International Consultancy Service to Conduct Situation Analysis (SitAn) of Children in Turkmenistan

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The Situation Analysis (the SitAn) of children’s rights and wellbeing is a flagship product designed to inform policy dialogue, partnerships and interventions to improve the lives of children. It is an assessment and analysis of the country situation, with respect to children’s rights and critical issues affecting their realization. The SitAn is a crucial part of the child rights monitoring (CRM) framework and represents a key UNICEF programmatic output that helps focus on knowledge gaps related to inequities and child deprivations. By promoting the broad engagement of all stakeholders, the SitAn is expected to inform policy dialogue in the country and child-focused advocacy to make an important contribution to accelerating the achievement of child-related goals with equity.

The SitAn reflects UNICEF’s role to urge all levels of government and all key stakeholders to use the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a guiding mechanism in policy making and legislation to:

Develop a comprehensive national agenda;
Develop permanent bodies or mechanisms to promote coordination, monitoring and evaluation of activities throughout all sectors of government;
Ensure that all legislation is fully compatible with the Convention and, if applicable the Optional Protocols, by incorporating the provisions into domestic law or ensuring that they take precedence in cases of conflict with national legislation;
Make children visible in policy development processes throughout government by introducing child impact assessments;
Analyse government spending to determine the portion of public funds spent on children and to ensure that these resources are being used effectively;
Ensure that sufficient data are collected and used to improve the situation of all children in each jurisdiction;
Raise awareness and disseminate information on the Convention and the Optional Protocols by providing training to all those involved in government policy-making and working with or for children;
Involve civil society – including children themselves – in the process of implementing and raising awareness of child rights.
Brief background of previous SITAN findings and how the situation has evolved, particularly in relation to emergencies.

As Turkmenistan and UNICEF prepare to discuss the priorities of new Country Programme cycle, there is a growing need to update the analysis and provide UNICEF and its partners with new and robust evidence on the situation of children in the country, particularly the most vulnerable, to inform programme decisions and guide policy advocacy and partnership efforts, as well as to track progress of child rights implementation.

UNICEF, its partners and other stakeholders conducted a number of major research, studies, surveys and evaluations that provided new evidence that could be used to strengthen and broaden data/information evidence on the situation of children in Turkmenistan.

In view of the above, UNICEF Turkmenistan is seeking the services of an individual consultant to lead the consultations and deliberations with key stakeholders and develop the SitAn report using the available evidence, while paying due consideration to the latest recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda, UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2022-2025, UNICEF Gender Action Plan 2022-2025, main national priorities including National socio-economic programme 2052, National Action Plan on child rights 2023-2028, Strategy on mental health, and other national strategies.

Purpose of the Job

The main purpose of this assignment is to conduct a human-rights based and equity-focused Situation Analysis of children and  with respect to the realisation of children’  rights.  The analysis should examine the progress, challenges and opportunities for achieving child rights and well-being, and the patterns of deprivation that children face.  The Analysis should be objective and verifiable and is expected to be used by all partners and stakeholders in the country in addressing key challenges preventing children, especially the most disadvantaged, from enjoying their rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and other international obligations of the country.

The Situation Analysis report is to highlight the strategic priorities for the country to reduce disparities and address vulnerabilities, and hence make a contribution to further shape the national development agenda and to accelerate the achievement of national and international development goals regarding children, including SDGs. It should look critically at the progress that policy and programme interventions have made towards at-scale coverage of all vulnerable groups; the adequacy of policy delivery and when relevant emergency response, particularly in terms of budget; and the resources for leaving no child behind.

The SitAn is expected to present robust evidence and highlight opportunities for socially-inclusive development. It should unpack and examine the bottlenecks to realization of child rights, as well as the interrelated roles of duty-bearing institutions. It should highlight inequalities between groups, socio-economic characteristics, urban/rural and intra-urban disparities, genders, geographic locations and other dimensions. The SitAn should pay special attention to looking at disaggregated data and unpacking national and/or subnational averages. Besides presenting an analysis of why inequities exist, it should also present contextualized recommendations and strategies on what could be done by key stakeholders to attain/ sustain inclusive social development that guarantees equal inclusion and participation of all groups of children. SitAn should be grounded in the country’s political, economic and social realities, review progress towards the SDGs, and regional and global issues that affect children’s rights and well-being. In the core of SitAn should be national issues but, it also explores global and regional issues that affect the national agenda. By having a strong equity focus, the SitAn should shed light on the situation of children and young people who are most deprived, left invisible or uncounted for.

The main objectives of a rights- based, equity focused SitAn in Turkmenistan are the following:

Develop a deep understanding of the situation of children (including relevant groups of young people in vulnerable situations) by analysing the policies and strategies, social and economic trends affecting them (data disaggregated by age, gender, urban/rural, ethnicity, socio-economic status and other relevant characteristics).
Identify and analyse the barriers and bottlenecks that prevent children and especially the most disadvantaged children and families from benefiting from social services across sectors and enjoying their rights; draft strategies and recommendations on how the bottlenecks and barriers can be removed.
Identify and analyze gaps in the continuum of services indicating that children may be entering residential care unnecessarily and develop recommendations on what more can be done to protect and support children and families in difficult situations.
Training national facilitator/facilitators from youth cohort and engage them for the SitAn
Identify critical data gaps and contribute to the generation of evidence, through engagement of young academicians, that can improve the monitoring of the rights of children, especially the most vulnerable groups
Assess the current or potential emergency risks (disasters and other potential shocks); the likelihood of their occurrence, the underlying vulnerabilities and the capacities and coping mechanisms of families, communities and local and national institutions.
Analyse to what extent there is an enabling environment for the realisation of the rights of all children, and analyse how evidence-based interventions and services needed to address deprivations are prioritised in national policies, laws, strategies, plans and budgets
Capture new or emerging area of concerns regarding children], such as environmental issues affecting them, mental health issues etc.
Analyse the role/impact of business sector on child rights as well as public financial management.
Provide national government partners with comprehensive equity-sensitive and evidence-based analysis on children  for result-based decision-making;
Provide strategic information to non-government partners (NGOs, community-based organisations, civil society, media and business sector) to be used in their planning and interventions to address the most urgent issues affecting children
Contribute to the (re)formulation of key UNICEF strategies to support most disadvantaged children as a contribution to the development of the national the socio-economic development agenda.

The Situation Analysis is relevant to a wider audience which includes government entities, UNICEF and all development partners, civil society, ombudsperson, children, academia, private sector actors, media and others. The process of developing the Situation Analysis, therefore, anticipates engagement with the government and key stakeholders, including children and young people. It serves as an opportunity to promote meaningful dialogue on children issues between the main child rights actors in the country.

Conceptual Framework and Methodology

The SITAN should adopt the following indicative framework:

The overall conceptual framework of the situation analysis is the Human Rights-Based Approach to Programming (HRBAP). It should provide an understanding of the existing deprivations and inequities and establish the linkages between the underlying causes and barriers to achieving child rights and well-being. The conceptual framework situates the analysis in the country context and clearly recognizes the regional and global issues that are impacting children’s lives in the country. Furthermore, it explores the reasons behind the uneven realization of child rights and inequities of well-being, and the opportunities for achieving progress for all children, especially those who are left behind or at greatest risk of being left behind.[1]

In addition to the causality analysis that includes key deprivation, immediate, underlying and structural causes, the following 10 determinants (or a customized version of it) should help categories critical bottlenecks and barriers:

Determinants of bottlenecks and barriers

What population groups are affected by national/subnational laws; policies including budgets; conflict; and economic, social and environmental factors that lead to inequities?
How does the broader country context contribute to child rights and the well-being of young people?
What macro factors exacerbate inequities? What innovative solutions are accelerating inclusive development?
How are institutions – regional, national, subnational, private, public, etc. – systematically achieving their obligations on inclusive services and enabling opportunities for children and young people to meet their full potential?

Causes,

Challenges

And risks

What specific factors have contributed to the realisation of child rights and well-being? What are the main child rights violations in the country?
What are the top factors, including risks (prioritisation is key here), that prevent the realisation of child rights and well-being?
What are the key factors that drive inequities in the realisation of child rights and well-being? How are children engaged as active agents in decisions?
Do children and young people, especially the most vulnerable, enjoy their rights to (available, access, use, adequate and effective) coverage of commodities, services and opportunities?

Child rights

And wellbeing:

Progress and

Inequities

What progress has been made in achieving children’s rights and well-being against all rights and across relevant age groups, such as newborns, children under 5 years, young children, youth and adolescents, as defined within the national context, literature and evidence?
Has progress been equal? How large or deep are the deprivations faced by potentially disadvantaged groups, such as girls and women, those living in poverty, children with disabilities, children in residential care, minorities, refugee/IDP children and children affected by migration, among others? Who are the groups left behind, where and why? Who, among the children who are being left behind, face severe and/or intersecting deprivations and disadvantages, or multiple forms of discrimination that make them likely to be the furthest behind? How resilient are children to shocks and stressors?

Global and

Regional

Issues

What are the global and regional issues that impact child rights and well-being? Has there been country progress in addressing the concluding observations of the periodic reports of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and related human rights treaties? How are cross-border issues and openings (migrations, trafficking, digitalisation, etc.) being addressed/harnessed at scale?
How does the realisation of child rights and well-being contribute towards the achievement of the SDGs in the country, and addressing emerging issues?

Methodology

The consultant will primarily rely on secondary data analysis, while limited primary data collection from major child rights duty-bearers and other key informants may occur with support of young academicians. This will specifically include:

Desk review of existing nationally and internationally available data and evidence on selected topics published in studies, research, evaluation and survey reports.
Desk review of data, programme reports and analysis generated by Government and UNICEF, including studies, research and evaluations.
Desk review and comparative analysis of available legislation, social policy, government strategies and budget allocation and analysis of public expenditure documents.
Background notes on specific topics where UNICEF and other actors working with and for children do not have or have limited knowledge for a comprehensive Situation Analysis (e.g. gender analysis of disparities; environmental/climate issues affecting children, mental health issues, migration etc.).
Training of young facilitators and capacity building of academia to runs SitAns
Key informants’ interviews and Focus Group Discussions with support of young academicians, including those who shape and implement public policies as well as children.

The analysis must fully consider and articulate disparities related to gender, income, geographic location (national/ regional perspectives) and ethnicity.  The analysis should look across all child rights and identify where there are deprivations.

The methodology for data collection and analysis and the process of documentation should enable the periodic update of the situation analysis.

Consultant are required to propose a more precise methodology within the Inception phase. UNICEF Guidance on conducting the Situation Analysis is available as a reference for this purpose.

Stages of the situation analysis (exact time-frame to be agreed with consultant):

Within the assignment consultant should be engaged in establishing partnerships with all relevant stakeholders that can contribute to the SitAn development. This process will be supported by UNICEF CO.

1. Inception phase:

Initial desk review to assess availability of data/information
Development of a final conceptual framework for the SitAn and specific tools for data collection.
Presentation of the conceptual framework and the tools to UNICEF and key stakeholders mapping to facilitate an in-depth common understanding of the framework
Presentation of an inception report, including finalized conceptual framework and methodology.
2. Training of young academicians to run the analysis

Develop criteria for selection of young specialists for the training and support during data collections stage
Provide essential skills and train to conduct SitAn
Data collection and analysis:
Data collection and in-depth desk-review of existing evidence regarding the situation of children. This includes data/information on most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of children. National strategies and planning documents, policies and budgets. Relevant data and information on climate issues, energy and environment, gender equality, public financial management, role of the business sector, and the meaningful children’s participation should be collected and analysed.
Interviews and/or focus groups with key informants.
Evidence synthesis and completion of sample Table
Secondary analysis of available data/information.
Discussion and agreement on strategies to remove bottlenecks to the realization of child rights, particularly for vulnerable groups.
Strategic Prioritization workshop and Presentation of Evidence Synthesis

4. Reporting:

Development of draft and final Situation Analysis reports, presentation and annexes.

Inception Phase – total of 10 working days
Training for young academia – 5 days
Data Collection Phase – total of 10 working days
Analysis and Reporting Phase, including presentations/workshops for validation of bottlenecks and national actions – total of 20 working days
The timeframes are indicative.

The Consultant/s is expected to produce and submit the following deliverables:

SitAn inception report, which includes the initial analysis of the information that needs to be updated as a priority in the SitAn.
PPTs or other materials used for the training of young academia to conduct SitAn
Preliminary report on key findings and conclusions, which follows the suggested Outline, including, a power point presentation for validation of the findings. It also includes an Annex of State of Children’s Rights (SoCR) with issues, bottlenecks and national actions as well as major knowledge/data gaps arranged by the proposed child rights domains and sub-domains (format provided)
Final draft report for validation – as per the suggested Guidelines.
Final Report – which integrates comments from the validation process, ideally limited to ~ 50 pages (not including Annexes).
Final PowerPoint presentation and, as applicable, detailed causality analyses.

Inputs on submitted inception and draft reports provided by UNICEF and other stakeholders should be addressed in the process and final documents.

All submissions should be electronic. All materials submitted to UNICEF should be delivered in English, while preliminary report on key findings and conclusions, SoCR, SitAn Reports and PPTs should be submitted in both, English and Russian language.

[1] For more details on Conceptual framework and how to analyze Children’s rights in the new generation of SitAn please see UNICEF (2019), Core guidance; New Generation Situation Analysis, p 14. (Annex 1)

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.