Job Description 
The Position:

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the United Nations agency dedicated to sexual and reproductive health and rights, with a mission to ensure a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

Since the influx of Rohingya refugees in 2017 following the escalating systemic violence and discrimination in Myanmar, nearly a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh remain stateless and reliant on humanitarian assistance for basic survival. The displacement, violence and trauma experienced by the Rohingya has had a profound and lasting effect on their mental health and wellbeing. This is further exacerbated with the reduction of aid and resources over time coupled with the increasingly unstable and volatile security situation in the camps. While mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services have been made available in camps, deeply-rooted stigma as well as a lack of awareness about available services have impeded help-seeking behavior among the Rohingya population.

Recognizing the urgent need to address this challenge, UNFPA has partnered with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to implement the “Community-based and Integrated Mental Health Psychosocial Support Services in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh” (CIMHPSS) Project. The Project aims to contribute to strengthening access to MHPSS services and referral mechanisms as well as community-based protection mechanisms for women, men, adolescents, youth, and persons with disabilities in Rohingya refugee camps and host communities. The Project will run from August 2022 to July 2024 and its interventions include improving the access and quality of context-specific MHPSS, building the capacity of local communities for peer support, and improving the awareness and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health through structured life skills education and community engagement activities.

To assess the effectiveness of the Project and to inform future programming, UNFPA plans to conduct a rapid evaluation of the Project’s interventions. The evaluation will assess the Project’s success in reaching its objectiveness, as well as its relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.
 

Job Purpose:

A national consultant will be responsible for conducting a rapid evaluation of the implementation of the CIMHPSS Project activities. The consultant will be expected to consult various critical stakeholders, including adolescent girls and boys, male and female caregivers, and vulnerable women, as well as community and religious leaders, health and protection service providers,  UNFPA staff, Government officials and any other key community stakeholders.

The data and insights from the evaluation will be used to assess the Project’s success and to identify any challenges, solutions, and lessons learned from the implementation to inform future programming decisions in the area of MHPSS.

You would be responsible for:

The National Individual Consultant will work under the oversight and technical guidance of the Humanitarian-Development Nexus Programme Analyst for Adolescents & Youth as well as in close coordination of the National MHPSS Officer of the UNFPA Cox’s Bazar Sub- Office. The following is an indicative but not exhaustive list of tasks to be undertaken by the Individual Consultant.

• Participate in a virtual kick-off meeting with UNFPA to obtain a solid understanding of the project, agree on the detailed parameters of the assignment, sequence and timelines for submission of key deliverables.
• Review relevant project documents, including but not limited to the project proposal, progress reports, project outputs, and the Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions (KAP) on MHPSS Survey.
• Develop an inception report outlining the evaluation's methodology, research tools, and data analysis methods, among other details.
• Conduct interviews and focus group discussions with project beneficiaries, stakeholders, and implementing partners to gather feedback and insights.
• Assess the project vis-a-vis its stated outcomes, outputs with consideration to effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence, impact and sustainability. This assessment should encompass the intervention modality, implementation process, and set indicators.
• Identify and document challenges, mitigation measures adapted, lessons learned, and good practices during the project implementation.
• Provide recommendations for further improving the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence, impact and sustainability of MHPSS interventions (incl. modality, implementation process, and indicators) integrated within UNFPA’s overall programming.
• Submit and present the first draft of the report to UNFPA, incorporating any feedback to improve the report.
• Prepare and present the final report, summary report (in the form of a short brief), a Powerpoint presentation, and other communications/advocacy materials in collaboration with UNFPA’s communications team.

Please apply and find more information on the vacancy here.

The deadline for the application is 01 April 2024.

Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further consideration. Female candidates are encouraged to apply.