Background:
The social protection landscape in Iraq remains characterized by fragmentation and ineffectiveness in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable and preventing individuals from falling into poverty. Within this context, the United Nations have partnered to provide support to the Government of Iraq in conducting the Social Protection Reform. The Joint Programme, โSocial Protection Programme- Leveraging Effective Response and Accelerating Reformโ is supported by European Union and implemented under the coordination of UNICEF, in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), under the leadership of the Ministry of Planning, with participation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The overall objective of the joint programme is to ensure that the vulnerable and the poor, including children, youth, women, elderly, informal workers, persons with disabilities and Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq benefit from equitable access to an integrated social protection system.
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
The Iraq Country Office (ICO) is seeking technical assistance to provide support to the Social Protection Reform supported by UNICEF. Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Social Policy, the Social Policy Consultant - will be responsible for providing technical assistance on key activities implemented as part of building blocks for SP in Iraq in the Nexus context. The assignment aimed to support the enhancement of social protection, and to reinforce capacities of federal and regional authorities to deliver quality child-, age- and disability- sensitive, and gender responsive social protection programmes and services. It will include a range of activities, including but not limited to:
i/ support evidence generation, including production of high-quality policy, advocacy and assessment documents in the areas of poverty and social protection
ii/ provide quality assurance and technical assistance in key areas of interventions, including in the areas of integrated social protection, child sensitive social protection, social workforce and shock responsiveness,
iii/ support thematic discussions, conferences, panel discussions with Social Protection stakeholders, government, and development partners relevant to Iraq
iv/ manage and coordinate technical support around disability, child poverty, social protection, public finance and governance backstopping the social policy team when needed.
Scope of Work:
Tasks/Milestone:
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Deliverables/Outputs:
Policy and advocacy
Produce policy and advocacy papers to support the implementation of the Social protection strategic framework, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders Final drafts of Policy papers on SRSP, Child Sensitive SP, governance and single registry Paper on social workforce investment caseTechnical assistance poverty and SP
Participate and contribute to thematic meetings, conferences, on social protection (including linkages to disability) and child poverty, and provide recommendations Support the development of TOR, concept notes and programme documents as part of the programme, ensuring overall coherence and bridging technical gaps Reports from meetings Concept note for webinar/ panel or thematic discussion ย High quality documents (Report, agenda, one-pager, TORโฆ) Amendement document for EU Phase 2 Tracked documents (Annual EU report)Quality assurance poverty and SP Provide quality assurance on key strategic documents for social protection (including linkages do disability) and poverty
ย Tracked changed documents Inputs and comments sheets Inputs for disability inclusion and streamlining Sector-wide assessment draft and final reviewed and commentedTechnical assistance child benefit pilot implementationย
Provide technical assistance for the integration of cash transfer with access to social service in different locations Comments and inputs provided to the plan for capacity development of social workers Inputs to planning and implementation of scale up strategyChild benefit scale up design
support to design the components and implementation mechanisms for a national integrated child benefit cash transfer, including a review of the evidence on conditionality Meetings minutes Reviewed scale-up plan of the gov, with inputs and recommendationsTechnical assistance on civil society SSW engagement
Support a series of events to raise awareness amongst interest-based organisations on the roles and functioning of social protectionย Support the institutionalisation and rollout the updated curriculum and job descriptions of the SSW to support child sensitive social assistance Tracked change documents, Inputs for engagement with academia on the reform of SWย To qualify as an advocate for every child you will haveโฆย
Education
An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: Economics and/ or Finance, Public Finance, Policy, Social Sciences, International Development, Political Science, or another relevant technical field.Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
โข Minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in relevant professional work experience is required.
โข Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with humanitarian response and emergency is considered an asset.
โข Previous work with UNICEF would be an asset.
โข Experience and knowledge of the Iraqi context is a strong asset.
โข Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset
For every Child, you demonstrateโฆย
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).ย
ย To view our competency framework, please visit ย here.ย
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UNICEF is here to serve the worldโs 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.ย
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.ย
Remarks:ย ย
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.ย
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered โstaff membersโ under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEFโs 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.ย
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.ย