National Consultant (Early Childhood Development Framework Adaptation and Introduction)

WHO CO would like to commission country mapping of ECD structure and services /programmes in Tajikistan to inform the development of National Multi-sectoral ECD Programme/Plan. This WHO Early Childhood Development framework prioritizes three key directions. - Under priorities of ECD – nutrition and physical health strengthening; social, emotional, cognitive and linguistic development, family and parent responsibilities; - Under Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) – Growth monitoring, early intervention, organization of early intervention services - Under social, economic, environmental risks: environmental risks, social and physical risks, strategic measures to be adopted by countries, manage and invest, focus to families and communities, improving services and tracking progress and accountability / reporting. The early childhood development country mapping aims to assess the range and extent of interventions related to Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development under programmes implemented by various sectors and status of their implementation using joint WHO /UNICEF ECD mapping tool. Also the Tajikistan national laws, plans and policies related to Early Childhood Developed and analysis to assess the role played by stakeholders in development and implementation of national multi-sectoral activities contributing to Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development through ECD Policy Framework. Main objectives 1. To identify existing government and informal structures, mechanisms, referral and coordination mechanisms at all levels for effective and efficient service delivery of ECD services, for instance, maternal and child health, infant and young child feeding, early stimulation and ECD and child protection and social welfare according to types or packages, and target groups; 2. To map the geographical spread of the programmes and funding distributions; 3. To make a critical analysis of gaps in evidence and bottlenecks in ECD services and how these can be addressed following the global Nurturing Care Framework and European ECD framework. 4. Development of recommendations on ECD service delivery mechanisms to be considered in comprehensive ECD National Programme/ECD Concept in Tajikistan. The consultant will focus on three key mapping priorities: - Nutrition and physical health strengthening; social, emotional, cognitive and linguistic development, early learning, family and parent responsibilities; - Growth monitoring, early intervention, organization of early intervention services - Environmental risks, social and physical risks, strategic measures to be adopted by countries, manage and invest, focus to families and communities, improving services and tracking progress and accountability / reporting. It is expected that the Consultant will collaborate with UNICEF-engaged national expert on peer level where assignment objectives will be divided. The mapping will be conducted through a comprehensive government systems and services mapping in the following sectors: maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition, early childhood care and parenting and social/child welfare

2. Organizational context

The mapping will assess the following systems elements:

• Mandates and their practical implementation of governance structures available at all levels; Coordination and referral structures between sectors and their functionality;
• Mother and child health (MCH), child welfare, ECD and family/parenting support services available at local level and their functionality;
• Availability of informal family support and child care structures;
• Awareness of service providers working with children at primary level of integrated early childhood development (IECD), for instance, on positive young child feeding and care practices, parenting education, early stimulation, disability, HIV, prevention and response to violence, abuse and neglect;
• Mechanisms for detection, referral and response on childhood deprivations (malnutrition, housing, access to sanitation, lack of parental support, absence of early stimulations, lack of access to services for the children with disabilities and etc.)
• Community knowledge, attitudes and practices around early childhood development, e.g. on positive young child feeding and care practices, parenting education, early stimulation, early detection and intervention, prevention and response to violence;
• Geographical/infrastructural opportunities and barriers and other external factors impacting on the practical implementation and monitoring of modeling;

The mapping will be conducted through:

• Desk review and secondary analysis of data of ECD related national policies, plans and reports; ECD project (evaluations and documentations of ECD projects implemented by development partners and CSOs);
• Structured and semi-structured interviews with government officials service providers at local level. as well as International Development partners;
• Focus group discussions (FGDs) with different stakeholders, (government counterparts (service providers?), parents’ groups and etc.).

3. Description of duties

Objectives

1. Conduct desk review of relevant documentation and preparation of an Inception report describing the details of methodology and work plan. Deliverables: Developed inception report/work plan including design and development of capacity and learning needs assessment methodologies and tools (FGD, observation form, checklists and etc), that outlines mechanism for achieving the ToR tasks with timeline; 2. Undertake an in-depth analysis of the current situation of ECD, identifying current nurturing care interventions and ECD systems, human resources, including policy analysis. Deliverable: WHO/UNICEF ECD Situational analysis Tool filled in. Assessment raw data provided. First Draft Assessment Report written; 3. Facilitate consensus building workshop to share and analyse findings of the assessment to enable collective decision making around key elements. Deliverable: Consensus building workshop conducted and concerted report with recommendations prepared; 4. Prepare final ECD Situational Analysis Report. Deliverable: Submitted final ECD Situational Analysis Report (i.e. identifying existing policies & programming environment; services and intervention priorities, strategies employed, stakeholder analysis; existing coordination arrangements and financing analysis with trends/budget provisions for nurturing care for ECD); 5. Produce a final report, summarizing the process and outcomes of the assignment as well as a set of recommendations and follow-up actions. Deliverable: Final report of the assignment.

4. Recruitment Profile

Functional Knowledge and Skills

Essential: Skilled at identifying problems and brainstorming potential solutions; Creativity and generating ideas; attentive to details; skilled with statistics and data; excellent communicator; comfortable working independently and collaboratively with other team members (especially UNICEF National Consultant);careful about documentation and note-taking Desirable: It is preferable that the individual has experience with, or in, multilateral institutions. Knowledge of WHO context essential.

Education Qualifications

Essential: Advanced university degree in Social Science, Pediatric/Public health expertise or other relevant field, such as international development studies related to Health, Nutrition and Education. Expertise in statistics and statistical analysis. Desirable: Highly proficient in a range of PC/web applications, including but not limited to: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook, and Lotus Notes.

Experience

Essential: A minimum of five years of demonstrative experience in qualitative and quantitative research, data analyses and reporting (proven experience in handling primary and secondary data) with a focus early childhood education and health, child and mother health. Desirable: Qualified with an education or public policy-related degree.

Languages

Essential: Russian and English Desirable: Tajik and Uzbek

5. Contract duration

The contract duration is thirty-one (31) days working days.

6. Location

Republic of Tajikistan

7. Remuneration

The level of remuneration is determined based on the following: - Required qualification and experience. - Sufficient experience and expertise to obtain the services required. - The nature of the services to be provided, i.e. the complexity, extent of the work to be performed and the degree of expertise required to accomplish it. - Current market rate for comparable work necessary to obtain the service required by the Organization. - The level of expertise appropriate to the importance of the service performed.