UNICEF: Multidimensional Child Poverty Consultant, Brasilia, Brazil, 4 months remote – Brasilia

The proposed consultancy falls within the broader context of advancing multidimensional child poverty and family vulnerability measures. The Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS) has made significant progress in this area, particularly with the recent launch of the Family Vulnerability Index from the Single Registry (Índice de Vulnerabilidade das Famílias do Cadastro Único – IVCAD). The IVCAD incorporates a wide range of indicators, some of which are sensitive to children"s rights, including early childhood development, education-related vulnerabilities, and care needs.

Building on this progress, and in line with UNICEF's ongoing cooperation with MDS, this consultancy will support a detailed exploration and analysis of the IVCAD indicators, specifically focusing on children and adolescents (ages 0–6 and 0–17). Additionally, the consultancy will propose and investigate new possible dimensions and indicators specifically relevant to children and adolescents, which could be incorporated as complementary elements into the IVCAD or used to inform future policy directions.

Considering that UNICEF's mandate is to protect and foster children's rights, especially by supporting the policy processes to address those rights, the ultimate goal of the consultancy is to strengthen the evidence base available to policymakers by providing a more detailed and child-sensitive analysis of multidimensional child poverty and vulnerability. This will thereby enhance the capacity of MDS and related ministries to design, monitor, and implement effective policies for children and adolescents in situations of vulnerability.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The main objective of this consultancy is to explore the IVCAD and its indicators to assess their relevance and application for children and adolescents (0-6 and 0–17 years). Based on this assessment, the consultancy will analyze the viability and give suggestions for developing a child-focused version of the IVCAD or a complementary multidimensional child vulnerability index using Unified Registry data. Additionally, the consultancy will assess families' and children"s access to Social Assistance and Education services using georeferenced data. To this end, the consultant will be required to access restricted databases that are physically located within public institutions in Brasília.

The specific objectives are:

Analyze the current Family Vulnerability Index (IVCAD) focusing on indicators relevant to children and adolescents.
Identify potential dimensions and related indicators to inform a multidimensional analysis of child vulnerability using the Unified Registry data.
Assess access gaps for children and adolescents and their families to social protection and education services.

DELIVERABLES

Work Assignment 1: Workplan

Deliverable/Output: Detailed work plan of the consultancy, including detailed data needs, timetables and detailed agendas of the missions to Brasília to collect and access administrative registries.

Deadline: 10 days from contract signing

Estimated Budget: 10%

Work Assignment 2: Report analysing IVCAD and its indicators with a child-focused lens.

Deliverable/Output: Report containing the assessment of overall IVCAD's dimensions and indicators, specifically focusing on children and adolescents. The report should include an analysis of IVCAD's results relative to children and adolescents, including exploring its territorial, ethnic/racial, gender and exploring the indicator through cross-analysis with other socio-economic individual, and family/household-related variables. The report should also explore restricted administrative databases from the Federal Government, with a focus on georeferenced data related to children"s and adolescents", as well as their families", access to Social Assistance and Education services. The final product should be a publishable report consolidating the overall analysis of IVCAD's dimensions and indicators, including recommendations for potential complementary indicators relevant to children and adolescents, to subsidise discussions on possible new IVCAD versions.

Deadline: 90 days from contract signing

Estimated Budget: 60%

Work Assignment 3: Methodological proposals for a multidimensional child vulnerability index based on the Single Registry

Deliverable/Output: Technical report assessing potential variables and indicators from the Single Registry that could support the development of a multidimensional child poverty index, either as a complementary or associated measure to IVCAD. The analysis should focus on children and adolescents and explore the feasibility of including dimensions such as income, education, health and nutrition, access to information, household infrastructure (e.g. sanitation, water, housing), employability and school-to-work transitions, protection from violence, among others. The report should evaluate the relevance of each dimension, the availability and reliability of the underlying data, and propose suitable methodologies and implementation pathways for possible adoption by MDS.

Deadline: 120 days from contract signing

Estimated Budget: 30%

DURATION OF CONTRACT: 120 days

TRAVEL PLAN: to be included, considering two periods of a total of 10 days in Brasília to collect restricted educational administrative data from secure premises.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENT

Academic Qualification: advanced university degree (master's or equivalent) in social sciences, public policy, economics, statistics, or other relevant fields. A first university degree (bachelor's) combined with two additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in research, analysis, and policy development related to social protection, poverty measurement, child rights, or public policy evaluation is highly desirable. Previous experience with household survey data, administrative data systems (such as Unified Registry), or vulnerability and poverty indices is also highly desirable.

Competencies Required:

proven technical expertise in quantitative research, statistical analysis, and multidimensional poverty measurement.
Ability to conceptualize and design methodological frameworks based on administrative databases.
Strong analytical and writing skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly and concisely.
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with government institutions, especially in contexts involving social protection systems.
Other Skills and Requirements: proficiency in data analysis software (e.g., STATA, R).
Familiarity with child rights frameworks and social protection systems in Brazil is considered an advantage.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

A financial proposal including the fee for the assignment based on the deliverables and number of days must be submitted. Consultants are asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum, administrative cost, travel cost and subsistence costs, as applicable.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others

Click here to learn more about UNICEF's values and competencies.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children's data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

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.

We offer awide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks andreasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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 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.

Remarks:

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual 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 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.

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.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements

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