Country: Uganda
Closing date: 23 May 2018
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Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.
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Under the supervision of the ECD Specialist, the consultant will support MoGLSD and the ECD secretariat to clearly articulate the Ugandan context in terms systems, structures and approaches to establishment of a functional performance measurement framework for implementation of integrated ECD.
Background
Early Childhood Development (ECD) is recognized by the government of Uganda as a strategic priority to realize the vision 2040 under the Human Capital Development Pillar as articulated in the National Development Plan (NDP II 2016-2020). In pursuit of this strategic goal, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD) has spearheaded the development, approval and implementation of Uganda’s National Integrated Early Childhood Development (NIECD) Policy in consultation with all key sectors.
The purpose of the NIECD Policy is to guide the effective delivery of coordinated early childhood development services in Uganda. The Policy is expected to regulate the provision of services and activities of relevant Government sectors that are responsible for ECD (eg MoGLSD, MoES, MoH, MoWE, MoAAIF, MoIA, MoLG) along seven core program areas, bridge gaps within existing sector policies and programs and harmonize them for better coordination and utilization of resources. The accompanying Action Plan (2016-21) for the NIECD Policy articulates priority program initiatives with corresponding outcomes, outputs and indicators with an initial five year budget for each of the seven core program areas. It also outlines institutional structures and processes to be put in place for implementation, coordination and governance of the integrated ECD system, led by the ECD Secretariat (under MoGLSD) at national level and Integrated ECD Committees at all districts and all sub-district levels.
As an essential element of good governance, the NIECD Policy explicitly pronounces the need to develop a NIECD monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework. To achieve this, an international consultant was hired by UNICEF HQ to support MoGLSD develop a performance measurement framework for implementation of integrated ECD. During this process sectors are expected to identify and define sector specific ECD targets and indicators in respective existing M&E systems. Accordingly, a NIECD M&E framework will be established with a clearly articulated ‘Theory of Change’ and with a results framework, tools and processes to monitor progress towards: (a) systematic planning, budgeting and coordination across sectors and stakeholders that support early childhood; (b) the delivery of integrated ECD services and (c) resulting outcomes focusing on children as well as relevant targets under the National Development Plan II and the Sustainable Development Goals. The M&E framework will include an evaluation framework designed to identify the most operationally feasible and cost effective delivery mechanism(s) of ECD programs vis-à-vis the NIECD policy and its action plan.
In tracking outcomes focusing on children, this framework will consider existing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms capturing sector specific ECD measures (eg. children are well nourished and healthy; learn, play and grow up in safe, clean and stimulating environments; are protected from abuse and violence; have age appropriate development skills; join primary school timely and ready to learn, progress and achieve success in school). It will include contextualized overarching child well-being indicators linked to developmental milestones of children conception to 8 which go beyond sector specific areas of intervention.
The Framework will consider indicators for sector-specific interventions (eg for health, nutrition, WASH, learning and protection); cross sectoral interventions (eg parenting support) and inter-sectoral coordination for delivery of integrated services. The M&E system will enable policy makers to monitor the entire ECD space across Government and non-government partners in line with the Policy’s action plan. It will not only track progress but also guide the MoGLSD to effectively coordinate the implementation of the NIECD policy and ensure, to the extent possible, compliance with established standards in service provision in terms of access, quality, costs and effectiveness.
The evaluation framework will focus on a strategic evaluation design to better understand "how" to deliver integrated ECD services (rather than what package of services to deliver). It will provide an evaluability assessment of carefully selected interventions (or packages of interventions) that are differentiated enough to enable the evaluator to measure the impact of each individual piece separately. Technically, this can be achieved by building complementary yet uncontaminated arms of the evaluation targeting different population clusters. In order to capitalize on the notions outlined above, the evaluation timeframe will need to stretch over the medium- to long-term to measure impact over time. Finally, the evaluability assessment shall be supplemented by various aspects of cost/benefit analysis to strengthen policy advocacy.
Key Tasks:
Expected Deliverables
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UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
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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.
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=512818