Home-based: Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant (20 working days) – Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

UNICEF ECARO is looking for a qualified Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant to work with the Bebbo Central Team and COs to ensure that all M&E activities are aligned with UNICEF’s guidelines and standards, and contribute to the overall success, growth, and demonstrated impact of the Bebbo app.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, innovation.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

Recognizing the importance of effective communication and social marketing in the successful implementation and growth of the Bebbo parenting app, UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) seeks to engage a Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant. This role will support the Bebbo Central Team in planning, implementing, and managing various M&E activities across 15 countries where Bebbo was launched and up to 5 onboarding countries/regions, ensuring consistent messaging and wider reach.

The UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office has developed and launched a parenting application called Bebbo that supports a digital parenting support programme. The aim is to engage parents and caregivers in nurturing care, positive parenting, stimulation, and learning. This goal is achieved by improving the availability of information and supporting parents through innovation and behavior change initiatives. The app has been successfully launched in 15 countries and has already garnered more than 1.2 million downloads.

Bebbo is a free, easily accessible mobile app available on iOS and Android platforms. It provides evidence-based guidance to support childcare and development, as well as parental well-being and mental health. In addition to early childhood development (ECD) content covering various domains such as health, nutrition, play, safety, responsive parenting, and parental well-being, the app offers functional features for monitoring and recording vaccinations, child growth and development. These features are customizable and tailored to a child’s age, gender, and other parameters. Furthermore, the application is designed to be available in multiple languages, with centrally developed content stored in a Drupal-based Content Management System (CMS).

The Theory of Change for the Bebbo app stipulates that as parents download the app and regularly access and use its key functions, they will increase their knowledge and awareness of key aspects of child development. This increase in awareness is expected to lead to greater parental engagement in nurturing care, positive parenting practices, stimulating and learning activities, and improved parental well-being, ultimately resulting in improved outcomes for children.

Bebbo’s potential to create improved outcomes is supported by several key success factors:

• Growing adoption of mobile devices: The target demographic is increasingly familiar with and reliant on smartphones, expanding the app’s potential reach.
• Limited access to traditional services: Many users face difficulties accessing in-person service providers, making Bebbo a valuable alternative source of information and guidance.
• UNICEF’s content expertise: The organization’s ability to deliver reliable, useful content in a user-friendly format enhances the app’s effectiveness.
• Ecosystem integration: UNICEF’s deep understanding of local service provider networks allows Bebbo to complement rather than disrupt existing ECD programs.
• Open-source flexibility: As an open-source solution, Bebbo is easily adaptable for translation and customization to diverse languages and cultural contexts.
• Inclusive design: The app’s navigation, offline functionality, and core content selection cater specifically to the needs of the most vulnerable parents and caregivers.

As Bebbo continues to expand its reach across multiple countries, there is a growing need for coordinated and effective monitoring and evaluation strategies. Each country office (CO) requires support in developing and implementing tailored M&E frameworks, creating robust data collection tools, and ensuring consistent measurement and reporting across all platforms. Additionally, there is a need to increase the use of data-driven decision-making both within UNICEF and externally, as well as to systematically gather and analyze user feedback to inform future improvements and demonstrate the app’s impact.

To address these challenges, UNICEF ECARO is seeking a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Consultant to work closely with the Bebbo Central Team and Country Offices. This consultant will play a crucial role in:

1. M&E Framework Development and Implementation – Technical assistance to Country Offices (COs) in developing and implementing effective M&E frameworks for Bebbo, ensuring alignment with the overall program objectives.
2. Data Collection and Quality Assurance – Ensuring high-quality data collection processes and consistency across all Bebbo measurement tools and indicators.
3. Surveys and User Feedback Analysis – Coordinating surveys and analyzing user feedback to gather insights on app usage, user satisfaction, and impact.
4. Impact Assessment and Reporting – Enhancing Bebbo’s evidence base by conducting regular impact assessments and producing comprehensive reports for both internal UNICEF stakeholders and external partners.
5. Additional Responsibilities – Supporting other related programming activities from an M&E perspective, including contribution to research studies and evaluation designs.

The consultant will work with the Bebbo Central Team and COs to ensure that all M&E activities are aligned with UNICEF’s guidelines and standards, and contribute to the overall success, growth, and demonstrated impact of the Bebbo app.

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of Innovation Manager, ECD, the consultant will be responsible for updating the evaluation and learning framework for BEBBO for use at Regional Office (RO) and Country Office (CO) level. The consultant will support the use of the updated framework and tools across countries, develop short and long-term plans for adaptive management of the app, create relevant data collection tools and guidance for monitoring, advise on key data for collection, and support research and evaluation of the programme. The consultant is expected to contribute to the following tasks:

A. Support continuous data analysis, monitoring and knowledge management related to the Bebbo application.

• Theory of Change: Revisit the Theory of Change and associated Evaluation and Learning Frameworks for the Bebbo app and ensure that the latest insights are well reflected and that the data collection and monitoring efforts are aligned across Bebbo countries.
• M&E Plan: Develop a plan for adaptive management of Bebbo M&E across the region, in the short- and longer-term impact of the app, both for RO and CO level, and ensure that meta data are systematically provided for each indicator.
• Dashboard: Support development of guidance for data analysis and presentation at Bebbo internal and external dashboards.
• Firebase management: Check the data available through Firebase and ensure that the required ‘events’ are created in the app to track progress.
• Analytical Reports: Develop Bebbo monitoring analytical reports based on all sources of data available.
• CO Support: Support country offices in development and implementation of Bebbo M&E Frameworks and data collection processes. Prepare regular updates related to key Bebbo indicators to be shared with COs, management at CO and RO level.
• Donor Reporting: Provide inputs for Bebbo donor reports and fundraising proposals.
• Weekly Brainstorming Sessions: Actively participate in weekly 2-3 hour brainstorming sessions on all aspects of Bebbo
• CO Coordination Meetings: Actively participate in coordination meetings with COs

B. Support research and evaluative exercises aimed at generating insights related to the impact of Bebbo, behavioural insights related to parental preferences and use of digital technologies

• Research: Support research initiatives around Bebbo by providing inputs into research methodologies and leading on the implementation
• Evaluation: Liaise with the UNICEF teams around the Bebbo evaluation – lead the evaluation design, sampling design, development of evaluation instruments, data analysis plan and data collection options
• Data collection: Propose options for data collection, deriving from the nature of these digital innovations and ways that data collection can be embedded in the platforms themselves
• Tools and guidance: Develop all relevant data collection tools and guidance for monitoring (user surveys, focus group discussion methodologies).
• Documentation: Support COs and RO to document lessons learned and successful approaches to Bebbo deployment and promotion. Document best practices from existing country roll-out/implementation.
• Reporting: Develop reports based on the Bebbo monitoring and research
• Strategic planning: Contribute to the overall strategic planning and decision-making for the Bebbo program from an M&E perspective

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

20 working days between September 2024 and February 2025.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based with no travels foreseen.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 20 working days to undertake this assignment.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Statistics, Demography, Education, Public Health, Social Sciences, International Development, or related field
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in monitoring and evaluation, preferably in the field of early childhood development or related areas of which 3 years in designing and implementing M&E frameworks and systems for large-scale programs or digital applications
• Strong analytical skills and proficiency in statistical software (e.g., SPSS, Stata, R) and Google Firebase Analytics
• Experience in conducting qualitative and quantitative research
• Familiarity with digital data collection methods and tools
• Knowledge of the environment in which UNICEF/UN operates, and understanding the constraints of working in a Europe and Central Asia region.
• Excellent communication abilities, in both written and oral forms.
• Ability to align technical goals with UNICEF strategic goals — that always will mean UNICEF’s mission over any particular technology.
• Fluency in English is a minimum requirement. Fluency in languages of the UNICEF ECA region would be an advantage.
• Familiarity with the domain of early childhood development would be a plus, but you will be supported by subject matter experts

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.