NATIONAL CONSULTANT: SRHR Budget Analysis and Development of Costing Brief on Climate-Resilient Maternal Healthcare Facilities, Nepal

The Constitution of Nepal and the country's legal and policy framework provide a strong foundation for protecting the rights of women, girls, and young people, including their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights (SRHR). Despite this enabling environment, significant challenges remain in fully realizing these rights, and public financing for SRHR continues to be inadequate. Public health expenditure accounts for only about 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), while expenditure on SRHR was estimated at just 0.4 per cent of the total federal health budget in fiscal year 2019/20.

Despite Nepal's progress in maternal mortality reduction from 539 per 100,000 live births in 1996 to 142 in 2023, Nepal would need to accelerate progress beyond its current trajectory to achieve its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 maternal deaths per 100,000. The unmet need for family planning was 24 per cent in 2016 but masked a significantly higher rate among adolescents (35 per cent). For over a decade, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate was stagnant, at 44 per cent (2019), with 44 per cent of women discontinuing contraceptive use within 12 months because of limited, poor-quality counselling and the weak supply-chain management.

Nepal is also highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters, including floods, earthquakes, extreme heat and cold, landslides, and disease outbreaks, which disproportionately affect women, newborns, adolescents, and other vulnerable populations. These climate-related shocks disrupt the availability and accessibility of essential maternal and reproductive health services, highlighting the need for resilient health systems and sustained investments.

UNFPA Nepal supports the Government of Nepal in strengthening health systems to deliver high-quality, rights-based SRHR services across the humanitarian-development continuum. This includes evidence-based policy advocacy, technical assistance for implementing national strategies and action plans, and support for strengthening financing mechanisms that prioritize the needs of women, adolescents, persons with disabilities, and marginalized populations.

To strengthen climate resilience within the health sector, UNFPA Nepal, with financial support from the Government of Japan, is implementing the project Improvement of Maternal and Child Health Care Services and Adaptive Capacity in Nepal (IMPACT). The project aims to strengthen climate-resilient maternal and newborn health services through health facility assessments, policy analysis, rehabilitation of health facilities, infrastructure improvements, provision of essential equipment and supplies, and capacity building of healthcare providers and community volunteers. As part of the project, ten model climate-resilient maternal healthcare facilities have been established to demonstrate practical approaches for ensuring service continuity, quality of care, emergency preparedness, and resilience to climate-related hazards such as floods, extreme temperatures, earthquakes, and power disruptions.

Despite growing recognition of the importance of climate-resilient health infrastructure, there is limited evidence on the investment required to upgrade existing maternal healthcare facilities to climate-resilient standards in low-resource settings. Such evidence is essential to inform government planning and budgeting, strengthen the investment case for climate-resilient health systems, and support the scale-up of proven models.

Against this backdrop, UNFPA Nepal seeks to engage an individual consultant to undertake two complementary assignments. First, the consultant will conduct a comprehensive analysis of federal and selected provincial government budgets to assess the level, trends, and composition of financing for SRHR, identify financing gaps and opportunities, and generate evidence to support policy dialogue and resource mobilization. Second, the consultant will undertake a cost analysis of the ten climate-resilient maternal healthcare facilities established under the IMPACT project to estimate the investments required for climate-resilient upgrades and develop evidence to inform local planning, budgeting, and future scale-up. Together, these analyses will strengthen the evidence base for sustainable financing of SRHR and climate-resilient maternal health services and generate practical recommendations to inform government policies, investment decisions, and future programming.

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff who embody these international norms and standards and will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire, and deliver high-impact sustained results, ensuring effective external relations, communications, partnership-building and resource mobilization in a rapidly changing development and funding landscape. We need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them, and who commit to delivering excellence in programme results.

Working under the guidance of the Programme Analyst, SRH, and in close collaboration with the SRHR team, the consultant will support the budget analysis of national and provincial SRHR programme and cost analysis of climate-resilient healthcare facilities in Nepal.
 

Part 1: Federal and Provincial SRHR Budget Analysis

• Review government policies, plans, budgets, and reports on health sector programmes implemented over the past three years by the Federal Ministry of Health and Food Safety and the provincial governments of Sudurpashchim, Madhesh, and Lumbini Provinces.
• Identify and quantify budget allocations and expenditures related to SRHR within federal and provincial health sector programmes.
• Analyze gaps in SRHR financing landscape at the federal level and in Sudurpashchim, Madhesh, and Lumbini Provinces.
• Conduct a detailed gap analysis of SRHR financing schemes in existing social schemes in Nepal (e.g. health insurance).
• Present the findings of the budget analysis to the Federal Ministry of Health and Food Safety and the selected provincial governments and facilitate discussions on strengthening SRHR budget allocations to address identified gaps, including investments in climate-resilient healthcare (see Part 2).
• Produce a budget analysis report and analysis briefs based on the findings.
• Assist UNFPA in organizing a SRHR budget dissemination workshop.

Part 2: Cost analysis of climate-resilient healthcare facilities

• Review the Bills of Quantities (BoQs) developed under the IMPACT project and final inspection reports on the refurbishment works in Jajarkot and Rautahat Districts.
• Clean and validate the cost estimates for key engineering interventions, and other priority climate-resilient upgrades, by disaggregating material, civil works, labour, and transportation costs.
• Develop indicative unit costs and investment packages for upgrading existing maternal health care facilities to climate-resilient standards, identifying essential, recommended, and comprehensive intervention packages where feasible.
• Produce costing briefs on climate-resilient upgrades for local municipalities to inform their planning and budgeting.

• Advanced degree in Health Economics, Public Health, Medicine, or related fields.
  
   

• Minimum 2 years of relevant professional experience in costing, economic analysis, programme evaluation, health systems strengthening, maternal and newborn health, or climate resilience programming.
• Demonstrated experience conducting budget analysis in the health sector.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing Bill of Quantities and civil work cost analysis is an asset.
• Strong experience in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Familiarity with Nepal’s health system, maternal health programming, and local governance structures.
• Strong analytical, facilitation, report writing, and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of UNFPA mandates and SRHR programming is an asset.

• Experience of evaluating healthcare facility renovation, retrofitting, and refurbishment work, or civil work programmes and projects is preferable.

   

• Excellent command of English and Nepali (written and spoken).

• Exemplifying integrity, 
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system, 
• Embracing cultural diversity, 
• Embracing change.

• Achieving results,
• Being accountable,
• Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen,
• Thinking analytically and strategically,
• Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships.

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.