Consultant (VCCI and UNICEF Vietnam)

Job Description

Title	consultancy service to document good practices and challenges as well as lessons learnt that promote children’s rights and business principles (CRBP) in Vietnam
Purpose	To provide evaluative documentation of 10 enterprises’ good practices on child rights focused responsible business as well as document challenges and lessons learnt for scale up.
Location	At least 10 identified companies in the South, the Centre and the North of Vietnam (5 in the North, 3 in the South and 2 in the Centre of Vietnam)
Expected timing	From November 2023 to the third week of January 2024
Reporting to	VCCI and UNICEF Vietnam
Project and activity codes	CRBP 1.2.1 0 3

• Deadline: 10/11/2023

Background

Globally, UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories to support children with better access to their greatest needs. In addition to other stakeholders, UNICEF has also been engaging the business community, especially those with high impact on children to promote the respect, realization and implementation of children's rights as well as to accelerate the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) is in charge of leading the implementation of the objective number 12.6 in the National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the purpose of which is to encourage the business community to apply the sustainable practices, to ensure that no one is left behind as well as to prioritize the hardest group to access including children^[1]. Additionally, VCCI has recently been given the mission to further promote responsible business practices among business in Vietnam on the National Action Plan on law and policy improvement, which was ratified by the Government dated 14^th July 2023 at the Decision No 843/QD-TTg. It’s believed that it is essential to contribute to create a favorable business environment to implement responsible business practices and the achievement of SDGs in Viet Nam.

Within such a context, specifically in Vietnam, VCCI has been implementing the project on “Promoting Children’s Rights and Business Principles in Vietnam” (CRBP) since 2019 with the support of UNCIEF Vietnam. The project includes a wide variety of interventions ranging from awareness raising, capacity building, research to policy advocacy to enhance the respect, realization and implementation of children’s rights within the business sector in Vietnam.

The objective of this assignment is to develop a collection of good policies, challenges and lessons learnt for scale up related to Child Rights focused responsible business practices. It aims to proactively reach out to the corporates who have incorporated the child right dimensions into their business. The collection is intended to introduce results achieved by the enterprises and promote sustainability of the initiated activities. The findings shall serve as fruitful discussion points and, in turn, enrich the inputs for the future informed work of broader engagement of private sector. To achieve this, VCCI and UNICEF Vietnam are soliciting the services of an expert with experience in developing an evaluative documentation of social impact topics.

Objectives:

VCCI and UNICEF seek a consultant/or a consulting firm to provide evaluative documentation with a thorough analysis of good practices of at least 10 businesses who actively implement policies to promote children’s rights and protect young workers in the workplace. These cases should be written in English and Vietnamese with the form of feature articles complementary with indicative field pictures. An in-depth analysis shall be developed based on the thorough documentation and compilation of the cases. VCCI and UNICEF will work closely with a selected consultant through technical support to further exchange, discuss ideas and effective approach and ensure consultancy service are well-delivered.

Scope

The topics of high interest:

Family friendly policies including but not limited to paid parental leave, paid leave to care for family members, flexible work arrangements that offer choices on when and where workers fulfill their responsibilities; occupational safety and health; appropriate medical care, protections for pregnant women, job security, fair/living wage,  and support for breastfeeding mothers, access to affordable quality childcare, child benefits, family and medical leave, compressed workweeks, job sharing and part time options, paid time off, education and training, etc.

Mitigation and remediation policies and practices related to child labor, child abuse and exploitation

Policies pertaining to young worker protection and upskilling

It might also include general sustainability and child rights policies and initiatives, such as due diligence and supply chain approach, ESG, business engagement in climate change and disaster risk management, healthy food for children, responsible marketing and advertisement, etc.  of the enterprises which indirectly contribute to children rights.

The content: should cover but not limited to the following key points: i) what are the good/ innovative practices that the businesses have initiated/been implementing? ii) what are the positive impacts they have on children (either in a direct or indirect way)? iii) what experiences/ lessons learnt/suggestions businesses would like to share to promote the good/innovative practices they have? iv) What strategies were successful in overcoming challenges? v) what area they can improve? vi) what could have been done differently? vii) interviews/quotes from relevant stakeholders i.e. workers (balancing between female/ male workers), labor union representative, management board to include human interest to the stories

• Good practices are defined as well documented and assessed programming practices that provide evidence of success/impact and which are valuable for replication, scaling up and further study. The practice should have a formal evaluation and evidence of an adoption-diffusion process (piloting/scaling up). The practice should have been replicated in more than one site and generally in different contexts (economic, cultural, partners, etc.).

• In case of “good practices” is still premature, or it has not been replicable on a large scale, another option is to capture the Innovative practices. These innovations may be pilot projects or new approaches to a standard programming model that can demonstrate initial results.

In line with the program objectives, the documentation should capture the thematic sector (output and outcome) and elements of existing practices.  A reflection on implementation constraints and lessons learned should be included, it is important to cover challenges/shortfalls, not just accomplishments. If relevant, rapid look into the socio-economic impacts such as Covid-19, or the latest economic downturn on the achievement of planned results, how CRB programs and strategies have pivoted to respond, and any new opportunities arising, or innovations made due to challenges (if applicable) should be included.

The documentation should take into consideration the relevant international standards and guidelines as key references to develop and analyse the case stories, such as the Child Rights and Business Principles, UNICEF’s industry guidelines: Child online protection guideline, Children's rights in impact assessments, Guidance note on Child Labour and Responsible Business Conduct, etc.

*A template for outlining the good/innovative practices is attached herewith for reference (see Appendix)

Duration and venue coverage

Identified tasks will be implemented in 25.5 working days excluding the public holidays, in Hanoi/HCMC and relevant field locations in Vietnam (Tentatively, the number of days includes 10 days for desk review and final list of targeted businesses for good story documentation, an estimation of 7 days for field trips at enterprises and 8.5 days for drafting and finalizing the in-depth analysis with as per UNICEF and VCCI’s comments).

Tasks 

Specific tasks include:

• Review and develop an overall plan for assessment with specific milestone/timeline.

• Screen and identify relevant companies to develop database (30 companies) to ensure at least 10 companies are invited to confirm to participate in collection of data.

• Draft and send introduction letter signed, sealed by VCCI via email to invite identified companies to participate in the qualitative assessment.

• Phone call to follow up to remind and confirm interview appointment with at least 10 targeted businesses.

• Develop and finalize the questionnaire for in depth interview and actively consult VCCI, UNICEF for further inputs, comments, and approval.

• Desk research through publicly accessible means such as company websites to collect further information besides in-depth interview with those companies.

• Conduct field trips to at least 10 confirmed companies in the relevant field locations to conduct in-depth interview (the expected respondents will be companies’ leaders and managers in charge of HR, CSR official, legal compliance official, trade union official, and other staff such as ISO official, official in charge of workplace health and safety, workers, security staff etc). Actively facilitate interview, get relevant collect data, take 5-7 photos for each case for story illustration. The consultant is expected to self- provide necessary equipment to fulfill required tasks.

• Data processing and analysis to draft first report and send to VCCI and UNICEF for their inputs, comments.

• Continuously update, revise and develop the second draft based on VCCI, UNCIEF’s inputs and comments.

• Finalize the above-mentioned in-depth analysis in English only based on the comments UNICEF and VCCI and ask for official approval

Deliverables and timelines

Task	Deliverables	Tentative Timeline
1.	Identified list of 10 targeted businesses, final questionnaire for interview with businesses and list of interviewees (in form of targeted positions) in close consultation and agreement of UNICEF and VCCI	1st -19th Nov. 2023
2.	Relevant data and photos for stories illustration obtained from conducted field trips to relevant field locations and interview sessions with businesses	20th Nov - 15th Dec.2023
3.	Drafted in-depth analysis with 10 stories in English to be shared with UNICEF and VCCI for comments	16th – 30th Dec.2023
4.	Final writing of 10 stories in both English and Vietnamese to be submitted with approval of UNICEF and VCCI. Each story is maximum 3-page long.	1st -20th Jan. 2024

*Note: The actual detailed timeline can be adjusted based on the list of the 10 selected businesses and their locations in discussion and approval of UNICEF and VCCI.

Management 

The overall management of the work package will lie with the CRBP Project Coordinator at The Office for Business Sustainable Development (SDforB), VCCI and Partnerships Officer at UNICEF Viet Nam.

Qualification 

This assignment will require a consultant/ or a consulting firm who can meet/ have the member meeting the following criteria:

• Master’s degree in business administration/economics, law, and or journalism social work, social sciences, education or related fields.

• Minimum 8-10 years of relevant professional experiences

• Sound understanding of responsible business conduct, CSR, promotion of children’s rights and human rights in the business context in Vietnam is essential.

• Analytical skills, experience in conducting surveys, doing research, and report writing.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in both Vietnamese and English.

• Basic photography skills to take photos for the stories.

• Relevant consultancy experience with VCCI, the United Nations organizations or international NGOs would be a plus.

Payment Schedule 

The payment for the consultancy fee would be made as per the following schedule:

• First payment: About 30% of the total contract, after the consultancy contract is signed
• Second/Final payment: About 70% of the total contract, after the final writing in both English and Vietnamese are submitted with approval of UNICEF and VCCI

Note: UNICEF’s template for outlining the good/innovative practices is attached herewith for reference.

Appendix:

Template For Good Practice (or Innovative Practice)

Category:  Good or Innovative Practice

Related links:  Please provide links to related study, report, evaluation, website that may provide additional information on the good practice/ innovative practice.

Contact person:  Please provide the name, title and e-mail address of a person who can be contacted for any questions regarding this good/innovative practice.

Abstract: Please provide 1-2 short paragraphs to describe in brief an overall picture of the context, summary of the good/innovative practice and its application.

Issue (Background):  Briefly (2- 3 paragraphs) describe the initial situation (context) and the problem/ issue which prompted the implementation of this good/innovative practice.

Strategy and Implementation:   Describe in 3-4 paragraphs the strategy and its implementation.  This should link to the issue outlined above and highlight the main points of the strategy implemented. Strategies could be regarding to advocacy, participation, gender equity, ownership, capacity building, coordination and partnerships, monitoring and evaluation and replication/scaling up.

Progress and Results:  In summary (2-3 paragraphs), describe the progress and results validated through evaluations or formal review process.  The results can be classified at output, outcome and impact level. Provide quantitative and or qualitative evidence for different aspects (e.g. relevance, effectiveness, efficacity, replicability, sustainability) that are the basis of the good practice. Please also describe factors that enabled or hindered progress (challenges).

Good Practice: Please provide 3-4 short paragraphs to describe in summary good practice(s) in the field. This should leave the reader with an overall picture of the practices(s), why they are useful and evidence of value they add to UNICEF programming.

In case Good Practice is not available yet but potential: Lesson Learned: Please provide 1-2 short paragraphs to describe in summary the lesson(s) learned. Please limit to 1-2 major lessons learned.  This should leave the reader with an overall picture of the lesson(s), why it is important and the value it adds. Please include information both on what worked, what didn’t and what could be done differently.

Potential application: Please describe briefly the potential application of this practice to programming beyond the original context.  Are there potential applications nationally, regionally, in emergency situations, etc.?  What are the issues that need to be considered?

Next steps: Describe (2-3 paragraphs) any planned next steps in implementation or any challenges in strategy as a result of this good practice to date.

Submission of applications

Interested institutions/organizations are invited to submit their proposals to thuylhs@vcci.com.vn before 10 November 2023, using the subject line “Application for documenting good practices on child-focused responsible business”. The proposal should include:

1. Letter of interest and confirmation of availability.

2. Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables, including workplan, the list of guest speakers and the list of trainers.

3. Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available)

4. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, travel and accommodation cost for this assignment as per work assignment.

5. Curriculum Vitae (CV)

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