Research Consultant for Communities Care, Home-based with regular travel to Juba and field sites, #593684

Contract Duration: 12 months

Working arrangement: Home-based with regular travels to Juba and field sites

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Scope of Work:

1. Revise and adapt programme research tools related to Communities Care, including baseline and endline survey baseline and endline surveys, M&E and other research related tools to measure social norms changes with UNICEF and other partners. In addition, the consultant will support the development of guidance for FCDO GBVPSS results framework data collection tools.

2. Create, adapt and implement Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tools for GBV prevention and risk mitigations activities, including Communities Care, ensuring training and continuous technical support to UNICEF partners. As part of this, the consultant provide training and mentoring for partners’ M&E teams on qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g., conducting interviews, focus groups, survey sampling and design, and experimental design) to improve the quality of data collection and reporting and will work with them to integrate participatory and feminist approaches to M&E.

3. Conduct quarterly visits to South Sudan to lead and coordinate research, training and monitoring activities at the field level and build the capacity of the UNICEF South Sudan and partners to ensure proper understanding of the programme tools, their timely and efficient implementation and overall understanding of the programme objectives and outcomes related to the research through trainings and remote support. As part of this, the consultant will support active collaboration, information sharing and joint meetings between UNICEF partners, local authorities and other stakeholders to identify and strengthen support for programme activities.

4. Lead and oversee baseline and endline surveys including data collection, data cleaning, collation and analysis in 14 locations where partners are implementing Communities Care to measure impacts of the programme on the general population using qualitative and quantitative tools. This includes consolidating and analysing data collected at field level and producing comprehensive reports on baseline and endline surveys to share with partners implementing Communities Care to inform programme adaptations.

5. Design and implement a process evaluation of implementation using baseline and endline surveys, M&E tools, focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII) to document progress, challenges, lessons learned and good practices to inform the next phase of implementation. This should assess changes in beliefs, attitudes and social norms among community members and service providers on GBV from baseline to endline. The process evaluation report will include findings and recommendations.

6. Lead two learning, review, and dissemination workshops with communities, Women-Led Organizations (WLOs), donors, and other stakeholders to share findings, facilitate reflection, promote learning, and provide feedback on Communities Care implementation.

7. Continuous review the Communities Care toolkit and provide guidance for adaptions based on lessons learned from implementation in South Sudan.

8. Produce articles, PowerPoint presentations and communication materials for internal and external communication about Communities Care impacts, lessons learnt and best practices in South Sudan and beyond with GBV programming practitioners and other relevant stakeholders.

9. Support UNICEF Child Protection section in donors’ reports for GBV programming through tracking indicators linked to Communities Care and risk mitigation activities, drafting donors’ reports. This includes archiving data collected and ensuring Communities Care M&E data analysis is accessible to UNICEF staff for reporting.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: ToR TMC0003039.pdf

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, psychology, social work, gender studies, research methods, monitoring and evaluation, public health, or other related fields.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience working on GBV programming in humanitarian settings.
• Demonstrated experience in designing, conducting, and analysing field research, including providing technical support, mentorship, and capacity strengthening to local research teams.
• Proven experience leading research on GBV prevention approaches and models, including social norms and community-based interventions.
• Demonstrated experience in planning and facilitating trainings, workshops, and other capacity-strengthening initiatives for diverse stakeholders.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:

• Strong computer skills must be competent in the use of Windows, MS office programmes (Word, Excel, Access), and ability to adapt to Communities Care programme developed databases and tools.
• Excellent spoken and written English and ability to write research documents and reports.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to effectively liaise with people in a wide range of functions in a multi-cultural environment.
• Ability to work independently and productively with multiple stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work productively in a team and independently, and to handle requests or issues as they arise.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal (only acceptable in the format of the linked template) Financial proposal template TMC0003039.docx
• A technical writing sample (research report, evaluation, assessment, baseline/endline report, peer-reviewed publication, donor report, or analytical brief) demonstrating strong analytical, research, and writing skills related to GBV prevention, social norms change programming, monitoring and evaluation, or community-based interventions.

Remarks:

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.