Consultancy: Promoting child participation in the South African national and provincial budgets

The social policy programming includes public finance for children, child poverty, and social protection for children. UNICEF South Africa has worked and continues to work with suitable civil society partners to advance the realisation of childrens and adults socio-economic rights through the budget process and the annual budgets. In 2023, one of the initiatives that were jointly identified with civil society partners is the development of childrens capacity (15 - 17year olds) to participate in the national and provincial budget processes. This will require UNICEF South Africa to host a training workshop with children around various public budgets through the support of a qualified Consultant to support that process by working with UNICEF South Africa and a core group of civil society organisations specializing in child rights. This is an output of public finance for children in the AWP, which also contributes to the child rights advocacy work which seeks to provide strengthened platforms and space for children and champions of childrens rights to actively participate in the national budget and budget policy framework.

For every child, a reimagined future.

Under the supervision of the Social Policy Manager, the consultant will prepare for and conduct a workshop for children between ages of 15 and 17, aiming to increase their participation in open budgets at both national and provincial levels, and engaging them on budget issues, to ensure that their ideas on resource-allocation decisions can be heard directly in shaping budget preparation and execution decisions that affect them.

How can you make a difference?

Specific tasks/activities and issues to be addressed under this assignment:

• Support UNICEF South Africa and its social partners in preparing child participants for the budget workshop in September 2023.

This requires a presentation to the UNICEF country team and its CSO partners about the methods to be used, the kind of advanced preparation that must be done to ensure a fruitful workshop, the measures put into place to safeguard the well-being and safety of participating children between the ages of 15-17 years old, and a timeline of key milestones.

• Finalise the scope and the objectives of the workshop with UNICEF South Africa and its social partners.

The Consultant is required to produce an inception report detailing the areas of the public budget that will be engaged, how this will be done, and whether provincial and national budgets will be used. Indication must also be provided on how the training will map onto a set of definable child-relevant outputs and outcomes that UNICEF South Africa and its social partners can track and report on.

• Prepare child-friendly training materials to be used in the budget training workshop in September 2023.

The Consultant is required to submit these materials at least one month before the actual workshop training programme so that they can be subjected to external scrutiny by UNICEF South Africa and its social partners. This is a fundamental part of the work as it is not only relevant for the planned workshops, but for subsequent provincial workshops planned for in 2024 and beyond.

• Facilitation of a workshop over two days.

The consultant is required to facilitate a 2-day workshop with children and mentors in person. This is part of the fundamental work aiming to build the knowledge and capacity of young people around various socio-economic rights in the Constitution and what they mean across the country, as well as capacitate and empower them on how to use processes within government and Parliament to effectively contribute their ideas on the budget policy framework. It will further provide the foundation for the mentors to provide support to the young people.

• Post-workshop debriefing and discussion with UNICEF South Africa and social partners.

The Consultant will present key observations in terms of challenges and opportunities that were encountered and how a follow-up workshop should have these challenges addressed and opportunities reinforced. The meeting will be used

• The Consultant will report to UNICEF, however, expected to make presentations to the core group made up of UNICEF and CSO partners on UNICEFs instruction. The consultant will further train children during a 2-day workshop with mentors in person.

The Outputs And Deliverables That Are To Be Produced Which Will Contribute To The Objectives Stated In The AWP Are As Follows

• In-person meeting or online (to derive consensus on the initial approach to the assignment) followed by inception report
• Child-friendly budget training materials for the workshop shared in soft copy for to UNICEF and social partners
• In-person facilitation of workshop with children and mentors. The Consultant will be expected to provide all the learning materials for this workshop, including materials to be used by the children
• Post-workshop discussion/debriefing (in-person or online) and a short wrap-up report including recommendations to address challenges

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Economics, Political Science, Public Policy, or International Development at university level, or something comparable. Any further formal qualifications above this required level is an asset.
• At least eight years of practical experience in guiding child participation processes in parliament, in community work, and in formal work with civil society organisations that specialize in childrens rights.
• A thorough knowledge of the rudimentary aspects of South Africas public finance management system, including the inner workings of its intergovernmental fiscal relations system.
• Excellent understanding and command of English at the native level, Plain English writing and editing skills.

Tasks

Deliverable/output

Performance Indicators

Initial presentation and informal interview to discuss the scope and the approach of the assignment (in-person or via Teams with UNICEF and its social partners)

In-person meeting or online (to derive consensus on the initial approach to the assignment) followed by inception report

Attendance register

Inception report incorporating key actions from the meeting with UNICEF and social partners

Final draft of child-friendly materials

Child-friendly budget training materials for the workshop shared in soft copy for to UNICEF and social partners

Child friendly training manual

Facilitation of workshop over two days

In-person facilitation of workshop with children and mentors

2-day training program outline, in line with the training manual

Post-briefing discussion with UNICEF and the social partners

Post-workshop discussion/debriefing (in-person or online) and a short wrap-up report including recommendations to address challenges

Attendance register

Short wrap up report including recommendations to address identified challenges

For every Child, you demonstrate

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the worlds 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 UNICEFs 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.