Consultancy for Review of CRVS strategic Plan 2020-2024 , Maseru, Lesotho, ( 30 working days)

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, Education

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

A well-functioning national civil registration system is the best data source for generating vital statistics and should be the foundation of a vital statistics system. Information submitted during registration of vital events provides essential data for national and regional planning for a variety of social service programmes, including family planning and mother and child health programmes, infectious and non-communicable disease control programmes, education, public housing and social security programmes, and infrastructure and development programmes.

Civil registration is defined as the continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events pertaining to the population, as provided through decree or regulation in accordance with a country’s legal requirements.A vital event is the occurrence of a live birth, death, foetal death, marriage, divorce, annulment, judicial separation, adoption, legitimation, or recognition of parenthood.

Registering a child’s birth is a critical first step towards safeguarding lifelong protection and is the ‘first right’ to access other rights. In recognition of this, the right to birth registration features in numerous international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Articles 7 and 8 of the CRC guarantee every child the right to be registered at birth by the state within whose jurisdiction the child is born, the right to a name and a nationality, and the preservation of their identity without discrimination. In addition, these articles inform how birth registration should be administered and outline the rights that may require birth registration for their fulfilment, the rights to health and education being the most prominent.

With the growing requirement of a birth certificate being presented to access an increasingly wide range of services, such as enrolling in school or the national health insurance fund, applying for a passport or national identity card, access to university education, opening a bank account and even voting, the impact of not having a birth certificate is becoming more evident. In addition, birth registration is also an essential component of an efficient civil registration system that is required to yield vital statistics that are needed to accurately capture progress towards the achievement of national and international development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs include aspirations for social and economic development and, like the preceding Millennium Development Goals, are dependent on efficient civil registration systems for monitoring progress. For as many as 12 of the 17 SDGs, data for monitoring is needed from the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system. The global concern regarding the need to have all births registered by 2030 is evident in targets 16.9.1 and 17.19.2 of the SDGs.

In July 2016, African Union Heads of State and Government declared decade 2017-2026 to be the decade for repositioning Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Africa’s continental, regional and national development agenda. Furthermore, the United Nations Legal Identity Agenda 2020-2030, was launched as a One United Nations approach to support member states in building holistic, country owned, sustainable CRVS and identity management systems. Its efforts focus on closing the global identity gap, with a benchmark goal of more than 300 million by 2025, and in turn, providing Member States with the vital statistics and demographic information needed for socioeconomic gains, better public administration, planning, and monitoring.

Purpose of assignment:

CRVS systems are complex and span a wide array of actors, agencies, and ministries. The systems contain many subsystems and processes (civil registration, vital statistics, identity management, etc.), and are open to wider political, social, and economic systems that provide the working context. This complexity makes it difficult for any individual stakeholder or actor to understand the systems from end to end. It also makes such systems challenging to improve without applying systems-science and systems-thinking disciplines.

The UNICEF Lesotho CO in collaboration with the Government of Lesotho is working on strengthening the linkages between civil registration, social protection, and the health sector in addition to specific process innovations that are dependent upon the country context.

The purpose of this assignment is to review the CRVS strategic Plan 2020-2024 and provide a comprehensive report summarizing the findings of the review process. The report outlines the achievements, challenges, and overall effectiveness of the strategic initiatives and recommendations for adjusting the strategic plan, if necessary, including revising objectives, reallocating resources, refining strategies, or introducing new initiatives based on the review findings.

The review will further provide information about progress achieved towards outcomes and strategic approaches used by the government and key stakeholders, and document strategic lessons learned from the design and implementation of the programme and based on findings, identify lessons learned and provide practical recommendations for the next strategy.

The assignment will also review the current CRVS business processes for registration of under five children, propose ways for improving birth registration at community councils and health facility and identify barriers for interoperability between CRVS and social protection systems.

The main objective of the assignment is to:

1. Review of CRVS strategic Plan 2020-2024
2. Review the business processes and associated digital systems and propose the requirements to fill in the gaps identified.

Methodology and technical approach

The proposed methodology for the assignment will include, but not be limited to the following:

1. Review and report on the implementation of the CRVS Strategic Plan of 2020- 2024.
2. Validation of the current (As-Is) and future state (To-Be) CRVS business processes.

• Work with key stakeholders to validate and update whenever necessary the current state (As-Is) CRVS business processes.
• Work with stakeholders to validate and update whenever necessary issues affecting the performance of business processes in the CRVS system and the root causes of these issues.
• Work with stakeholders to validate and update the proposed future state (To-Be) CRVS business processes.

3. Define the future state CRVS digital system needed to support the proposed future state (To-Be) CRVS business processes.

4. Assessment and Gap analysis

• Analyse the current digital CRVS systems to determine what changes and improvements that need to be instituted to ensure it is aligned with proposed (future state) business processes and its interoperability with existing e-Government systems.
• Assess the existing CRVS digital systems to establish the data currently available in terms of completeness and correctness.

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

• An advanced university degree (at least Master’s degree) in Social Science particularly Strategic Planning, Public Policy, Human Rights, Public Administration, or any related field.

• At least ten (10) years professional experience in Strategic Planning, Development and Change Management

• Evidence of at least ten (10) years’ experiences in guiding strategic planning processes and similar assignments carried out as required *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. 

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Good understating of planning and funding cycles of the public sector and of development partners
• Good understanding of Child Protection sector, Sustainable Development Goals, especially those focused on socioeconomic upliftment of vulnerable groups.
• Excellent understanding, expertise and appreciation of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics systems
• Excellent writing skills in English.
• Strong understanding of the international, regional and Lesotho’s legislation and policies pertaining to child protection and children’s rights.
• Experience in effectively facilitating the collaborative work of a wide range of stakeholders, including government and development partners.
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s mandate and goals is an advantage.
• Have no criminal record in abuse of children

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF.

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.

Interested candidates should indicate their ability, availability, and rate (daily/monthly) expressed in USD to undertake the terms of reference. Please indicate an all-inclusive fee (including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable) to undertake the tasks in the Terms of reference

Remarks:  

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s 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 contract. Consultants contract 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. 

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.