Consultants (State Engagement Strategy Development) at Save the Children Nigeria

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children working in over 120 countries worldwide to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Save the Children has been active in Nigeria since 2001 with a programme of work that is spread over 20 States reaching an estimated 25million beneficiaries directly and indirectly with core thematic work in education, child protection, hunger and livelihoods, child rights governance, health and nutrition.

Our work seeks to put into practice our theory of change through a combination of advocacy and campaigning for better practices and policies to fulfill children’s rights and to ensure their voices are heard, by building partnerships with others including governments, civil society organizations, communities and children to share knowledge and influence others, by scaling up our interventions based on best practice and by developing evidence-based, proven examples of what works to bring about lasting solutions to the problems children face in their lives.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: State Engagement Strategy Development Consultancy for the Child Development Grant Programme

Job ID: #1024336
Location: Abuja

Overview
The Child Development Grant Programme - CDGP (DFID Funded) provides an unconditional cash transfer of 3,500 NGN (approximately £14) per month for up to 60,000 pregnant women and women with children under the age of two (2) in Zamfara and Jigawa. It is a joint programme with Action Against Hunger (ACF). The programme is aimed at reducing the prevalence of stunting and infant mortality. There are 4 key outputs of the programme:

• Output 1: Design and delivery a secure payments mechanism providing regular, timely cash transfers to 60,000 pregnant women and women with under-2s.
• Output 2: Effective system for mobilisation, targeting and complementary interventions.
• Output 3: Enhanced government capacities for managing cash transfers in focus States.
• Output 4: Evidence of cash transfer modalities and impacts provided to policymakers and practitioners at State and Federal levels.

Objectives of the Consultancy
A key requirement of the CDGP is to secure increased political and institutional commitment to implement effective state-wide social protection programmes that ensures improved nutrition, food security and poverty reduction for women and children. For this reason, advocacy and community engagement is an important function of the programme. The primary objectives of the consultancy are two-fold:

• To develop a state engagement strategy for Jigawa and Zamfara States and
• To develop an advocacy framework accompanying the strategy

Both the State Engagement and Advocacy Strategies for Zamfara and Jigawa will outline the key stakeholders, activities and processes for state engagement in order to build government commitment and ownership of effective state-wide social protection programme for women and children. The state engagement strategy will be based on the key political drivers and constraints to the institutionalization of the CDGP model in the two states. The Political Economic Analysis of the states should guide the development of these documents.

Deliverables

• A draft advocacy framework for the Child Development Grant Programme – no more than 10 pages
• A draft State Engagement Strategy with SMART Indicators, M&E Plan and Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP)

Requirements

• Advanced university degree
• A sound understanding of the political economy of Northern Nigeria (particularly Zamfara and Jigawa)
• Ability to speak local language
• Experience of developing advocacy and state engagement strategies
• An awareness of social protection and poverty reduction policies
• Previous experience in development of analytical reports and policy documents related to partnerships
• Ability to synthesize and analyze large amounts of information combining quantitative and qualitative data
• Understanding and knowledge of the Nigerian context
• Excellent written English
• Knowledge of rights-based approach to programmes

Application Closing Date
15th June, 2015

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send a C.V., a list of reports or publications that are similar in nature, and a covering letter with a 500-word statement explaining their suitability for the task. In addition, candidates should send an electronic version of a relevant report written in English in which the candidate was a sole author.

All communications relevant to this consultancy should be directed to: [email protected]