Three (3) TRANSOFRM Certified Consultant Trainers, UNICEF Conakry Guinea

Three (3) Certified TRANSFORM Trainer Consultants are being sought by UNICEF Conakry, Guinea, to support national capacity building in social protection.

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Background

Formal social protection in Guinea covers less than 8% of the population. This low coverage is a direct result of the predominance of the informal economy, which employs the majority of the population and largely escapes conventional contributory mechanisms. It is estimated that nearly 60% of GDP comes from the informal economy, which accounts for more than 90% of jobs. Informality is thus the main obstacle to the extension of contributory social protection. It shows that the system covers a small proportion of the population made up of people who have a regular income and are generally not among the most vulnerable populations.

The governance of the sector is divided among several departments and structures. The contributory component is the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Protection (METPS). This ministerial department ensures the supervision of public bodies under social protection and ensures the progressive extension of social coverage, including in the informal sector. The National Social Security Fund manages the basic schemes for workers in the private and parapublic sector, while the National Social Security Fund manages the pension schemes.

As for the non-contributory component, the Ministry of Women, Family and Solidarity (MFFS) is the technical arm of the government. Two major institutions operate on the non-contributory side: the Social Development and Poverty Fund (FDSI), which cares for the indigent and manages the Unified Social Registry (RSU), and the National Economic and Social Inclusion Agency (ANIES), which currently supports 150,000 vulnerable households, of which 15,000 benefit from a comprehensive productive inclusion package (NAFA project).

Other sectoral ministries (Health, Education, Agriculture) contribute to social protection functions through specific instruments (free caesarean section, school canteens, seed distribution). This multiplicity of actors, while demonstrating real political will, nevertheless creates risks of overlap, duplication and dispersion of resources.

Social protection (all schemes combined) absorbs less than 3% of the national budget. The budget of the Ministry for Social Action has never exceeded 1% of the national budget in the last ten years. The budget analysis carried out in 2024 by the Ministry of Budget with technical support from UNICEF reveals a worrying volatility of allocations to the ministry in charge of social action between 2021 and 2024, with a drop of 21.5% in nominal terms in 2024 after sustained growth between 2021 and 2023.

Rationale for TRANSFORM training in Guinea

Guinea is on the cusp of a major economic transition thanks to the Simandou mega-mining project, which is expected to propel growth to 5-6% per year between 2025 and 2028. The SIMANDOU 2040 national programme explicitly places social protection among its strategic pillars (in particular pillar 5: Health and well-being). This dynamic opens a unique window of opportunity to mobilize additional domestic resources and invest in a sustainable base of social protection.

The new constitution adopted in September 2025 in articles 21 to 30 states that the State must guarantee social protection to all vulnerable groups, including children, by ensuring equitable access to quality basic social services and appropriate social protection measures for all. The country is also engaged in identifying minimum guarantees to be offered to populations as part of the broader development of a national social protection floor.

The National Social Protection Policy (PNPS) adopted in 2017 and intended to cover the period 2016-2021 technically exceeded its initial time horizon by more than 4 years. The policy has been largely tested by the various health crises and the consequences of certain shocks, particularly those related to climate change and socio-political, the collateral effects of crises in the subregion and at the level of global geostrategy. Adjustments have been made by the supervising Ministry through the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework whose programme # 2 is explicitly titled "social protection, solidarity and resilience" pending a formal update of the PNSP.

This context therefore recommends that the country has a critical mass of managers capable of conducting dialogue to stimulate social protection projects and contribute qualitatively to technical work, the conceptualization of required reforms and ensure cross-sectoral communication that can guarantee the multisectoral nature of the problem. From this point of view, the TRANSFORM training offer is one of the most comprehensive to date to meet this critical and current need of the country.

Activities, Expected Deliverables and Consulting Deliverables Period

Develop training modules: TRANSFORM compliant module documents, due 20/11/2026.

Deliver the training for 35 participants for 5 days: daily report of training in accordance with TRANSFORM standards, deliverable expected on 27/11/2026.

Prepare a report of the 5 days of training: Training report in accordance with TRANSFORM standards, due on 02/12/2026.

Candidate profile

Minimum qualifications required: have at least a university degree Master's level in Social Protection or Social Sciences.

Experience: have at least 5 years of professional experience as a social protection trainer. Êbe a certified TRANSFORM trainer. Mastery of French.

Knowledge, expertise and skills: social protection, system support, adaptive social protection, social protection programmes and queues, cash transfers, information system for social protection. It is imperative that the candidate be certified TRANSFORM. Relevant experience at the national level, especially in development, fragile and humanitarian contexts, is an asset.

Number of consultants: three (3).

Values and commitment

UNICEF values are Attention, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS). UNICEF promotes and defends the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does, and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including the most disadvantaged, and all our staff must reflect the diversity of these children.

The UNICEF family is committed to including everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority membership or any other status. UNICEF encourages all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religion or ethnic origin, as well as persons with disabilities, including neurodivergents. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you need any accommodations, please send your request via the UNICEF Accessibility Career Page button. If you are shortlisted, please

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