Exciting opportunity to support all data management related work and systems development for the Social Cash Transfer programme – at national and sub-national levels.
The UNICEF Programme of Cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) is designed to address and mitigate the threat of poverty the country’s children face, while responding to the needs with interventions addressing the multiple causative factors.
In response to the combination these threats involve the Programme supports national efforts to improve service delivery in the key areas of: child health and nutrition and HIV and AIDS, quality basic education, water, sanitation and hygiene education, child protection and social policy, advocacy and communication.
To find out more about UNICEF’s work in Zambia, please visit https://www.unicef.org/zambia/ .
How can you make a difference?
Purpose of the Consultancy: To support all data management related work and systems development for the Social Cash Transfer programme – at national and sub-national levels.
BACKGROUND:
Since 2003, the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) has been implementing the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme. In 2010, based on the demonstrated programme impact, government took a policy decision to scale up the Social Cash Transfer programme to national level. In 2014, MCDSS scaled up the programme to 31 additional districts from the original 19 districts bringing the total number of districts to 50. In 2016, Government decided to further scale up the programme to an additional 28 districts giving a total caseload of 242,000 households in 78 districts. In 2017 government, further increased funding to the SCT programme, resulting in a national scale up of the programme to all 117 districts covering over 632,000 households. This year 2019, government will be scaling up further in all 117 districts to ensure full coverage and an estimated case load of 700,000 households.
The scale up of the programme was intensive and has required additional staff to support specific components of the programme both at district and national level. Additionally, the intensity and scale of the programme roll-out in 2017 caused the systems underpinning it to buckle. This led the decision by MCDSS to invest in a new Management Information System, the Zambia Integrated Management Information System (ZISPIS). The ZISPIS will be a backbone for social protection programmes’ information systems. ZISPIS is being developed in partnership with Smart Zambia Institute (SZI), the E-Government Division of Government. In this partnership, MCDSS is the business owner and SZI the business administrator. This new partnership comes with much opportunity and demonstrates the political will at highest levels to have a strong and reliable SCT programme. It also comes with the challenges associated with change and requires solid change management by the Ministry.
In view of the change management need and continued implementation of the current SCT MIS and enrolment of an additional 68,000 households to SCT programme, the ministry has requested UNICEF to engage temporal staff. In response to this UNICEF intends to continue its deployment of a Consultant attached to the Ministry to support key programming, using similar arrangements as those used in previous years to support Data Management and MIS development. The temporary staff/ Consultancy will be for a period of 11 months and be based at the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services in the Social Cash Transfer Unit under the Department of Social Welfare.
JUSTIFICATION:
The main reason for seeking this support as expressed by MCDSS due to the additional workload resulting from the continued scale up of the Social Cash Transfer programme including the migration of the current SCT MIS to the new clod-based system. This support cannot be made available from current staffing positions in UNICEF or in the Ministry.
OBJECTIVES/TARGET:
The major role of the Senior Social Welfare Consultant – Data Management will be to support all Data Management issues related to the implementation of the Social Cash Transfer programme.
SCOPE OF WORK:
The main scope of work is to support all data management activities for the scale up and implementation of the Social cash transfer programme; including capacity building, technical backstopping, MIS user support and support to the national roll out of the new ZISPIS system.
TASKS, DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME:
Tasks for this consultancy are the following:
Deliverables
Task | Deliverables | Payment Schedule |
Month 1. | Detailed Gantt chart developed for 11 months and Detailed Baseline Report on the data management needs of the MIS Current status | 9% |
Month 2. | Report on data management needs for migration of current MIS system to new server submitted | 9% |
Month 3. | Concept note on reconciliation module for payment tracking written | 9% |
Month 4. | Concept note on additional MIS reporting needs in districts, province and national written | 9% |
Month 5. | Report on the new variables to be updated MIS dashboard | 9% |
Month 6. | Report on operationalization of reconciliation module in all districts submitted in collaboration with MIS Technical Advisor | 9% |
Month 7. | Concept note on preparation of the district for piloting new payment module under ZISPIS in collaboration with MIS Technical Advisor | 9% |
Month 8. | Report on operationalization of the migration of current SCT MIS to new cloud-based system in collaboration with MIS Technical Advisor | 9% |
Month 9. | First portion (one third) of districts have received refresher trainings on usage of MIS – report submitted | 9% |
Month 10 | Second portion (one third) of districts have received refresher trainings on usage of MIS – report submitted | 9% |
Month 11 | Third portion (One third) of districts have received refresher trainings on usage of MIS – report submitted | 10% |
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The Senior Social Welfare Consultant will report to the Chief of Social Policy in UNICEF; and will be based at the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services where he or she will work closely with the Principal Social Welfare Officer in the Social Cash Transfer unit.
As for deliverables, the format of the report for each of the deliverables identified above will be as follows:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
LOCATION AND DURATION
PAYMENT Schedule
Monthly payment of receipt of monthly progress report and other listed deliverables.
Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of deliverables (satisfactory progress against tasks).
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
A Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, information technology, telecommunications or related field with a minimum of Five years of relevant professional work experience in data and information management with either government, private sector or Non-Governmental Organizations
ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES
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.
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:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Tagged as: Consultancy, UNICEF, Zambia
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