family Friendly Policies - Policy Brief" as supported by the "Childcare and Working Environments - Evidence Brief", and the ILO report "Care Work and Care Jobs, for the Future of Decent Work"

The consultant will be required to use the data collected and case studies to identify elements of success, what considerations parents have when deciding to use a workplace childcare facility and assess the financial investments needed to implement various childcare solutions. 

Hereby, this assignment requires the development of childcare models that businesses can develop ranging from large financial investment needed e.g. in-house nurseries, to small financial investments e.g. subsided childcare at local nurseries etc. The childcare models will include/but are not limited to the following elements:

• Defined purpose and function for each model
• Strategies for keeping the model sustainable and provide quality service
• Flexibility and openness for change to better respond to workforce needs
• Key partners and management structure
• Resources needed to set up the model, all costs involved in operating the model and opportunities for generating enough income to be able to maintain the service and make ongoing improvements.
• Approaches to monitoring and assessing the model

The following methods for the development of childcare models can be considered:

• Reviewing the successful case studies from the data collected under part one of the study, and the means of its implementation in the different enterprises.
• Reviewing other successful models of childcare facilities in Egypt, that could be presented as efficient and effective models to the enterprises.
• Literature review of successful and innovative models of childcare facilities, and how it could be relevant to the enterprises in the Egyptian market.

The methodology for developing the childcare models will be included in the inception report to be developed by the consultant and will be approved by UNICEF, ILO and FEI prior to its implementation.

The consultant will take responsibility to submit the inception report, develop the childcare models, produce a final report and coordinate with the consultant for the 1^st and 2^nd parts of the study to integrate the models into the final report.

Ethical protocols will need to be followed and clearance will need to be obtained from the UNICEF external board.

A signed form acknowledging the code of conduct for ethical research in the UN system will be obtained for the consultant.

The consultant will be contracted for a period of 2 months and will work for a period of 35 days.

The final deliverable - 5 childcare models will use the data and case studies developed by a separate consultant for the 1^st and 2^nd part of the study. The consultant will be required to work with this separate consultant to integrate the childcare models into the final report for the study.

Education: Masters degree in Child Development, Psychology, Medical Sciences, International Development or related social science fields.

Experience:

• Demonstrated experience in:

               -Designing and developing models relating to Early Childhood Development.

               -Situation analysis, research studies, evaluations, report writing and formulation of recommendations.

               -Developing similar models in the past 5 years using and analyzing demographic and other quantitative data and

                indicators, policy analysis and assessing/mapping provision of information/services.

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience in early childhood development and/or any related field of work, including interaction with stakeholders involved in these areas.
• Experience in advocacy for policy change or policy formulation
• Experience with qualitative and participatory research methodologies.
• Strong analytical skills and strategic thinking.
• Ability to work independently and adhere to schedules and deadlines.
• Professionalism.
• Efficiency, accuracy, and high productivity.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English (required) and Arabic (required). Proficiency in English and Arabic technical writing skills.

• UNICEF, ILO and FEI hold the copyrights to all materials developed over the course of this assignment including publications, data and reports.
• All research work should follow UNICEF, ILO and FEI guidance for research, quality assurance and SOP.
• Results will be shared with UNICEF, ILO and FEI.

All interested applicants are to provide:

• A technical brief (including background, purpose and scope, methodology).
• A financial proposal (including accommodation and transportation).
• Relevant experience and qualifications.
• Sample of previously developed models/work relating to Early Childhood Development.

NOTE FOR CONSULTANTS AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS:

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.

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