Request for Proposal at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Posted by Future on Tue 30th Nov, 2021 - nigeriantenders.com

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) invites competent and reputable consultancy firm to indicate interest by tendering RFP documents for the following works:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) for Institutional Contractors on Review of the Legal Framework on Birth Registration

Preamble

The first conscious effort to have a universal system of registration of births and death began in 1988 when the Federal Government promulgated the “Birth and Deaths Compulsory Registration Decree 39 of 1979”. The Decree (now Act) was aimed at establishing a uniform system of registration including the appointment of a Registrar-General for the country. This law also regulated the powers of various States of the federation in the registration of births and deaths. The second attempt was the promulgation of “Compulsory Registration of Births and Deaths, etc Act No 69 of 1992, prescribed the authority to register these vital events to the National Population Commission (NPC). The law empowered the Commission to establish vital registration system across the nation. This mandate of the Commission was further strengthened and recognized under section 24 of the 3rd schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while the Constitution also empowers the Local Government Councils to register births of children in parallel to the NPC across the 774 LGAs in the country.

As a result of this dual legal provisions, all the local government areas (LGAs) maintain an independent system of birth registration in parallel to the NPC system and there is no specific legal framework to govern the relationship between NPC and LGA registration systems. As a result of these parallel mandates and systems, the process of birth registration is continually creating confusion to which system that parents should use.

In addition, the Nigerian civil registration and identity system is characterized by multiple and duplicating agencies extracting identity data of individuals and are not linked, coordinated nor integrated. Some of these includes NIMC, NPOPC, National Passport issuance, driver’s license, BVN, Voters cards, NIN etc. Yet, basic services for children including school enrollment, immunization, child justice administration continue to be administered without any linkage to the unique birth registration identity. The National Population Commission is set to employ digital technologies to leapfrog outdated, paper-based birth registration systems and offer more inclusive methods of providing unique identities to children at birth, and has set in motion a high-quality digital CRVS services that meet the needs of the public, government departments, the CRVS entities and other stakeholders.

Thus, an enabling legal and policy environment for birth registration within Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System needs to be in place and the legal and policy framework ought to be strengthened, including through harmonization of birth registration and certification processes and services between the National Population Commission, the LGAs and other civil registration agencies and entities.

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of the consultancy is to inform how the existing birth registration legal framework can support an harmonized and holistic e-CRVS system in the broader context of digital laws, data privacy and protection, legal identity management in accordance with international best practices and achieving a decentralized and comprehensive transformation and reform within the civil registration system.

Major Tasks to be Accomplished

The Institutional consultant will be required to:

Undertake a desk review of laws, policies, and practice on civil registration particularly birth registration at national, state, LGA and community practices.
Conduct a thorough review of the legal frameworks governing existing civil registration parallel systems linked with other frameworks like – the national identity management policies, immigration law, NPHCDA law and policy on Early Childhood Development in Nigeria,etc.
Identify gaps and propose a secondary legislation to improve the law and practice needed to implement the revised Births, Deaths, etc. (Compulsory Registration) Act, No 69 of 1992.
Provide reports, administrative note and information on (i)how the existing legal framework can support the e-CRVS system in the broader context of parallel legislation, digital laws, data protection and international best practices and (ii) how to achieve a comprehensive reform within the civil registration system.
Contribute towards the review and amendment of the Data Protection Bill, to ensure integration with e-CRVS including birth registration processes and aspects of Legal Identity Law and protection.
Develop a well-defined data and privacy protection framework which clarifies the rules for sharing identity data between government bodies as well as rights of data ownership.
Organize and facilitate consultative sessions and validation workshops with national, zonal technical, and multisectoral organizations and key stakeholders to harmonize laws and policies on civil registration in Nigeria and provide the draft reports and frameworks for National Population Commission and UNICEF’s review and adoption.

Required Qualifications / Specialized knowledge

Institution must have at least a minimum of ten years of relevant professional work experience on development and review of legal frameworks and vetting of Laws, rules and regulations.
Up-to-date knowledge of and expertise on legal drafting reviews, vetting of regulatory frameworks and documents
Working experience with government, UNICEF or any other UN organization
Working experience of legal drafting and defining legal and regulatory frameworks.
Experience or familiarity with civil registration and vital statistics and child protection systems strengthening approach would be beneficial
Institution staffs must have Knowledge of the latest developments and technology in related fields and on:
- Computer skills and excellent communication skills.
- Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF’s mission and professional values.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, especially working with government and development partners

Application Closing Date

12:00noon (Nigeria time), 21st December, 2021.

Submission of Documents

All proposals should be submitted via email to: ngrsupply@unicef.org with the RFP number used as email subject title "RFP9172061".

Note that the technical proposals should be separated from the financial proposals as submitted as two different attachments in a single submission email or as single attachments in different emails clearly labelled.

For more clarifications on this RFP, please Click Here (PDF).

Related Document: Legal Frame Work Review (PDF).