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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, deliver.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

WASH is a critical life-saving sector in emergencies and is essential for ensuring safe and sustainable access to other services, such as health and education. The absence of adequate WASH services can increase the risk of gender-based violence. With the growing impact of extreme weather events and protracted crises, the WASH Insecurity Analysis enables WASH actors to identify areas with the greatest WASH insecurities using robust, standardised methods. This analysis ensures data quality, building user confidence, and fosters a common understanding of WASH insecurity across humanitarian and development sectors—an understanding currently lacking in the WASH sector.

Although data availability in the WASH sector has improved, especially in hard-to-reach and insecure areas, there is no common method to analyse this data for decision-making. Unlike other sectors with established frameworks, such as the IPC and Cadre Harmonisé for Food Security, WASH lacks a harmonised approach, hindering evidence-based advocacy, resource mobilisation, and the identification of communities most in need of WASH services.

The WASH Insecurity Analysis is grounded in the human right to water and sanitation, focusing on availability, safety, and accessibility. WASH insecurity is shaped by access to WASH services, exposure to hazards, and underlying vulnerabilities such as gender, or poverty. This insecurity can lead to negative outcomes like increased waterborne diseases and the denial of basic human rights. The analysis identifies geographic areas and quantifies populations at risk or already experiencing WASH insecurity. It serves as a tool to unify diverse stakeholders across humanitarian and development contexts, promoting localisation through local-level analytical insights before and after shocks. It can guide governments and development actors in prioritising sectoral investments.

The analysis uses secondary data and offers three functions to meet users’ needs:

• A Base Score for global comparisons of WASH needs and risks.
• A Modular Function that integrates additional data for more detailed planning at national or regional levels.
• A Tailored Function that provides real-time, granular analysis for rapid decision-making, particularly after disasters.

Developed by UNICEF, the WASH Insecurity Analysis (WIA) is a composite index that identifies areas where populations have low WASH access, high exposure to hazards, and high vulnerability. WASH insecurity leads to negative outcomes, including increased disease rates, risks to well-being, and the denial of basic human rights. The WIA helps stakeholders:

• Prioritise WASH interventions and investments.
• Identify areas where multi-hazard preparedness is needed.
• Promote multi-stakeholder engagement, including government and private sector involvement, to reduce WASH insecurity.
• Inform programme design, highlighting where infrastructure needs to be shock-resistant or where multisectoral approaches are needed to address vulnerabilities.
• Collaborate with other sectors to identify joint priorities.

This assignment will support the Global WASH Cluster to continue the implementation of the WIA in five countries, promote institutionalization of the WIA, and to support proposal development. The WIA is a cross-division initiative so while the WIA Coordinator is based in the Global WASH Cluster, they will regularly collaborate across Divisions with the WASH Programme Group in the Programme Division and the JMP WASH Unit and Frontier Data under the Division of Analysis, Planning, and Monitoring (DAPM).

Scope of work

The consultant will:

1. Lead engagement with UNICEF Country- and Regional-Offices to promote and support the implementation of WASH Insecurity Analysis, including:

a. Providing dissemination, orientation, and training to key stakeholders on the WIA process.
b. Supporting country teams to plan workshops, including preparation of materials and presentations.
c. Identifying country technical support requirements and provide relevant support, in coordination with the WIA Analyst and other IM technical roles.
d. Reviewing and updating processes for implementing the WIA at country levels to ensure they are practical and fit for purpose.
e. Produce a package of user-facing guidance materials to support country teams to implement the WIA.
f. Identifying and developing opportunities for integrating or harmonising WIA process with related processes within UNICEF Country Programmes and HPC (e.g. PIN calculation, indicator harmonisation).
g. Writing narrative reports to disseminate findings from country level analysis.

2. Develop and implement systems and platforms to facilitate engagement of current and potential users, technical experts, and related internal and external initiatives, including:

a. Facilitating internal UNICEF Core Team meetings
b. Organizing User and Methodology Reference Group meetings
c. External and internal meetings with stakeholders

3. Coordinate the overall WIA project, ensuring consistency in process, efficient use of staff time, and supporting resource mobilisation, including:

a. Coordinating work planning for the WIA project, identifying milestones and tracking progress
b. Supporting proposal development process
c. Producing internal and donor-facing progress reports

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

125 working days between December 2024 and November 2025

The Consultant will be home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned 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.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 125 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as this will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master’s degree in Technology Information Management, Knowledge Management, or other relevant field.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of relevant professional experience in the WASH sector in humanitarian or fragile contexts, including at least five (5) years of experience in strategic positions at the global level.
• Strong understanding of humanitarian WASH coordination and related processes (i.e. HPC).
• Experience and advanced skills in data analysis and information management.
• Strong analytical, presentation and communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience in coordinating the development composite indices.
• Previous experience developing technical guidance and/or training materials.
• Fluency in English required. French or Spanish as a second language is an asset.
• Ability to coordinate remotely with team members and meet deadlines with minimal supervision.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.