| Hiring Office: | Youth Unit |
| Purpose of consultancy: | Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is defined by the United Nations as ‘a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality’. CSE equips children and young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will empower them to realize their health, well-being and dignity.
The name of CSE varies by country, e.g. relationship education, sexuality education, sexual health education, family life education, life skills education, HIV education, sexual and reproductive health education and personal development. Comprehensive sexuality education enables young people to protect and advocate for their health, well-being and dignity. It is a precondition for exercising full bodily autonomy, which requires not only the right to make choices about one’s body but also the information and agency to make these choices in a meaningful way. CSE is based on human rights principles and promotes gender transformation and equality while empowering young people. Additionally, CSE can create a demand for SRHR services so it becomes vital to link CSE to SRHR and GBV information and services in order to ensure leaving no one behind. We seek to strengthen sexuality education in and out of school and its links with youth-friendly health services with the scope to strengthen the referral mechanisms within the context of universal health coverage and self-care initiatives. UNFPA works with governments to implement comprehensive sexuality education both in schools and outside of schools by promoting policies for, investment in, and capacity development countries to provide age-appropriate sexuality education programmes that meet internationally agreed-upon standards. Rationale UNFPA as a long-standing technical and thought leader in CSE both in and out of schools, in collaboration with its partners and stakeholders, seeks to assess the current state of linkages between in and out-of-school CSE information and SRHR services in the East and Southern Africa Region. This assessment will help consolidate the level of engagement of UNFPA Country Offices at national level in improving the quality of CSE delivery and its linkages to SRHR and GBV information and services. Strengthening linkages between CSE and services will, in turn, improve the sexual and reproductive health and well-being of adolescents and young people. It will also provide recommendations around the roadmap/technical assistance needs for improving linkages between CSE and services at a minimum by focusing on the education, youth development and health sectors and ensuring no young person is left behind. These findings will also be utilized for advocacy and to scale up proven approaches to strengthen linkages between CSE and youth-transformative SRHR and GBV services. |
| Scope of work: | The consultant is expected to:
A mixed methodology will be used that includes: Secondary review/existing literature and reports Refine the online tool for collection and send it out to countries then analyse the information collected Key informant interviews UNFPA CO experts and ESARO advisers will serve as a technical quality assurance team and will assist with some of the compilation of documents and introductions to key informants to be interviewed, including young people. Deliverables
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| Duration and working schedule: | The assignment will be 40 days in total between 12 February – 30 April 2024. The following time frame is applied in calculating the total days.
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| Place where services are to be delivered: | The concluded work is to be submitted electronically to the ESARO office through the Regional CSE Specialist and Disability Focal Point. |
| Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.): | The final deliverables need to be delivered by 6 May 2024 in electronic copy. |
| Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline: | The selected consultant will be required to provide regular updates via email and online meetings to monitor adherence to tight production schedules. |
| Supervisory arrangements: | The selected consultant will work under the supervision of the Regional CSE Specialist and Disability Focal Point and Coordinator of the Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health Team & Regional Health Systems Advisor. |
| Expected travel: | The consultant will not be expected to travel. |
| Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements: |
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| Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable: | UNFPA will provide relevant background documents and assist with the identification and introductions of key informants. |
| Other relevant information or special conditions, if any: | Payment schedule
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[1] A draft list of questions is available.
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