UNICEF South Africa Country Office (SACO)
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR A CONSULTANCY
TO DOCUMENT EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM
UNICEF PROGRAMME APPROACHES IN SOUTH AFRICA
Position Title: Consultant to document experience and lessons learned from UNICEF programme approaches in South Africa
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
Duration: Estimated 45 working days (November – December 2015)
Reporting to: Deputy Representative, UNICEF SACO
1. SUMMARY
UNICEF South Africa Country Office (SACO) would like to conduct systematic documentation of the experiences, and lessons learned on programmatic approaches/models in South Africa. Focus will be on documenting selected initiatives/programmes, identified based on the specified criteria, highlighting successes as well as challenges, innovations and programme results.
The assignment will contribute to identifying programmatic models and/or key elements of programme models in the context of South Africa being a middle-income country (MIC). The results of the assignment will feed into 1) SACO Extended Annual Review planned for December 2015, and 2) the comprehensive UNICEF Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland (BNLSS) programme and operations review planned for Q4 2015 – Q2 2016.
2. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
Over recent years UNICEF’s thinking globally regarding UNICEF’s role and presence in MICs has substantially evolved. There is a consensus across the organisation that UNICEF has an important role to play in MICs, but this needs to be a transformed role that is markedly different from the one played in lower income countries. That role is more about influencing the allocation of a country’s internal resources and is primarily normative in nature with focus on: monitoring the situation of children; strengthening national capacity for promoting children’s rights; advocating for pro-child policies, laws and/or budgets; strengthening social dialogue around children’s rights; highlighting and challenging inequalities; and enabling the sharing of knowledge across the globe.
With some 100 current UNICEF programme countries in MIC status, including 49 in upper-MIC status, the documentation of programme approaches and models is important in order for the organization to develop a framework to guide context-appropriate programming in MICs. Even in fast-growing MICs economies, new prosperity and an expanding middle class often accompany high maternal and child mortality, malnutrition and inferior access to health care and sanitation in less developed regions, creating pockets of deprivation among disadvantaged groups and in certain geographic areas. UNICEF has an important role to play and contribution to make in these countries in addressing the ‘residual traditional’ development agenda.
The debate within UNICEF about MICs has also recognised their rapidly increasing influence on the global stage. That is true not just in geo-political terms (often linked to their economic growth as in the case most notably of the BRICs), but also in terms of emerging as international donors in the humanitarian and development arena. This makes it important to ensure that UNICEF is equipped in such countries to leverage resources for investments in children’s rights, not just domestically but also internationally.
The countries of BNLSS represent a specific experience of MICs in Southern Africa, which has yet to contribute to the UNICEF global discussions on programming and presence in MICs. Within the BNLSS, South Africa occupies a distinct role due to its size but also its sub-regional and regional influence.
South Africa is a country in transition – not just in terms of moving towards an upper middle-income country status but also in social terms. For over past two decades, the post-apartheid South Africa has been undergoing large societal transformations. South Africa is experiencing economic growth while also dealing with the social and cultural repercussions arising from rapid urbanization and continued high expectations from its welfare state.
The apartheid regime in South Africa has left a heritage of highly unequal basic services infrastructure that decades of human rights- centred legislation and progressive social programmes still struggle to overcome. South Africa has built up the core systems and basic infrastructure of maternal and child health, education and welfare support in South Africa, but with uneven results. While the overall spending ratios on social sectors and the related service capacity indicators in South Africa are quite outstanding even in middle-income contexts, there are two major social challenges holding back substantial investment delivering better outcomes for children. South Africa has the highest HIV/AIDS burden and also the highest levels of income inequality globally. These two burdens intersect; children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds have several times higher risk of becoming affected by HIV/AIDS than their peers with better-off backgrounds.
At the same time, the high levels of social inequity and relative poverty are also factors contributing to perpetuating HIV/AIDS, as well as a factor in unequal learning achievement, poor nutrition outcomes, high secondary school dropout and youth unemployment rates. The large social sectors and extensive welfare systems in South Africa absorb a significant part of public revenues, they tend to fall short of offering adequate support for children and young people; in particular those with most vulnerable, disadvantaged backgrounds.
In this context, the UNICEF’s overall mission and priorities on equity-oriented, evidence-based, efficient programming for disadvantaged children is highly relevant in South Africa. At the same time, South Africa is a MIC with significant resources, including regional leverage. The Government expects technical assistance and strategic advice from UNICEF based on robust evidence with respect to an understanding of the problem and to the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of different interventions. This presents a challenge in articulating programme modalities and a business model for UNICEF in South Africa, including moving beyond a country programme focus to support South Africa’s role as a donor country.
UNICEF SACO focuses on supporting the government in closing the gap between policy and implementation. To achieve results, SACO is combining policy advice and capacity building with selective support to service provision (modelling/testing/innovation) and engaging new actors, including the private sector. SACO programmes focus on influencing policy practice in health, water and sanitation, education and social welfare sectors at different points in the policy practice. This is based on the understanding of policy practice comprising formulation, development, implementation and monitoring/evaluation of public policies, as well as a recognition that different elements of the public policy cycle happen in parallel and are iterative, and do not follow the linear or circular logic. SACO programme strategies also include south/south cooperation to support South Africa’s contribution on tried/tested solutions to development issues in the sub-region and the continent, as increasingly other governments look towards South Africa for experience and lessons learned.
Unpacking the policy practice and SACO programme approaches in different programmes and social sectors is important to start identifying common patterns and key elements of programme models that have shown to work in practice. The results achieved, tools and processes properly documented could serve as input for equity-centred policy work in low- and middle-income countries in East and Southern Africa Region and beyond.
3. PURPOSE
The consultancy is expected to directly support the UNICEF SACO programme team in its on-going review of programmatic interventions, documenting successes, lessons and constraints. It will also identify the various programme approaches across different programmes/sectors and identify common patterns contributing to success and challenges in achieving results for children.
The specific objective is to document programme approaches, achievements, lessons, and innovations in the context of UNICEF programme work in South Africa being a MIC, specifically in relation to the following areas:
· How does SACO contribute to national priorities?
· What is the understanding and experience of equity-focused programming and results (MORES) in the context of South Africa?
· What are the emerging sector-specific programmatic issues that SACO is engaged in?
· How does SACO do policy work and/or and/or programmes within a systems approach and strikes a balance between ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ programming?
· What are cross/multi sectoral programme initiatives?
· How do global initiatives (e.g. APR, End Violence Campaign) fit into the programming environment of South Africa?
The findings are expected to contribute to identifying key elements of programme approaches and models of programme work in improving results for children in the South Africa MIC context, and provide input into the SACO Extended Annual Review planned to take place in November 2015.
This will also serve as a contribution to the broader BNLSS comprehensive review of programme and operations model as well as the global UNICEF discourse on UNICEF role and programmatic approaches in MICs.
4. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES
The consultant will document achievements, lessons, and innovations around UNICEF SACO selected interventions in health and nutrition, education and adolescent development, child protection, social policy and advocacy, and communication and partnerships programmes.
The consultant will be responsible for carrying out the following tasks:
· Review SACO programme documents, including work plans for 2013-2014 and 2015-2017, SACO Annual Reports for the past 3 years, profiles, donor reports, Programme Cooperation Agreements (PCAs)
· Conduct consultations with UNICEF programme staff
· On the basis of the desk review and consultations, identify a maximum of 5-8 initiatives across all SACO programmes for detailed documentation.
· For each initiative, review related programme documentation and conduct interviews with relevant UNICEF programme staff and partners to document key elements, including (but not limited to) results, tools, structures, procedures, capacities, partners, cost
· Analyse the documented initiatives/programmes for patterns, common elements and draw lessons from experiences on the basis of which key elements/pre-requisites/criteria for successful and cost-effective programme model(s) in South Africa can be developed
· Prepare a report, which will include (but not limited) to the following: executive summary, detailed documentation of each selected SACO initiative/programme example, including rationale/justification for why it is good practice for South Africa MICs context, results, strategies, partners, cost, assessment of ‘value for money’, section summarizing analysis of key elements drawn from programme examples that can be conceptualised as programme model(s) for effective and efficient delivery of results for children.
The following criteria developed by HQ PD will provide a frame of reference (at least one or combination of several) for selection of SACO initiatives/programmes for documentation:
1. Mix of ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ work. Providing support to government through high-quality technical policy advice based on the analysis of gaps and needs, and lessons learned from UNICEF’s engagement at the local, decentralized level.
2. Generating, brokering and transferring knowledge. Facilitating exchanges within and across countries and brokering knowledge through systematic knowledge sharing of lessons learnt and experience on what works to achieve changes at impact level for excluded children. Generating relevant knowledge that can be used for agenda setting purposes, to unveil disparities and to inform policy formulation and monitoring of services and programmes for children.
3. Capacity development. Strengthening of national, sub-national and local-level capacities of institutions and partners to formulate, implement and monitor legislation, policies, budgets, programmes and services for children, with a focus on addressing gaps and to reach the excluded and vulnerable children. Actions include training and technical assistance for reforms of government institutions; trend analysis on how national policies and programmes are reaching or not reaching those who need them; and using national and local systems and processes to strengthen the capacities and empower children, families and communities.
4. Social modelling. Opportunities to support on-going system reforms, with robust and innovative models that demonstrate how national norms and legislation translate into high quality, cost effective and inclusive services on the ground for children.
5. Inter-sectoral approach. Initiatives that draw on multiple areas of expertise to address complex issues affecting children whereby overlapping drivers of disparities cannot be effectively addressed by only one sector. Two or more sectors work jointly, reciprocally share and exchange ideas and/or actions to ensure that integrated solutions –policies and investments in one domain – simultaneously benefit the outcomes in other domain.
6. Cross-border programming. Countries support each other to learn from experience on emerging development challenges through knowledge sharing, exchange of know-how and technology.
7. Leveraging resources. Initiatives take advantage of a resource-rich programming environment to garner support, to build collaborative partnerships, and to thus amplify the impact of a given intervention. Using seed funding coupled with successive stories based on research and data collection to gather evidence that can be used to co-create and develop solutions with partners, reach major policy breakthrough, and secure subsequent funding commitments.
5. DELIVERABLES, TIME FRAME AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE
The consultancy is expected during the period November - December 2015.
The fee will be calculated on the basis of total 40 working days estimated for such an assignment.
Deliverables / Time Frame / % of Payment /· Consultations with SACO management and programme staff to gather additional inputs on the assignment and definition of methodology.
· Project plan with key activities and validation of timelines for delivery of deliverables / 06/11/2015
(5 days) / 20%
Draft summary overview of 5-8 proposed initiatives/programme examples:
· Conduct consultations with UNICEF programme staff
· On the basis of feedback from UNICEF staff and proposals for programme examples to documents, conduct targeted review of SACO programme documents, including work plans for 2013-2014 and 2015-2017, SACO Annual Reports for the past 3 years, profiles, donor reports, Programme Cooperation Agreements (PCAs).
· On the basis of the desk review and consultations, identify a maximum of 5-8 initiatives across all SACO programmes for detailed documentation.
· For each identified initiative/programme example (on the basis of data/info collected from UNICEF programme staff interviews), outline rationale/justification for why it is good practice for South Africa MICs context, results, strategies, partners, cost, assessment of ‘value for money’ / 20/11/2015
(10 days) / 20%
Draft report for review of SACO management and programme staff. Draft to include:
· For each initiative, review related programme documentation and conduct interviews with relevant UNICEF programme staff and partners to document key elements, including (but not limited to) results, tools, structures, procedures, capacities, partners, cost
· Analyse the documented initiatives/programmes for patterns, common elements and draw lessons from experiences on the basis of which key elements/pre-requisites/criteria for successful and cost-effective programme model(s) in South Africa can be developed / 11/12/2015
(15 days) / 30%
Final report (incorporating feedback from the SACO management and programme staff) which will include (but not limited) to the following:
· Executive summary
· Brief outline of each selected SACO initiative/programme example (max 2 pages each)
· Section summarizing analysis of key elements drawn from initiatives/examples that can be conceptualised as programme model(s) for effective and efficient delivery of results for children
Annex with:
· Detailed documentation for each selected SACO initiative/programme example, including rationale/justification for why it is good practice for South Africa MICs context, results, strategies, partners, cost, assessment of ‘value for money’
· List of documents reviews
· List of people consulted/interviewed / 31/12/2015
(10 days) / 30%
6. DUTY STATION AND REPORTING PROCEDURE