1. society
2. welfare
3. social services

REF: PPU/IOR/5/15(4)
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Consultancy to Conduct a Comprehensive Review of Belize’s Social Protection
System with Policy Recommendations for System Strengthening
1. BACKGROUND
The 2012 Social Protection Strategic Framework published by UNICEF makes the argument that
“social protection plays a vital role in strengthening the resilience of children, families and
communities, achieving greater equity, and supporting national human and economic development.”
It further argues that the relevance of social protection is much more significant in times of
economic downturn that frequently leads to the reduction in available resources for key social
sectors. It also underlines its heightened significance in societies suffering from persistent levels of
inequality and poverty. To this end “social protection is an important policy tool to tackle social
exclusion, inequality and poverty and to foster inclusive growth” (UNDP-IPC, 2015).
Belize’s second round of Country Poverty Assessment (CPA) in 2002 revealed that despite the
economic growth experienced in the late 1990s, a third of Belize’s population remained below the
poverty line. In response the Cabinet mandated the then Ministry of National Development,
Investment and Culture (now Ministry of Finance and Economic Development), in collaboration
with the National Human Development Advisory Committee (NHDAC), to reformulate the
approach to poverty elimination planning for the 2009-2013 National Poverty Elimination Strategy
and Action Plan (NPESAP).
The NPESAP utilized Clark’s Functioning approach based on the Amartya Sen’s Capability approach
to conceptualize poverty as the strategic base to addressing national poverty. Conceptually, this
shifted the understanding of poverty from a level of income that is not enough to purchase “a
minimum basket of goods and services (ECOSOC 2001, as cited in Mendoza 2009)” to one that
recognizes the broader features of poverty as being hunger, poor education, discrimination,
vulnerability and social exclusion (ibid).
In view of this new understanding, the 2009 CPA provided valuable information regarding the links
between and the effects of poverty and health, education housing and other domains, and provided
recommendations to strengthen the social sectors to respond to the rising poverty in the country. It
further concluded that while the main causes of poverty are primarily economic (largely employment
related), other factors also affect living conditions in Belize.
With regard to monetary poverty, the 2009 CPA showed a worsening situation; poverty was defined
by the 2009 Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) based on the calculation of two poverty
lines: 1) the Household Indigence Line (HIL) which represents the minimum cost of a food basket
(MFB) needed to provide a healthy diet for an adult male; and 2) the General Poverty Line (GPL)
which is made up of the HIL together with an allowance for non-food expenditure. The 2009 CPA
revealed that 41.3% of Belizeans live in poverty and 31% of Belizean households are poor. These
figures show that compared to 2002, the share of poor households in 2009 increased by 6
percentage points, while the share of poor individuals by 8 percentage points. More worryingly, the
percentage of Belizeans who were indigent (referring to poor individuals or households who cannot
satisfy basic food needs) in 2009 was 15.8%, an increase of 46% compared to 2002 when the rate
was 10.8%. Table 1 (below) presents the findings of three separate Country Poverty Assessments
conducted in Belize so far.
Table 1: Poverty levels in Belize by Select Characteristics
Year
1995
2002
2009
Poor
HH
Poor
Population
Indigent
HH
Indigent
Population
Youth
Elderly
Female
Male
Male
Headed
HH
Female
Headed
H
25
26
31
33
33
41
10
8
10
13
11
16
32
34
43
28
27
34
33
33
40
33
34
42
24
26
32
31
22
29
Source: Belize CPAs: 1995, 2002 and 2009
As a result of these negative trends and the recommendations of the NEPESAP, the Government
of Belize (GOB) responded by initiating a number of social policy reforms under the rubric of the
Social Policy Based Loan facility from the IDB. The specific aim of the reform was to “improve the
capacity to target, coordinate, monitor and evaluate social safety net schemes (GOB, 2014) among
others.” Starting in in 2010, the reforms brought on a number of enhancements to existing policies
and safety net schemes, introduced new ones and simultaneously saw the development and
implementation of system tools for improved management and effectiveness of the SPS, inter alia
BOOST and SISB.
These reforms were underpinned and informed by the 2010 World Bank rapid assessment of the
social protection systems in Belize; the assessment revealed that the high level of spending (5.4% of
GDP in 2009) on social protection, in general, and social assistance, in particular, did not translate
into results on the ground, evidenced by the large number of poor Belizeans that remain vulnerable.
This was a result of the poor allocation of resources, a lack of targeting of the poor, and the lack of
effectiveness of individual programs and projects. The vast majority of the programs assessed had
inadequate M&E systems.
Notwithstanding, and validated by the rapid assessment, safety net schemes remained disparate with
the coverage of many of the schemes very low. To this end, and consistent with international
evidence base, the need for an integrated national system of social protection is emphasised as a
means to reducing poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets, diminishing
people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to manage economic and social risks
(UNRISD, 2010). Belize’s medium term strategy, the Growth and Sustainable Development
Strategy (GSDS), also highlights the importance of a more holistic social protection system in light
of the high rates of poverty that affects the wellbeing of a substantial portion of the population.
Finally, and in line with UNICEF’s Integrated Social Protection Framework (2012), Social
Protection is defined as a “set of public and private policies and programmes aimed at preventing,
reducing and eliminating economic and social vulnerabilities to poverty and deprivation.” The
emphasis in all of these definitions is on the multiplicity of interventions that are required to address
an array of issues that cause social and economic vulnerabilities, in a coordinated manner, in line
with the principles of equity, gender and age sensitive rights-based approach. Lastly, effective
integrated social protection systems require effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, as well
as coordination and management, and these have been explicitly mentioned in the GSDS.
2. PURPOSE
With support from UNICEF and UNDP, the Government of Belize, and in particular the Ministry
of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation is seeking to strengthen the
national social protection system to better respond to the needs of people, families and children in
Belize. This process requires a comprehensive, step-by-step approach that aims to fill existing
information gaps and provide guidance and information to complement key policy reforms in the
sector. These are expected to lead towards an integrated social protection system, one that is capable
of effectively addressing multiple vulnerabilities through a mix of gender and age sensitive, equity
focused policies and interventions (transfers, services, programmes etc.).
Since the success of any integrated system is highly depended on effective and coordinated
institutions, the purpose and goals of this consultancy would be to provide strategic advice as to the
identification and initiation of processes for improved inter-institutional cooperation and
coordination.
3. RESULTS
The firm is expected to propose a suitable methodology, perform data collection and analysis; and
produce the final analytical report with recommended policy options for the strengthening of the
Social Protection System in Belize as outlined in section 2. The final report resulting from these
actions should contain the following components:
1) A desktop review of international best practices in the area of integrated social protection
systems that could provide elements for replication/testing in Belize. These should also provide
a starting point for defining comprehensive social protection in the Belizean context.
2) A comprehensive review of the current Social Protection System of Belize (inventory and
mapping of services, programmes, policies, institutions, stakeholders, targeting mechanisms etc.).
3) Recommended policy options and timeline for the phased implementation of an Integrated
Social Protection System responding to multiple vulnerabilities across the life-cycle, adapted to
the country needs and making the best use of available resources
4) Design of a multidimensional poverty analysis metrics to be used in parallel with traditional
money-metric poverty assessment tools
5) A Functional M&E System which builds on the existing framework of the Single Information
System for Beneficiaries M&E Module with particular attention to the requisite institutional
mechanism for providing oversight, coordination and effective implementation.
4. SPECIFIC DELIVERABLES AND TIME FRAME
The time-frame for this assignment is immediate, June – October 2015. Within this time-frame the
deliverables are to be completed as per the timetable below:
Table 2: Timeframe and deliverables/activities
Deliverable/Activity
Month I
Timeframe (2015)
Month II
Month III
Month IV
Month V
Signing of Contract
Inception Report
Data collection
Data analysis
First draft report
Report validation
Report review
Final report
submission
presentation
5. MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISION
The consultants’ work will be guided, monitored and supervised by a technical committee
established for this purpose at the Ministry of Human Development, Social Transformation and
Poverty Alleviation. The results and findings of the consultancy would be validated and endorsed by
a high level, inter-ministerial Steering Committee. Payments will be executed following the
completion of specific deliverables and a successful quality assessment by the technical committee.
6. REQUIRED QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE
Firms are required to possess demonstrated experience in planning and implementing impact
evaluations and research using advanced statistical methods and should demonstrate capacities for
micro-data analysis.
At a minimum, a demonstration of the combined skills sets among members of the team as detailed
below:
 Advanced university degree in economics, public policy, social policy, international
development policy or other relevant discipline
 Previous proven experience in social protection systems design/diagnostics, with at least
experience in conducting three similar assignments;
 Previous experience in quantitative analysis, especially pertaining to statistical analysis of
poverty indicators and skills in creating and maintaining statistical databases;
 Extensive experience using household survey data;
 Advanced experience with relevant statistical software;
 Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required;
 Ability to work independently and respond to feedback in a timely and professional manner;
 Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to contribute to a team research
process.
7. HOW TO APPLY
Suitably qualified firms are to submit their technical and financial proposals no later than 4:00 p.m.
Belize time (Central time zone, UTC-06:00) May 29, 2015. The technical proposals should
contain sufficient information to attest that the firm possesses sufficient academic and professional
experience in line with the requirements under Section 6 of this TOR. In addition, the technical
proposal should contain the detailed methodology the firm proposes to employ to complete the
tasks and deliverables of the assignment.
Submit in electronic format (pdf) using the format as detailed in Annex A:
TECHNICAL PROPOSALS to:
[email protected]
cc. [email protected]
with “RFP 01/2015: TECHNICAL PROPOSAL, SPS DIAGNOSTICS” as the Subject
Header; and,
FINANCIAL PROPOSALS to:
[email protected]
With “RFP 01/2015: FINANCIAL PROPOSAL, SPS DIAGNOSTICS” as the Subject
Header.
8. EVALUATION OF BIDS
The bids will be evaluated by a selection committee consisting of representatives from MHDSTPA,
UNDP and UNICEF. The bids will be evaluated on the following scale: Technical Proposal = 70%;
Financial Proposal = 30%
Annex A: Copy of RFP Format can be obtained from:
[email protected]