Consultancy to provide technical assistance to develop a localization strategy and an operationalization plan, Maputo, Mozambique, 4 months (Home-based with visits to UNICEF Mozambique)

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Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The consultancy will provide technical assistance to UNICEF/Mozambique to develop a localization strategy and an operationalization plan to guide the Mozambique Country Office (MCO) efforts for the next 2 years.

Objectives:

a. Develop a tool for MCO to analyze the institutional capacity of local NGOs and potentially government partners and conduct a local partner capacity gap analysis (based on the existing global tools), with disaggregation capabilities (geography, competency area, etc.).

b. Develop a localization strategy for the UNICEF MCO.

c. Develop a related action plan and integrated monitoring framework.

 

Scope of Work: The Country Programme of Cooperation between the Government of Mozambique and UNICEF (CPD) for 2022-2026 aims to support Mozambique to accelerate efforts towards achieving the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and meeting its commitment to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action. It derives from the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022–2026 and aligns with the Government Five-Year Plan 2020–2024, the National Development Strategy 2015–2035 and relevant sector policies and programmes.

Background:

The interest in and request to strengthen localization is not new. In United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182, the guiding principles for humanitarian assistance stipulate the need for the international response to focus on strengthening national systems in line with international law. Since the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, there has been a push for international humanitarian actors to improve localization efforts, recognizing that local actors are essential in ensuring timely delivery and in strengthening the resilience of communities affected by crises. The need for complementarity between international and national responders has been emphasized by the SPHERE and core humanitarian standards, both of which call for international actors to reinforce local capacities and minimize negative impacts of humanitarian action on the affected population. UNICEF has committed to advancing these normative frameworks by strengthening local systems and maintaining and strengthening local capacities to scale-up humanitarian action while ensuring the needs of affected children are addressed. Through the Grand Bargain process, UNICEF and other signatories committed to making principled humanitarian action as local as possible and as international as necessary.

Beyond humanitarian action, localization is a strategic priority of UNICEF’s triple humanitarian/development/peace nexus commitments and in that regard, a localized programming approach contributes to building resilience, promoting peace and social cohesion and increasing trust and access during sudden onset crises. Localization also applies to UNICEF’s development programming spanning child health, nutrition, WASH, child protection, education, social policy, and social protection with key thematic areas including climate change, early childhood development, and adolescent engagement. In all of UNICEF’s work, the ‘best interest of the child’ is a priority.

UNICEF’s global strategic approach to localization includes 12 strategic areas:

 Promotion of principled partnership

 Capacity sharing between UNICEF and local actors

 Localized surge capacity

 Coordination and leadership in clusters

 Humanitarian programme cycle and localization

 Country programme development process and localization

 Predictable and flexible funding for local actors

 Engaging local communities, including youth

 Risk management and local actors

 Local governance and humanitarian action

 Local economies and localization, and

 Visibility and communication

Context in Mozambique

It is within this larger framework that the UNICEF MCO seeks to develop a localization strategy to guide the office for the remainder of the 2022-2026 Country Programme and look at how localization can be incorporated into the follow-on country programme. UNICEF’s primary partner is the Government of Mozambique who receives nearly 75 per cent of total funding. The remaining funds are currently spent roughly evenly between local and inter