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UNICEF BULGARIA COUNTRY OFFICE

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR

А NATIONAL CONSULTANT/TEAM OF NATIONAL CONSULTANTS TO SUPPORT

THE EVALUATION OF THE UNICEF DEMONSTRATION HOME VISITING

SERVICES FOR FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

Tentative start date of consultancy: 20 November 2018

End date consultancy: 15 April 2019

Total number of days: up to 26 days per consultant (in case of a team of consultants)

1. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

General context

Strengthening the national capacities to promote early childhood development, particularly of the

most vulnerable children, has been a key area of engagement of UNICEF in Bulgaria since 2013.

During the Country Program 2013-2017, UNICEF was involved in advocacy, technical support and

facilitating knowledge sharing, modelling and implementation of innovative interventions for

improving caregivers’ skills to provide nurturing care. One major activity included the development

and testing in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of a home visiting service for children from

birth to 3 years of age and their families. Under the Country Partnership for the period 2018-2022,

UNICEF will further support the work in this area to ensure that home visiting is established as an

effective and sustainable program for promoting young child development and wellbeing.

In 2013 UNICEF in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Bulgarian Association of Health

Professionals in Nursing, developed a model of a home visiting service to improve health and

development of young children. Scientific evidence shows that the first 3 years of life provide a

unique “window” of opportunity for learning and development1. During this period the effect of

adverse experiences (like extreme poverty, abuse and neglect, lack of responsive caregiving, etc.) and

environmental factors (toxic chemicals or pollutants for example) on early brain development is

particularly profound and can potentially influence health, behaviour and wellbeing over the entire

life course. To develop to their full potential young children need nurturing care – a set of conditions

that provide for children’s health, nutrition, security and safety, responsive caregiving and

opportunities for early learning. Evidence shows that strategies that support families and communities

to provide nurturing care have the potential to mitigate the impact of adverse experiences and

environmental factors and strengthen child development.

The present TOR aims to support the independent evaluation of the demonstration home visiting

services established with UNICEF support in Shumen and Sliven regions to generate knowledge and

lessons learnt to inform the work of the Ministry of Health toward introducing similar services in the

country and their sustainable implementation in the future. The provisions of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child and other relevant human rights documents should guide the process of evaluation,

including design of the methodology, implementation and analysis. The evaluation should also be

designed and carried out to assess the equity dimensions of the interventions, as well as gender

equality.

1 The First Thousand Days. An Evidence Paper. Centre for Community Child Health. The Royals Children’s

Hospital Melbourne, 2017.

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Description of the model home visiting service:

The model home visiting service referred to as “Centre for Maternal and Child Health” was

developed with the primary aim to strengthen caregivers’ capacities to provide nurturing care to

children from birth to 3 years of age, to improve early identification of developmental difficulties

and risks for children’s wellbeing, and facilitate early intervention including through improving

access to available health care, social and educational services in the community. Home visits are

the main way of service delivery. The staff of the services consists of trained nurses/midwives and

a social worker. The target group for the services are expectant parents and families with children

under 3 years of age. The participation of the families in the program is voluntary.

The home visiting services have universal coverage i.e. all families with young children and

expectant parents have access to a minimal package of services and visits. However, support is

tailored to the individual needs of the users and families receive different packages of services

depending on their needs and risks. A universal package is offered to all families and consists of 2

visits during pregnancy and 5 visits from birth until the child reaches 3 years of age. During the

visits families receive information, practical advice and guidance relating to childcare, health,

feeding and breastfeeding, healthy lifestyle, child safety and safe pregnancy, hygiene, stimulation of

children’s cognitive and language development, positive discipline and dealing with difficult

behaviour, family planning, etc. Attention is given to promoting strong parent – child relationships

and responsive parenting.

Families who experience specific difficulties (for example difficulties related to breastfeeding,

weaning of the child, sleeping of the child, difficult child behaviour, etc.) are offered additional

home visits and support until the issue is addressed. The most disadvantaged and vulnerable families,

as well as families where issue with potential adverse impact on child health and development (for

example pre-term babies, children with disabilities, children brought up in poor families, pregnant

women without health insurance, teenage mothers, children in risk of abandonment or abuse,

families with history of domestic violence, etc.) are identified, receive intensive support tailored to

their individual situation. Support may include intensive home visiting, for provision of guidance,

education and support, and involvement of other specialists (speech therapists, medical specialists,

occupational therapists, etc.) or child protection services.

Demonstration services were established in two regions of the country – Shumen (in 2013) and

Sliven (in 2014) as part of existing medical facilities for outpatient care. They provided services on

the territory of the entire regions. Until August 2018, the two services provided different packages

of support to more than 10,000 families with 12,000 children (approx. 67% of the child population

0-3 years of age in the two regions).

The logical mode of the whole intervention was developed and later adjusted based on the UNICEF

Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia Guidance. The logic model is attached as Annex.

Within the logical model, a set of performance indicators was developed for monitoring purposes.

Services were regularly monitored by UNICEF for measuring the progress in implementation of the

planned activities. A web-based tool was introduced as well to facilitate monitoring and assessment

of the work of the two services.

The demonstration services were implemented with the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Social

Assistance and local partners – medical facilities for outpatient and in-patient care in Sliven and

Shumen. At local level – in Sliven and Shumen medical facilities for outpatient care (Medical

centres) were responsible for establishment of the home visiting services (also referred to as Centres

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for Maternal and Child Health) as part of their structures, for management and implementation of

all activities relating to service provision on the territory of the respective regions.

An expert group with participation of relevant stakeholders (representatives of the Agency for Social

Assistance, Regional Health Inspectorates, the Bulgarian Paediatric Association, The National

Association of the General Practitioners, the Bulgarian Association of Health Professionals in

Nursing, the National Centre for Public Health and Analysis) was also established at the Ministry of

Health to oversee and support the implementation of the service, to make recommendations for

changes and develop a proposal for legal changes to ensure the place of the service in the existing

health system.

Detailed information on the project implementation will be provided to the successful applicant.

2. DECRIPTION OF THE EVALUATION

Purpose and objectives of the evaluation

The purpose of the evaluation of the demonstration home visiting services in Sliven and Shumen

regions (also referred to as Centres for Maternal and Child Health) is to assess their implementation,

results achieved and the overall impact, identify lessons learned and provide recommendations to

inform the process of national scale up.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

- Assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability and, to the extent possible,

the impact of the demonstration services on caregivers and children.

- To assess the demonstration services from an equity and child rights perspective both in

terms of the capacities to reach out to and deliver support to the most vulnerable groups,

and in terms of its role for reducing equity gaps in access to essential services and support

for health and child development during the first 3 years of life.

- Identify and document lessons learnt, including in terms of service design, scope of support

provided, resourcing, implementation, reach, involvement and retention of caregivers,

cooperation with other relevant health providers and cross-sectoral cooperation for meeting

the complex needs of children and families.

- Identify the enablers and challenges for upscaling the service nationally.

- Provide recommendations for the process of scaling up of the service nationally and for

actions to ensure quality and sustainable implementation of home visiting services in the

future (beyond the EU funded project).

The evaluation is final and is to be conducted toward the end of the piloting phase implemented

with UNICEF support. It is particularly relevant to be implemented at this point of time when the

Ministry of Health is in a process of preparation for introducing home visiting services in all regions

of the country with funding from the EU Operational Program “Human Resource Development”.

Evaluation scope

The evaluation will focus on the two demonstration home visiting services established with

UNICEF support and will examine:

- the model, its implementation and to the extent possible its impact on children and

families;

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- the relationships and integration of the services into the local systems of services for

families and children in Shumen and Sliven regions.

The evaluation will cover the period April 2013 – present.

Geographical coverage of the evaluation includes the regions of Shumen and Sliven. The evaluation

shall include the perspective and views of all relevant stakeholders: caregivers, expectant parents

and families with children under 3 years of age who benefited from the demonstration services,

caregivers who did not benefit from services but fall within the target groups, local providers of

social and health services (general practitioners/paediatricians, hospital staff, social service

providers), representatives of the regional health authorities, child protection services and others.

Additional meetings with key stakeholders at national level are also envisaged.

The Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA), equity and gender equality and mainstreaming

approaches also need to be assessed. Particular attention should be paid to exploring equity

dimensions of the intervention. For UNICEF equity means that all children have an opportunity to

survive, develop, and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. Equity-

based evaluation provides assessments of what works and what does not work to reduce inequity,

and it highlights intended and unintended results for the most vulnerable groups as well as the

inequalities in the outcomes for vulnerable children and families. To the extent possible access to

quality support and outcomes for different subgroups of vulnerable children and families should be

explored in the evaluation (based on ethnicity, residence, setting – institutional/family, gender,

disability, etc.) and the groups least reached identified.

Evaluation framework and questions

The evaluation will assess the demonstration home visiting services in terms of the following

criteria: relevance to the child rights and equity agenda, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance,

sustainability, and impact (as defined by OECD/DAC).

Below are given indicative questions to guide the evaluation, which however can be further

expanded during the inception phase in consultation with UNICEF and the Reference Group. The

need of assessment of relevant human rights, equity and gender equality aspects should be

considered while formulating the questions. Regional dimension (with respect to the two regions

of implementation) should be explored as well.

Relevance:

the extent to

which the

objectives of

the service

address the

real problems

and the needs

of the target

groups and

country

priorities.

Questions to be explored include:

• To what extent the demonstration home visiting services (objectives,

strategies, activities, etc.) are aligned with the government policy

priorities/policies/reforms agendas in the areas of maternal and child

health, early childhood development, deinstitutionalisation, child care

and social inclusion?

• To what extent the demonstration home visiting services and

approaches to delivery of support are evidence-based, correspond and

address actual needs of children, families and communities in the two

regions and nationally?

• To what extent the services are important for and relevant to the needs

of the most vulnerable children and families?

• Is the design of the model services and the activities appropriate for

achieving the intended results and outcomes?

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• Has the model service design and implementation been aligned with the

CRC principles (non-discrimination, best interest of the child, the right

to life, participation), gender mainstreaming and Human Rights Based

Approach (HRBA) to programming? Did it contribute towards gender

mainstreaming and HRBA?

Effectiveness

The positive

and negative,

primary and

secondary

long-term

effects

produced by

an

intervention,

directly or

indirectly,

intended or

unintended.

• Have the services achieved/or are likely to achieve the planned

objectives? To what extent the objectives are realistic?

• To what extent the target groups have been reached? Have the services

been able to reach out to the most vulnerable groups of children and

pregnant women?

• What are the key benefits for children and families who received

support from the services? Are different groups (based on ethnicity,

socio-economic profile, urban-rural residence, children with special

needs, etc.) benefitting to the same extent of the services?

• What factors affected the effectiveness of the services and their impact

on families and children? What factors affected the effectiveness in

relation to the most vulnerable groups?

• What factors (e.g. political, social, gender and cultural, social norms,

systemic, or related to the service design and implementation,

professional practices) were crucial for the achievement or failure to

achieve the service objectives in the two regions so far?

• Have services provided any additional (unintended) significant

contribution to or effect on families and children, including on

vulnerable families and children?

• How effective were the capacity building activities targeting the staff of

the demonstration services?

• What is the level of satisfaction of the families who benefited from the

services? What are their views for improving the service?

Efficiency: a

measure of

how

economically

resources/

inputs (funds,

expertise,

time, etc.) are

converted to

results.

• To what extent have UNICEF and the implementing partners used the

available human, financial and technical resources in the most efficient

manner?

• Would there have been a more cost-effective way to achieve the

expected results?

• How well the establishment and implementation of the services was

planned and managed?

• Were the demonstration services coordinated with other similar

programme interventions, including of UNICEF (for example the

Consultative centres for maternal and child health established in the

regional hospitals in Shumen and Sliven under the National Program

for Improving Maternal and Child 2014-2020, Family Consultative

centres established in Shumen with UNICEF support, others) to

encourage synergies and avoid overlap? Was there any overlap of

efforts?

• To what extent the data collection and monitoring activities performed

by UNICEF informed and contributed to improving the implementation

of project activities and achievement of results?

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Sustainability:

The

continuation

of the benefits

after the end

of the

intervention.

The

probability of

continued

long-term

benefits. The

resilience to

risk of the net

benefit flows

over time

• To what extent has UNICEF been able to support its partners in

developing capacities and establishing mechanisms to ensure ownership

of the service, both on national and subnational level?

• Are legal, institutional and financial mechanisms established to ensure

sustainability of the home visiting services (as part of the EU funded

project and beyond)? Are conditions established to ensure quality of the

services (service standards, training, supervision mechanisms, etc.)?

• What are the key factors that can positively or negatively influence the

long-term financial sustainability of the services (beyond the EU

funded project of the Ministry of Health)?

• What specific recommendations could be given that would contribute to

the sustainability of the services after the completion of the EU funded

project – financial and institutional?

• How sustainable are the results achieved for children?

• What conditions need to be put in place to ensure the provision of

quality home visiting service and results for children, in terms of

resources (human, financial, material), human resource development,

institutional linkages within the health care system and with other

sectors, etc.) – as part of the EU -funded project and beyond?

Impact: The

positive and

negative,

primary and

secondary

long-term

effects

produced

directly or

indirectly,

intended or

unintended.

• To what extent did the services contribute to long-term positive changes

in caregiving practices and wellbeing of children? Are there any

differences in terms of the impact on the most vulnerable children and

families?

• To what extent did the services contribute to increasing parent and

community demand for home visiting, including of the most vulnerable

groups?

• To what extent and in which areas (parenting practices related to

nutrition, safety, early childhood development, safety, child protection

and prevention of abandonment, improving parental knowledge) the

services had significant impact? Are there any sub-group differences?

• What factors favourably or adversely affected the impact of the services

on families and children, including on the most vulnerable?

• To what extent the demonstration services are recognised by the target

group and the population in general in the two regions?

• What worked and what did not work to reduce inequities (in child

outcomes, access to and utilisation of essential service, etc.)? What are

reasons for this?

Partnerships

and

cooperation

• To what extent have partnerships been sought and established and

synergies created to support the work of the demonstration services?

• Were efficient cooperation arrangements established between UNICEF

and partners (medical facilities, NGO, governmental institutions,

professionals, other partners)?

• Have any new partners emerged that were not initially identified?

• To what extent the demonstration services were integrated in the

existing local systems of services (health, social, and educational) for

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children and families and how well they coordinated efforts for meeting

the complex needs of children and families?

Issues related to the Human Rights-Based Approach to Programming, Equity, Results-Based

Management and Gender Equality will be addressed across the evaluation questions or, if required,

developed as specific points as per United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Guidance on

Integrating human-rights and gender equality in evaluation (see link below) and complies with the

organization’s commitment to gender mainstreaming as expressed in the Policy on Gender Equality

and the Empowerment of Girls2.

Evaluation methodology and phases

The evaluation will follow internationally agreed evaluation criteria of relevance, efficiency,

effectiveness, impact, and sustainability.

Mixed method approach will be applied in the evaluation combining qualitative and quantitative

components to ensure complementary strengths and non-overlapping weaknesses. The analysis is

expected to build on information collected from variety of sources through different methods

including review of secondary data and information, primary data collection from government

representatives, representatives of local service providers, caregivers, community members, staff

and managers of the demonstration home visiting services, and others. The information gathered

should be critically examines and synthesized in an objective manner. If contradictory information

is obtained from different stakeholders, an effort should be made to understand the reasons for such

information, including any gender-based differences.

The evaluation should be participatory involving service users, representatives of the target groups

(who have not used the service) and members of the communities. Methods, data collection tools

and analysis should build on a human rights and child rights approach and should be gender and

culturally sensitive.

Wherever monitoring systems will not be able to bring enough evidence (e.g. limited gender/equity

focus), the assessment will be based on stakeholders’ perceptions. The evaluation results will be

validated with national partners and key stakeholders.

Inception Phase: The first step of the evaluation process will be the inception phase during which

an evaluation framework, methodology, sources of information (including stakeholders to be

involved) and data collection tools will be developed by an international consultant. For each of the

questions and sub-questions, indicators to inform the responses and identify the corresponding

means of verification will be established.

A Desk Review of relevant reference materials, including laws, policies and strategies, official and

administrative statistical information, service documentation (methodology, progress and statistical

reports, training and supervision reports, monitoring electronic database, other).

Primary data collection: Primary data will be collected at regional level – in the regions of Shumen

and Sliven, through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, individual face to face

interviews/questionnaires and focus group discussions. The methodology should allow for

2 http://www.uneval.org/documentdownload?doc_id=980&file_id=1294

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exploring the views of representatives of different stakeholders: representatives of the Regional

Health Inspectorates, children protection services, health and social service providers, staff of the

demonstration home visiting services, service users, representatives of the target group and

community members. In addition, evaluation data on and from service users/community members

with different socio-economic, ethnic and residence (urban/rural) profile should be collected as well

to assess equity dimensions of the interventions. The methodology and data collection tools should

also consider language difficulties experienced by some ethnic groups whose mother tongue is not

Bulgarian (Turkish and Roma).

The possibility to use electronically administered questionnaires should be considered if applicable.

At national level, data will be collected from relevant national stakeholders from the Ministry of

Health, Agency for Social Assistance, National Centre for Public Health and Analysis, members of

national associations of health care professionals, others.

Data analysis and report writing: the process will start at the inception phase when detailed

methodology and the structure of the final report will be agreed. Data analysis will progress

simultaneously with the desk review and the in-country data collection. Draft final report will be

reviewed by UNICEF CO and national stakeholders as well as an external quality review company.

Consultants will incorporate the received comments and submit the final report to UNICEF

Bulgaria.

General considerations: The methodology of the evaluation should be in line with the United

Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards. UNEG Norms and Standards and UN

Evaluation Policy (attached).

Work plan and evaluation management

The evaluation will take place over the period 25th of October 2018 – 15th of April 2019. It will

include the following main activities:

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Activities Responsible Expected Timeline

INCEPTION PHASE

Desk review of reference material and mapping of

relevant stakeholders

International consultant

(remote)

25th of October –

30th of November

2018

Development of the inception report International consultant

(remote), input from

national consultants

By 30th of

November 2018

Review and feedback on the draft inception report UNICEF and the

Reference group By 10th of

December 2018

Submission of the final inception report International consultant

(remote) By 15th of

December 2018

EVALUATION – IMPLEMENTATION

Orientation/training of the national consultants to

support the evaluation

International consultant (in

country)

21-26th of January

2019

Data collection

• Collection of evaluation data (primary and

secondary).

• Protocols/transcripts of interviews, focus groups

and data/ collection (survey) results.

International consultant

(in country)

National consultants

21st of January to

3rd of February

2019

Debriefing with UNICEF and stakeholders –

presentation of the preliminary findings

International consultant (in

country)

January 2019

Data analysis International consultant

(remote)

National consultants

By 28th of February

2019

EVALUATION REPORTING

Development of the 1st draft evaluation report International consultant

(remote) with inputs from

the national consultants

By 28th of February

2019

Review and feedback from UNICEF and the

Reference group

UNICEF team By 18th of March

2019

Development of the 2nd draft of the evaluation report International consultant

(remote) By 25th of March

2019

DISSEMINATION

Presentation of key findings

• Presentation of key findings of the evaluation to the

Reference group and UNICEF

International consultant –

in country

National consultants

8th of April 2019

Dissemination

Dissemination of evaluation report/key report findings

(to key stakeholders and partners, Regional Office,

etc.).

UNICEF team April 2019

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3. SCOPE OF WORK AND OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

UNICEF contracted an international consultant who will be responsible for the overall design and

implementation of the evaluation study, including development of the study methodology

(methodology, sampling, data collection tools, etc.), data collection in cooperation with the national

researchers, data analysis and preparation of the evaluation report with the recommendations.

As part of the evaluation process and under the present Terms of Reference UNICEF in Bulgaria is

seeking to recruit a team of 2 national consultants or an individual consultant who will support the

process of evaluation under the guidance of the international consultant. Within the approved

framework of the evaluation, the national consultants will be responsible for the following specific

tasks:

Specific task of the team of national consultants:

Support for the development of the inception report (tentative time frame: 20th of November –

10th of December 2018)

The inception report including desk review and study methodology will be developed by the

international consultant. UNICEF will provide all necessary documentation for the development of

the inception report. It is expected that the national consultants will:

- provide additional information, data, documentation, etc. as requested by the international

consultant, including data on key indicators related to child wellbeing, etc.

- review the draft inception report and provide comments/recommendations;

- consolidate the feedback received from the national stakeholders and the members of the

Reference group on the draft inception report and submit it to UNICEF and the international

consultant. Translation will be arranged by UNICEF.

Training and piloting of data collection tools (tentative timeframe: 21st of January – 5th of

February 2019):

- participate in 1-day training on study methodology to be held in Sofia by the international

consultant;

- organize testing of the data collection tools;

- test data collection tools and provide feedback to the international consultant on their

application and design, including recommendations for amendments.

Primary data collection (during the period 21st of January 2019 – 5th of February 2019):

It is expected that the national consultants will support the process of primary data collection and

in particular will:

- liaise with partners and relevant stakeholders with a view of identifying respondents and

organize focus group discussion and individual interviews in consultation with the

international consultant;

- conduct focus group discussions and individual interviews as agreed with the international

consultant;

- monitor for any issues that may hinder the process of data collection and address them in

consultation with the international consultant and UNICEF;

- transcribe discussions in the focus groups;

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- provide summary of the discussions in the focus groups and individual interviews conducted

as agreed with the international consultant and UNICEF. Translation will be arranged by

UNICEF;

- provide any additional support for the analysis of the data collected;

Development of the evaluation report (tentative timeframe: 28th of February 2019 – 25th of

March 2019)

- review the draft evaluation report and provide input to the text as needed.

- consolidate the feedback provided by national stakeholders and members of the Reference

group on the report and timely provide it to UNICEF and the international consultant leading

the evaluation study.

- participate in the presentations on the preliminary and final findings on the study.

In addition, the national consultants may be required to provide some limited

translation/interpretation from English to Bulgarian (and from Bulgarian to English) to assist the

international consultant, particularly during the testing of data collection tool and data collection

process. UNICEF will be responsible for ensuring translation and interpretation but in some limited

cases the national consultants may be required to provide support with this regard.

4. EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The national consultants are expected to provide the following deliverables:

- Comments/inputs on the draft inception report – by 27th of November 2018;

- Consolidated feedback from the members of the Reference group on the draft inception

report - by 12th of December 2018;

- Summary of the discussions and interviews conducted – by 3rd of February 2019;

- Input/comments on the draft evaluation report – in the course of report development;

- Consolidated feedback from the members of the Reference group on the draft evaluation

report – by 18th of March 2019.

The expected deadlines are tentative and may be adjusted in consultation with the international

consultant leading the study and UNICEF.

5. TIMEFRAME AND DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMET

The assignment will take place tentatively over the period of 20 November 2018 – 15 of April 2019.

6. REQUIRED QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES

The successful candidates are expected to have the following qualifications and experience:

• Postgraduate degree in sociology, public health, development studies, psychology, or other

relevant field.

• At least four years of experience conducting participatory, qualitative research;

• Experience in conducting evaluations of programs/interventions in the area of social and child

protection, public health, ECD, etc. will be considered an advantage;

• Excellent understanding of the national context and services for children and families (health,

education and social protection);

• Professional level of English, with fluency in reading, writing, listening and speaking.

• Demonstrable experience in writing qualitative research reports preferred.

• Experience in working as part of a research team.

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Expected competencies:

• Excellent writing skills, with demonstrated ability to produce targeted, coherent, concise

reports.

• Excellent verbal communication skills, with proven ability to engage with people from diverse

backgrounds, with different strengths, needs, interests and abilities.

• Experience in using interactive, creative data collection methodologies.

• Ability to keep interviews on track, and ask open-ended guiding / follow-up questions as

needed.

• Ability to analyse information from different sources, draw together key themes, and clearly

present findings.

• Ability to transcribe interviews verbatim.

• Working knowledge of research ethics, including informed consent, data confidentiality, do no

harm, child safeguarding etc.

• Willingness to sign and adhere to the research ethical protocol.

7. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Evaluation will be led by the UNICEF Country Office in Bulgaria. A Reference group

consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Health and Regional Health Inspectorates in Shumen

and Sliven, Agency for Social Assistance, Bulgarian Association of Health Professionals in

Nursing, and other will be established to review and approve assessment methodology, support data

collection, review, provide comments on and approve analytical report.

The entire evaluation team will consist of the international expert and 2 national consultants

(national researchers) – selected as a team or in individual capacity. The national consultants will

be reporting directly to the international consultant who will report to the focal point in the UNICEF

Country Office. The UNICEF focal point will formally supervise the national consultants. The

national consultants will receive ongoing technical guidance and support from the international

consultant leading the evaluation study. The implementation process will be jointly monitored by

UNICEF and the Reference Group, including the approval of final deliverables. The UNICEF focal

point will also be the contact person for reporting ethical issues.

The national consultants will be required to follow the deadlines and guidance developed by

international consultant and UNICEF. UNICEF Country Office together with national partners will

be responsible for providing all available documents, organizing the field visits, meetings,

consultations, for providing access to the government counterparts and partners, and for

coordinating the work at country level with other stakeholders.

8. ESTIMATED NUMBER OF DAYS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT FOR AN INDIVIDUAL

Activities/Outputs/Deliverables Days

Support for the development of an inception report 3

Training and testing of data collection tools 4

Primary data collection, including transcription of the discussions and support

for data analysis 15

Development of the evaluation report 4

Total 26

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The estimated number of days refers to the expected total workload for an individual consultant.

The consultancy is expected to take place tentatively over the period of 20 November 2018 – 15th of

April 2019.

9. LOCATION OF WORK AND TRAVEL

The consultancy is home based with expected travel to Sofia, Shumen, Sliven or another region

depending on the methodology of the evaluation study.

The consultants are expected to provide their computers and recording tools for the purposes of data

collection. They will be responsible for their own travel arrangements.

10. RENUMERATION AND INCURRED COST

UNICEF Bulgaria country office will sign individual contracts with the selected consultants.

Consultants will be paid consultancy fee as agreed with UNICEF and as per UNICEF rules and

regulations. All expenditures for in-country travel for the purposes of the assignment will be covered

by UNICEF separately based on the actual cost incurred and upon a provision of an invoice. The

travel expenditures should be based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel.

Payments of the consultancy fee will be made monthly after the provision of a timesheet and and

acceptance of the deliverables.

11. GENERAL INFORMATION

Ethical considerations:

The consultants are expected to abide to the ethical standards set in the UNICEF Procedure for

Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis (Attached as Annex). They

are required to follow the ethical procedures and protocols laid down in the Inception report

approved by UNICEF and the Reference group. Any ethical issue that arise during the process of

data collection should be communicated to UNICEF in a timely manner.

Data sharing requirements and procedures:

The consultants are responsible for ensuring that all data collected is stored, transmitted and

protected appropriately. The personal data collected will be accessible only to the members of the

evaluation team and will be transferred securely between them, as well as with UNICEF. Data can

be shared with third parties only upon agreement with UNICEF.

12. REMARKS AND RESEARVATIONS

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory,

if work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

All material developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and according to UNICEF guidance

on external academic publishing (January 2017). Evaluators are responsible for their performance

and products. UNICEF reserves the copyrights and the products cannot be published or disseminated

without prior permission of UNICEF.

14

Candidates interested in the consultancy should submit a proposal, including daily consultancy fee,

resume/CV and a cover letter.

In a case when a team of consultants applies in response to the invitation, the candidates should

indicate in the Cover letter that they apply as a team and attach the CVs of the two members of the

team. The individual daily fees of the individual member of the team should be clearly stated.