To support UNICEF ECARO and its partners in assessing and strengthening the national M&E indicator frameworks and information systems in Luxembourg (and other countries as needed), which can collect, analyse, visualise, report and disseminate high-quality disaggregated and internationally comparable (where relevant) data and harmonized national statistics on children in need and child rights.
To provide M&E specialist support to ECARO in the planning and implementation of the M&E components of the TSI project, which ECARO is going to implement under an umbrella contract with the European Commission in Luxembourg and help to establish a sound TSI project M&E system.
To provide technical specialist support to the implementation and finalisation of the M&E and research components of the Phase III of the preparatory action of the ECG and provide any other relevant support to the Child Protection team in the finalisation of Phase III as needed.
UNICEF ECARO’s Child Protection team is working closely with ECARO’s Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation team on M&E-related work including in the area of child rights monitoring, which is particularly relevant for the TSI project.
ECARO will also work closely with UNICEF Headquarters on mobilizing the corporate expertise and tools to benefit the country monitoring and data improvement processes and sustainability.
Scope of Work:
Main tasks and deliverables related to the TSI project in Luxembourg:
Inception phase:
Support the preparation, implementation and documentation of the project kick-off meeting in Luxembourg including the mapping of key M&E stakeholders. Based on the documented results of meetings with key stakeholders in 2022 and the kick-off meeting, the consultant will help to finalize all required project documents including the project inception report with a detailed work plan, stakeholder maps and the results of the initial stakeholder engagement. The inception phase will also require the consultant to provide inputs to basic communication materials on the child rights monitoring component of the project, and to help establish and support the work of the project’s technical working group (TWiG) on indicators (including development of draft terms of reference, calendar of work, etc. and participation in and documentation of the meetings).
Assessment phase:
Support the team and national partners in the development of the approach, terms of reference, methodology and tools for the assessment of the state-of-play of M&E of children’s rights and of the country’s Child Guarantee NAP (including the data landscape); the implementation of the assessment including the development of proposals for recommendations to address constraints and opportunities uncovered and of a long list of relevant M&E indicators; the validation of facts with key stakeholders; and the write-up of the assessment report and presentation. The assessment will include a comprehensive desk review (including an analysis of other EU and third countries’ experiences, good practices and M&E frameworks and indicator sets) as well as a secondary data analysis and field-work to gather primary data (e.g., from key informants) as needed. The consultant will further support the preparation, implementation and documentation of online bilateral exchanges on M&E frameworks and indicators with at least two selected countries.
Implementation phase:
This phase will require the consultant to provide technical support to Luxembourg and partners in the following areas:
Drafting and finalizing a report that will set out the prioritized indicator areas, the actual indicators and the data collection methods. The report will be based on the results of the assessment and the work of the TWiG on indicators and of all other experts engaged in a consultative and consensus building process to arrive at priority indicator areas and actual indicators to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan on the Rights of the Child 2022-2026 and the Child Guarantee NAP. The report will include any actions that may be required to strengthen the data systems to produce quality data for the prioritized indicators. The process of identifying and prioritizing the indicators will include testing the feasibility of the prioritized indicators and elaborating on the metadata (including indicator definition and calculation, data collection methods and data sources, data disaggregation, etc.). The actions needed to strengthen the data systems will be included into a roadmap for implementation that will be developed as part of the project.
Developing a roadmap to monitor and evaluate children's rights and child poverty and social exclusion in Luxembourg, which is setting out the key steps and milestones including roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders to implement the strengthened M&E framework and continuously improve M&E, collect quality disaggregated data for the agreed set of indicators, and close the data gaps by investing in data system improvements.
Developing a proposal for the design of an indicator dashboard to help the national partner track, analyse and visualise the data collected.
Supporting the preparation of workshops on child and stakeholder participation and the development of a participation policy and guide for the national partner in the area of participatory M&E.
Supporting the project team with other relevant tasks related to the project as agreed with the supervisor.
These processes include consultations, consensus building and validation of project outputs with key stakeholders, which the consultant will support. The consultant will also work closely with the project team and partners in country on ensuring participatory M&E approaches and processes, which are sustainable, and a gender focus in all M&E activities, as well as compliance with national and international principles and standards on ethics, data protection and confidentiality, and data collection with children. This may include, e.g., supporting the project team and country partners in the preparation of all required documents for external quality and ethical reviews.
Project monitoring and reporting:
The consultant will support the project team in project monitoring, reporting and information management including the development of monitoring and reporting methods, tools and mechanisms. The consultant will also provide support to data visualisation and presentation, and input data and analysis into project reports and presentations, as needed, including the final synthesis report. The consultant will further participate in key project-related meetings and events including regular internal meetings of the project team (in person and/or online) and help to prepare meeting agendas and document key action points during meetings, if required.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum Qualifications required:
Master’s Degree in social sciences, statistics or a related field and/or a background in child rights, international development or a related field with proven experience and skills in monitoring and evaluation.
At least five years of relevant professional M&E experience including experience in working in EU countries and in developing/strengthening national/subnational M&E frameworks and systems in line with national policies and international standards
Familiar with EU policies on data protection and with principles and standards on data collection on children
Familiar with different data sources on children in the EU context including administrative data systems
Experience in participatory M&E processes and corresponding mechanisms and in national M&E governance and management would be an asset
Familiar with EU policy frameworks on children would be an asset
Proven data analysis and basic data visualization skills
Strong communication and interpersonal skills
Fluency in English and in French required
Excellent writing skills including proven experience in project monitoring and reporting, the development of analytical reports and data briefs.
