United States of America (the): Consultant, Results for Adolescent

Terms of ReferenceConsultancy on Results for Adolescents Adolescent Development and Participation Unit

ContextThe area of adolescent development is emerging as a discrete sector for programming and policy. While it overlaps with both the “child rights” agenda and the “youth agenda,” this population group has not been given sufficiently focused attention to ensure evidence-based outcomes. With increased research on this age group and new planning processes underway, this is a strategic time to start building a base of results and indicators for adolescents that can be used for the adolescent development field as a whole, as well as for UNICEF to prioritize its focus on this population.
The timing of this work is strategic in many ways. The results that are defined can feed into both UNICEF’s planning process as well as the broader post-2015 agenda. It also comes at a time when more data than ever are available on adolescents and youth. In April 2012, UNICEF hosted the release of its own publication, Progress for Children: A Report Card on Adolescents (2012), along with the Lancet series on adolescent health (both 2007 and 2012). These publications, released as part of the Commission on Population and Development, provide an excellent basis from which to begin to identify results and relevant indicators.
The Lancet series on adolescent health was also rallying call for the UN to begin to lead the way in defining the results it wants to see for adolescents. Within the UN system, UNICEF is particularly well-positioned to provide leadership given the breadth of sectors in which it is engaged. UNICEF also has the opportunity to ensure that the framework is based in a human rights approach and that an equity lens is used to identify our strategies. The Lancet authors have indicated their willingness to collaborate with UNICEF in moving the field of adolescent development forward in further refining results and indicators for adolescents. Working with these academics, as well as WHO and UNFPA, UNICEF will undertake an exercise to define results for adolescents. Purpose of ConsultancyUNICEF needs to jump-start this exercise to define “results for adolescents,” though a six-month consultancy. The successful candidate will work with UNICEF staff located in its headquarters and its country offices to develop key result areas for adolescents, available and potential indicators for measurement of those results and the strategic opportunities and platforms that could be available to achieve these results. The process will involve a desk review of existing results and consultations with sectors at headquarters covering all programming areas of UNICEF, including health; nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene; education; HIV and AIDS and child protection. They will also address domains outside of these sectors such as non-communicable diseases, identity and equity, socio-economic opportunity and civic engagement. The consultant will also liaise with country and regional offices to contextualize the process through country analyses.
The specific tasks are as follows:• Create a map of results for adolescents based on existing documentation, sector experience and knowledge and country programme experience and knowledge. Identify gaps in indicators and means of verification that need to be filled in order to fully monitor and evaluate progress across the results.

• Identify strategic opportunities and platforms for UNICEF to deliver on these results at the global level through health, HIV, education, and child protection to deliver for adolescents on issues such as HPV (health, education), teenage pregnancy (health), child marriage (child protection and health), HIV prevention and care (HIV), sexual violence (health, child protection) and post-primary pathways (education).

• Engage intensely with at least one region (to be determined), as a way identify country-level results to build capacity at regional level to identify country-level or regional-level results.

Deliverables• A paper that outlines a framework of results for adolescents that identifies results, indicators, and means of verification, where available.
• Presentation and draft paper on existing or emerging platforms that could be utilized to deliver on multiple results, drawing upon input from sectors as well as country experience.

Time FrameJune-December 2012 (full-time)

Qualifications• Advanced university degree in social sciences and/or related fields; Ph.D. preferred. • Midlevel specialist with 7 to 10 years of professional work experience in social development programmes, with extensive work experience in developing countries. • Demonstrated knowledge of adolescent development, gender and inclusive development.• Experience in quantitative and statistical analysis as well as qualitative research methods and the development of indicators and measurement tools. • Sound understanding of monitoring and evaluation.• Knowledge of UNICEF’s areas of work.• Excellent writing skills in the English language.