International Consultant: Programme Review – UNICEF Comores / Home Based

The UNICEF Comoros Country Office is planning to conduct a programme review of the current Country Programme (CPD) (2022-2026) that will inform the development of a Programme Budget Review submission which will be submitted in March 2024. This is prompted by a lack of funding that is affecting both the implementation of the programmes planned in the 2022-2026 CPD and the office’s ability to cover its staff costs.

The 2022-2026 CPD, which is aligned with the national development plan (Emerging Comoros 2030), is structured around the following outcomes:

1. By the end of 2026, women, children, girls and boys, and communities, especially the most disadvantaged, use quality, equitable and inclusive, and promotional, preventive and curative maternal, newborn and child health care, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, and adopt behaviours enabling child survival and development, including in humanitarian situations.
2. By the end of 2026, girls and boys aged 3 to 16 years make greater use of inclusive, equitable, gender-sensitive, and quality education services, including in humanitarian situations.
3. By the end of 2026, girls, boys, parents and communities, especially the most disadvantaged, make greater use of prevention and care services for child victims of violence and adopt behaviours that promote a protective environment for children, including in humanitarian situations.
4. By the end of 2026, more children and families benefit from social protection interventions that reduce poverty and build resilience.
5. UNICEF programmes are well coordinated, managed and performing with intersectoral synergies and innovation, and are well recognized and funded.

The CPD planned budget is USD 38m, including USD 8.5m of Regular Resources (RR) and USD 29.5m of Other Resources (OR) to be mobilized. As of mid-2023, the CO had mobilized only 38% of its Other Resources Regular (ORR) target for 2022-2026 (noting that this includes funds carried forward from the previous country programme).

The office thus conducted an affordability analysis, with support from ESAR. This analysis pointed to a 74% gap in OR for salaries in 2024, and even greater gaps in 2025 and 2026, for posts on fixed-term / continuing / permanent contracts. Staff on Temporary Assignments and United Nations Volunteers were not included in this analysis. Despite resource mobilization efforts, the office has very little funding pipeline (no upcoming grants). In 2024, to honour existing staff contracts, the CO will have to allocate most of its RR to staff costs, leaving little for programme implementation.

The recommendations from the affordability analysis were therefore to a) revisit and refine the program to sharpen its focus and b) subsequently review the office structure and adjust to an affordable and lighter fixed term structure with the possibility to expand with temporary capacity when needed.

What’s the difference? 

The consultant will act as an advisor to the senior management team in the change management process, focusing on the programme and the staffing structure review.

The assignment will comprise of the following activities:

– Desk review to digest key programmatic and management documents and guidance on UNICEF programming.

– Desk review of key technical and financial partners’ presence in Comoros, particularly World Bank, French Development Agency and UNDP, in terms of programme interventions and strategies; their staffing structures; desk review of UNICEF small country offices in other countries (particularly in SIDS and fragile contexts).

– Light validation of the overall outcome level results structure.

– Map key ongoing activities and strategies supported by UNICEF for all pillars of the country programme.

– Facilitating discussions with staff around review of existing programming in order to clearly define critical change strategies in the context of Comoros, taking into account partner analysis; and to sharpen the focus of programming.

– Facilitating discussions with staff around defining the skillset and competencies required in the programme teams, the operations team and Office of the Representative to deliver on the sharpened country programme and conducting a skills gap analysis.

– Propose new ways of working (including through the use of different contractual modalities) that would result in efficiency gains.

– Proposing, consulting on and finalising recommendations on a sharpened programmatic focus.

– Defining the skills gap that can be filled through targeted internal staff capacity development; skills that need to be recruited on a priority basis through alternative (non-FT) staffing modalities and general skills to be developed within existing staff.

– Advise and support the Deputy Representative Programmes and Operations Manager to identify potential risks and suggested mitigation strategies.

– Present findings to all Comoros staff in a logical and easy-to-understand manner.

Specific objectives of the international consultation :

The consultant is required to provide facilitation and support in the following two processes:

1. Programme review: Review of interventions, approaches and strategies under the ongoing 2022-2026 country programme, based on analysis of programming context, resulting in recommendations on prioritized and refined set of interventions/strategies considering UNICEF’s comparative advantage to sharpen the focus of the country programme.

2. Staffing structure review: Using appropriate organizational design tools and practices, apply a structured review methodology on the staffing structure to identify the required skills and competencies to deliver on the sharpened programmatic focus, resulting in recommendations on a structure that is fit for purpose, comprising of the required skillset whilst also remaining affordable for the medium-term future.

 

Tasks/milestone	Deliverable	Estimated date of delivery
Programme review Desk review of key programmatic and management documents (Programme Strategy Notes, CPD, CPMP, 2022 MICS, updated CCA, evaluations) and guidance on UNICEF programming Consultations with Senior Management Team (SMT), programme and operations to inform mapping of ongoing interventions and strategies. Map funding allocations and expenditures against ongoing interventions/strategies	Mapping of ongoing interventions including funding allocations and expenditures	4 working days (remote) 2 working days (on site) 2 working days (on site)
Facilitate consultative process across all office colleagues around sharpening the focus of the UNICEF Comoros programme   Formulate recommendations on sharpened focus, including on adjustments required to the ToC and work plans and Operations	Programme Review Report and PowerPoint presentation, including progress, bottlenecks, and an action plan for recommended adjustments/strategic shifts in programme implementation	5 working days (on site)   2 working days (on site)
Staffing structure review Defining required skills for sharpened programme: a) Identifying the skillset and competencies required to deliver on the sharpened country programme b) Propose a core staffing structure with the essential skill mix to deliver the revised CPD results as well as skills that can be recruited on a needs basis (non FT).    Available skills analysis – Matching available skills to required skillset through review of JDs and consultations with SMT and all staff – Define the skills gap that can be filled through targeted internal staff capacity development and general skills to be developed within existing staff; Presentation of consultation outcomes, including staffing structure scenarios to Comoros CO management and RO	Skill matrix   Report and PowerPoint presentation including analysis of a minimum of two staffing structure scenarios   Learning and development plan to address skills gaps Possible staffing structure options analysed and assessed Internal summary report of the scenario analysis submitted	5 working days (on site)         3 working days (on site)       1 working day (on site)
Draft final report including key findings of programme and staffing structure review with recommendations on the way forward	Final report and PowerPoint presentation	2 working days (remote)

 Pour plus d’information, veuillez consulter la description du poste ci-joint :

 TORs – Programme Review individual consultant Comoros.pdf

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