Individual National Consultant for Revising Sustainable Development Goal Indicators related to Children, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

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, an opportunity …

Background

Following the Prime Minister’s approval of the National Action Plan for Viet Nam Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 in 2017 and the Roadmap toward SDG targets by 2025 and 2030 in 2019, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Sustainable Development Agenda coordinating agency, started localizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for national implementation. The first endeavour was to standardize and localize SDG indicators for measuring and monitoring the national SDGs, resulted in the issuance of Viet Nam Sustainable Development Statistical Indicators (VSDGI) via Circular No. 03/2019/TT-BKHĐT in January 2019. Over the past five years, while the VSDGIs have been useful in facilitating the monitoring of the VSDG roadmap and reporting of national SDG implementation, there are quite a few indicators becoming either irrelevant or not specific enough in their metadata, causing inconsistency for data collection and processing. The limitation also partly stemmed from regular adjustment and refinement made to global SDG indicators as well as new revision of the national statistical indicators in 2022.

Given the new context of socio-economic development in Viet Nam, the Prime Minister issued a new Roadmap for Viet Nam Sustainable Development Agenda in July 2023 (decision No. 841/QĐ-TTg dated July 14, 2023). Participating in the SDG Summit in 2023 to present Vietnam’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) 2023 at the United Nations, Viet Nam has made a national commitment to SDG acceleration. One of the activities emphasized for the upcoming period is to review and make necessary adjustment to the VSDGI, along with continued effort in improving data availability, particularly for vulnerable groups.  To implement the Decision, the Prime Minister assigns the Ministry of Planning and Investment to lead, coordinate relevant ministries, sectors, and agencies to review, supplement, and update the VSDGI to align with the newly issued roadmap and the National Statistical Indicator List included in the Amended Statistics Law 2021. SDG implementation significantly affects children with approximately 60 SDG indicators measuring various aspects of children’s well-being. To revise the VSDI, it is crucial to focus on these indicators to ensure the indicators are relevant and specific to measure respective SDG targets on children’s well-being, and the metadata be feasible for data collection.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment – DSENRE) under the Annual Work Plan 2023-2024 UNICEF Viet Nam Country Office plans to support the review and revision of Viet Nam’s SDG indicators related to children, through an individual consultancy service. MPI and UNICEF Viet Nam will jointly hire two national consultants to undertake this assignment.

Purpose

The purpose of this consultancy is to improve the measurement and monitoring of Viet Nam SDG targets related to children in the context of national renewed commitment to accelerating SDG implementation made at the SDG Summit in September 2023.

Specific objectives of this consultancy include:

– Ensure child related VSDG indicators to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) enough to measure the progress of respective VSDGs, and aligned with respective global SDG indicators to the maximum possible for international comparability.

– Establish a mechanism feasible for data collection and reporting on the child related VSDGs indicators in accordance with the Roadmap to VSDG agenda issued in 2023 and the National Statistical Indicator System.

Scope of Work

This consultancy will cover the period from May to August 2024 (the contract will be expired by end of November 2025 for processing paperwork). The consultant will work in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

Key tasks:

– Review global child related SDG indicators and their global metadata.

– Review statistical indicators related to children in the VSDI issued in 2019, the roadmap for achieving VSDG agenda issued in 2023, the National Statistical Indicator System and respective indicators in the ministerial reporting system.

– Study and amend the list and metadata for child related VSDG indicators based on the respective global metadata and in consultation with relevant agencies to ensure feasibility in data collection and global comparability.

Expected deliverables and Timeline:

1. Outline Report, May 30, 2024.

2. Draft Report proposing amendments to Vietnam’s sustainable development statistical indicators related to children, Aug 01, 2024.

3. Final Report proposing amendments to Vietnam’s sustainable development statistical indicators related to children, Aug 30, 2024.

The report must include the following contents:

i. Overview of sustainable development goals and statistical indicators related to children.

ii. Review of the SDG indicators related to children, including those of UNICEF custodian and co-custodian (See the Annex for the list of child-related SDG indicators), specifically:

– Review the list of global SDG indicators related to children and their metadata.

– Assess the feasibility of global SDG indicators related to children in Vietnam:  Whether there has been data collection for them? Are the data available? What is the data source? If there has been no data so far, can these indicators be integrated into Vietnam’s national statistical survey program or statistical reporting system?

– Match the global SDG indicators related to children and those in Vietnam’s Sustainable Development Statistical Indicator System.

  1. Review indicators related to children in existing systems: VSDGI, National statistical indicator system; Statistical indicator system of ministries, etc.
  2. Propose amendment to existing VSDG indicators related to children, including:

– List of VSDG indicators related to children.

– Metadata of each indicator (includes: Concepts, calculation methods; disaggregations; release period; Data sources and responsible agencies).

Methodology: The consultants will adopt the methodology of document review and consultation with relevant agencies and experts to conduct this assignment.

Detailed Work Assignments and Deliverables as attached Download File ToR National consultant VSDG indicators.pdf

Governance

During the assignment, the selected consultant will report directly to UNICEF Chief of PME and MPI Director of DSENRE. The deliverables will be reviewed by UNICEF and DSENRE. The consultants should make themselves available for the work and events as per the work plan.

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

Minimum Qualifications required*:   Masters    PhD    Other

Required Disciplines: Public Policy, Sociology, Law, Anthropology, Development Economics or related areas

*Minimum requirements to consider candidates for competitive process.

Qualification/Specialised Knowledge and Experience:

Qualifications and Competencies:

Consultant 1 – Statistics expert:

Education:

University advanced degree in Demography, Statistics, Social Sciences, Development Economics or any other related technical field is required.

Skills and Experience:

– 8 to 10 years of professional experience in statistics.

– Knowledgeable in national statistical system and administrative reporting system.

– Knowledgeable in sustainable development agenda 2030 and SDG monitoring and reporting system.

– Analytical and reporting skill.

– Good inter-personal skills and presentation skills. 

– Good command of English in communication and writing.

– Experience working with government ministries and international organizations.

Consultant 2 – SDG expert:

Education:

University advanced degree in Demography, Statistics, Social Sciences, Development Economics or any other related technical field is required.

Skills and Experience:

– 8 to 10 years of professional experience regarding development policy assessments, development social/economic/ financial analysis, regulatory impact assessment, policy development and advisory, etc.

– Professional experience in SDG implementation and assessment.

– Comprehensive knowledge and understandings across various topics on SDGs.

– Analytical and reporting skill.

– Good inter-personal skills and presentation skills. 

– Good command of English in communication and writing.

– Experience working with government ministries and international organizations.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).   

To view our competency framework, please visit here.   

Assessment criteria:

For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment:

A) Technical Evaluation (e.g., maximum 75 Points)              

–  Educational background: 10%

– Knowledgeable in national statistical system and administrative reporting system (consultant 1); Or Professional experience in SDG implementation and assessment (Consultant 2): 30%

– Knowledgeable in sustainable development agenda 2030 and SDG monitoring and reporting system (consultant 1); Or Comprehensive knowledge and understandings across various topics on SDGs (consultant 2): 15%

– Analytical and reporting skill: 10%

– Networking with relevant stakeholders (government, private sector, research institutions, civil society…) and others: 10%

B) Financial Proposal (e.g., maximum of 25 Points)

–  The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened /evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 50 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

– The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview if needed.

Submission of applications:

Applicants are requested to indicate if they apply for Consultant 1 or Consultant 2, or if they apply as a team. The submission includes:

a. A technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably less than 10 pages);

b. Samples of similar products;

c. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee and any other relevant costs for this assignment. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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. 

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:  

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. 

Advertised: 15 Apr 2024 SE Asia Standard Time
Deadline: 28 Apr 2024 SE Asia Standard Time

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