Shock-Responsive Social Protection Consultant, Kyiv, Ukraine, 6 months (remote)

Описание

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UNICEF Ukraine

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Background: 

Ukraine has faced multiple shocks as a result of the full-scale war that started in 2022, including displacement and macroeconomic instability, which have tested the resilience and responsiveness of its national social protection system. UNICEF supports the Government of Ukraine to strengthen and reform the shock-responsiveness of national and subnational social protection mechanisms to respond effectively to ongoing and future crises, drawing on its global framework, “Programme Guidance: Strengthening Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems” (UNICEF, 2023). This guidance defines SRSP as the ability of social protection systems to respond to shocks through existing or adapted programmes, delivery systems, financing, governance and coordination.

Since 2022, Ukraine has demonstrated a strong and adaptive response in supporting vulnerable populations through its social protection system. Despite the unprecedented scale and complexity of shocks, the Government of Ukraine, led by the Ministry of Social Policy, managed to rapidly scale up social protection programmes, leveraging existing systems to provide timely, scalable, and effective support. Not only was Ukraine able to maintain routine functions of its social protection programmes, but the Government also both vertically and horizontally expanded relevant existing social protection programmes, and later also developed and implemented new shock-responsive programmes to cover identified gaps.

Ukraine’s experience offers important lessons on the capacity of social protection programmes to absorb shocks, adapt delivery, and coordinate multisectoral responses. However, ongoing and future shocks will require further strengthening of system readiness and possible enhanced linkages with humanitarian efforts. This assessment aims to build on Ukraine’s achievements by systematically analyzing the social protection system’s readiness and identifying opportunities to enhance shock-responsiveness guided by UNICEF’s Social Protection System Readiness Assessment Tool (link) and other recognized global tools as relevant.

Purpose of assignment: 

The purpose of this assignment is to conduct a shock-responsive assessment of Ukraine’s social protection system using globally acknowledged tools - guided by UNICEF’s Social Protection System Readiness Assessment Tool and complemented by other tools as needed (ISPA CODI, OPM’s SRSP toolkit, WB’s ASP framework) - in support of the Government’s social protection reform agenda. Supporting the Government of Ukraine to strengthen social protection systems to address needs in the current crisis context is a strategic objective for UNICEF.

The assessment will identify strengths, gaps, and entry points for enhancing the shock-responsiveness of the national social protection system, with particular focus on recent shocks and responses, linkages with humanitarian assistance if possible, and adaptive capacity to future shocks. The SRSP assessment should focus on the core pillars of SRSP, such as policy and legal framework, coordination and governance, administrative and delivery systems, and contingency financing. The assessment should be practical and provide actionable recommendations to take forward with the Ministry of Social Policy.

Objectives of this assessment include:

Assess the political, technical, operational and financial feasibility, or ‘readiness’, of the country’s cash-based social protection programmes to provide social assistance to people affected by current and future shocks. Identify potential opportunities, barriers, and provide recommendations (along policy, programmatic, administrative/data systems, and related dimensions) for the social protection system to be able to adapt timely and effectively so that children and households affected by crisis can get the necessary support through shock-responsive social assistance. Provide actionable recommendations to enhance the shock-responsiveness of the social protection system based on the identified gaps, including the role that international organizations can play to support this agenda. The assessment should look at: preparedness for types of crises and shocks, social protection system maturity, policy and institutional setting, the programmes and their design features, administration/data and delivery features. Through a participatory consultation workshop with key stakeholders (including the Ministry of Social Policy and humanitarian and development donors), refine the analysis and recommendations. The recommendations could be presented as a standalone section in the report or within a ‘Roadmap’ that looks at actionable ways to enhance SRSP and social protection-cash linkages. As the background mentions, the Government of Ukraine’s social protection response to the conflict has been commendable – maintaining routine functions, vertically and horizontally expanding, and introducing new (shock-responsive) programme. The consultant should develop a brief lessons learned and good practices report based on Ukraine’s experience that could be used globally in future conflict settings.

The assessment will involve interviews with key informants identified as key stakeholders for (shock-responsive) social protection in Ukraine. This will mainly include the Ministry of Social Policy, humanitarian and development donors, international financial institutions (notably the World Bank), and other international organizations involved in large-scale humanitarian cash assistance and social protection support. The assessment design, deliverables and outputs could be revised based on consultations with UNICEF and key stakeholders. While UNICEF will facilitate access to key informants, the consultant is expected to be able to work with minimal supervision

Work assignment overview:

Deliverable

Deadline

# of w/days

Inception report with methodology

5

Desk review

18

Develop key informant interview (KII) guide and conduct KIIs

5

Building on the desk review/analysis for the SRPS assessment, develop the M&E framework (and corresponding tools) and operational guide for UNICEF’s multi-donor shock-responsive social pilot implemented in collaboration with Govt

25

Draft assessment report with initial analysis

15

Consultations and validation workshop with key stakeholders

5

Incorporate feedback from workshop and refine analysis/recommendations

2

Final report (up to 30 pages) with recommendations and executive summary

15

Two-pager extracting key findings and information from final report

2

Prepare a presentation (max 10 slides) and present to the Task Force on Linking Cash Assistance and Social Protection

3

Incorporate feedback to the final report based on written comments and from the Task Force meeting

3

Brief report (5-8 pages) on lessons learned and good practices from Ukraine’s response that could be used in other conflict contexts in future

4

Prepare a brief (3-5 pages) with UNICEF-specific recommendations on enhancing SRSP and SP-cash linkages

3

Sub-total:

105

Travel plan: 

Mission to Kyiv, Ukraine for workshop (6 days).

Please provide an all-inclusive financial proposal including travels to carry out the deliverables listed above.

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

Education: Master’s degree or higher in Social Policy, Public Policy, Economics, Law, International Relations, or a related field within the Social Sciences.

Professional experience:

A minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience in assessing or strengthening social protection systems and/or cash transfer programming is required; Experience conducting feasibility assessment of national social protection systems using globally recognized tools (such as UNICEF or CODI) is required. Experience conducting qualitative and/or quantitative assessment is required. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are required.  Previous work experience in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is an asset. Previous work experience in an emergency, conflict or displacement context is an asset. Workshop facilitation skills to be able to produce/amend recommendations based on joint consultations is an asset. Experience with UNICEF or another UN agency is an asset.

Languages: 

English: Proficient/Native [C2]

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.