Contract Duration- 6 months

Working arrangement: Remote

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) is a global UNICEF-led initiative that supports local governments to put children’s rights at the centre of local governance, planning, budgeting, service delivery and community engagement. The initiative promotes the realization of child rights at the local level by encouraging local authorities to work with children, families, civil society, communities and other stakeholders to make cities safer, more inclusive, more responsive and more supportive of children’s wellbeing.

Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has been implementing CFCI since 2020. During its first cycle, MBPJ undertook a Situational Analysis of Children to identify priority issues affecting children in the city, established and strengthened mechanisms for meaningful child participation through the Petaling Jaya Child Council, and engaged children, communities, civil society organisations and government stakeholders in the co-creation of its first Child Friendly City Action Plan. MBPJ subsequently implemented a range of actions across sectors and departments to strengthen child rights, participation, inclusion, services and child-friendly urban environments. Following an independent evaluation and assessment against UNICEF's Child Friendly Cities framework, Petaling Jaya was recognised by UNICEF as a Child Friendly City in October 2023. Following this recognition, MBPJ commenced its second CFCI cycle through the implementation of the Petaling Jaya Child Friendly City Action Plan 2024-2030, which builds on the achievements and recommendations emerging from the first cycle and seeks to further institutionalise child-friendly governance, planning and service delivery across the city.

As implementation of the second action plan is still underway and will continue until 2030, a mid-term evaluation is needed to take stock of progress and support course correction. The current mid-term evaluation seeks to assess progress under this ongoing implementation cycle, identify achievements and challenges, and provide recommendations to strengthen implementation during the remaining period of the Action Plan.

UNICEF Malaysia is therefore seeking a qualified consultant to conduct a mid-term evaluation of MBPJ’s implementation of its second Child Friendly City Action Plan.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here: Download File External TOR TMC0004197.pdf

Minimum requirements:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Evaluation, social sciences, public policy, public administration, urban planning, urban studies, international development, child rights, public health, education, economics, development studies, sociology, anthropology, geography, community development, or other relevant fields.

Work Experience:

Demonstrated experience conducting evaluations of child rights, local governance, urban development, public sector reform or related programmes.
Experience working with or evaluating local governments, city councils or public sector institutions.
Demonstrated understanding of child rights, local governance or urban development. Familiarity with UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) or similar initiatives is an asset.
Experience applying mixed-methods evaluation approaches, including document review, stakeholder consultations and analysis of administrative, monitoring or programme data.
Experience engaging local authorities, civil society organisations and children through consultations, participatory processes or research activities.
Demonstrated ability to conduct safe, ethical, inclusive and meaningful engagement with children, including the application of child safeguarding, informed consent, confidentiality, equity and participation principles throughout the evaluation process.
Knowledge of the Malaysian local government context. Experience working with city councils, urban authorities or government institutions in Malaysia is strongly preferred.
Strong report writing, facilitation and presentation skills in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Demonstrated ability to present findings and recommendations in a clear, practical and actionable manner for decision-makers.

Skills:

Evaluation and research method
Child rights, child participation or community engagement
Local governance, public policy or urban development
Qualitative research and stakeholder consultation

Language Requirements: Strong proficiency in both Bahasa Malaysia and English required.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
Cover letter
A separate financial proposal (only acceptable in the format of the linked template): financial proposal template TMC0004197.xlsx
A detailed technical proposal:

A brief technical proposal of up to 10 pages. It should explain how the consultant will carry out the assignment in a way that is specific to MBPJ's CFCI journey and the purpose of this mid-term evaluation. It should also explain how the consultant will turn findings into practical, prioritised recommendations that can be validated with UNICEF and MBPJ and used to strengthen implementation during the remaining period of the Action Plan. The section may include the proposed evaluation questions, methods, data sources, ethical and child safeguarding approach, quality assurance measures, risks and mitigation measures, and work plan, where relevant.
One sample of a previous evaluation report, management brief or similar knowledge product produced by the consultant. This will be reviewed to assess the consultant's ability to communicate findings in a clear, concise and actionable manner for both technical and non-technical audiences, and to translate evidence into practical recommendations for decision-makers.

Remarks:

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) Implementation Evaluation Consultant, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for 6 months, travel related