Roster of Individual Consultants: Pacific Education Programme Design, 8 months, Pacific Multi-Country Office

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, education.

We operate in the Pacific, specifically in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. These 14 Pacific island countries are home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children and youth. They inhabit more than 660 islands and atolls that stretch across 17.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. This area is comparable to the combined size of the United States of America and Canada. Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are classified as Fragile States according to World Bank/OECD criteria.

All 14 Pacific Island countries and territories have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, only a third are on track with reporting obligations. You can explore the different areas of our work at the link provided here: www.unicef.org/pacificislands .

Background of Assignment: 

While the cycle of education programme visioning, planning, implementation, monitoring/ review and learning is always ongoing, Pacific education systems have in recent years undergone a number of processes through which they have challenged themselves to make an especially critical review and visioning for the transformation of the system. This includes the Transforming Education Summit process, an expansion of Education Sector Analysis and Planning processes, review/ of sector programmes supported by major partners, Enabling Factor Analyses, Education Partnership Compacts, etc. In addition, there has been a stronger emphasis on programme review and evaluation with participatory processes that involve diverse stakeholders.

Under a variety of circumstances, UNICEF is in a position to support Pacific education systems to design strategic education programmes to make a change across the system over the long-term and requires dedicated technical assistance to support the detailed design, costing and documentation of the same under the leadership of the respective Ministry of Education (or equivalent) and with engagement of relevant partners and stakeholders.

These Terms of Reference are for a roster of education programme design consultants for Pacific Island countries. Applicants will be considered for different opportunities and are encouraged to indicate if they are interested in all opportunities or alternately for only specific countries or thematic areas.

How can you make a difference? 

The objective of the consultancy is to support the strategic vision developed by Ministries of Education with partners and stakeholders to transform education in Pacific Island countries.

The consultant will provide high-quality, relevant and responsive technical support to the detailed design and costing of an education programme reform as part of a funded programme or proposal including but not limited to Global Partnership for Education (GPE) grants across multiple Island countries.  The vision or reform would have been outlined through a previous consultation and planning process led by the specific Ministry of Education and would require dedicated technical support for the detailed design, costing and implementation, and documentation.

Under the leadership of Ministry of Education team, and with their full ownership of the process and outputs with engagement of relevant education partners and stakeholders, the consultant will provide additional technical support to complete programme design and budget given other programme commitments, internal capacity and tight external timeframes. The consultant is contracted by UNICEF and is also responsible for working closely with UNICEF team to ensure adherence to operational systems so as to ease planning and funding, and maximize UNICEF’s comparative advantage technically, as well as effective coordination with partners to ensure the most comprehensive, cohesive and coordinated programme for each country.

The focus of each programme will be dependent on the reform/priority identified by each country, but common areas of technical expertise required are:  

1. Teachers and teaching including but not limited to pre-service and in-service programme design, workforce planning and workforce conditions, professional standards, advocacy for the profession, teacher management systems, coordination with TTIs, etc. 
2. Literacy, numeracy and foundational skills including but not limited to learning programmes, proven pedagogies for building foundational skills, language of instruction, resourcing, teacher professional development, assessment, literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. 
3. Equity and inclusion including but not limited to school-based gender-responsive and inclusive practices, moving beyond parity, addressing stereotypes, teacher professional development. 
4. Learning pathways including but not limited to TVET in basic education programmes, resilience through foundations in indigenous knowledge, teacher professional development (wellbeing/guidance),  
5. Curriculum including but not limited to curriculum relevance and alignment, assessment, teaching and learning resources.
6. Technology in education including but not limited to digital and remote learning systems, content development and curation, development of teacher capacities to use digital learning effectively and responsibly, equity-focused approaches to advancing digital learning, data management systems.
7. School leadership and management including but not limited to standards and competency frameworks for school leadership and improvement, instructional leadership, school management committees, community and parent engagement.
8. Early childhood education including but not limited to curriculum, teacher development and management, policy and legislation, planning.
9. Indigenous Knowledge and practice including but not limited to the mainstreaming of indigenous and traditional knowledge as valid outcomes in curricula, localized learning resources and vernacular language, teacher professional development and engagement with communities.

Given the interconnectedness of sub-sectors across the education system, the consultant should have adequate knowledge and familiarity of education systems to define coordinated and synergistic approaches as required to achieve the relevant reform.

The consultant is expected to elaborate a strategic and costed programme design to operationalize the priority reform areas identified in a way that is technically-sound, culturally appropriate, relevant to context and responsive to needs and priorities, designed to work through and strengthen existing education systems while leveraging and/or engaging the strengths of relevant partners and stakeholders, gender-responsive and equity-focused, and simultaneously transformative/visionary and practical. The programme is expected to have a long-term and transformative view to change, with system developments and improvements not expected to cease with the end of the funding but designed for sustained momentum thereafter. Concrete milestones and results (including at school, classroom- and system-levels) should be achievable at some scale from early on. From a system strengthening and transformation approach, this may mean early shifts and testing of new approaches with monitoring and learning to inform improved approaches at scale. Monitoring, learning and communication activities are to be included to provide clear feedback on progress and achievements to build engagement in the reform agenda, while also nurturing a learning agenda to maximize the relevance of the approaches.

Noting the above, a consultancy will cover the following deliverables, with an indicative process outlined below (to be elaborated further during the consultancy):

1. Inception Report
   1. Conduct desk review of relevant data and documents, including analysis/planning/policy documents and complete a brief preliminary literature review of the documents sources. Where relevant to programme design this should also include any Partnership Compact or equivalent of the proposed reform/priority
   2. Carry out initial consultations to co-construct the methodology with proposed approach, intended consultations and indicative timelines including periods of time expected to be in country.
   3. Conduct field visits as relevant to build or update an understanding of the day-to-day realities in education as relate to the reform.
   4. The inception report can be broken up into a preliminary (pre-travel) planning and sharing of preliminary thoughts and timelines, and a later version that reflects a more complete view of background, context, timelines, results and conclusions of discussions held, etc. The inception report is expected to be concise and an effective tool for all stakeholders to quickly gain an understanding of the consultant’s analysis of background, vision for reform, and proposed approach to concretizing the same through the consultancy.
2.  Development of Programme Outline
   1. Consult with focal points in the MoE and other stakeholders to understand the components of the programme and desired outcomes, as well as practical options and modalities for operationalizing the same.
   2. Draft a programme document outline with a programme rationale and theory of change that is cohesive, coherent and clearly demonstrates how the desired outcomes will be achieved. This should include an “elevator pitch” version that Ministry and other stakeholders can use to clearly explain the reform, its rationale, and the expected change.
   3. The programme outline should demonstrate links to data and evidence and how it is aligned to unblocking the bottlenecks identified through any analysis or consultation (this would include the Enabling Factor Analysis and Partnership Compact for STG programme design where relevant). The programme outline is expected to include programme objectives, proposed components and key interventions (High level), a Theory of Change that demonstrates reform/transformation (linked to the Partnership Compact), key results and indicators, and an overview of implementation arrangements.
3. Development of application package
   1. Based on the feedback provided to the programme outline, and in ongoing collaboration with the education agency and consultation with partners and stakeholders,  develop the full application package including Programme Document, Budget and Application form. The programme document should extend the programme outline to include: a full rationale and objectives, descriptions of components and interventions and how they link to the desired reform and long-term national development strategies, a theory of change, proposed strategies and programme of work, monitoring and evaluation framework, implementation arrangements and readiness, risk identification and mitigation as well as statements on ensuring sustainability and aid effectiveness.  The programme document and budget should both be reviewed by the relevant ministry/partnership group eg the LEG or equivalent.
   2. The development of strategies and interventions will require an iterative and active process with Ministry, stakeholders and partners to ensure the relevance, feasibility and “transformative potential” of proposed modalities and approaches, including those led and or managed by the Ministry and other government bodies, partners, community organizations, and UNICEF. Produce presentations and other simple communication tools to enable the full engagement of all relevant stakeholders in contributing to the plan.
   3. Draft a M&E framework with relevant indicators and where possible established baseline and milestones (with means of verification/planned activities) for tracking of implementation and assessment of progress towards the defined transformation and concrete changes for schools and children.
   4. Fully cost the programme and produce other inputs as required for the relevant requirements of each proposal/application/plan.
   5. Other notes: Note that programme outlines must demonstrate how gender will be mainstreamed through the programme and how students with a disability and other lenses of inclusion are also shown consideration. Note that the document will be fully reviewed by education partners and stakeholders for feedback prior to further development.
4. Support to endorsement, submission and finalisation
   1. Based on feedback received on the programme document, integrate changes and produce the application package for endorsement by Ministry/Partnership Group
   2. Support the agency in presentation to the stakeholders (including LEG where relevant) by developing suitable presentations. Support preparation of final submission of application/proposal for endorsement and support the Ministry to respond to any subsequent queries at that time.

The consultant will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the UNICEF Pacific Chief of Education, with day-to-day supervision by the relevant Education Specialist for the particular country, in coordination with the nominated official in each national education department. The UNICEF Pacific Chief of Education will approve final deliverables for payment based on advice from the respective education specialists in coordination and coordination with respective ministries of education.  

The consultant is expected to travel to the country for in-person work (estimated 50 days per country), including in-person engagement in key meetings and consultations, and may work remotely the remainder of the time. When working remotely, the consultant is expected to be available for discussions as required during working hours of the country. All costs associated with the travel are to be included in the total contract value.   

Please refer to the ToR  VA TOR_Education Programme Design_STG.pdf for further information on the deliverables and the timelines.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

Education:  

• A master’s degree would be indicative of the level of qualification required for this work, however a first degree with a combination of relevant other post graduate certificates/diplomas may also be considered.
• Ideally applicants would be graduates in the area of education with some level of specialization in one of the areas identified and/or policy and planning.

Experience, Skills and Language:  

• Minimum of 10 years professional work experience in educational planning, costing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with some relevant levels of specialization 
• Experience in research and analysis 
• Proven ability to be innovative, think differently and engage others in transformation 
• Experience working with Ministries of Education and development partners
• Proven ability to produce high quality and strategically-oriented programme designs and documentation 
• Knowledge and experience with GPE processes an advantage (particularly relevant where GPE funding is involved) 
• Familiarity with Pacific cultures is highly desirable
• High level interpersonal and relationship-building skills 
• Ability to communicate effectively with persons of various cultures and disciplines. 
• Ability to determine and review priorities and meet deadlines
• Diplomatic skills to liaise with counterparts and different stakeholders
• Good analytical, negotiating, and advocacy skills

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS:

This roster is for individual consultants only. Applicants are requested to submit a brief technical proposal and CV. Furthermore, applicants are asked to submit a separate financial proposal as part of the application. The financial proposal should be a lump sum amount for the deliverables and should show a break down for the following:

• Monthly/Daily consultancy fees – based on the deliverables in the Terms of Reference
• Travel: economy air ticket where applicable to take up assignment and field mission travel
• Living allowance: where travel is required.
• Miscellaneous: to cover visa, health insurance (including medical evacuation for international consultants), communications, and other costs.

These Terms of Reference are for a roster of education programme design consultants for multiple Pacific Island countries. Applicants will be considered for different opportunities and are encouraged to indicate if they are interested in all opportunities or alternately for only specific countries or thematic areas.

Remarks:  

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process for a consultancy.