TOR - Consultant - Content review, editorial support and finalisation of official Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) publication

  Job Number: 530007 | Locations: Africa: South Africa Work Type: Consultancy 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 Background and Justification The attempt to end poverty is one of the key goals of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goal recognizes that poverty has different dimensions and that it is vital to focus on both monetary and non-monetary dimensions of poverty. Furthermore, while poverty is a disabling experience for everyone, it is more so for children who often do not have the means, skills and resources to escape the debilitating effects of income and other forms of poverty. Given this background, UNICEF HQ has invested in strengthening child poverty measurement tools and analyses to facilitate country offices' utilization of results to inform planning, budgeting and decision-making for children. A key principle of the investment that UNICEF has committed to is to treat the child as the unit of analysis and not to have child-specific issues completely submerged in broader household dynamics. This focus on the child as the unit of analysis is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and allows a level of dis-aggregation that is vital for equity analysis. A substantial part of the advance made in child poverty measurement has been the adoption of the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) tool, which recognizes which deprivations could manifest as a result of lack of access to vital services for children. Furthermore, it is often the case that deprivations are mutually reinforcing, so that a lack of access to proper nutrition has implications for how well poor children are able to capitalize on existing education opportunities. Because these disadvantages can be overlapping and multiple, it is important to describe these patterns of deprivations as accurately as possible. This will also allow policy interventions to be targeted and specific and allow such interventions to be evidence-based. The importance of the government is underscored because it is only the central government that has the capacity to collect data on a national and representative scale to inform a country about the status of its children's well-being. In terms of the UNICEF methodology, both monetary and non-monetary poverty factors should be embedded in the same survey instrument(s) to facilitate child poverty analysis. It is against this background and in the context of the working relationship between the South African Country office (SACO) and the government of the Republic of South Africa that a request for technical training on conducting (child) MODA was developed and completed in 2019. The project has now reached its final stage and joint work between the Poverty and Inequality team in Statistics South Africa and an external service provider is required to bring this work to fruition. More specifically, content review and editorial support is needed to produce an official publication on MODA, which will serve as the country's baseline for multidimensional poverty for children. The overall objectives of the content review exercise are to (i) Support the Statistics South Africa team to complete chapters in the MODA publication, (ii) Develop content for a pre-agreed number of chapters, and (iii) Provide general content review support as required by the Statistics South Africa team. Scope of Work 1. Goal and Objective: Under the supervision of the Social Policy Manager in the Social Policy and Child Protection unit, the consultant will provide specific and general content review support to assist the UNICEF and Statistics South Africa teams to complete an official publication on MODA for children. Specifically, the Consultant will:

• Content review the entire publication and provide informed comments and suggestions for improving the text of the various chapters;
• Undertake to write a pre-agreed number of chapters for the official MODA publication with the concurrence of the Statistics South Africa team ; and
• Assist with the graphical representation of the data and advise on the appropriate use of graphs to convey the core messages in the results.

2. Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: This work relates directly to achieving Output 4.1 in AWP: National capacity is strengthened for evidence, policy and budget and institutional analyses, with a focus on reducing child poverty and disparity. 3.Activities and Tasks: the list of activities and task include

• Assist with the production of an appropriate outline or structure for the final publication;
• Advise on the extent to which age-appropriate disaggregation ought to be included in the final report as well as relevant ranking variables to be used in the final analysis;
• Content review of all the chapters in the publication and appropriate feedback to improve the text of all the chapters; and
• Independent writing of a pre-agreed number of chapters with the full support and concurrence of the Statistics South Africa team.

4. Work relationships: The Social Policy Manager is responsible for co-coordinating and managing the work of the Consultant. This involves regular communication via email, telephonic and Skype conversations. The Social Policy Manager will inform and update the Chief of the Social Policy and Child Protection programme of progress in the work and expected completion dates of this office-wide output. The Consultant will provide regular updates of progress and inform the Social Policy Manager of any unintended findings that are relevant to this output. The Programme Associate will support the Social Policy Manager in ensuring that the requisite administrative processes are adhered to and for the timely submission of project-related paper work. 5. Outputs/Deliverables: Payment is dependent on the successful completion of each of the two deliverables, which is in line with the expectations of the Poverty and Inequality team in Statistics South Africa and the UNICEF Social Policy programme team.

Deliverables	Duration (Estimated # of days or months)	Timeline/Deadline	Schedule of payment
Submission of completed chapters written by Consultant	07 days	First report	40%
Technical support to Statistics South Africa overall and specific feedback and suggestions on chapters written by Statistics South Africa	23 days	Final report	60%

Required Travel: Not Applicable Payment Schedule The schedule of payments is indicated as per the table in the preceding section. Payment to the Consultant will only be done upon satisfactory completion of deliverables as agreed in the work plan. Payment is staggered as per the approved work plan of the Consultant and per the payment schedule listed in the table above. Desired competencies, technical background and experience

1. Education: An appropriate Master's degree qualification in economics, statistics, development studies or an advanced social science qualification. A doctorate in any of the areas will be an added advantage.
2. A high-level statistical background and extensive experience in conducting monetary and non-monetary poverty analyses;
3. Excellent command of Stata and SAS as the preferred statistical and data analysis tools;
4. The Consultant will have done similar technical workshops in developing country contexts and is familiar with preparing MODA publications;
5. The Consultant will have done similar technical consultancies with government departments and central statistical agencies;
6. The Consultant will have eight years and more experience working in the social policy field;
7. Competencies: Excellent data analytical ability and a deep knowledge of the South African government sector
8. The Consultant should have an excellent understanding and competence in written and spoken English.

Administrative issues The Consultant reports to the Social Policy Manager in the Social Policy and Child Protection unit. All the scheduled meetings and progress updates will be done via email, telephonic and Skype conversations. A formal discussion prior to the document will be finalized will take place involving the Consultant, Statistics South Africa and UNICEF. Skype will be used to facilitate the conversation. Conditions The Consultant

• Will carry out the bulk of the assignment in his/her private space and no arrangements are in place to use the UNICEF office in Pretoria;
• Should the assignment require additional travel, the Consultant will be reimbursed for any additional travelling costs. If air travel is undertaken, the Consultant will be reimbursed for an economy return flight.

All entitlements and conditions of service are governed by UNICEF policies. As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF's General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts. Risks It is anticipated that there are relative few direct risks in the execution of the assignment. However, due to the tight deadlines set for the assignment, it is assumed that the Consultant will devote the bulk of his/her time on this assignment during March 2020. Successful execution of the assignment requires speedy and timely responses to queries by the Statistics South Africa and UNICEF South Africa teams. How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit their application here by 03 March 2020. This notice will also appear on https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/, https://www.unicef.org/southafrica UN Job List, UN Jobs. Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in ZAR) to undertake the terms of reference above (including admin cost if applicable). Applications submitted without a fee rate will not be considered.