National Consultant on Behaviours and Social Change Communication Tender, Azerbaijan - 35683912

Procurement Summary

Country : Azerbaijan

Summary : National Consultant on Behaviours and Social Change Communication

Deadline : 02 Sep 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 35683912

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATION CHILDREN`S FUND
24, Neftchilar avenue, Dalga Plaza Baku AZ1095 Tel: +994 12 4923013 (multiline)
Azerbaijan
Email :baku@unicef.org
URL :www.unicef.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Azerbaijan: National Consultant on Behaviours and Social Change Communication for Early Childhood Development and Parenting Education.

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, development

Children are central to sustainable development. To achieve meaningful, sustained economic growth and development in Azerbaijan, there is a need to establish a solid social development basis, upon which children are assured good health, education, social inclusion and social protection, protection from exploitation, neglect and harm, investment in skills building, the creation of equal opportunity, and the prevention of discrimination.

While access and quality of social services including health, education and protection are important in supporting child development, it is well noted that inappropriate behaviours and practices of key stakeholders and general publics caused by limited knowledge on child development needs, wrong attitudes, as well as lack of skills and negative social norms are critical challenges that normally prevent children from fulfilling their basic rights. Few examples include a very low exclusive breastfeeding rate (14.5%), little attention to parenting education and early childhood development, stigma and discrimination towards children with disabilities with an isolated policy and practices of exclusion from mainstreamed education and social participation, existence of violence against children including bullying, abuse and child marriage, etc..

The UNICEF Azerbaijan, in partnership with the Government of Azerbaijan and the European Union, embarked on a new initiative to enhance the ongoing efforts in supporting sustained child and adolescent development through a three-year long programme on “Development of Community and Family-based Integrated Social Services for the Most Vulnerable Children in Azerbaijan”, aiming at to create an environment in which more vulnerable, at-risk and under-served children and young people can access quality services, support and opportunities through establishment of national standards across several sectors, strengthened technical and management capacities of local government and NGO/CSO actors, and the modelling of high impact, cost-effective services and programmes at national and sub-national level through the engagement of local authorities and NGO/CSO partners. The proggramme also intends to reduce disparities and exclusion and promote gender and age-specific equality.

The proposed programme includes a significant component of Communication for Development (C4D)/Communication for Behaviour Change (C4SC) as the key strategy to increase awareness and knowledge, improve attitudes and promote positive behaviours and practices through public campaign, community engagement and social mobilization, with specific focus on Early Childhood Development and implementation of the Parenting Education Programme.

A national consultant on Communication for Development is required to support the programme implementation.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the UNICEF Azerbaijan Office and in consultation with relevant government entities and civil society organizations, the consultant is expected to provide professional technical, operational and administrative guidance and support as well as quality assurance to implementation of the C4D related interventions, with specific focuses on supporting the development and implementation of a comprehensive Communication Strategy and Action Plan for integrated facility and community-based parenting and family education for early childhood development.

Duty station: Baku, Azerbaijan with frequent travel to the pilot sites in Absheron, Aghdjabedi, Gandja and Shirvan.

Major tasks to be accomplished:

Contribute to the development and implementation of evidence-based Behaviour and Social Change Communication Strategy and Action Plan on ECD and Positive Parenting: collect preliminary information about situation analysis of social norms and practices in the country; contribute to comprehensive C4D situation analysis of ECD related social, communication, cultural, economic and political issues including social norms and practices through supporting the baseline/endline surveys; collaborate and/or consult with internal and external partners to provide operational and technical support to evidence generation; work with international consultant to provide technical support in above-mentioned.
Review existing C4D resources and materials for ECD and parenting. Assess, select and/or recommend appropriate information and materials for C4D initiatives. Test, produce and use quality C4D materials. Verify accuracy and quality for dissemination.
Follow up and monitor the production of C4D materials to ensure technical quality, consistency and relevancy of communications materials that are developed, produced and disseminated to target audience (e.g. individuals, communities, government officials, partners, media etc). Use new technology and propose innovative communication methods to achieve the maximum impacts.
Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and tools to support maximum impact and outreach of C4D and parenting education initiatives. Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with implementing partners and local stakeholders through networking, proactive collaboration and active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate project implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results. Collaborate with internal global/regional communication partners to harmonize, link and/or coordinate messaging to enhance C4D outreach and contribution to programmatic outcomes.
Provide technical, administrative and logistical support and background materials to carry out C4D strategies and activities and recommend operational strategies, approaches, plans, methods and procedures. Organize events and activities to ensure community engagement and participation, and optimum outreach and impact on behavioral and social change.
Support the UNICEF C4D Officer in collecting, assessing and organizing information for budget planning and expenditure. Prepare documentations and related materials for financial planning for C4D initiatives. Ensure compliance of the projects with approved allocation, organizational rules, regulations/procedures, standards of accountability and integrity. Monitor/track the use of resources as planned. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
Regular monitor including field monitoring and assess the results and impact of C4D strategies and activities to achieve measurable behavioral and social change resulting in the area of ECD. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution. Submit qualitative report/synthesis of results for development planning and improvement. Submit monthly work completion and monitoring visit reports with analytical assessment on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
Provide support in identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
Deliverables and timeframe:

The contract will cover the period of Sept. 2019 - July 2020 (11.5 months) with possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance.


Expected deliverable

Timeframe & deadline

1)

Monthly report to summarize key activities, results, and plan for next month, attached with products delivered for the month

by the last day of each month throughout Sept. 2019 -July 2020

2)

Trip reports submitted following each monitoring visit with findings and recommendations for improving project impact and administration.

Within one week after completion of the trip

3)

Final Report submitted with overall summary of the consultancy work.

July 15, 2020

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

A minimum of three years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: social development, programme planning, community mobilization and outreach, health education, social marketing, communication and public advocacy/relationship.
Project management skills (the ability to monitor project implementation and budget, applying risk assessments, effective communication and negotiation skills, to manage expectations, excellent organization skills, to plan the use resources to meet deadlines; to the ability making initiatives and make decisions under pressure)
Proven experience in developing communication materials and/or reports: developing the content, editing, proof-reading and designing.
Professional/technical knowledge and experience in at least one area of childhood development (health, nutrition, education, child protection, social services for children and families) is an asset.
Ability to work and communicate with the partners: both government officials and local communities, NGO/SCOs representatives. Familiarity with government law, legislations, work processes, mandates and agenda relevant to ECD;
Familiarity with UNICEF-s mission and mandate.
Excellent English and Azerbaijani communication, writing and analytical skills;
Ability to work in a team with tight deadlines;
Excellent computer literacy and Knowledge and experience of using internet-based social media software and tool is desired.
For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF-s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Supervision and working environment:

The consultant will be directly supervised by the Communication for Development and Social Change Officer of UNICEF Azerbaijan and indirectly guided by the Health and Nutrition Officer, Education Specialist and Child Protection Specialist, with overall coordination of the Deputy Representative. The consultant will work in close collaboration with other UNICEF programme staff, the ECD consultant and implementing partners.

The consultant will work full time in UNICEF Azerbaijan Office with 40 work hours per week.

Application

Interested individuals should complete their profile in UNICEF`s e-Recruitment system and submit the following documents:

A cover/motivation letter
CV and Personal history form

(downloadable from http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc) Alternatively, if a candidate profile in the UNICEF e-Recruitment System is available, you may download it and submit it as part of application.

A financial offer, with a daily rate in AZN

Incomplete applications or missing any of the required documents will not be considered.

Administrative and travel arrangement

In the case of the field trips, all planned expenditures for local travel and the daily subsistence allowance as per UN-approved rate will be covered by UNICEF.
The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN DSS Basic and Advanced Security certificates, and have a valid own travel/medical insurance with hospitalization and repatriation coverage.
The consultant will be required to sign the Health Statement for consultants/Individual contractors prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance.
The Form `Designation, change or revocation of beneficiary` must be completed by the consultant.
Mandatorytraining:

All consultants regardless of contract duration must complete the applicable mandatory training. The link to these online training will be provided during the selection process for the successful candidates.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=525797

Documents

 Tender Notice