If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Background

In January 2016, UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office (ZCO) embarked on a new country program for the period 2016 – 2020. In order for the provisions of the Country Program Action Plan to be fully realised; it is critical for UNICEF to develop a database which will be a repository of existing information in Zimbabwe from a variety of sources to help Section Managers (SMs) monitor the situation for the achievement of desired goals and results for the children and women of Zimbabwe.

 Evidence-based policy-making calls for the availability and use of sound data. To achieve it, UNICEF Zimbabwe country office (ZCO) is looking for a solution to help Section Managers quickly analyse the information available from a variety of sources to feed into decision making. The tool should be able to quickly search the information from sources publicly available such as MICS, DHS, Census, Poverty Atlas as per the needs of the sector colleagues at district level and below.

 Introduction

It is therefore essential, to have the necessary expertise on the ground to provide guidance and technical support in work pertaining to the finalisation of the database. There is clearly a need to identify cross-sectoral set of indicators that will provide overreaching insight into progress towards goals identified in the Country Program 2016-2020 to achieve desired results and objectives.

The indicators need to be well articulated and disaggregated to lower geographic levels (district and below) as well as background information and vulnerabilities like gender, age, rural/urban/slum and wealth. It will be useful to have integration with ZimDat database for historical data to the extent possible and desired.

 There is a need to formulate a clear strategy on how best to introduce the database as a decision-making support tool for the monitoring of national as well as international development frameworks with a strong emphasis on its strategic use in evidence-based policy making and monitoring and evaluation across sectors.

 However, due to staffing and capacity limitations in the country office; it is necessary to engage the services of an international expert to provide technical support in the development and implementation of the tool.

 Objective (s)

During the contract period, the consultant is required to support the PME section of the ZCO to undertake the following:

 Advise on the development of a cross-sectoral database

1. Meeting with ZCO section managers to identify key monitoring frameworks
2. Identify and consensus building around a set of strategic indicators to be included in the database for monitoring development plans and country program
3. Agree on Indicator Metadata attributes to be provided by the section managers in an agreed format for inclusion in the tool
4. Finalize the database architecture and design
5. Enter data from selected sources (preferably in Excel format) for indicators identified and agreed
6. Conduct customized user training for different sections and develop gallery of reports, graphs and maps
7. Capacity building workshop for key focal points from all sections for maintenance (updating and upgrading) of the database/tool
8. Provide off-site support for maintaining the database

Methodology & Expected Output

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the PME and relevant program sections in UNICEF to design and implement selected activities. Schedules of deliverables will be agreed between UNICEF and the consultant.

The consultant will be paid as per the deliverables (on man-days basis) as listed below at an agreed rate starting from February 17 to April 25, 2017 – a total of 56 man-days which includes an additional 7 days of off-site helpdesk support till 30^th June, 2017. The work will involve both working on-site and remotely following an agreed schedule. Payment will be based on delivery of agreed outputs within agreed deadlines. Payment will be made on the basis of report submitted by the consultant indicating progress against the deliverables.

Major Tasks and Deliverables

Task: Support finalization of the database template with possible integration with ZimDat (indicators, metadata format, level of disaggregation, link to monitoring frameworks

Deliverable: Database template (working “on-site”)

Task: Populate the database for identified indicators from agreed sources and metadata

Deliverable: Draft Database created for 4 sources (working off-site)

Task: Review and Finalize the database for metadata, completeness including historic data from ZimDat to the extent possible and identification of report formats

Deliverable: Final Database (working “on-site”)

Task: Train different sections on searching the database based on user-defined parameters, and, creation of tables, graphs and maps

Deliverable: User Training workshops (on-site” user-training workshops for different sections based on agreed schedule)

Task: On-the-job Training of focal point(s) from each section on how to maintain the tool by updating indicators as well as adding latest data from new sources identified

Deliverables: Database Administration Workshop for adding new source(s) of information

Task: Off-site helpdesk support for maintaining and updating the database for 6 months (end-June 2017)

Deliverable: Helpdesk support and review of data entry sheets entered by section focal point(s)

The schedule of payment (in man-days) will be as follows:

·         10 days – on receipt of the report for finalization of template after the on-site mission

·         24 days – on receipt of the report for draft database

·         15 days – after the on-site mission

·         7 days – for off-site helpdesk support

Timeframe

The consultancy will begin on 17th February and end on 25th April with an extended off-site support till 30^th June, 2017.

 Consultancy Requirements

 Education

1. Advance University degree in social sciences, statistics or other relevant disciplines
2. Coursework in database management and/or computer science 
3. Work Experience

1. Ten years hands-on experience with implementation of database management tools including DevInfo technology with national partners and international agencies including UN
2. Previous experience of working with Zimbabwe National Statistics, ZimStat on ZimDat tool would be a strong asset
3. Advanced user of data processing tools such as SPSS, STATA, CSPro
4. Proven experience as a professional trainer in information technology
5. Qualified DevInfo Trainer of Trainers
6. Sound knowledge and experience of UNICEF system and country program
7. Understanding of core M&E principles and concepts
8. Good understanding of Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and Millennium Declaration and associated goal frameworks
9. Good understanding of the process for development and monitoring of national development plans
10. Excellent communication skills
11. Excellent analytical skills
12. Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to work in a multi-cultural environment

  Application Procedure

If interested and available, please submit your application letter, CV, Technical proposal and an all-inclusive financial proposal detailing professional fees (67 calendar days between 17 February and 25 April, 2017 with an additional off-site helpdesk support till 30^th June 2017. However, the contract will include 56 man-days of work), applications to be submitted by 1 February 2017. Please quote “Database Development Consultancy” as the subject heading.

Only shortlisted consultants will be contacted. UNICEF does not charge a fee during the recruitment process.

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 organisation.