National Individual Consultant: Child Protection Consultant to Support Coordination of Integrated Adolescent Girls Programme, in Songwe, Tanzania Mainland, 11 Months.

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, support 

Despite multiple interventions, the practice of child marriage continues in Tanzania, exposing young girls to sexual exploitation while denying them the right to education. Three in ten women aged 20-24 years are married by the age of 18, making Tanzania the country with the 11th highest number of child brides in the world. Girls as young as 14 are being forced into marriage as the rising cost of living pushes families to the edge of survival. In Tanzania, adolescent girls can be legally married at the age of 14 with the consent of the court and at the age of 15 with parental consent. Human Rights Watch has documented the devastating lifelong consequences of child marriage for girls, including impacts on girls’ health when they become pregnant when still too young, the increased risks of domestic violence including marital rape, and how marriage and pregnancy end their education. Songwe is the leading region in Tanzania with the highest rates of teenage pregnancies, standing at 44.7%. In Tanzania, as per the re-entry circular 2 of 2021, schools are not to expel any child from school who had dropped out of school due to pregnancy. A child who drops out can return to school within a period of two years while receiving guidance and counselling. However, some girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy have limited opportunities to return to formal schooling due to a lack of childcare options while they attend school. To avoid stigma, some girls opt not to return to their school but rather attend a different school, far from the one they were attending previously. Tanzania has committed to eliminate child marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

UNICEF Tanzania has prioritized adolescence as a key pillar of the new country programme 2022-2027. Eliminating child marriage accelerates the achievement of adolescent girls’ rights across multiple sectors hence it is strongly aligned to UNICEF Tanzania’s priority on adolescence as well as the government’s National Plan of Action to End Violence Against Women and Children (NPA-VAWC) 2017/18-2021/22 and National Accelerated Action and Investment Agenda for Adolescent Health and Well Being (NAIA-AHW) 2021/22–2024/25. UNICEF Tanzania is therefore implementing an Integrated Adolescent Girls Programme (IAGP) focusing on eliminating child marriage in Songwe Region. During implementation, UNICEF will document lessons learnt and good practices that are transformative for adolescent girls’ empowerment.  

How can you make a difference?  

UNICEF Tanzania is seeking for a qualified national individual consultant to Support coordination of the Integrated Adolescent Girls Programme (IAGP) in Songwe and provide child protection oversight in Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe and Songwe regions. 

Scope of Work: 

The Consultant will coordinate implementation of IAGP at different levels in Songwe Region with specific focus on strengthening gender-transformative parenting (Child Protection) and community-based social norms programming (Social Behavior Change and Child Protection). The consultancy involves working with key Government and Non-Governmental actors as well as communities e.g., adolescents  (girls and boys), families, traditional and religious leaders, and other community influencers to challenge harmful social norms and practices and promote gender equality. The consultant will also provide technical oversight on child protection interventions which are implemented in Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe and Songwe (MINS) regions. 

The scope of the consultancy covers; 1. Implementation of gender-transformative parenting program (Furaha Teens) 2. Community engagement and mobilization. 3. Support overall Coordination of IAGP:    4. Child Protection oversight in MINS regions.  

Expected outputs/Deliverables .

WORK ASSIGNMENT, DELIVERABLES, TIME FRAME AND PAYMENT   

PAYMENT SCHEDULE 

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.  

ASSESSMENT / SELECTION PROCESS AND METHODS 

The Financial Proposal should include all costs of this assignment including fee, travel costs, accommodation as UNICEF will not pay any DSA. The financial proposal should be in Tanzania shillings.  

Proposals will be both technically and financially evaluated. The technical part will carry a weight of 75%, in which the consultant will be evaluated in terms of their education level and work experience. The financial part will carry 25% showing the proposed budget breakdown of consultancy cost for each deliverable (fees, travels and accommodation) and eventual total consultancy cost. 

LOCATION, DURATION & LOGISTIC 
The consultancy is Office-Based. The consultant will be stationed in Mbeya region, supporting coordination of the Integrated Adolescent Girls Programme in Songwe and providing child protection oversight in Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe and Songwe regions. The validity of the contract will be for 11 months.  

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

• Advanced university degree in social work, sociology, international relations, development studies, law, child psychology or relevant field. A Bachelor’s Degree with additional 2 years of relevant working experience (7 years working experience in total) may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 
• A minimum of five years of professional experience in social development planning and management of child protection programmes. 
• Demonstrated child protection experience, specifically working in programmes promoting socio-behavior change and/or social welfare case management for children. 
• Relevant experience in programme development in child protection in Tanzania, preferably in the Southern Highland regions. Specific experience working in Songwe is a bonus. 
• Fluency in English (verbal and written).  
• Knowledge of Kiswahili necessary.  

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 for ensuring 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.