Tashkent, Uzbekistan
UNICEF in Tashkent
Re-advertisement: National Individual Consultant to undertake Technical Assessment of the Integrated Management Information System, Single Registry for Social Protection
Job no: 530471
Position type: Consultancy
Location: Uzbekistan Division/Equivalent: CEE/CIS
School/Unit: Republic of Uzbekistan
Department/Office: Tashkent, Rep. of Uzbekistan
Categories: Social and Economic Policy, Consultancy
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
Background
Limited access to data on social allowances and beneficiaries inhibits strategic decision-making and assessments on the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of the social protection investments. There is no unified database of beneficiaries of social protection programmes, limiting the potential for evidence-based decision making in social protection. In October 2018 the Ministry of Finance requested UNICEF to provide technical assistance and expertise in developing a management information system, Social Protection Single Registry (SPSR). On 1 October 2019 the pilot on SPSR was launched in Syrdarya region.
SPSR is designed to enable effective administration of the social protection programmes from applications, verification, and registration to payments, monitoring and reporting. SPSR is fed with information on applicants of social allowances through links to the databases of relevant ministries and agencies and therefore, SPSR improves social protection administration making it more transparent and reducing fraud risk by running real-time verifications against civil registration, disability assessment, personal income, and assets’ ownership databases. Efficient administration also means less exclusion and more equitable access to social protection programmes by eligible households and individuals. The system is also designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the national profile of beneficiaries, and in the longer term to monitor performance of the overall national social protection system. In order to provide necessary flexibility, SPSR is equipped with configurable parameters on eligibility criteria, benefit levels and gross income calculation formulas. Once fully developed, SPSR can be used to inform case management in ensuring provision of continuous support and to provide integrated social support based on cash+services approach. In future SPSR will enable the Government to monitor performance of all social protection schemes and help to devise informed social policies and improve overall social protection system in Uzbekistan.
In terms of architecture SPSR should be built in a modular manner with the following modules:
- Administration and Security Modules (define system parameters, user profiles and users);
- Registration (capture of the applications for social allowances from multiple channels i.e. online, through mahallas and single window offices of public services);
- Integration (real-time integration with sector databases that have MIS and a portal for exchanging files in Excel files for those that don’t have electronic databases);
- Means Testing (determine the level eligibility of applicant by comparing verified income against the national minimum income threshold. The Single Registry has a function to adjust the minimum income threshold value as it is updated nationally. The parameters are configurable to allow the changes should there be a revision of the legislative documents in the future);
- Enrolment (Produce enrolment lists to be shared with Peoples Bank for the bank to open account and issue the debit cards);
- Payments (preparation, pre-payroll checks, disbursement of beneficiary payments, funds allocation and utilization, integration with People’s Bank API);
- Case Management (recording and resolving cases such as updates and enquiries, alert management using SMS);
- Grievances Management (recording and resolving complaints and grievances);
- Monitoring and Reporting (statistics dashboards covering primary information for decision makers, regular monthly reports, Geo Spatial and Geo Analytics Maps, ad hoc reports).
As a pilot project, SPSR was launched in Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan, and covers three means-tested social benefits for low income families: 1) benefit for a child under two years old; 2) benefit for families with child(ren) up to 14 years old; 3) material support for low-income families. The design and development of SPSR has been undertaken by an international consultancy company in partnership with a national IT firm. The work was undertaken from January to November 2019, which consisted of the development of the Single Registry software, procurement of hardware infrastructure, integration of the developed Single Registry with other government databases and the pilot launch of the system in Syrdarya region.
Objectives
UNICEF seeks the services of an independent consultant to assess the piloting of SPSR in Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan with aim of evaluating the extent, to which the built system meets the specified technical requirements and design specifications. Special attention must be given to assessing the extent, to which the data privacy requirements are met. Detailed descriptions of the technical requirements, design specifications and data privacy requirements are given in the following documents:
- Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan #547 ‘On Personal Data’Â
- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution #308
- Single Registry System Requirements Specification
- Single Registry System Design Specification
- Inception Report on Design and Development of Single Registry for Social Protection Programmes in Uzbekistan
Timeline & Deliverables
The consultant will undertake the following activities:
- Desk review of materials on the project of SPSR. These include and not limited to:
- Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan #547 ‘On Personal Data’Â
- Cabinet of Ministers Resolution #308 (April 2019 edition and more recent updated version);
- Single Registry Concept Note;
- Single Registry Inception Report and a development work plan;
- Single Registry System Requirements Specification;
- Single Registry System Design Specification;
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- Single Registry training materials.
- Hold consultations with the development team of the SPSR;
- Hold consultations with the key stakeholders at the national level in Tashkent such as the Ministry of Finance, Pension Fund, MELR, and UNICEF;
- Test all the developed modules of SPSR and evaluate the extent, to which the built system meets the technical requirements, design specifications and data privacy requirements;
- Visit Sirdarya region and hold consultations with the Penson Fund staff on the implementation arrangements of the Single Registry;
- Consolidate the assessment findings into the Report with the assessment on the extent the technical requirements, design specifications and data privacy requirements of SPSR are implemented in the pilot project at Syrdarya region.
The assignment will consist of the following four stages: inception (including consultations with key stakeholders and agreement on the underlying framework and methodology), data collection and analysis (including desk review and working meetings with the development team, government counterparts, other organizations and UNICEF), report writing and validation (including agreement on key findings and messages, finalization of the reports and their dissemination).
Below there is a schedule spelling out the main tasks, deliverables and timelines for the assignment.
Tasks and Deliverables and Timeframe:
I Task – Inception report, including the detailed work plan and a questionnaire of the key issues to be covered – 5 days:
- Conduct thorough desk review and analysis of all relevant documents;
- Hold discussions with the system development team, UNICEF Country Team and key Government Counterparts;
- Draft Inception report, including a detailed work plan and a questionnaire of the key issues to be covered
II Task – First draft of the Report – 15 days:
- Hold working meetings, interviews with public officials at national and local levels, technical personnel of relevant ministries and agencies, representatives of Halk Bank and UNICEF as required;
- Based on the analysis and consultations held, produce the first draft of the Report
III Task – The second draft of the Report – 15 days:
- Analyse and incorporate feedback from the supervisor into the first draft of the Report;
- Hold working meetings, interviews, focus group discussions with public officials at national and local levels, technical personnel of relevant ministries and agencies;
- Based on the analysis and consultations held, produce the second draft of the Report.
IV Task – The third (final) draft of the Report – 15 days
- Analyse and incorporate feedback from the supervisor into the second draft of the Report;
- Analyse of the findings from the working meeting, interviews and focus group discussions;
- Based on the analysis and consultations held, produce the third draft of the Report.
Total: 50 days
Methodology/Activities
The consultant is expected to use a range of methods and activities, as specified in this document, to collect the required information based on the originally agreed questionnaire. They include but not limited to desk review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
Management
The consultant is expected to undertake all the necessary activities related to the implementation of this assignment.
The supervisor will provide timely feedback and comments to the submitted drafts. UNICEF will facilitate the consultant in obtaining access to the relevant ministries, agencies, organizations as identified and requested by the consultant.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
The consultant is expected to have the following minimum qualifications and competencies:
- Bachelor’s Degree in IT, Business Computing, Information Management or other relevant disciplines;
- At least two years professional experience in the areas of management information system and its evaluation or similar functional area;
- Good knowledge of the national social protection system in Uzbekistan in particular, of social allowances is an asset
- Excellent written and oral communications skills in Uzbek, English and Russian;
- Computer literacy, especially with excel and database management is required;
- Good command of written English – Examination of a previous authentic written work in English
Procedures and Working Conditions
The consultant needs to be based in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) for the time of implementing the assignment.
Travel arrangements and the costs associated will be covered by the consultant.
The outputs produced by the consultant remain under proprietary rights of UNICEF and neither them nor their parts can be reproduced, shared or used in any other way without a written permission from UNICEF.
Note. The fees will be paid by bank transfer in Uzbek sums upon acceptance of deliverables.
Reservations
UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines. UNICEF will reserve copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.
UNICEF undertakes no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
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. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered ‘staff members’ under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.
Advertised: Apr 23 2020 West Asia Standard Time Application close: May 07 2020 West Asia Standard Time
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