Local Consultancy: Consultant to Develop a Strategy for Prevention of early and unintended Pregnancy in Limpopo Province.

The Position:

Local Consultancy: Consultant to Develop a Strategy for Prevention of early and unintended Pregnancy in Limpopo Province.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

UNFPA is the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency that contributes to the expansion of possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy and productive lives. It is the leading United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. 

UNFPA, Country Office South Africa in collaboration with the office of the Premier, Department of Social Development and Department of Basic Education and Department of Health in Limpopo Province is seeking consultant services to develop a strategy for the prevention and management of teenage pregnancy in Limpopo province.

Context:

One of the objectives in supporting Limpopo provincial priorities is advocating for responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual behaviour among adolescents and youth. The overall aim is to reduce the incidence of high-risk teenage pregnancies, abortions, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS, through the provision of life skills, sexually and gendersensitivity education, user-friendly health services and opportunities for engaging in social and community life. The development of the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy Strategy has been prioritised to facilitate and fast-track the set objective.

Background:

Teenage pregnancy remains a significant challenge in South Africa, with far-reaching consequences for individuals, communities, and national development. Addressing this issue requires a multi-pronged approach involving various policy interventions across different sectors. Teenage pregnancy is a complex issue with various social, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions. The SA Demographic and Health Survey 2016 found that 16% of adolescent girls 15 - 19 years of age had begun bearing children.

The Limpopo Province recognizes the need to address the high rates of teenage pregnancy, which poses significant health, social, and economic challenges. From the years 2020,2021 and 2022; Hotspots for teenage pregnancy rates were predominantly found in the Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, and North West provinces. Despite various programme interventions, the province of Limpopo is facing its own unique challenges regarding this phenomenon. In health facilities across the province, teenage pregnancy rates remain notably high. The data from DHIS indicates that some districts in Limpopo register an annual pregnancy delivery rate of approximately 14.2% in financial year 2022-2023 among girls under the age of 20, this is against the target of 14%. Vhembe district has been having the highest delivery in facility (DFR) in the 10- 19 years old age group and Sekhukhune district was having the lowest DFR over the five-year period from May 2018 until April 2023. For the government financial year 2022/23, total number of deliveries reported for 10- to 14-year-olds was 467 and for 15- to 19-year-olds a total of 16726 deliveries in public health facilities. The data remains notably high despite programmatic interventions initiated by government.

It is for this reason that the provincial government has priorities the prevention of teenage pregnancy. In this regard the province intends to develop a prevention strategy that will ensure coordination of programme interventions and accountability mechanisms across all sectors in the province.

Purpose of consultancy:

The purpose of the Terms of Reference is to appoint an Individual Consultant to develop a strategy and an advocacy brief to prevent and manage teenage pregnancy in Limpopo province.

Scope of work:

a) The successful individual consultant is expected to work with the United Nations Population Fund South Africa Country Office, Office of the Premier, Provincial Department of Social Development, Department of Health, Department of Education, and other stakeholder to do the following:

1.  Conduct comprehensive data review to understand the prevalence, causes, and impacts of teenage pregnancies in Limpopo: Consult and collaborate with the relevant government departments, young people / youth sector, institutions of higher learning (i.e. University of Venda and University of Limpopo) for research data or evidence-based strategic information, and youth focal persons from the Office of the Premier and other government departments in the province. 
2.  Develop a strategy aligned to national policy frameworks, provincial priorities, activities, and processes.
3.  The Individual Consultant will be expected to develop the a. inception report, b. the strategy and c. Action plan and d. Advocacy brief for the province.

b) The strategy and the implementation plan should:

1. Include strategies for retention of girl child in school if they do become pregnant. 
2.  promoting dialogue amongst in the community on addressing teenage pregnancy.
3. Recognise and guide the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents and other persons legally responsible for adolescents to provide appropriate direction and guidance in sexual and reproductive matters.
4. Ensure that the programmes and attitudes of health-care providers and social services providers do not restrict the access of adolescents to appropriate services (through implementation of Youth Zones in all health facilities) and the information they need (which at a minimum includes information on sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse and supportive services from respective departments). These services must safeguard the rights of adolescents and youth to privacy, confidentiality, respect, and informed consent, respecting cultural values and religious beliefs. 
5.  Protect and promote the rights of adolescents and youth to reproductive health education, information and care and greatly reduce the number of adolescent pregnancies. Promote registration and utilisation of the B-wise platform. 
6. Support mechanisms for the education and counselling of adolescents and youth in the areas of gender relations and equality, violence against adolescents, responsible sexual behaviour, responsible family-planning practice, family life, reproductive health and rights, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS prevention.
7.  Ensure provision of programmes for the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse and other reproductive health services. Such programmes should provide information to adolescents and make a conscious effort to strengthen positive social and cultural values. 
8.  Ensure that sexually active adolescents and youth are provided with special family planning information, counselling and services, and those who become pregnant get special support from their families and community during pregnancy and early childcare.

c) Promote programmes directed to the education of parents, with the objective of improving the interaction of parents and children to enable parents to comply better with their educational duties to support the process of maturation of their children, particularly in the areas of sexual behaviour and reproductive health.

Duration and working schedule:

The duration of the assignment will be four months, starting from 05 August 2024 when the contract is awarded and should be completed by 30 November 2024.

Schedule of work:

•  Inception briefing meeting with UNFPA and OTP and provincial government partners.
• Review of guiding documents and inception meeting. 
•  Submission of inception report with detailed work plan. 
•  Coordinate virtual and in person consultation meetings with provincial and district focal persons. 
•  Compile and submit first draft reports for review. 
•  Present revised plans to the UNFPA, OTP and government partners and solicit feedback. 
• Develop an advocacy brief. 
• Final submission of strategy document and advocacy brief by 30 Nov 2024.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Consultancy will be mainly virtual and the initiation meeting as well as the closeout meetings will be hybrid. The consultant will be expected to travel for consultations with the district partners.

Supervisory arrangements:

The consultant will be under the overall supervision of the UNFPA Adolescent and Youth program officer and will work closely with the, and OTP focal person, the Steering Committee and relevant government departments.

Expected travel:

The consultant is expected to work both remotely (off-site/virtually) and be available to travel for consultations and stakeholders’ engagement as appropriate.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

The project requires a suitable Individual Consultant who has solid knowledge on Teenage Pregnancy, Youth engagement, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, Gender, and HIV. The Individual Consultant may include co-consultants with the same expertise.

The Individual Consultant must demonstrate the following attributes:

● Education: Post-graduate University Degree or equivalent in public health/sexual and reproductive health, medicine/social sciences, programme management, or another related field.
● At least 5 years’ experience in strategy development for youth, teenage pregnancy and on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights,
● Demonstrate evidence in carrying out similar work assignments. 

● Be familiar with government SRHR policies, systems and structures. 

● Excellent writing skills and development of reports. 

● Experience with UN agencies as well as supporting the National Department of Health or Department of Social Development or Department of Education will be an added advantage. 

● Capacity to produce quality content under short deadlines.

The payment terms

 The total amount for the assignment will be disbursed in three tranches as follows: ● 30% upon submission of the inception report and clearance of all tools (data gathering tools, methodology etc.) ● 30% upon submission of the draft report ● 40% upon submission of final report and summarized print ready version Payment will be made in accordance with the completion of work to the satisfaction of both UNFPA, OTP and relevant government departments based on the milestone for the project agreed to and signed off as part of the implementation plan.

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.