National Consultant UNICEF

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical support in the following areas:

1. Field data collection: gather & collect qualitative and quantitative data (post-distribution monitoring data, admin data, KIIs, group discussion ) on the development and implementation processes of the pilots, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and area for improvement, building on a methodological approach and tools developed by an international expert.
2. Coordination and liaison: establish a workplan, lists of stakeholders to meet with, organize and conduct relevant meetings, under the guidance of the international expert.
3. Dissemination and translation: translate and adapt the tools and documents into Arabic and Kurdish, as relevant, and support logistically in organizing 2 workshops to presents the initial findings and final products.

The consultancy will support the generation of comprehensive lessons learned to guide the potential scale up of the pilots, and to develop a costed scale-up and institutionalization proposal for the Child Plus Pilot Programmes, led by the international technical expert.

Scope of Work:

The national consultant will work under the remote guidance of the international technical expert to carry out in-country activities required for the formative lessons learned study of the Child Plus Pilots in Federal Iraq and KRI. The consultant will focus on field-level engagement, data collection, coordination and liaison.

1. Inception (13 days)

• Establish a workplan in collaboration with the international expert
• Support identification of key stakeholders for data collection, and coordinate with UNICEF and relevant stakeholders to schedule interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and site visits.
• Review the methodological plan and tools to ensure it is context-specific, and translation development and quality assurance
• Maintain continuous communication

Deliverables/Outputs

• Workplan including travel plans and field work schedule
• Finalized list of stakeholders
• Weekly field progress notes summarizing meeting notes from stakeholder consultations, including key findings.
• Note on key findings and lessons learned based on stakeholder consultations.
• Final methodological approach and data collection tools in relevant languages.

Timeline: October 2025

2. Data collection (18 days)

• Conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) with central and local government officials, social workers, partner agencies, and implementing partners as per the agreed list of stakeholders and tools developed during inception.
• Facilitate and document FGDs with child benefit recipient households, as well as with relevant community actors.
• Ensure ethical procedures are followed, including informed consent and confidentiality.

Deliverables/Outputs

• Minute of meetings as part of data collection, including KIIs and FGDs in English
• Minutes from weekly meetings with the technical expert.

Timeline: From October 2025 December 2025

3. Document Review Support (12 days)

• Light review of relevant pilot programme documents, especially operational manuals, monitoring reports and inputs to the Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) analysis for the 3 locations.
• Based on on-the-ground experience, contribute contextual insights and content to supplement lessons learned report and costed scale-up plan drafted by technical lead.

Deliverables/Outputs

• Comments on key operational documents (operational manuals, and monitoring reports)
• Annotate drafts of lessons learned and costed scale-up plan
• Draft executive summary and initial findings PPT translated in Arabic and Kurdish

Timeline: From December2025 January 2026

4. Support to Validation Workshop (34 days)

• Support the integration of comments in the final products, providing follow-up as needed
• Support in-country logistics preparations for the Final Validation Workshop.
• Provide support in translating the final executive summary PPT in Arabic and Kurdish

Deliverables/Outputs

• Concept note and agenda for validation workshop.
• Final reports: Executive summary, main findings and recommendations and PPT for validation workshop in Arabic and Kurkish

Timeline: March 2026 to May 2026