UNICEF MALAWI TORS INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION FOR

VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND A SITUATIONAL
ANALYSIS FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN
Title Review of the National Plan of Action for
Vulnerable Children (2015-2019) and
Situational analysis for vulnerable children
(2020)
Purpose The purpose of the exercise is to review the
impact of the National Plan of Action (2015-
Summary 2019) which is the guiding document for
implementing interventions for vulnerable
children and to conduct a situational
analysis for vulnerable children which will
guide the development of the successor
costed National Plan of Action.

Background The Government of Malawi (GoM) developed the National Plan of Action
(NPA) for Vulnerable Children (2015-2018) as a key national guiding
document for vulnerable children.

The NPA for vulnerable children (2015-2018) was a successor document

to the previous National Plan of Action on Orphans and Other Vulnerable
Children. The Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare
(MoGCDSW) is the lead and coordinating entity ensuring that all partners
at national, district and community levels uphold the rights of children
regardless of their circumstances.

Since 2015, as part of scaling up the implementation of the National Plan

of Action for Vulnerable Children (NPA), the Government of Malawi (GoM)
with technical support from UNICEF and financial support from USAID
developed Child Protection District Implementation Plans (DIPs) as
strategy to operationalize the NPA and guide quality service delivery at
district level. The development of the DIPs was complemented by a
district mapping exercise of key child protection partners in all the 28
districts. Out of these, UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme
concentrated its efforts, funding and provision of technical assistance in
10 districts of Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba, Machinga, Mangochi, Dedza,
Mchinji, Mzuzu, Mzimba and Nkhatabay.

Each DIP had an embeded monitoring plan with targets that would
consequently contribute to the indicators and targets in the NPA for
Vulnerable Children (2015-2019). This was done in order to
systematically document and monitor child protection issues to inform
critical decisions leading to effective response and prevention. The
MoGCDSW with UNICEF and other partners provided technical assistance
to the Districts Councils to enhance implementation of the DIPs.

In order to assess the impact of the Child Protection DIPs and their
contribution towards the achievement of the NPA goals and objectives,
the MoGCDSW with support from UNICEF engaged a Consultant to
evaluate the implementation of the DIPs in all Districts supported by
UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme and some few Districts not

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supported by UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme for comparison. The

DIP evaluation established the following:

1. Efficiency: District Councils implemented the CP DIPs efficiently

with the available resources. However, monitoring of implementation of
programs at District and Community level was not very strong. Similar
findings were noted in the 2018 Evaluation of the National Child
Protection Strategy (NCPS 2012-2018).1

2. Impact: Implementation of the CP DIPs positively contributed to

child protection efforts in Malawi and impacting on the reduction of child
vulnerabilities in the country. With respect to violence, the NCPS
evaluation similarly concluded that the expected medium to long-term
impact of the NCPS could be optimal, resources permitting. A
comparative analysis with available data showed reduction in violence
against women and early marriages in UNICEF-supported Districts.

3. Sustainability: Sustainability of the CP DIPs was to a large

extent linked to the overall Malawi’s CP system. Critical in this regard
were the development of the case management, capacity strengthening,
district and community support and other components of the CP system.
District resource mobilization strategies for CP interventions were noted
to be inadequate and could not bring the desired results of increased
financial resources needed to ensure full implementation of the CP DIPs.

With respect to the protection sector, the NCPS evaluation highlighted

the importance of scaling up monitoring and follow up support after
capacity strengthening initiatives to increase sustainability.

4. Scalability: The approaches that have been implemented as part

of the both the CP DIP and the National Child Protection Strategy have
the potential for scaling up if collaboration is enhanced at all levels. These
findings were reported in both the CP DIP evaluation (2019) and the
NCPS evaluation reports (2018).

5. Gender Equality: The CP DIP evaluation revealed mixed findings

with respect to gender. For example, hat the change in focus from
Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) to all forms of vulnerability
in the NPA and the CP DIPs helped to draw attention to the needs of
vulnerable girls and boys. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , the CP DIPs and
their monitoring evaluation, frameworks lacked gender integration and
there were no gender outcome indicators.

The National Plan of Action for vulnerable children (2015-2019) is

phasing out while the National Child Protection Strategy already expired
in 2018. The successor Strategy is expected to be developed soon.

Given the imminent conclusion of the NPA for vulnerable children (2015-
2019), it is important to conduct a review of the impact of the NPA (2015-
2019) including but not limited to the DIP evaluation findings and to
conduct an updated situational analysis for vulnerable children to inform
any successor costed NPA. In line with recommendations of the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Government of Malawi has
recently launched a comprehensive Children’s Policy (2019). The

1
See: https://www.unicef.org/malawi/reports/evaluation-national-child-protection-strategy

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National Children’s Policy serves as a policy guide for the coordinated

delivery of all services for children. It is anticipated that any successor
NPA will thus serve as the implementation plan for this policy.

The NPA for Vulnerable Children had six strategic objectives aimed at:

• improving access to essential services by vulnerable children for their

survival, protection and development to be able to realize their full
rights and potential;
• building the capacity of families and communities to facilitate
vulnerable children in realizing their full rights and potentials;
• improving the technical, institutional and human resource capacity of
government and its social protection system to ensure that
vulnerable children have access to essential quality services;
• improving policy and legislation, leadership and coordination at all
levels to protect vulnerable children from the consequences of
vulnerability;
• ensuring that vulnerable children live in a supportive environment as
the result of advocacy, awareness raising and participation activities;
and
• optimizing the response for vulnerable children through a well-
functioning monitoring and evaluation system that can assess the
situation, identify gaps, and guide adjustments.

Following its five-year implementation, it is imperative to evaluate how

the set objectives of the NPA were achieved and determine whether the
situation of children in Malawi has changed compared to 2014 findings
in order to inform the successor NPA.
Objectives, The main objectives of the exercise are to;
Purpose & a) Assess how the NPA through the CP DIP has been utilised at
Expected results district level to facilitate service delivery and achievement of
results;
b) Assess how the NPA was implemented and monitored to ensure
that results were achieved for children;
c) Assess the effectiveness and impact of the NPA in achieving the
intended goal and objectives;
d) Assess the effectiveness and coherence of the coordination
mechanisms and partnerships that were instituted to implement
the NPA;
e) Assess the extent to which NPA through the CP DIPs were used
to inform annual district operational plans and budgets;
f) Identify what worked well and what did not and draw lessons to
inform the next NPA;
g) Conduct the situational analysis for vulnerable children including
updating the vulnerability framework and identifying the most
important factors determining vulnerability of a child in Malawi
h) Identify emerging issues that are heightening vulnerability
(including but not limited to increased mobile and internet
penetration, urbanization, climate change).
i) Identify key issues and interventions which should be prioritised
in the successor NPA.

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Description of the The contractor will be expected to critically look at all the objectives of
assignment the NPA and review the extent to which the objectives were achieved.
Reference will be made to the District Implementation Plans results
framework and evaluation findings. The exercise will look at how the
GoM, UNICEF, development partners and others civil society
organizations have used the NPA to ensure positive results for children.
The contractor will also conduct a situational analysis of vulnerable
children to inform priorities for the successor NPA.

The contractor will be expected to review all the documents starting with
NPA itself, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II and III, the
District Development Plans (DDPs) and Social Economic Profiles of
selected districts, and the United Nations Development Assistance
Framework (2012-2016 extended to 2018) and the current UNDAF
amongst others, as well as review the key current international and
national documents relevant to the children including the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child, Sustainable Development Goals, and treaty body reports on
Malawi among others. The specific scope of work will include but not
limited to:

A. Through a participatory and consultative process develop and

present the inception report which includes proposed time frame and
work plan for the review of the NPA and situation analysis for
vulnerable children, methodology, anticipated risks and mitigation
factors.
B. Conduct a thorough desk review of relevant literature on child
wellbeing and vulnerability in Malawi, the region and a synthesis of
how these have influenced the implementation of the NPA. Work
closely with the Planning Department in MoGCDSW and Child
Protection Section of UNICEF to identify and compile a list of
stakeholders at national and district levels to be targeted for the
exercise.
C. Conduct desk reviews and consultation meetings with key
stakeholders in the child protection and related sectors both at
national and district levels to understand their role and how their
work has helped in achieving the objectives in the NPA. Collect data
from relevant stakeholders like the Government sectors, NGO
partners and others (at national and district levels) using the most
efficient methodology that ensures maximum response rate and
quality assurance.
D. Conduct focus group discussions with children, guardians and
caregivers to validate the impact of the NPA for CP and get an
opportunity to assess whether the priorities set out in the NPA were
addressed.
E. Where necessary, conduct subsequent consultation meetings with
stakeholders to verify accuracy of submitted data and gather missing
information if any.
F. Analyse and present data in various forms easily understood by
various stakeholders i.e. tables, graphs, maps, etc.
Deliverables 1. Inception Report (including proposed timeframe, literature to be
reviewed, review and situational analysis design detailing the
proposed sampling method, data collection tools, any interview

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guides, evaluation forms or other data collection instruments to

be used)
2. Final costed NPA (including a powerpoint presentation of the
summary of the findings of the review). The final report should
not be more than 50 pages (excluding annexes)
3. Final situation analysis report of vulnerable children in Malawi
(including powerPoint presentation highlighting summary of key
findings)

Reporting Reporting will be done through the UNICEF Contract Manager guided by
requirements the following;

a) MoGCDSW and UNICEF as the clients

b) The Task Force through the UNICEF Contract Manager. The Task force
will be responsible for technical oversight, guidance, review of draft
reports and draft presentations before they are shared with the wider
membership through the Social Welfare and Child Development TWG.
c) The reports will be submitted based on the specified timelines and
milestones are as follows
o Submission of Inception Report – 10 working days from the
date contract is signed
o Subsmission of 1st draft situation analysis report report – 10th
March 2020
o Submission of the draft costed NPA and the revised situation
analysis report for vulnerable children) -20th April 2020
o Minutes of the validation meetings – to be submitted 5
working days after the meeting
o Submission of final costed NPA and final situtional analysis
report for vulnerable children (including powerpoint
presentations as outlined under the deliverables section) –
30th May 2020
Other reporting requirements include;
1. Brief reports every fortnight sent via email to the contract
Manager
2. The final reports should not be more than 50 pages (excluding
annexes)
3. Final report including inputs from the validation meeting and with
recommendations (both electronic and hard copies) to be
submitted to the MoGCDSW and UNICEF.
4. The reporting format shall be agreed at inception stage with both
MoGCDSW and UNICEF.
Location and The services will be undertaken both within the country with some
Duration activities undertaken remotely. This means splitting the time in country
and remotely.

The assignment will be for 60 days (spread over 5 months) and payment
will be based on agreed deliverables stipulated in the TORs. The
indicative starting date for the contract is 6th January 2020.
Qualification Company/Institution and Team Leader:
requirements The Company/institution must possess at least 10 years’ institutional
experience in development of national policy and strategy development,
experience in undertaking major studies especially in child protection in
developing country contexts. Experience in Southern Eastern Africa and
Malawi specifically is preferred.

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The institution must provide UNICEF with a Certificate of Incorporation/

documentation that this is a registered company or institution.

The Team Leader must have an advanced University degree (Masters or

PhD) in Law, Child Protection, Psychology Anthropology, Sociology or
other relevant social science.

The Team Leader must have an excellent understanding and experience

in child protection including understanding the most vulnerable children,
with a gender perspective.

Ability to team up with a reputable national consultant with similar or

close skill set

Experience Required:

• Strong understanding of the international instruments and legal

frameworks for children including an understanding of the Malawi
Government national priorities; how strategic decisions are made
and translated in practice at the national and sub-national (district)
levels.
• Ability to collate data and evidence from a wide range of sources to
produce clear national plan of action.
• Good gender analytical skills and understanding of intersectionality
between gender, protection and child rights issues.
• Proven experience in strategy development and ability to work
collaboratively to develop a consensus on organizational priorities.
• Track record on successful delivery of high-quality reports and
advice to governments and international organisations on child
protection; previous work with UNICEF is an asset.

Language Required for the contract:

• Excellent spoken and written fluency English required.
• A team of international and local consultants with fluency in
Chichewa and Malawian context.

Other Skills and Attributes:

• Excellent analytical skills, research and report writing skills.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
• The team must include a gender specialist or expertise in this area
and a specialist in evaluations and skills in conducting situational
analysis.

Note:
1. All key personnel should commit by signing confirming their
availability throughout the entire assignment.
2. Where an international firm/ company is bidding, they shall be
required to team up with a strong national consultant with similar
or close skill set as the team leader clearly outlining roles and
responsibilities of each.

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Evaluation process A cumulative analysis will be used to evaluate and award proposals. The
and methods
evaluation criteria associated with this TOR is split between technical and
financial as follows:
70 % - Technical
30 % - Financial
100 % - Total

The attached Annex A provides a detailed breakdown of the evaluation

criteria.

TECHNICAL POINTS TO CONSIDER MAX

CRITERIA POINTS
Overall response • Understanding of the 15
assignment
• Alignment of the proposal to
the TOR; detail and
thoroughness of the proposal
in respect of the requirements
of the TOR and assignment
Company profile • Profile of firm/ company and 10
experience on similar projects
• Client references (certified by
the client)
• Previous contracts with
UNICEF and duration
• Number of customers, size of
projects and number of staffs’
per project
Team • Key personnel that will work 10
composition, CVs on this assignment (including
and experience their CVs and detail of
(Key personnel) relevant experience and
qualification).
• The team should be a blend of
international and local experts
(if an international firm is
bidding, the team composition
to include some local experts
and where a local firm is
bidding, it is also strongly
recommended that they
include an international
expert on the team)
• Proof/ confirmation of
availability of each proposed
staff on the team
Proposed • Clear methodology/ approach 15
methodology and on how the firm will carry out
approach the tasks including

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management, monitoring and

quality assurance process
• Project management,
monitoring and quality
assurance
• Implementation approach
Workplan • A realistic work plan with 10
detailed sequence and
realistic timeline for each
activity
• Resource allocation aligns to
proposal and addressed TOR
Client references Proof of 3 similar assignments 5
undertaken in the last 5 years
demonstrating a proven track
record with good feedback from
clients
Presentation • Evaluation of presentation 5
provided by the firm
(conciseness, formatting,
layout)

Administrative The following conditions of work will apply for this contract;
issues
• No costs associated with preparing the application including proposal
submission will be met by UNICEF
• The awarded firm/company must comply with UNICEF rules and
procedures related to security and relations with the media
• The awarded company must respect ethics related to
survey/assessment practices
• The awarded firm/company will be responsible for
o Any per-diem and lodging of personnel from their institution
(should this be applicable)
o Purchase of materials for implementing the activities as relevant
(Note: UNICEF cannot guarantee cargo/ transport of materials to
Malawi)
o Local transport in Malawi including to and from the airport, local
running

Project The institutional contract will be supervised jointly by UNICEF and the
management MoGCDSW. Final deliverables will be vetted by both agencies before
payment is made. It is essential that the awarded contractor maintains
regular communication with the contract manager.

MoGCDSW in collaboration with UNICEF will institute a Task Force which

will be responsible for providing overall oversight and guidance to ensure
quality delivery of the deliverables. The Task Force shall comprise of key
partners that are supporting the GoM in implementation of programming
for children. These include; representatives from the Social Welfare and
Child Development Technical Working Groups (TWG) which constitute
membership of different Ministries, Departments and Agencies with
responsibility for children, Faith Based Organization and NGO partners.

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The specific roles and responsibilities of the Task Force Team shall
include the following:

a. Providing guidance and direction to the institution/ firm that will be

awarded the contract.
b. Updating the Social Welfare and Child Development TWGs on
progress of the assignment
c. Receiving reports from the institution/ firm, reviewing the reports
within the agreed time frame and ensuring that the institution is
adhering to the Terms of Reference and the agreed work plan based
on the approved inception report.
d. Making recommendations to the MoGCDSW and UNICEF contract
managers based on the observations and progress of the assignment.

Payment Schedule 1. 30% of total fees upon approval of the inception report
(accepted by both MoGCDSW and UNICEF)
2. 30% of total fees upon approval of the draft NPA and
Situational Analysis report of vulnerable children (accepted by
both MoGCDSW and UNICEF)
3. 40% of total fees upon approval of the final costed NPA and
final Situational analysis report of vulnerable children
(accepted by both MoGCDSW and UNICEF)

Any other The Technical Proposal should include but not be limited to the
information following:

References
Details of similar assignments undertaken in last three years including
the following information:

o Title of Project
o Year and duration of project
o Scope of Project
o Outcome of Project
o Reference / Contact persons

Work Plan
Proposed work plan showing detailed sequence and timeline for each
activity and work days of each proposed team member

Team Composition
Title brief profile and role of each team member clearly identifying the
team leader and qualifications of all team members.

A signed copy of members availability during the contractual period and

their commitment to be attached. The international firm will be required
to have local members on their team.

Curriculum Vitae’s

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CV of each team member (including qualifications and experience).

Signed declaration for each individual confirming their intention to serve
in the stated position and availability to carry out the assignment during
the proposed timeframe if successful. Ensure to include information
related to the qualifications and experience of each proposed team
member as required and outlined in the scope of work.

The Financial Proposal should include but not be limited to the

following:

Bidders are expected to submit a lump sum financial proposal to

complete the entire assignment based on the terms of reference. The
lump sum should be broken down to show the detail for the following:

1. Resource costs
Daily rate multiplied by number of days

2. Conference or workshop costs (if any)

All other conference or workshop costs (but these should be organized
only with prior approval of UNICEF) shall be covered by the consultants
except for the validation meeting costs related to the assignment which
will be directly covered by UNICEF

3. Travel Costs
All travel costs should be included as a lump sum fixed cost.

For all travel costs, UNICEF will pay as per the lump sum fixed costs
provided in the proposal.

A breakdown of the lump sum travel costs should be provided in the

financial proposal.

Any other costs (if any)

Indicate nature and breakdown

Copy of the company registration

Recent Financial Audit Report

Report should have been carried out in the past 2 years and be certified
by a reputable audit organization.

Bidders are required to estimate travel costs in the Financial Proposal.

Please note that i) travel costs shall be calculated based on economy
class fare regardless of the length of travel and ii) costs for
accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed the applicable
daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as propagated by the
International Civil Service Commission (ICSC). Details can be found at
http://icsc.un.org

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