POSITION: Consultant for Social Policy & Social Protection Programme
LOCATION: Pune
DURATION: 20 months
CLOSING DATE: 30th March 2026
Background & Purpose of Assignment:
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
The purpose of this consultancy is to support UNICEF Maharashtra’s Social Policy and Social Protection (SPSP) Programme through research, policy analysis, and implementation support. The consultant will contribute to advancing the localization of the Child Rights and Child Participation agenda in collaboration with key state institutions, including the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) and the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration (YASHADA).
The consultant will facilitate coordination and provide technical support among relevant government departments, YASHADA, MSCPCR, and UNICEF to enable the rollout of child participation and child rights initiatives at the Gram Panchayat level. The assignment will also involve documenting implementation experiences, supporting the organization of consultations, capacity-building workshops, and stakeholder engagements.
In addition, the consultant will contribute to evidence generation and knowledge building around child rights, climate change, and child-led development planning. The role will also include providing analytical and data support for ongoing initiatives under the SPSP Programme.
Scope of Work (Include Background/Rationale/Key Objectives of the Assignment):
The Social Policy and Social Protection (SPSP) Programme is one of the six sectoral components of UNICEF India’s country programme, alongside Health, Nutrition, Education, Child Protection, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability (WASH-CCES). The programme aims to ensure that every child has access to inclusive social protection systems and lives free from poverty and deprivation. In Maharashtra, UNICEF works in partnership with the Government of Maharashtra to strengthen data and evidence on child poverty, promote public finance for children, support inclusive and shock-responsive social protection systems, and strengthen local governance to deliver child-responsive services. Within this framework, advancing child rights, particularly through child participation and child-friendly local governance, remains an important area of engagement with state institutions.
In this context, the proposed consultancy will generate research, documentation, and analytical outputs to strengthen evidence-informed social policy and child-focused programming in Maharashtra. The consultant will support the localization of the Child Participation Initiative in partnership with state institutions such as the MSCPCR and YASHADA by facilitating stakeholder engagement, documenting field-level experiences, and supporting the rollout of Gram Panchayat–level activities. The assignment will also contribute to the development of policy-relevant knowledge products, including research and policy outputs on climate action around children in Maharashtra and the preparation of Development Plan centred around child rights. In addition, the consultant will provide analytical support through desk reviews, policy briefs, and the compilation and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data to inform programme design and policy dialogue within UNICEF’s SPSP Programme.
The key objectives of the assignment are:
Focus Area I: Child Rights and Child Participation Localization
Strengthening Child-Responsive Local Governance through the Implementation and Institutionalization of Child-Friendly Gram Panchayats (CFGP).
Focus Area II: Child-Centred Local Development Plan
To support participatory and evidence-based planning processes for the development of a Local Development Plan and to incorporate inputs from children, community stakeholders, and relevant socio-economic data to inform the planning process.
Focus Area III: Climate Change and Children: Research and Policy Analysis
To undertake policy-oriented research on climate action related to children in Maharashtra and contribute to the development of draft policy papers and briefs that support evidence-based policies.
Focus Area IV: Capacity Building for Child-Responsive Governance
To support SPSP Programme in organizing workshops, consultations, and knowledge-sharing platforms, and to strengthen the capacities of government officials, Gram Panchayat representatives, community members, and civil society actors to advance child-responsive local governance.
Duty Station: Pune
Official travel:
The consultant will need to undertake District Travels: Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Washim, Ch. Sambhajinagar, Delhi, or any other district as per programme need.
Qualification: Master’s in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Development Economics, Labour studies, Development Planning, Public Policy, Demography, or related technical field
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- Minimum 2.5 years of work experience
- Academic orientation in Social Sciences/ Development Studies/ Labour Studies / Economics and related fields
- Strong understanding of India’s development governance systems, particularly decentralisation, Panchayati Raj institutions, and local public finance, with research experience focused on local self-governments in Maharashtra.
- Experience undertaking policy and budget analysis related to public programmes, including tribal governance, examining expenditure trends and governance processes.
- Experience facilitating consultations and technical discussions with government officials, civil society organisations, and community stakeholders to support participatory planning, local governance strengthening, and child rights systems.
- Strong research and analytical skills, including survey design, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, field research, and policy-oriented report writing developed through multiple academic and applied research projects.
- Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team environment.
- Have fairly good documentation skills in English.
Application Procedure
(1) Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.
(2) We request you to please inform us where you have seen this advertisement.
(3) Your application should be sent to mumbai.consultants@unicef.org by COB 30th March 2026 with subject line "Application for Social Policy & Social Protection Programme" and attach separate files consisting of:
a. Cover letter
b. CV (clearly mentioning relevant experience and any experience with UN/International/ Bilateral agencies)
c. The General Terms and Conditions of Contract (Consultants) GTC.pdf
e. Technical Proposal detailing previous work and relevance to the applied role
f. A financial proposal in PDF format indicating deliverable based fee as per template attached. Please mention your name in the file name while saving.
(4) The selection will be based on technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 75:25. The technical criterion for evaluation is as follows:
- Educational Qualifications (15)
- Relevant Experience (20)
- Technical Interview (40)
Total Score is 75.
Minimum overall qualifying score should be 56.
(5) The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened.
(6) Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
(7) Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
(8) Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.