UNICEF seeks to recruit a consultant to develop National Strategic Plan – Eritrea

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Title: consultant to develop National Strategic Plan

Purpose: to provide support to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare, National Union of Eritrean Women in preparing a national strategic plan to address Child Rights, abandon Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), and Underage Marriage

Job Level : P-4

Location : Asmara,Eritrea

Duration : 60 working days

Start date : 20^th December 2018

Reporting to : Chairperson of the National Steering Committee

Supported by : UNPFA and UNICEF

 

Background

The Government of State of Eritrea (GoSE) reiterates its accountability for the protection and promotion of the rights of the women and children by ratifying to major international and regional conventions like the CRC, CEDAW, ACRWC. The GoSE is implementing various programmes and reaching out to children, youth, women and communities to strengthen their capacity to realize their rights.

Strengthening of the welfare system and scaling up promoting children, adolescent and women rights and protection efforts through training of health workers, social workers, law enforcement, child well-being committees (CWC), including protection from harmful practices (FGM/C and Underage Marriage), violence and exploitation are part of GoSE’s priorities. GoSE strategically intervenes to prevent and respond to different forms of violence against children and women including child labour, young girls and women empowerment through community based child protection platforms; irregular migration and trafficking of children and women through sensitizations in communities and providing protection services.

FGM/C, a procedure that involves partial or total removal of female genitalia, or other injury to female genital organs, is a painful procedure that has short term and long-term detrimental physiological, sexual and psychological effects. The consequences can include death, hemorrhage, septicemia and complications in childbirth, aggravating maternal and infant mortality. The FGM/C rate in Eritrea is 83 per cent, making it among the highest globally (2010 Eritrea Population and Health Survey (EPHS). The prevalence is improving for younger generation with 33 and 12 per cents among girls under 15 and 5 years old respectively. The same survey indicated that current attitudes towards FGM/C may be conducive to abolishing the practice, as 77 per cent of Eritrean women and 82 per cent of men believed that there are no benefits from FGM/C. GoSE closely works with UNICEF and UNFPA for the advancement of gender equality and advancement of women by implementing the joint work plan on gender equality. This has yielded positive results in reducing the FGM/C and Underage Marriage (UAM) in the Eritrean communities.

The right to family and marriage is provided for in the Eritrean proclamation 1991 with the minimum age for marriage set at 18 years for both females and males. Marriage below 18 years does not have legal legitimacy and it thus is illegal. However, the society’s abiding by the law of age for marriage is low and its enforcement is weak. In Eritrea, early marriage is a deeply entrenched and widely approved social custom, justified by social, religious and economic reasons, depriving girls from the opportunity to fully realize their potentials. Eritrea ranks one of the top 20 countries with highest child and early marriage in the world with 41 and 13 per cents of girls married before they turn 18 and 15 years respectively compared to only 2.3 per cent boys marry before the age of twenty. In addition, 38 per cent of girls do not attend school because of marriage compared only to 2 per cent for boys.

To address the issues of children and women rights, including FGM/C, Underage Marriage, gender based violence and harmful practices, a National Steering Committee (NSC) comprising senior officials from MoH, MoLHW, NUEW, UNICEF and UNFPA is formed to oversee child rights & gender equality/equity including the elimination of HTPs in the country. The NSC advised to develop a comprehensive national strategic plan that realizes the full implementation of the right and welfare of the child, young people and women in eliminating all harmful practices including FGM/C and UAM.

 

Rationale for Preparing the Strategic Plan

 The primary focus of the GoSE in embracing strategic planning is to ensure the rights of children and women. Elimination of harmful practices such as FGM/C and UAM remains at the forefront drive to secure the rights of children and women. Towards that end, significant institutional, structural and legal frameworks are outlined including the penal and civil codes and a proclamation that bans FGM/C.  Different sectors of the GoSE have been implementing their respective sectoral plans to fulfil the key children and women’s rights and now it is time to have a consolidated national strategy and action plan to enhance and expedite the attainment of the children’s and women’s rights within the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of 2030 (SDG goal).

The Strategic Plan will also serve the following purposes :

• Stimulate forward thinking to promote and protect child rights, ending FGM/C and UAM in the country ;
• Identify strategic objectives and strategies for implementation ;
• Serve as a tool for resource mobilization in the implementation of strategic objectives ;
• Promote social norms change with regard to FGM, UAM and other HTPs ;
• Enhance teamwork and collaboration with stakeholders.

Objective :

The objectives of the assignment are :

• To support the concerned partners to develop the concerted National Strategic Plan on Child Rights[1], on elimination of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting[2], and Underage Marriage[3]. The plan will incorporate results matrix, monitoring, evaluation and resources framework ;

• To strengthen the understanding of decision-makers, partners and all other stakeholders of the status of children’s and women’s rights including harmful practices in the country and recommend strategies and actions.

Scope of Work/Methodology :

In collaboration with the MoH, MoLHW and NUEW, the consultant will be responsible for the following :

• Conduct a desk review of Child Rights, FGM/C, and Underage Marriage work in Eritrea focusing but not limited to legislation, policies and implementation strategies/plans, researches and materials, international and regional human rights instruments, frameworks and declarations on FGM/C, Child Rights and Underage Marriage with a view of identifying the legislation gaps and challenges and propose viable solutions ;
• Development of a concept note/inception report and work plan outlining methodology in relation to the assignment for discussions and approval. The inception report should also indicate proposed approach to developing the strategic plan including the outline of the strategic plan identifying focus areas and strategic outcomes ;
• Facilitate consultative meetings and workshops to build consensus on the proposed methodology and to ensure effective and efficient collaboration between MoH, MoLHW and NUEW ;
• Collect and collate stakeholders’ views and inputs on related work including policy makers but not limited to parliamentarians, government ministries, civil society, religious organizations, as well as UN Agencies ;
• Develop the draft 5-year National Strategic Plan, submit the draft for the feedback to the concerned officials and experts identified by the MoH, incorporate feedback and finalize the draft, and
• Support the validation workshops and present the final draft to the MoH, MOLHW, NUEW and other stakeholders.

 

Reporting procedure, coordination and supervision :

The selected consultant will directly report to the chair of the NSC under the guidance of the chair of the NTC (National Technical Committee). The consultant will work extensively with members of the NSC.

Expected Deliverable : Finalized Strategic Plan 2018-2021

The finalized Strategic Plans must include :

• A comprehensive programme roadmap for the next five years presenting the programmatic direction, goal, strategies to be adopted in line with the mandate of the relevant Ministries ;
• A results framework with an implementation plan to demonstrate the implementation process for these Strategic Plans and the key results to be achieved ;
• A resource and financial framework showing the financial requirements, and overall budget required to implement the 5 Year Strategic Plans ;
• A monitoring and evaluation framework for tracking progress.

Deliverables and timeframe :

• Desk review of the existing sectoral and national plans, strategies and programs pertinent to child rights, FGM/C and UAM …. 10days ;
• Data collection including from Zobas  13days ;
• Consolidating of primary and secondary data and drafting the first report    25days ;
• Presenting the preliminary report to the NTC and NST (PPP presentation)    2days ;
• Consolidating of comments from the plenary and finalization of the report   10days.

 

Qualification and Experience :

The consultant/resource person should have the following qualifications and working experience in the relevant field :

• Advanced University Degree in a field related to Social Science (economics, political science, public policy and/or international development policy) ;
• A minimum of 10 years work experience in creating, establishing and enforcing policies and plans and strategies related to social issues ;
• Knowledge and experience in developing policies and strategies ;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are required, knowledge of local language is an advantage ;
• Ability to work independently and respond to feedback in a timely and professional manner ;
• Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to contribute to a team.

General Conditions :

• Payment will be made according to the stated terms and conditions ;
• 30 % of the payment will be made upon signing of the contract ;
• The remaining 30 % payment will be made upon the submission of the initial report and the remaining 40 will paid after the submission of final report. Before payment, the final report needs to be approved by chair of the NSC ;
• The contract does not provide for payment of overtime ;
• All remunerations will be within this contract ;
• The consultant will be based in Asmara; however, s/he will be expected to travel and work in the six Zobas. Transport to the field will be provided for the consultant by either UNICEF or UNFPA ;
• UNICEF/UNFPA will provide the consultant with access to printers, internet and other equipment as required.

 

Note :

• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both the consultant and client ;
• The remuneration will be based on the P-4 level ;
• The individual must provide UNICEF and UNFPA with evidence/documentation providing that his/her qualification and experience are fit to provide expertise services.

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are….

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.