National Consultant: Understand the role of Faith-Based Agencies in Promoting Child Rights and Social, Behaviour Change and Ways Forward for UNICEF Turkiye

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, education.

UNICEF is a well-established and recognized leader in Community Engagement (CE) and Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) in global development and humanitarian work. CE strategies of UNICEF recognizes that faith actors are central SBC catalysts. The agency is well-positioned to nurture strategic partnerships with faith influence within wider CE strategies and, by extension, to find convergence with other development partner strategies. In addition to strengthening its own approaches internally, UNICEF demonstrates good practice in faith engagement, which can benefit both the wider UN system and the global development and humanitarian agenda.

UNICEF Türkiye Country Programme (CPD 2021-2025) was formulated based on the lessons learned from previous years. The CPD has focused on the transformation of social norms, especially during early childhood and adolescence, to influence lasting change in behaviours and attitudes. The programme places strategic emphasis on: (a) an integrated approach that promotes multisectoral programming to respond holistically to the needs of the most vulnerable children; (b) strengthening systems to improve the effectiveness and inclusiveness of policy implementation at the national and local levels; (c) improving evidence generation for equity-focused policy-making; (d) promoting positive behaviours and practices, and fostering institutional and social norms that promote respect for child rights; and (e) mobilizing increased investment for and commitment to child rights through broad-based coalitions of Government, private sector and civil society.

Evidence suggests that there are harmful social norms and practices, including the use of physical punishment as a disciplinary measure in some families. There is a need for promoting nurturing care by parents and other caregivers (focusing on infant and young child feeding practices, immunization, early stimulation, positive discipline, and early identification and reporting of developmental delays). 

SBC as a cross-cutting strategy is a relatively new programme approach to Türkiye CPD. Therefore, it is imperative to build the capacity of different stakeholders directly and indirectly involved in the SBC interventions. Religious institutions in Türkiye can be advocates of child rights through promoting key behaviours across the country. Türkiye demographically is a country with more than 99% Muslim population with around 90,000 mosques supported by Türkiye Diyanet Foundation. According to the Diyanet (Directorate of Religious Affairs, Government of Türkiye), mosques play a significant role in the development of society in terms of religious, social, and cultural aspects and bring hearts together at the spiritual center of society, the spirit of the city, the heart of the street, the hope of the nation. Türkiye is a secular state with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1924. While to many of the citizen believe that Islam is an important part of Turkish life, but the country is very tolerant of all religions, and faiths.

Globally, UNICEF works with different faith-based communities. During COVID-19, faith-based agencies played pivotal role in message dissemination, especially during lockdown when controlled measures restricted physical visits and direct programme implementation.  There are proven examples of working with faith-based groups in refugee and humanitarian contexts. In Türkiye, UNICEF has been continuing discussion and dialogues on issues of knowledge, attitudes and practices affecting children living in provinces affected by the earthquake and influx of refugees.

Considering the context in Türkiye, UNICEF would like to explore the areas and avenues to work with mosques and other religious organizations to promote child rights and social norm change relevant to key lifesaving and child wellbeing behaviours.

How can you make a difference?

The outcome of the consultancy will contribute to achieving CPD 2021-25 programme priorities and partnership mentioned at paragraph 22 as: “The programme also aims to promote social cohesion across all components by building on previous work to increase social capital and positive relationships among communities, caregivers and young people, using existing mechanisms and platforms. Strengthening national systems’ capacity to provide services in a more equitable and inclusive manner will also contribute to social cohesion.”

Outcome 1: By 2025, more young children, especially the most vulnerable, benefit from learning, nurturing care and development at home and in their communities.

Output 1.1: By 2025, parents, caregivers and relevant frontline workers have improved knowledge and skills to provide young girls and boys with adequate nurturing care as well as to detect and support for developmental delays and disabilities.

Deliverables and timeline

Total 60 working days between 1 March – 30 June 2024

Desk review: The Consultant will conduct a desk review to understand and map the role of different government bodies working with religious institutions promoting child rights in the country. Relevant policies, strategies, programmes documents, training manuals, guidelines, activity briefings etc. will be documented to understand the scope of work of government’s collaboration with religious institutions as relevant to UNICEF’s mandate.

Stakeholder matrix and organization mapping: Prepare a stakeholder matrix and organization mapping with a proposed list of stakeholders/key informants who are already involved in working with faith-based agencies at national and sub-national level. The matrix may include general information, programme brief, implementation period and current status, beneficiary coverage, budget and funding source (if available), locations (provinces, municipalities etc.), technical capacity (if trained in programme management etc.) monitoring framework etc.

Consultation with stakeholders: A methodology will be developed to conduct a qualitative assessment of relevant stakeholders (selected organizations and individuals relevant to faith-based agencies) at sub-national and then at national level with. The stakeholders will include participants/respondents from both government and non-government agencies which includes government officials, religious leaders, organizations working with faith-based agencies, researcher/academicians, activities, general people etc. A detail list to be developed for the consultation.

Conduct analysis and prepare report: A detail report will be prepared based on the desk and literature review, consultation and other exercises. The report will include a set of recommendations on the way forward for UNICEF – with a view to identifying entry points for engagement on specific thematic issues.

* All deliverables as per the scope of work must be satisfactorily completed and accepted by UNICEF TCO to facilitate payment. Delivery estimated working days are tentative.

1. DUTY STATION:

The assignment will work remotely, although face-to-face meetings/events will be organized at UNICEF on an as-needed basis. The consultant is expected to use his/her own IT equipment, internet, and telephone for the duration of the assignment.

2. MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION OF THE ASSIGNMENT 

The SBC Specialist will supervise the consultant’s work, with frequent interaction with other relevant colleagues as required.

3. DURATION OF SERVICE 

This consultancy will commence on 1 March 2024 and conclude before 30 June 2024.   

4. ESTIMATED COST OF CONSULTANCY AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE 

Applications shall include a detailed financial proposal that elaborates on daily costs based on the above-mentioned deliverables, including a total sum demanded. All costs, including travel, accommodation, administrative costs, etc. shall be covered by the contractor and should be included in the financial proposal as a separate heading and broken down into details of accommodation and travel costs.  The candidate is required to specify their daily rates and the total amount as per the number of anticipated working days for each deliverable in the financial proposal and provide the breakdown of the lump sum amount as well as incidentals of each deliverable in TRY.

Payment: UNICEF will issue a contract in TRY.

Travel Requirement: The cost of local transportation can be reimbursed upon submission of the original vouchers.

In case of travel required outside Ankara, UNICEF will provide transport/ticket/costs and DSA according to the organization rules relevant for national consultants.

Payment upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables will be made by UNICEF in two tranches. 

• First payment of 75% of the contract value will be paid after completion of Deliverable #4
• Second and a final payment of 25% of the contract value will be paid after completion of Deliverable #6

Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract without a prior notice and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the project partners are not followed, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. 

5. Submission of application

Please note that the assignment can only be held by an individual national consultant. Applications should be submitted in English and should include:

• Financial proposal using the Financial Proposal Template.
• P11 Form, where previous experience in information management is provided in detail.
• Most recent CV
• Submission of a concept note (preferably in one page and not more than two pages) on the assignment considering the ToR.
• The applicant may also add a list of publication along with links.

Financial proposals should be submitted in separate folders from the remaining documentation. After the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of qualified candidates will be evaluated. The technical evaluation will be completed based on the attached technical evaluation criteria.

The applications will be evaluated from the technical and financial point of view. Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:

Technical evaluation table (70pts)

The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed forty-nine (49) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points).

To qualify as an advocate for every child… 

The consultant is expected to possess a mix of knowledge, skills, and expertise needed to successfully complete the assignment. The desired qualifications needed from the consultant to complete this assignment are suggested as follows: 

Required: 

• Postgraduate degree in Social Science, Religious Studies, Political Science, Comparative Religions, Child rights or relevant fields  
• A minimum of 8 years of work experience in the social sector
• Conversant with the issue of social norm change and child wellbeing in Türkiye
• Significant experience in consulting with diverse groups of stakeholders 
• Significant experience with a desk review and qualitative interview methods 
• Evidence of writing ability  
• Fluency in English and Turkish

Preferred:  

• Experience working with government ministries and organizations especially Turkish ministries will be advantageous
• Knowledge of the religious institutions in Türkiye will be an asset
• Previous experience of working with the UN or other international organizations 
• Working ability or knowledge of Arabic language will be an asset

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.