International Consultant to conduct formative evaluation on the progress and effectiveness of IBAMA in supporting vulnerable families and individuals.

UNICEF Maldives is seeking an International Consultant to conduct formative evaluation on the progress and effectiveness of IBAMA in supporting vulnerable families and individuals.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

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, safety.

Advert – Consultant to conduct formative evaluation on the progress and effectiveness of IBAMA in supporting vulnerable families and individuals.

How can you make a difference?

Background

While Maldives has made significant progress in terms of access to basic social services and social protection interventions, an unfinished child rights agenda remains, with many children still vulnerable to issues such as violence, drugs, neglect and exploitation. According to the last census (2022), there are 3,401 children with disabilities, and 28,500 children without parental support. Also, 517 children reported to be abused (physically or sexually). All these vulnerabilities require a multi-sectoral response.

IBAMA – Ijthimaee Badhahi Madhadhuverin (translated IBA -You; and MA – Me) – is a multi-sectoral platform at the city/island level to identify vulnerable children and families and linking them with social services. By bringing together social service providers, IBAMA works for the promotion, prevention, and protection of human rights of communities including children, with a focus on the most vulnerable.

The IBAMA regulation was published in the Government Gazette on 8 September 2022, empowered by 17 laws and regulations referencing multisectoral collaboration within government entities. The policy also encompasses child rights as stated in the Convention to the Rights of the Child, human rights as stated in the Geneva Convention, and gender equality championed in the SDGs. Led by the Ministry of Social and Family Development at the national level, guardianship of the respective city/island IBAMA lies with the city/island council. The role of sector leadership is to enhance the implementation of the mandate, reach out to vulnerable families, and early identification of, and plan and assist in interventions for vulnerable families and individuals.

IBAMA is a multi-sectoral platform that brings together Island Councils, city/island level entities of the Ministry of Social and Family Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and Maldives Police Service, at the island level, and serves as a key coordination mechanism for social service sectors to collaborate and work together to provide vulnerable children and families with the required support.

As of today, with the initial training supported by UNICEF, IBAMA has been established in 132 cities/islands across 12 atolls, and UNICEF in coordination with the stakeholder ministries/institutions aim to continue joint efforts to establish IBAMA in all islands of Maldives. Currently work is underway to identify and address gaps to enhance the functionality of IBAMA.

UNICEF has played a key role providing technical support to establishing a culturally appropriate and feasible option for stakeholders to work together to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized children and families for prevention, protection and responding.

Outcomes and Indicators

Keeping a focus on the four vulnerable groups, children -especially victims of violence and those at risk of exploitation, victims of GBV/DV, elderly – especially the bed-ridden and people with disabilities, the intended outcomes for IBAMA includes:

Objectives

The purpose of this formative evaluation is to provide evidence on the progress and outcomes of the IBAMA(s) implementation in the first phase. Furthermore, the evaluation will identify the successes as well as the challenges and constraints in their work. UNICEF and the Government partners are the primary users of the results of this evaluation. The results of the evaluation will also provide valuable lessons for improvement in establishing IBAMA in the remaining 60 islands.

This exercise will seek to answer the following overarching questions:

• How functional are IBAMAs?
• How effective is the IBAMA program in achieving its intended results, including outcomes, and how efficient is its operational performance?

What are the key bottlenecks encountered in the implementation of IBAMA, and what good practices and lessons can be documented from its execution and scalability in remaining cities/islands?

1. Deliverables

The formative evaluation is expected to start in August 2024 and be completed by November 2024.

•   The consultant will be paid upon satisfactory completion of assigned tasks and receipt of key deliverables and as certified by the UNICEF Maldives.

•   UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment or partial payment for deliverables that are of poor quality or that do not meet the deadline stated in the contract.

•   If deliverables are submitted before the end of the contract, payment will be processed.

•             The final payment will be processed within 30 days of the expiry date of the contract upon confirmation of satisfactory delivery of services.

For the full Terms of Reference, please visit: VA ToR for International Consultant to undertake IBAMA Evaluation 25062024.pdf

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

Education 

•   At least a Master’s Degree in child protection, social work, or social sciences.

Work Experience

•   At least 10 years of experience in conducting research, studies, and evaluation.

Competencies

•   Knowledge of latest methods and approaches in evaluation, especially participatory methods

•   Experience in applying both quantitative and qualitative methods and ablity to effectively communicate data and analysis

•   Familiarity with UNICEF’s organizational procedures and systems

•   Demonstrate capacity to lead an evaluation team.

•   Excellent oral and written communication skills in English

•   Experience with the ethics of evidence generation; familiarity with ethical safeguards

•   Flexibility and adaptability

Language Proficiency

Must be proficient in English

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.