Save the Children is the leading independent organization for children in need, with programs in over 120 countries. We save children’s lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. Save the Children is working in Nigeria because one in five children in Nigeria dies before their fifth birthday. About 40% of children miss out on school and have to work to survive while nearly 2 million children have lost one or both parents to an AIDS-related disease.
Terms of Reference
- Title of Consultancy: Provide TA for the Drafting and Development of the State Specific Social Protection Policy for Yobe State
- EU resilience Lead: Senior Social Protection Advisor/ Programme Manager
- Oversight Lead: Field: Manager-EU Resilience
- Length of Assignment: 30 Consultancy Days
- Location of Assignment: Yobe, Nigeria
- Type of Consultancy: Individual consultancy
Programme Background
- The EU Support to Early Recovery and Resilience Building in Yobe is a 3.5 year EU funded programme implemented by a consortium of partners including SCI, Mercy Corps, International Alert, TIWOD and CISLAC
- The programme is focused on strengthening the Yobe State government and community capacity to build households’ and communities’ resilience to recurrent shocks (conflict and its negative effects).
The programme has some basic components which includes:
- Support to social protection systems including implementation of a state cash transfer programme and youth-focused programmes;
- Support to strengthening livelihoods and resilience
- Support to effective delivery of basic services and
- Support to social accountability and peacebuilding in Yobe.
The overall objective/ impact of the action is: “strengthened early recovery, improved human development, social cohesion and resilience among targeted vulnerable households and communities in Yobe state”. This will be achieved through the following two specific objectives:
Specific Objective 1:
- Enhanced state government capacity to lead, oversee, strengthen and expand its social protection system to address basic needs and critical deprivations, alongside increased state and community capacity to facilitate reconciliation and social cohesion.
Specific Objective 2:
- Vulnerable households and communities in Yobe are more resilient to recurrent shocks and have diversified livelihoods, through effective support for market recovery, skills development and enhanced state capacity to provide technical assistance
Context
Since 2014, the security situation in the Northeast (NE) has deteriorated drastically, with the intensification of the insurgency by Armed Opposition Groups. The resulting humanitarian crisis has involved significant loss of lives, livelihoods, productive assets and infrastructure and thousands of people killed, displaced and suffering psychosocial trauma. The joint Federal and State government, EU, World Bank and DFID Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) conducted in 2016 found that Yobe sustained 13% of all infrastructure and social services damages in the six states in the NE region. This was in addition to damage to over 70% of the agricultural sector and the destruction of educational institution
Violence holds back social and economic development in Nigeria by preventing children going to school, reducing access to health care, destroying public and private property, reducing investment and jobs and creating divisions within and between communities.
The conflict in Yobe has pushed already high levels of a wide range of deprivations to breaking point. Children and youth are one group bearing the brunt of the crisis and are set to suffer long-term physical, social and economic consequences unless appropriate action is taken. Rural households with children were identified as being a group at particular risk of increased poverty in the RPBA, leading the World Bank to recommend targeting social protection to such households.
Even before the conflict, poverty was extremely high in Yobe State, with 68.9% of the population living below the US $1/day poverty line in 2010. According to the 2016-17 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, Yobe State has the highest rate of Global Acute Malnutrition in all Nigeria. A staggering 17.5% of children under five are clinically wasted (above the ‘critical severity’ threshold). Over three in five children (61%) are stunted. Given the irreversible long-term damage that results from malnutrition and the fact it is associated with around half of all under-five deaths globally, this is an emergency demanding an urgent and effective response.
Children are also suffering from extremely poor access to and quality of education. Gross enrollment rates for primary schools in 2015 were 53% for boys and 47% for girls (YOSERA 2016-2020). A Humanitarian Needs Overview projects that these figures will worsen from 2018 to 2019. For those lucky enough to attend, teaching quality is extremely low, held back by a range of capacity gaps identified by Yobe State government in its ‘Additional Inputs’ to the EU concept paper.
Given this background the Yobe State government have prioritized social protection as a key strategy for addressing the challenges being faced by the state. Presently a number of opportunities are emerging for Yobe State government to use social protection to begin tackling some of these issues (e.g. the start of the National Social Safety Net Programme, Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), and a proposed School Feeding Programme). However, consultations with state officials highlight extensive capacity gaps at state and LGA level in terms of knowledge and weak or absent institutions and coordinating mechanisms. The state also currently lacks a Social Protection Policy, which is essential for providing overall guidance to ensure appropriate measures are in place and are coherent with one another to tackle the specific deprivations. It is in view of this that Support to Early recovery and Resilience Building in Yobe programme will be working to support the Yobe state government to design and develop a state-specific social protection policy on the basis of the national policy approved in 2017.
Objectives:
- The purpose and ultimate aim of this consultancy is to facilitate the adaptation of National Social Protection policy and making it state-specific for Yobe state. Social protection policies support the development of well-targeted, appropriately financed and well-coordinated responses to poverty and vulnerability, thus contributing to poverty reduction efforts
- The objective of this consultancy is to support Yobe states adaptation of the National Social Protection Policy and making it state-specific. The policy will reflect States priorities and would garner contributions and support from key ministries and stakeholders in the state.
Scope of Work:
- The scope of work of this assignment is to come up with a final draft of State Specific Social Protection Policy for Yobe state through a consultative process engaging all relevant stakeholders with the blessings and leadership of Traditional Leaders, Legislative and Executives
- At the end of the consultancy, this draft is expected to be comprehensive, complete and ready to be submitted to the Executive Council of the state for the approval and further proceedings
- This will include the policy implementation plan. The custodian and the institutional home / host of the policy will be the Ministry of Budget and Planning in Yobe State
- The policy development-consultation workshops with key stakeholders in the state includes government stakeholders from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Civil Society Constituents and Media and the validation of the draft policy, are key components of this assignment.
Expected Outputs:
- The outcome of this consultancy will be a final draft state-specific Social Protection Policy documents that will be submitted to the programme within 10 days after the end date of the consultancy period
- However, the consultant will provide a first draft of state-specific Social Protection Policy Documents immediately at the end of the consultancy period.
- The draft policy is expected to outline the Government’s social protection strategies and interventions to reduce poverty and vulnerability in an integrated, coherent, coordinated, and sustainable manner, prioritizing the reduction of extreme poverty and emphasizing long-term and predictable interventions
- The policy, among other things, is expected to provide a roadmap for reforms to prioritise, strengthen, expand, and integrate current social protection programmes, provide reference guidelines to stakeholders in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Social Protection programs, provide a financing framework for resource mobilization and allocations to Social Protection programs, and provide a set of measures to strengthen the institutional and human resource capacity for implementation of state programs.
Deliverables and Timelines:
- This assignment will be a total of 30 working days and the table below provides details of key tasks, deliverables and timelines for this assignment.
Tasks: Expected Output / Deliverable - Days:
- Contract signing: Signed contract
- Desk Review National / Jigawa & Zamfara Social Protection Policies and other background documents: Identified key areas to be focused in the policy development process - 2 days
- Policy Development / Consultation Workshops with key stakeholders in the state that include government stakeholders, CSOs & Media.
- Field, community and beneficiaries consultation: Situation analysis identifying key issues to be addressed by the state policy - 10 days
- Work with key stakeholders to develop the draft State-Specific Social Protection policy documents: First draft policy documents - 6 days
- Support high-level engagement on the draft policy: Draft policy endorsed by relevant commissioners - 2 days
- Facilitate policy validation workshops: Validation workshop report - 4 days
- Finalize the policy draft for State to be submitted to the Executive Councils for approval and the policy implementation plan: Final draft policy documents - 6 days.
Key Relationships (Names and Positions might be different for the states):
- Office of the Yobe state Secretary to the State Government (SSG)
- State House of Assembly
- Ministry of Justice
- Ministry of Budget and Planning
- Ministry for Local Governments
- Ministry of Women Affairs
- Ministry of Health
- Ministry of Religious Affairs
- Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management
- Ministry of Water Resources
- Ministry of Information and Communication
- Ministry of Youth, Sport, Social and Community Development
- Primary Health Care Management Board (PHCMB)
- State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA)
- State Operations Coordinating Unit (SOCU) Yobe state
- Development Partners and NGOs
- Civil Society Organizations(CSOs)
- Media-Electronic and Press
Required skill and Experience
- A Master's Degree or Ph.D in a field related to Social Protection (Public Policy, Social Sciences, Economics, and / or International Development Policy),
- Previous experience in social protection policy design, development and implementation in Northern Nigeria is required
- Knowledge of and experience working in North-eastern Nigeria with an excellent understanding of the federal system is an added advantage.
- Previous research experience on poverty aid/development, experience in quantitative or qualitative data collection and analysis,
- Excellent facilitation and communication skills
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Hausa languages are required,
- Ability to work independently and respond to feedback in a timely and professional manner,
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to details.