Social Protection Consultant – Bolsa Familia, Brasilia, Brazil, 2 months

Brazil has made important progress in tackling child poverty over the last decades, nevertheless, there are still important challenges to cope with. More than 20.3 million children and adolescents (0-14 years old) lived in monetary poverty (46.2%) and 5.8 lived in extreme monetary poverty (13.4%) in 20211. In addition, approximately 32 million children live in multidimensional poverty2, deprived of at least one basic right. A better understanding of basic rights’ deprivation includes investigating the demand and supply of public policies in different sectors and across all the government levels.
An opportunity to better understand the deprivations of families living in poverty is through the Bolsa Familia program (PBF). The conditionalities of PBF are monitored by the Conditionalities System (Sicon, acronym in English). Also, to receive the benefit, the family must be registered in the Single Registry (Cadastro Único). Nowadays, Cadastro Unico includes information about more than 94 million people regarding income, education and access to services, among others. The detailed information of PBF’s beneficiaries available on Cadastro Único, Sicon, along with other complementary system databases are rich sources of information to investigate possible social deprotections and gaps in the public services supply for the most vulnerable families.
Considering its expertise in evidence generation and social protection public policies, UNICEF has partnered up with the National Department of Citizenship Income (SENARC) of Ministry of Social Development (MDS) to advance in better understanding the deprotections and gaps in public policies’ supply for the most vulnerable families through the development and dissemination of a study using data from Cadastro Unico, PBF Conditionalities System (Sicon).
UNICEF conducted similar studies in 2023 and 2024, yielding innovative and valuable results. However, discussions with the Ministry have highlighted the need for deeper investigations and additional analytical models to ensure the accumulated findings translate into concrete public policy actions, particularly for the Bolsa Família program and the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS).
 
SCOPE OF WORK:
UNICEF Brazil, in partnership with the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight Against Hunger, is looking for a social protection consultant who will develop additional analysis regarding social deprotection and gaps in public policies concerning the Bolsa Familia beneficiaries at municipal level, with a focus on families with children and adolescents. Under the supervision of the Chief of Social Policy, the consultant will work to subsidize the technical partnership between UNICEF and the National Secretary of Citizenship Income (SENARC).
 
DELIVERABLES
1. Work Assignment
1.1. Deliverables/Outputs
Research report including, detailed methodologies and analytical models developed or improved, detailed data analysis, conclusions, and recommendations for policymakers at the federal and municipal levels.
This deliverable should also include the databases created by the consultant, analytic files (tables and graphs) and codes/scripts used for the analyses.
1.2. Deadline 60 days
1.3. Estimate Budget 100%
 
DURATION OF CONTRACT: 60 days

 
TRAVEL PLAN – Not applicable
 
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENT
• Advanced degree in social sciences, statistics, economics, or related fields.
• 5 years of relevant experience in poverty studies, multidimensional poverty and/or deprivation analysis.
• Proven experience conducting quantitative research related to child rights.
• Proven experience with statistical software and/or programming languages for research (R, SPSS, Stata or Python).
• Fluency in Portuguese.
 
Desirable:
• PhD in social sciences, statistics, economics, social work or related fields.
• Previous work writing studies, assessments, or evaluation reports for UN agencies.
• Previous work with governmental research institutes or research-oriented departments.
• Fluency in English.
 
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY Fluency in portuguese
 
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL A financial proposal including the fee for the assignment based on the deliverables and number of days must be submitted. Consultants are asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum, administrative cost, travel cost and subsistence costs, as applicable.
 

UNICEF’S CORE VALUES
Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS)
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.
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:  

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. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.