Purpose

To assess existing public financing arrangements and develop actionable recommendations to strengthen timely, predictable and child-sensitive financing for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response in Bangladesh.

Location

Dhaka, Bangladesh, with limited travel within Bangladesh as required for consultations with selected subnational authorities and stakeholders.

Estimated Duration

4 months (1 October 2026 – 31 January 2027)

Technical Supervisor of the assignment

Antonio Franco Garcia, Chief of Field Services, UNICEF Bangladesh (day-to-day technical coordination led by Lawrence Oduma, Emergency Specialist)

1.Background and Context

Bangladesh has made significant progress in disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response, supported by established national and subnational disaster management systems. Increasingly complex and frequent hazards continue to place children, communities and essential services under growing pressure. Disasters can disrupt health, nutrition, education, WASH, child protection and social protection services, with disproportionate impacts on children and the most vulnerable.

At the same time, the financing landscape is changing. Bangladesh's transition from Least Developed Country status and broader middle-income trajectory increases the importance of

domestic resource mobilization and nationally owned systems, in a context in which the global Official Development Assistance (ODA) and humanitarian financing are becoming more constrained. Existing evidence, including recent IMF analysis, indicates that while Bangladesh has financing mechanisms to manage frequent disasters, financing gaps increase as the severity of shocks rises. This reinforces the importance of strengthening predictable and sustainable national financing for disaster preparedness and response.

Bangladesh already has a range of Government-led mechanisms for disaster preparedness, assessment and response. The Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD) establish responsibilities across ministries and administrative levels and provide for damage and needs assessments through the SOS and D-Forms, complemented by sectoral and joint assessments undertaken with humanitarian partners. The Disaster Management Fund (DM Fund), established under the Disaster Management (Fund Operation) Rules 2021 and grounded in Sections 58 and 32(6) of the Disaster Management Act 2012, is intended to provide financial support across all phases of disaster management (before, during and after a disaster), although its operationalization remains a challenge. Government-led mechanisms for forecast-based financing/anticipatory action are also evolving. These systems provide an important foundation for determining needs, prioritizing assistance and mobilizing resources.

Globally and in Bangladesh, there is also increasing experience with approaches that can complement existing public financing and enable earlier action. These include anticipatory action and pre-arranged financing linked to risk information and agreed triggers and early actions, scalable social protection, and innovative risk-financing instruments such as insurance. Rather than replacing existing Government mechanisms, these tools can form part of a risk-layered approach that uses different financing instruments for different levels and types of risk.

Against this backdrop, there is an opportunity to consolidate evidence on how existing public financing instruments support emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response across MoDMR, MoF and key line ministries responsible for essential services for children.

The proposed study will build on existing Government systems, assessments and previous analytical work to examine how resources are allocated, triggered, accessed, utilized and reported; identify opportunities and bottlenecks affecting timely and child-sensitive action; and develop practical recommendations for consideration by the Government. The findings will inform policy dialogue and technical support to the Government to strengthen more predictable, timely and nationally owned financing for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response.

2.Rationale / Purpose of the evidence activity

The purpose of the assignment is to generate an evidence base and actionable recommendations to strengthen public finance for child-sensitive emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response in Bangladesh. The assessment will build on existing Government systems, financing mechanisms and previous analytical work to identify opportunities to make public financing more predictable, timely, flexible and responsive to risk.

This evidence activity is necessary because, despite Bangladesh's well-established disaster management architecture, there is limited consolidated evidence on how public financing instruments - including the DM Fund, sectoral budgets and Government relief modalities -

perform in practice for child-sensitive preparedness, anticipatory action and response, and on the extent to which they reach the most vulnerable children. The timing responds to a changing financing landscape (LDC graduation, declining ODA/humanitarian financing) and to UNICEF's upcoming Country Programme design, where this evidence will directly inform priorities.

The primary intended users are UNICEF Bangladesh for policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support with Government; and Government counterparts, principally MoDMR/DDM and MoF, as well as sector ministries responsible for essential services for children. The study will also contribute evidence to inform UNICEF's positioning and its evolving disaster-resilience agenda, including opportunities to strengthen risk-informed programming and financing across social sectors. It will further support UNICEF's humanitarian–development–peace (HDP) nexus approach by identifying how national systems and financing can better connect preparedness and anticipatory action with emergency response, continuity of essential services and longer-term resilience.

3.Objectives

The study will assess financing instruments, institutional arrangements, assessment mechanisms and Loss and Damage entry points to support more predictable, timely, flexible and nationally owned financing for children before, during and after emergencies.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Map and analyze the national financing landscape for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response, including the core child-focused preparedness and response activities and services currently undertaken by relevant ministries and line departments in (i) disaster management; (ii) health and nutrition; (iii) education; (iv) WASH; and (v) child protection; and (vi) social protection.
2. Assess how priority financing instruments operate in policy and practice, including how resources are allocated, triggered, accessed and utilized; and the extent to which they provide timely financing for disaster management, including procurement, pre-positioning, replenishment and distribution of essential emergency supplies, emergency logistics, and rapid repair and rehabilitation of critical social-sector infrastructure.
3. Assess the extent to which existing financing and assessment arrangements respond to the needs of children through preparedness, anticipatory action and response, including continuity and rapid restoration of essential services as reflected in the Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD) and other relevant Government mandates and plans, and informed by international humanitarian standards.
4. Identify key policy priorities for strengthening the child-sensitivity of Bangladesh’s evolving Loss and Damage arrangements, including how impacts on children and essential social services are identified, assessed and reflected in prioritization, financing and recovery decisions.
5. Develop a prioritized and actionable set of policy and operational recommendations to strengthen predictable, timely, flexible and nationally owned financing for child-

sensitive preparedness, anticipatory action, response and rapid restoration of essential services.

1. Identify entry points for policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support and implications for UNICEF’s DRR and disaster-resilience agenda and HDP nexus priorities ahead of the next Country Programme.

4.Scope

The study will focus on financing for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response (including rapid restoration of essential services) but exclude the broader climate finance (e.g., climate budget tagging/the Climate Fiscal Framework, or climate adaptation/mitigation funds such as BCCTF). The Loss and Damage framework will be covered given its direct and growing relevance to disaster impacts on children and essential services, but the analysis of Loss and Damage should only focus on institutional mandates, financing and data/assessment arrangements relevant to children and social services, rather than the broader international climate finance/negotiation dimensions of Loss and Damage.

Please note that the mapping should draw primarily on responsibilities and commitments established through the Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD), relevant sectoral policies, plans, strategies and operational arrangements, and identify the responsible institutions and levels of Government with a focus on key sectors relevant to children, including (i) disaster management; (ii) health and nutrition; (iii) education; (iv) WASH; (v) child protection; and (vi) social protection.

Scope of Work

1. Map and assess financing for emergency preparedness and response
   • Review and consolidate existing evidence, policies, strategies and recommendations on public financing for disaster preparedness, anticipatory action and response.
   • Map the core child-focused emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response activities and services currently undertaken by relevant Government ministries and line departments, with particular focus on: (i) disaster management; (ii) health and nutrition; (iii) education; (iv) WASH; and (v) child protection; and (vi) social protection. The mapping should draw primarily on responsibilities and commitments established through the Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD), relevant sectoral policies, plans, strategies and operational arrangements, and identify the responsible institutions and levels of Government.
   • Map and analyze available public budget allocations, release and expenditure data since 2024, and key financing pathways related to emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response through MoF, MoDMR/DDM, MoEFCC, and child-relevant ministries/agencies, including MoHFW, MoPME/MoE, MoSW and LGD, at national, district and upazila levels, where data are available.
   • Assess whether and how these mechanisms support the mapped Government activities and service responsibilities, including essential supplies and pre-positioning, early warning and anticipatory action, emergency procurement and logistics, emergency cash/social protection, surge capacity, and continuity and rapid restoration of essential services.

• Assess the government-wide financial management system, including but not limited to the DM Fund Operation Rules 2021, to identify the scope of and challenges to supporting multi-sectoral emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response financing across health and nutrition, education, WASH and child and social protection.

2.Assess how financing and assessment mechanisms work in practice

• Analyse selected financing instruments (DM Fund 2021, sectoral budgets for relevant Departments/Ministries, etc.), including allocation and approval processes, triggers, eligible expenditures, procurement and disbursement requirements, and their timeliness, predictability and flexibility.
• Examine the operationalization of relevant Government policies, rules, strategies and guidelines, identifying institutional, PFM and operational constraints affecting timely access to and use of resources at national and subnational levels.
• Examine how SOS/D-Forms, existing sectoral damage and needs assessments and relevant assessments undertaken with humanitarian partners capture impacts on children and essential services and inform prioritization and financing decisions.
• Assess opportunities to better capture loss and damage through existing methodologies for critical social-sector infrastructure, including school closures and learning disruption, interruption and damage of essential health, education and WASH services, and relevant economic and non-economic Loss and Damage, building on rather than duplicating existing assessment systems. Identify key policy priorities for strengthening how impacts on children and essential social services are reflected in Bangladesh’s evolving Loss and Damage arrangements.
• Use selected recent emergencies to examine how assessed needs translate into financing, supplies and service delivery, and identify key gaps and bottlenecks. Particular attention should be given to schools and other social-sector facilities used as emergency shelters, including financing for their preparedness, safe use during emergencies, and timely repair, rehabilitation and return to their primary service function

3.Assess financing against Government commitments and critical child-sensitive requirements

• Using the mapping of core child-focused activities and services under Section 1, assess whether existing financing arrangements enable relevant ministries and line departments to fulfil their emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response responsibilities for children across health and nutrition, education, WASH and child protection.
• Assess whether existing financing can support these responsibilities and activitiesat sufficient speed and scale through existing national financing mechanisms. Identify gaps between assessed needs, critical response requirements and available financing, including barriers to timely access and utilization at subnational and frontline levels.

4.Develop practical policy and operational recommendations

• Identify opportunities to make public financing more predictable, timely, flexible and responsive to the needs and rights of children, distinguishing between improved operationalization of existing arrangements and reforms that may be required.
• Recommend practical measures to strengthen the link between risk information and assessments, impacts on children and essential services, prioritization and costing, financing decisions and delivery of response.
• Develop concrete, evidence-based and prioritized recommendations, identifying responsible institutions, indicative timeframes and potential entry points for UNICEF policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support.
• Identify key implications and opportunities for UNICEF programming, including how the findings could inform the next Country Programme and UNICEF's disaster-resilience and HDP nexus priorities.

5.Research / Evaluation Questions

The Proposed research questions derived from the objectives and scope above are:

1. What national public financing instruments and expenditure mechanisms are available for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response, including the Disaster Management Fund, sectoral budgets and Government relief and other relevant financing modalities? How are these allocated, triggered, accessed and utilized from national to district and upazila levels?
2. What are the core child-focused emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response activities and services currently undertaken by relevant ministries and line departments across health and nutrition, education, WASH and child protection, and how are these activities financed? To what extent do existing financing instruments enable their timely implementation, including procurement, pre-positioning, replenishment and distribution of essential emergency supplies; emergency logistics and surge capacity; and continuity and rapid restoration of essential services?
3. To what extent do existing financing instruments enable relevant ministries and line departments to fulfil their emergency preparedness anticipatory action; procurement, pre-positioning, replenishment and distribution of essential emergency supplies; emergency logistics and surge capacity; emergency cash/social protection; and continuity and rapid restoration of health, nutrition, education, WASH and child protection services? It should include financing for essential supplies, deployment of technical staff to enable the continuity of services and rapid repair and rehabilitation of critical social-sector infrastructure, particularly schools used as emergency shelters, to enable their timely return to education use.
4. What institutional, PFM and operational bottlenecks constrain timely, predictable and flexible access to and use of financing at national and subnational levels, including approval processes, eligible expenditures, procurement requirements, disbursement timelines and decision-making authority?
5. How effectively do existing Government-led damage and needs assessment mechanisms, including SOS/D-Forms and sectoral assessments capture the impacts on children and essential social services and inform prioritization, costing and financing decisions? What opportunities exist to strengthen these linkages without creating parallel assessment systems?

1. How adequately are disaster-related losses and impacts on children and social sectors identified and addressed within Bangladesh’s evolving Loss and Damage arrangements? What are the relevant institutional mandates, financing and data/assessment gaps, including for economic and non-economic losses such as damage to critical social-sector infrastructure, disruption of essential services and loss of learning, and what priorities could strengthen their child-sensitivity?
2. Can existing financing arrangements meet, at sufficient speed and scale, the critical needs of children through preparedness, anticipatory action and response requirements? This should include financing for essential supplies and services, and the rapid repair and rehabilitation of critical social-sector infrastructure, particularly schools used as emergency shelters, to enable their timely return to education use in line with relevant Government frameworks and informed by international commitments such as UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs).
3. To what extent do financing, assessment and prioritization arrangements address equity and differentiated vulnerability, including gender-related needs and risks, children with disabilities and other children and communities particularly exposed or vulnerable to shocks?
4. What practical and prioritized policy, PFM and operational measures could make national financing more predictable, timely, flexible and child-sensitive? Which constraints could be addressed through better operationalization of existing mechanisms, where may further reforms or complementary financing approaches (such as parametric insurance) be warranted, and what are the priority entry points for Government action and UNICEF policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support?

10.Methodology

a.Approach or Design:

The assignment will combine desk review, data analysis and stakeholder consultations to assess how existing national financing arrangements enable timely and child-sensitive emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response in Bangladesh.

The assignment will use a non-experimental, mixed-methods analytical approach, combining public finance analysis with qualitative institutional and operational analysis. It will build on existing Government data, systems and assessments and relevant analytical work, rather than establishing parallel data collection or assessment mechanisms.

The methodology is expected to comprise:

• Desk review and evidence synthesis of relevant legislation, policies, strategies, budget and PFM frameworks, Disaster Management Fund arrangements, Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD), Government assessment mechanisms, sectoral plans and budgets, and relevant previous studies on disaster risk financing, anticipatory action, social protection, climate/disaster finance and Loss and Damage.
• Government activity and responsibility mapping and comparative assessment, beginning with identification of core child-focused emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response activities currently undertaken by relevant ministries

and line departments across disaster management, health and nutrition, education, WASH, child and social protection.

• Quantitative analysis of available financing data, including budget allocations, releases and expenditure, where available, for relevant national and subnational financing instruments and selected social sectors. The analysis should examine financing flows and, to the extent permitted by available data, trends, utilization, timeliness and gaps.
• Financing and institutional process mapping to trace how selected financing instruments operate in practice, including triggers, decision-making and approval processes, eligible expenditures, fund flows, procurement and disbursement arrangements, and access at national and subnational levels.
• Qualitative research, primarily through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and stakeholder consultations with Government and other relevant actors, to understand how financing and assessment arrangements operate in practice and identify institutional, PFM and operational bottlenecks.
• Selected 2-3 emergency case studies to trace the pathway from disaster impact to assessment, prioritization and costing, financing decision and release to ensure continuity or restoration of essential services. Case studies should examine the repair and rehabilitation of critical social-sector infrastructure, particularly schools used as emergency shelters and their timely return to education use.
• Validation of findings and recommendations with UNICEF and relevant Government and other stakeholders.

The assignment will be implemented through four phases aligned with the deliverables:

• Phase 1 – Inception and analytical framework: desk review; refinement of research questions and methodology; development of the analytical framework and assessment criteria; identification of priority financing instruments, data requirements, stakeholders and emergency case studies.
• Phase 2 – Financing landscape and data collection: mapping and analysis of

financing instruments, budgets and expenditure; financing/process mapping; review of assessment mechanisms; KIIs and selected subnational consultations; and preliminary analysis.

• Phase 3 – Analysis and recommendations: triangulation of quantitative and

qualitative evidence; completion of emergency case studies; assessment against the critical multi-sectoral package; identification of financing and operational gaps; and preparation of the draft analytical report, recommendations and policy brief.

• Phase 4 – Validation and finalization: consultation and validation of key findings and

recommendations with UNICEF, Government and relevant stakeholders; incorporation of feedback; and finalization of all products.

The bidder should propose a research/analytical framework or matrix linking each research question to the relevant analytical criteria, indicators/questions, data sources, methods and expected outputs. The framework should link mapped Government responsibilities and core sectoral preparedness/response activities to their financing pathways and relevant child-sensitive standards. The framework should include criteria for

assessing, at a minimum, the timeliness, predictability, flexibility, accessibility and child-sensitivity of financing and its ability to support action at sufficient speed and scale.

Bidders are encouraged to refine or propose alternative methodological approaches where these would strengthen the quality, feasibility or value of the assignment, with a clear rationale.

b.Data collection, Sampling Methodology and Quality Assurance:

The assignment will primarily draw on existing rules and procedures, Government and partner data and documentation, complemented by targeted stakeholder consultations and selected emergency case studies. It is not expected to undertake a representative survey or large-scale primary data collection.

Data collection will include:

• Review and analysis of available budget, allocation, release and expenditure data covering at least the past 3 fiscal years - selected to include both years with major emergency responses (2024) and comparator non-emergency years (2025) for comparison - together with relevant financing instruments, administrative records,

policies, assessments and previous analytical work.

• Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and stakeholder consultations with relevant national institutions, including MoF, Cabinet Division, MoDMR/DDM and relevant line ministries; selected subnational authorities and sector officials (including Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs), District Relief and Rehabilitation Officers (DRROs), Project Implementation Officers (PIOs) and relevant sector officials); and relevant development, humanitarian and financing partners.
• Selected recent emergency case studies to examine how assessment, prioritization and financing arrangements have operated in practice, including financing for essential supplies, continuity/restoration of services and repair or rehabilitation of critical social-sector infrastructure.

Stakeholders and case studies will be purposively selected based on their relevance to the research questions. For costing purposes, bidders should anticipate approximately 25-35 stakeholder consultations and 2-3 emergency case studies, with the final sample and geographic coverage agreed during inception.

The detailed methodology, analytical framework, priority financing instruments, case studies and stakeholder consultations will be agreed upon during the inception phase and set out in the Inception Report (Deliverable 1), which will also include the quality assurance approach and criteria for assessing the timeliness, predictability, flexibility, accessibility and child-sensitivity of financing.

c.Risks and Limitations:

Anticipated risks and limitations include: (i) availability, consistency and granularity of financing data, particularly expenditure data disaggregated by disaster phase, sector, geography or child-relevant expenditure and at subnational level; (ii) the complexity of financing pathways across different ministries, budget lines and instruments, which may make it difficult to attribute expenditure specifically to preparedness, anticipatory action or response; (iii) availability of Government counterparts and access to relevant information within the assignment timeframe; and (iv) potential overlap with broader disaster risk

financing, climate finance and Loss and Damage work, requiring clear scope and coordination to build on existing analysis and avoid duplication.

11.Ethical Considerations

The consulting firm is expected to follow the ethical principles and considerations outlined in the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation and UNICEF's Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis. As this assignment primarily involves institutional/expert consultations (Government officials, development/humanitarian partners) and secondary budget/financing data rather than direct data collection with children or other vulnerable individuals, ethical risk is assessed as low; nonetheless, all personnel involved in stakeholder consultations should have completed UNICEF's AGORA course on Ethics in Evidence Generation (or equivalent), and informed consent should be obtained from all interviewees, with confidentiality respected in reporting. Data should be stored securely, with access limited to the study team and UNICEF, and any sensitive institutional information (e.g., relating to specific bottlenecks or performance of named Government entities) should be handled and attributed with care in consultation with UNICEF. The final products will be owned by UNICEF.

12.Use of Findings

Findings will directly inform UNICEF’s engagement in strengthening public financing for child-sensitive emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response. Deliverable 4 will include a UNICEF advocacy/action matrix setting out priority recommendations, responsible Government counterparts, indicative timeframes, and entry points for policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support - providing an internal accountability tool for UNICEF to track follow-up. Findings will be validated with relevant Government and other stakeholders (Deliverable 4) prior to finalization and disseminated internally within UNICEF and, subject to Government agreement, shared with relevant Government counterparts and development/humanitarian partners.

13.Publication Plan

It is not currently anticipated that the final analytical report will be externally published; the primary outputs (analytical report, policy brief and advocacy/action matrix) are intended for UNICEF and Government policy dialogue.

14.Schedule of Tasks & Timeline

S.

No.

Major Task

Deliverable

Specific delivery date

Estimated travel required for completion of

deliverable

1

Inception and

analytical framework

Deliverable 1 - Inception

Report and Analytical Framework

20 October 2026

None anticipated

2

Financing landscape mapping and preliminary

findings

Deliverable 2 - Financing Landscape, Evidence Review and Preliminary Findings

20 November 2026

Limited travel for subnational consultations, as agreed at inception

3

Draft analytical

report and policy recommendations

Deliverable 3 - Draft

Analytical Report and Policy Recommendations

15 December 2026

None anticipated

4

Validation and

finalization

Deliverable 4 – Validation

and Final Products

31 January 2027

Dhaka-based

validation workshop

1. Estimated duration of contract

The assignment is expected to be completed over 4 months, from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027. This includes time for internal UNICEF review and quality assurance of each deliverable, and for a government validation consultation/workshop prior to finalization (Deliverable 4).

16.Deliverables

Deliverable 1: Inception Report and Analytical Framework (20 October 2026, 20% of contract value)

A concise inception report setting out the refined methodology, analytical framework, workplan, data requirements, priority financing instruments and sectors, proposed case studies, stakeholder/KII plan and quality assurance approach. The analytical framework will set out the approach for mapping Government responsibilities and core child-focused preparedness and response activities across disaster management, health and nutrition, education, WASH, child and social protection, and linking these to financing arrangements and relevant standards. The analytical framework will include criteria for assessing timeliness, predictability, flexibility, accessibility and child-sensitivity of financing.

Deliverable 2: Financing Landscape, Evidence Review and Preliminary Findings (20 November 2026, 30% of contract value)

Mapping and analysis of key public financing instruments, available budget allocations/expenditure and national-to-subnational financing pathways through MoF, MoDMR/DDM and selected child-relevant ministries/sectors.

The deliverable will assess how the mapped Government activities and responsibilities are financed, including essential supplies and pre-positioning - and provide preliminary findings from desk review, data analysis, consultations/KIIs and selected emergency case studies. It will also examine linkages between Government assessment mechanisms, including SOS/D-Forms and sectoral assessments, identified impacts on children/essential services and financing decisions.

Deliverable 3: Draft Analytical Report and Policy Recommendations (15 December 2026, 25% of contract value)

Draft report consolidating the financing landscape and consultations and assessing financing and PFM bottlenecks; operationalization of relevant policies and financing mechanisms to enable critical child-sensitive preparedness and response requirements; national-to-subnational access; and relevant economic and non-economic Loss and Damage affecting children and social sectors. The report will include prioritized, evidence-based policy and operational recommendations to strengthen predictable and child-sensitive financing as well as specific policy recommendations related to the child-sensitivity of Bangladesh’s evolving Loss and Damage arrangements, and a draft policy brief for review by UNICEF and relevant Government counterparts.

Deliverable 4: Validation and Final Products (15 March 2027, 25% of contract value)

Facilitate a validation consultation/workshop with relevant Government and other stakeholders and incorporate agreed feedback. Submit: (i) final analytical report; (ii) concise, decision-oriented policy brief; and (iii) UNICEF advocacy/action matrix setting out priority recommendations, responsible Government counterparts, indicative timeframes and potential policy dialogue, advocacy and technical support entry points, as well as key implications for the next UNICEF Country Programme.

Notes:

1 Stakeholder consultations will include relevant national Government institutions, selected subnational authorities/frontline institutions, and development, humanitarian and financing partners, with the final stakeholder and KII plan agreed during inception.

2 All deliverables should maintain a clear child-sensitive lens, including financing for anticipatory action and preparedness, essential supplies, and continuity and rapid restoration of health, nutrition, education, WASH, child protection and social protection services. All payments will be subject to UNICEF acceptance of the corresponding deliverable.

17.Team composition, Qualifications & Experience required

The assignment will be undertaken by a qualified institution/consulting firm with demonstrated expertise in public finance/public financial management, disaster risk financing and emergency preparedness and response, supported by strong research and policy analysis capabilities.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of the assignment, the firm should propose a team that collectively demonstrates expertise in:

• public finance, budgeting and public financial management, including analysis of national and subnational financing flows;
• disaster risk financing, emergency preparedness and response and anticipatory action;
• social-sector financing and child-sensitive policy and programming, including relevant experience in health, nutrition, education, WASH and/or social protection;
• quantitative and qualitative research, including budget/expenditure analysis and stakeholder consultation; and
• policy analysis and development of concise, evidence-based recommendations for Government decision-makers.

The proposed team should include a Team Leader/Lead Expert responsible for overall technical leadership, quality assurance and timely delivery of the assignment. The firm may propose additional specialists as required to ensure the necessary multidisciplinary expertise.

Experience working on relevant assignments in Bangladesh, including engagement with Government institutions and development or humanitarian partners, will be considered an advantage.

Required Qualifications and Experience

The institution/consulting firm/Team should demonstrate:

• At least 5 years of relevant institutional experience in public finance/public financial management, disaster risk financing, social-sector financing, emergency preparedness and response, or related policy research.
• Demonstrated experience conducting public finance, budget and/or expenditure analysis and producing high-quality policy briefs, analytical reports and actionable policy recommendations.
• Experience working with Government institutions and engaging stakeholders at national and subnational levels, preferably in Bangladesh or a comparable context.
• Demonstrated capacity to undertake quantitative and qualitative analysis, stakeholder consultations and synthesis of complex evidence into concise, decision-oriented products.
• A multidisciplinary team with the technical expertise required to undertake the assignment and deliver the outputs within the agreed timeframe.

The proposed Team Leader/Lead Expert should have:

• An advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy, Development Studies, Disaster Risk Management, Social Sciences or another relevant field.
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience, including substantial experience in public finance/PFM, disaster management and risk financing, emergency preparedness and response, social-sector financing or related areas.
• Demonstrated experience in policy analysis and engagement with senior Government and development partners.
• Strong analytical, facilitation and report-writing skills, with excellent written and spoken English.

Desirable Qualifications and Experience

The proposed firm/team should preferably demonstrate:

• Strong knowledge of Bangladesh's public financial management, national and local governance, disaster management and disaster risk financing systems.
• Experience working with relevant Government ministries/agencies, including MoF, MoDMR/DDM and social-sector line ministries, and with UN agencies, international financial institutions and development/humanitarian partners.
• Experience with anticipatory action, shock-responsive/social protection financing and/or innovative risk-financing instruments.
• Understanding of child-sensitive emergency preparedness and response, including financing for continuity of essential social services and emergency supplies.
• Experience analysing national-to-subnational financing flows, institutional arrangements and operational bottlenecks.
• Experience facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations and presenting technical findings to Government and senior decision-makers.
• Previous experience undertaking comparable assignments in Bangladesh will be a strong advantage.

18.Duty Station

Dhaka, Bangladesh (home-based/Dhaka-based), with limited travel within Bangladesh for consultations with selected subnational authorities and stakeholders, as agreed during inception.

19.Management and Supervision

1. Research/Evaluation agency or partner: The institutional contractor will report to the designated UNICEF contract manager and work in close coordination with relevant UNICEF sections and Government counterparts, ensuring the availability of the proposed team throughout the assignment and meeting agreed deliverable timelines. All deliverables should maintain a clear child-sensitive lens and be submitted electronically in English, in editable format, concise, evidence-based and suitable for policy dialogue; data sources, assumptions and analytical limitations should be clearly documented.
2. UNICEF: The assignment will be managed by the Emergency and Field Services Section, UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office. Day-to-day technical coordination will be led by the Emergency Specialist, with overall oversight from the Chief of Emergency and Field Services Section. Social Policy Evaluation, Analytics and Research (SPEAR) section will provide technical quality assurance review, as relevant, of key deliverables, consistent with UNICEF Bangladesh's evidence quality assurance process.
3. Reference Group(s): N/A

20.Official travel involved

Limited travel within Bangladesh may be required for consultations with selected subnational authorities and stakeholders (e.g., in relation to selected emergency case studies), as agreed during the inception phase. Any anticipated travel should be included in the financial proposal, calculated on an economy-class basis regardless of length of travel. Any travel not foreseen in the agreed scope of work will require prior authorization by UNICEF and will be managed in accordance with the contractual arrangements.

21.Payment Schedule

Bidders should provide an all-inclusive financial proposal, covering all costs necessary to complete the assignment. Where travel within Bangladesh is required, anticipated travel should be included in the financial proposal. All payments will be subject to UNICEF's satisfactory review and acceptance of the corresponding deliverable.

Deliverable

Timeline

Payment

Deliverable 1 - Inception Report and Analytical Framework

20 October 2026

20%

Deliverable 2 - Financing Landscape, Evidence Review

and Preliminary Findings

20 November 2026

30%

Deliverable 3 - Draft Analytical

Report and Policy Recommendations

15 December 2026

25%

Deliverable - – Validation and

Final Products

31 January 2027

25%