Consultant to support, Prevention and early intervention in social development budgets FY2021

To undertake annual budget analysis: publish five budget briefs on education, health, social development including public finance at national and subnational levels

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For every child, development

Background and Justification

Budget Briefs are seen as providing a good entry point for country-level budget analysis and advocacy. In the context of South Africa, work on budget awareness and advocacy has been deemed to be timely, given the present economic climate in the country and the many competing demands placed on budgets in an increasingly tight fiscal situation. Budget Briefs are seen, therefore, as a valuable advocacy tool to enhance the focus on children-specific spending programmes and to ensure that the limited resources are spent in the best possible way. The Budget Brief series in 2021 explores the issue of equity and progress in major policy reforms in children’s programmes and services. A careful analysis is done to determine whether any sector budget has positive (or negative) implications for the survival, growth, and development of children.

South Africa is known for its high levels of violence against women and children. The government has responded by moving “violence against women and children” to the top of its policy agenda. This was also accompanied by a host of other interventions, such as providing additional funding to support provincial governments to provide a more stable source of funding for Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs).

The Children’s Act of 2005 asserts the importance of prevention and early intervention to mitigate the social and economic effects of late response and intervention for children and adults. There remains a need, therefore, to understand the status and priority given to prevention and early intervention programmes in provincial social development departments. The MEC for Social Development in provinces is required to produce provincial profiles pertaining to prevention and early intervention and the completion of these profiles will have implications for the resources needed to address prevention and early interventions. Furthermore, the Children’s Act requires the MEC for Social Development to finance prevention and early intervention programmes as a matter of priority, and it is important to understand the nature and extent of funding of prevention and early intervention programmes.

Scope of Work 

1. Goal and Objective:  Under the supervision of the Social Policy Manager in the Social Policy programme, the consultant will

• Establish whether proposed reforms to prevention and early intervention programming are in the process of being implemented. This include
  • Whether a new programme budget, exclusively devoted to prevention and early intervention, has been established
  • The extent of implementation of this policy reform across provincial social development departments, and
  • The quantum of funding that has been made available to this planned dedicated programme (as a % of total funding for a provincial social development department).
• Where implementation of this proposed policy reform has been deferred, to establish the reasons behind the delay, whether at the national government or the provincial government level.
• Based on the initial findings, to develop a restricted set of recommendations for how the government can expand the financing of prevention and early intervention programmes to strengthen the country’s emphasis on a developmental social welfare system.
• The Budget Brief should provide an update on the status of this proposed policy reform in all nine provincial social development departments.
• Please note that the consultant can use guidelines for developing a UNICEF budget brief as well as an Excel-based tool for organizing and presenting data, which is available through this link.

2. Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: This work relates directly to achieving output 4.1 in the Annual Work Plan of the Social Policy programme, which involves undertaking annual budget analysis: publish budget briefs on education, health, social development including public finance at national and subnational levels.
3. Activities and Tasks:  the list of activities and task include

• Submit an Inception Report detailing Consultant’s understanding of the task at hand, proposed methodology and sources of data to be used in assignment, including at national and provincial levels;
• Draft, refine and finalize a “Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Brief” that focuses on the Goal and Objectives set out in Section 1 of this TOR;
• In the draft Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Brief mentioned above, detailing the key results and what implications these have for the well-being and development of children ; and
• Submit final “Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Brief.”

4. Work relationships:  The Social Policy Manager is responsible for co-coordinating and managing the work of the Consultant. This involves regular communication via email, telephonic conversations and where possible, in-person meetings. The Social Policy Manager will inform and update the Representative of progress in the work and expected completion dates of this important output. The Consultant will provide regular updates of progress and inform the Social Policy Manager of any unintended findings that are relevant to this output. The designated Programme Associate (PA) will support the Social Policy Manager in ensuring that the requisite administrative processes are adhered to and for the timely submission of project-related paperwork.
5. Outputs/Deliverables:  

The process for completing the assignment is critically dependent on the submission of a realistic and achievable work plan as well as a methodological approach that will ensure that the key questions are addressed in the research. Furthermore, the Consultant will have tight timeframes to execute this work, which requires a deep familiarity and expertise in the areas of applied budget analysis and social welfare programmes more generally. Payment is dependent on the successful completion of each of the three deliverables, which is in line with the expectations of the Social Policy programme team. 

Reporting guidelines: Budget Brief templates have been developed by the Regional Office and these same templates/formats are applicable to the production of the Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Brief. These guidelines should be considered for both the draft and final Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Brief. The draft and final Prevention and Early Intervention Budget Briefs must be submitted to the Social Policy Manager.

6. Required Travel:  Not Applicable 

Payment Schedule 

The schedule of payments is indicated as per the table in the preceding section.

Payment to the Consultant will only be done upon satisfactory completion of deliverables as agreed in the work plan. Payment is staggered as per the approved work plan of the Consultant and per the payment schedule listed in the table above.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in
• economics, statistics, health management, public policy, development studies or an advanced social science qualification
• A minimum of [8 years] of relevant professional experience in
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• The Consultant will have an excellent understanding of social welfare policy and budget trends in South Africa;
• The Consultant will have done applied budget analyses of the social sectors in South Africa;
• A minimum of eight years of technical consultancy in the applied budget field and policy research on social welfare is required.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

[1] Costs indicated are estimated. Final rate shall follow the “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Consultants will be asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant

How to Apply...

Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their application to the following link: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=539855 by 14 May 2021.

This notice will also appear on http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/, http://www.unicef.org/southafrica, UN Job List, UN Jobs

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in ZAR) to undertake the terms of reference above (including admin cost if applicable).

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.

Remarks:

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

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.