Job title
Consultancy – Coordinate KAP Study on Child Marriage UNICEF South Sudan Juba
Job Number:
523726
Location:
South Sudan
Work Type:
Long-term consulting assignemnt
Description:
For every child,
Background/Rationale for the Assignment
Child marriage is defined as a marriage of a girl or a boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions. Child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence. Child marriage also affects boys, but to a lesser degree than girls. Girls married under the age of 18 are more likely to face sexual and reproductive health related problems; have lower levels of education, thus higher rates of illiteracy; experience violence, abuse and forced sexual relations; have limited opportunities for employment, which corresponds to high risk of poverty; have restricted access to legal support and experience psycho-social problems.
In South Sudan It is estimated that approximately 52 per cent of girls were married or in union before they were 18 years of age and 9 per cent were married when they were under 15 years of age. Nearly 31 per cent of women aged 15-19 years had already begun child-bearing. Child marriages are becoming more common during this protracted crisis and represent one of the coping mechanisms of the poor and marginalized families and go together with widespread insecurity, existing gender inequalities, patriarchal values and general low value of girls compared to boys.
Child/Teenage pregnancies are one of the main reason for girls dropping out from school. Child pregnancies could also be one of the barriers for girls accessing education as the parents in fear of unwanted pregnancies might opt for keeping their daughters at home as a form of protection that goes together with the intention to protect family honour and to ensure the ‘bride price’. Some parents believe marrying their daughters is in their best interest, particularly in areas where women and girls are exposed to a high risk of physical and sexual assaults. Thus, child marriage and consequently child pregnancy can be seen as giving a social status as a wife and mother to a girl and a solution to secure her future.
Comprehensive understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and practices of the South Sudan communities around child, early and forced marriage is limited and still primarily based on scattered or outdated evidence. There is therefore a critical information and analysis gap that needs to be filled in order to effectively inform the programme response plan and implement preventive interventions related to child marriage at national and sub-national levels.
A national expert/researcher is required to provide technical support to UNICEF to design, implement Knowledge, Attitude and Practice’ (KAP) Study on child marriage and generate wider evidence base upon which to develop more effective prevention and response interventions, which resonate with families and communities.
Purpose & Expected Results
Primarily, the purpose of the study is to generate a reliable evidence on drivers and enablers, social norms that contribute and shape knowledge, attitudes and practices related to child marriage at the local level. Specifically, the study intends to achieve the following key results:
Qualifications and CompetenciesÂ
Estimated Duration of the Contract
63 working days; Estimated start date: 01 August 2019. and estimated end date: 31 October 2019.
Duty Station and Official Travel
The consultant will be based in Juba with travels to the research locations.
Estimated Cost of the Consultancy Payment Schedule:Â Each applicant to submit detailed quotation or financial proposal (daily or monthly fee) with application.
Applicants are required to include in the application financial proposal
UNICEF Supervisor
The consultant will work under the supervision of Gender Specialist with close involvement and day to day technical oversight of the C4D Specialist
Travel Clause
Nature of Penalty Clause in Contract
If the final reports and documents are not submitted according to the deliverables stated in this TOR, the payments will be withheld. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines (fees reduced due to late submission: 20 days – 10%; 1 month -20%; 2 months -30%; more 2 months – payment withhold). All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The competencies required for this post are….
View our competency framework at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Tagged as: Child marriage, South Sudan, UNICEF
AI: Hello human, I am a GPT powered AI chat bot. Ask me anything!