Bangladesh: International Consultant - (Situation Analysis of Children’s and Women’s Rights in Bangladesh); Dhaka, Only for Bangladeshi

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Context:

The UNICEF Executive Board approved the Government of Bangladesh - UNICEF Country Programme (CP) of Cooperation 2017-2020 at its second regular session in September. It is the tenth programme since Bangladesh attained independence in 1971. The aim of the programme is the progressive realization of children’s and women’s rights, with a focus on achieving equitable results for deprived and marginalised children. Together with other UN agencies, UNICEF has been focusing its efforts in UNDAF districts considered to be most vulnerable based on several socio-economic indicators.

Bangladesh is at a crossroads in its development and is experiencing sustained economic growth and would established as Middle-Income-Country status by 2021. While this is encouraging, the CPD highlights the fact that reaching this status will not guarantee the realization of the Government’s poverty reduction targets and that the reduction of disparities in social outcomes is likely to be more effective in reducing poverty than pursuing economic growth alone.

It was well noted that Bangladesh has made remarkable progress on the MDG targets linked to gender parity in primary and secondary education, child mortality, the spread of malaria and tuberculosis and access to safe drinking water and sanitation. However, these encouraging developments are accompanied by increased inequality, between and within population groups with new vulnerabilities are emerging for children. Now, country is looking forward to prioritizing its efforts to achieve “leaving no one behind”.

Bangladesh Country Office (BCO) has already started activities to undertake programme evaluations and revision of programme strategies, which will involve an extensive review of secondary data, both from surveys and administrative sources to identify levels of coverage of key interventions for each sector, identify bottlenecks and barriers for increased coverage, change in programme environment, identify new development priorities, and change in the way people access information.

The last comprehensive SitAn was undertaken by UNICEF Bangladesh in 2015. It was guided by the human rights-based approach and the life cycle approach. As part of a series of knowledge products required to inform the development of the next Country Programme, the Country Office has decided to update the 2015 SitAn by integrating data from humanitarian data sources, global sources, national sources like MICS, Household Income and Expenditure surveys (HIES), ECBSS, KAP surveys, etc. and other alternative sources of data like peer reviewed journal articles, studies and evaluations.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The new generation situation analysis (SitAn) is a flagship product that presents an analytical narrative of children’s rights and well-being in Bangladesh. The primary objective of the SitAn is to present a holistic picture and promote understanding of the situation of children. During this process, consultant will also provide comprehensive technical support to select national resource organization to carry out secondary analysis, stakeholder consultations, and quality assurance to produce background report (comprehensive SitAn on children), which will be used in eight-five-year plan of Bangladesh Government.

For UNICEF use, the new generation Situation Analysis (SitAn) produced by consultant will be used to inform the 2021-2025 UNICEF Country Programme preparation process by providing an update about women and children in Bangladesh through the integration of additional information emerging from recent surveys, other pieces of research/evaluation and relevant documents. This will enable Bangladesh Country Office (CO) to formulate an evidence-based country programme that reflects the reality of the current country context in Bangladesh and addresses key barriers and bottlenecks to the fulfillment of the rights of children and women. The development of the Situation Analysis will be coordinated by UNICEF consultant (SitAN) and national resource organization (SitAN) with General Economics Division (GED) and key government partners as part of the SitAn management steering committee and its sub-groups, and development partners including research institutes, academia, civil society, multilateral/bilateral and UN organizations.

The findings will improve the understanding of decision-makers, partners and all other stakeholders of the current situation of children’s and women’s rights in the country and the causes of shortfalls and inequities, as the basis for the development of the new Country Programme and to inform other national and subnational planning processes.

The new generation Situation Analysis will follow the 2019 guidance on conducting an equity-based situation analysis and aims to contribute to national research about changes in programme environment, change in the way people access information, living conditions of disadvantaged children and to provide an important reference for policy-making, formulating legislation, planning processes and budget allocations.

The SitAn will use available data – in particular data emerging from the 2019 MICS, BDHS 2018, Effective Coverage of Basic Social Services Survey (ECBSS) 2018, evaluation reports, secondary analysis, other research as well as analysis included key reports and Five year plan - working papers of General Economics Division (GED), Planning Commission, to accurately identify trends, patterns, incidence and causes of key deprivations (e.g. child mortality, stunting, low levels of birth registration, low school enrolment and achievement, violence against children and child marriage), disaggregated by relevant segments of the population (geographical areas, gender, age, rural/urban, etc.).

The scope will be informed by five themes;

Specifically, the new generation SitAn aims to answer the following questions:

In conclusions and recommendations section of the report: The analysis must firmly conclude on the top issues that impact child rights and wellbeing. There will be many of these issues, but the new generation SitAn emphasizes the prioritization of these issues. The conclusions must identify any data gaps or evidence gaps that need to be closed to get a better picture of the situation of children in Bangladesh. The analysis must develop recommendations on how to address these gaps and ideally identify change strategies that could be effective in the given context These recommendations should be addressed to government and the different actors in the country, including but not solely to UNICEF. Recommendations addressed solely to UNICEF programming must be avoided as the new generation SitAn targets a wider audience and its use is not limited to planning the country programme. The recommendations must include any further research or analysis needed soon.

Methodology:

This Situation Analysis will use mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative approaches), a desk review of key documents and resources to be provided by Bangladesh Country Office (BCO), Cabinet Division, Finance Division, GED, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and key agencies. The desk review will be complemented by key informant interviews with Government counterparts at national level, key think tanks of country, development partners, and UNICEF staff led by the consultant. Support can also be taken by select national resource organization.

In articulating the country’s situation, the SitAn should reflect the perspectives of a diverse range of actors to ensure an objective and credible analysis. UNICEF, in the process of developing the analysis, should consult and engage with the government and a broad range of stakeholders, including the most vulnerable and marginalized group, and/or organizations who speak on their behalves. Engagement with government is an essential component of the process and at the same time, consultations with civil society, children and young people, academia, and the private sector among others is a critical to forming a clear picture of the country context. While undertaking the analysis, opportunities should be created to facilitate discussions between different stakeholders on the most critical issues that affect children’s rights and wellbeing.

The findings of the SitAn can also be used to feed into the UN’s Common Country Analysis (CCA). In cases where the development of the two products coincide, UNICEF can draw on some of the material in the CCA, especially on the country overview. UNICEF can also work with the rest of the UN in the country to coordinate the consultations to avoid duplication of work, ensure coherence and maximize stakeholder engagement.

Note - Apart from preparing the flagship report, consultant will advise BCO on how to host a micro site with a dynamic dashboard containing the data from the SitAn. Dashboards will be coherent with existing data platforms and should contain links to other sources of data.

Overall quality assurance:

The working group provides internal quality assurance for the new generation SitAn, while the Steering Committee ensures that the analysis is well grounded in the national context.

Deliverables/Outputs:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

Education: A Masters Degree in Social Science or any other relevant discipline is required.

Experiences:

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY:

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Duration: 60 days

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