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For every child, Team Building

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
Consultancy to facilitate Team Building Retreat for All Staff, UNICEF South Sudan Country Office

Background:
UNICEF South Sudan’s country programme cycle (2023-2025) aligns with national priorities presented in the South Sudan Vision 2040, the Revised-National Development Strategy (R-NDS), the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and key national planning documents. The programme cycle will enable UNICEF to continue to expand the delivery of key services, including survival, development and protection. UNICEF South Sudan (SSCO) will accordingly continue to work with partners to implement programmes for longer-term recovery and resilience of affected communities and strengthen cross-sectoral integrated responses at national and subnational levels, including advocating with Government and humanitarian partners to gain access to affected communities.

The operating environment in South Sudan remains complex since the eruption of civil war in 2013. Insecurity continued to escalate, with the July 2016 crisis as the deadliest, which led to a marked deterioration of the operating environment for the humanitarian community in the country. Political instability and recurrent armed clashes have since then been frequent and mostly leading to humanitarian needs, while the ability of SSCO to respond effectively and efficiently is continuously constrained.

At the face of all these challenges and to stay relevant and fit-for-purpose, country office (CO) has been engaged in a restructuring and decentralization processes that saw abolishment and relocation of staff members through several PBRs and recruitment of several staff members (IPs &Nationals) to help bolster CO’s response to the ever-growing humanitarian needs across the country. The new programme structure 2023/25 reflects the adaptation of key programming strategies and office structure to the expected operating environment, a decentralized structure (with reduced staff footprint) that responds to the continued instability, with realistic and affordable prioritizations of the interventions agreed to in the current Country Programme Document.

The office has witnessed transition of many staff members, with several new staff and non-staff joining and contributing to the delivery of results for children. This has led to the reconstitution of several teams within sections and field offices, which brings in different team dynamics. Whilst the office performed well in November 2023 Pulse Survey, there is still room for improvement and to ensure sustained psychological safety and trust amongst all personnel. At the same time, new team members require further orientation to the overall team dynamics, to ensure their behaviors are aligned to UNICEF’s CRITAS values. The recently completed Values in Action Workshops further highlighted the need for the office to continue with several efforts to improve the workplace culture and remove unprofessional behaviors.

OBJECTIVE
This consultancy is to help build a high-performing team of motivated staff who get satisfaction from their collective team achievements. The consultancy framework aims to help staff members find answers to typical team building questions, including knowledge of current stance within the team, where they are headed, how to reach to their destinations, and where do they want to be within a given timeframe.

The proposed team building staff retreat should therefore help management and the teams to obtain responses to several questions, including:

1. How well placed are they to achieve team goals?
2. What are their strengths as a team? What have they got to achieve the goals?
3. What is blocking or preventing them from achieving?
4. What do they need to improve or develop to achieve success?
5. Personal and professional growth
a. Self-awareness
b. Self-esteem and confidence building
c. Self-empowerment

Under the guidance of the Human Resources Manager and direct supervision of Staff Association, the Consultant will undertake the following:

a) Familiarize with South Sudan development context

Background document will be provided to the consultant to familiarize him/herself to the development context of South Sudan through key documents, including the Situation Assessment of Children and Women in South Sudan 2017, the new National Development Strategy, the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, previous Global Staff Survey and Pulse Survey Reports, amongst others.

b) Facilitate the Team Building Retreat

Facilitation of the retreat is the core activity of the assignment, and the firm will also provide input for preparatory work for the workshop in close collaboration with the Human Resource and Staff Association.

METHODOLOGY:
The retreat is planned for the week of Monday 24 October 2022 (25th – 27th October), to be facilitated by international consultant(s). A mix of methods are required to provide opportunities for:

Team building: Design and conduct team building activities which are aimed at fostering team spirit, bringing out benefits of being part of SSCO for better performance. The sessions should include team building within sections.

Enhancement of Speak-Up/Speak with Culture: Nurturing an environment that encourages a speak-up/with culture requires active participation of all staff. The retreat should provide an opportunity for staff to contribute to strategies and actions to help achieve the goal.

Promote open and transparent communication channels: Improve communication of team across roles and responsibilities to improve morale, team spirit, fellow-feeling and goal congruence while reducing stress and strain.

Building cohesion around mutual respect: Reduce unhealthy conflict and improve support and trust levels among staff to ensure harmony and organizational productivity. This should help the team to embrace diversity and increase levels of appreciation, communication patterns and tap into the team dynamics.

Motivation and Inspiration: Inspire team SSCO to be forward looking, take responsibility and think differently. The retreat should help SMs to raise energy levels and commitment to UNICEF’s goals.

Safe and facilitated space: Create a safe space for the team members to express themselves, celebrate successes, confront challenges, give and find aspirations and hold meaningful conversations that help bond the team, improve goal orientation, frozen relationships and increase emotional safety and wellbeing.

SSCO Dos and Don’ts: Facilitate group discussions, with groups tasked to identifying expected and unexpected behaviors in the office. Staff will be expected to sign/commit to be conscious of the Dos and Don’ts, which are linked to the CRITAS values and role model their behaviors accordingly.

The retreat will be attended by all UNICEF SSCO staff (including non-staff based in staff) in South Sudan. Work Assignments Overview (activities/tasks to be completed by consultant) Deliverables/Outputs (outcomes, different from activities) Delivery deadline Estimated Budget.

• Preliminary consultation with key staff members Meetings with key staff members held for preliminary consultation. 15 Sep 2024 10%
• Inception Report – concept note Inception report finalised and submitted for review. 30 Sep 2024 10%
• Staff Retreat facilitation Staff Retreat facilitated as outlined in concept note. 22-23 Oct 24 30%
• Report of the two-days staff retreat in Juba; seven days starting 22nd October 2024 to cover the preparatory work. Report of the two-days staff retreat in Juba finalized. 29 Oct 24 15%
• Consolidated retreat notes document outlining the workshop’s proceedings, including practical recommendations and operational tools which can be used by the team in the future. Consolidated retreat notes submitted. 15 Nov 24 15%
• List of agreed SSCO Do’s and Don’ts, which will eventually be printed on banners and posters for display in the offices. List of agreed SSCO Do’s and Don’ts submitted. 30 Nov 24 20%

Qualifications
1. An advanced university degree in Social Sciences, or similar background

2. 10 years of relevant professional experience.

3. Proven track record of facilitating team building and knowledge sharing workshops and consultancy experience.

4. Have experience in facilitating similar workshops with UNICEF or other UN agencies

5. Must have proven experience of producing analytical write ups

6. Strong analytical skills and excellent English language writing skills

7. Strong communication, presentation, and facilitation skills

Administrative details:

• Visa assistance required
• Office Based
• Seating arrangement identified
• IT and Communication equipment required
• Internet access required

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.