Consultancy: Consultant, Learning Passport Digital Content Management - Education, PG, NYHQ/Home based - Req

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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, hope.

Vacancy Announcement: Learning Passport Digital Content Management Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Education/PD/NYHQ

Duration: 250 days between 15 August 2021 – 31 July 2022

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Every child has the right to learn. However, some 1.5 billion children have been put out of school because of the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures. And even before COVID, the world was facing a serious learning crisis with wide disparities across countries and within countries. Over 50 per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read by the age of 10. In low-income countries, the learning crisis is even more acute, with the ‘learning poverty’ rate reaching 93 per cent. COVID-19 has exposed these disparities in a dramatic fashion. The gap between the children who have technology at home and are supported by their parents and teachers, and those who don’t, has never been more glaring. In 71 countries, less than half the population has access to the Internet and about 35 per cent of households from the poorest quintile don’t even have electricity.

The pandemic also brings an opportunity to re-imagine better education systems for all children, and to make bold decisions and investments to address the learning crisis for all children and young people. To respond to COVID-19 and beyond, UNICEF needs to tap on the potential of digital learning in a way that does not widen even more the disparities against the most vulnerable. In this context, there is a crucial need for more and better centralized capacity to deliver digital content strategies and support in the organization, advising countries on what good looks like and, more importantly, how to get it.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

The Learning Passport (LP), a Learning Management System developed as a partnership between UNICEF and Microsoft, with underlying research by Cambridge University, delivers digital learning experiences to children around the world, in both connected and unconnected environments. While working on the offline deployment model for unconnected learners, the program initiated an online, web-based deployment in response to the global COVID-19 emergency, as the closure of schools, institutions, and facilities resulted in the need to reach children outside of school with educational content.

The Learning Passport aims to improve learning outcomes of learners by offering a customizable digital platform to serve all means of content, from national curriculum to supplemental resources, to user groups identified by UNICEF country offices and the governments they support. The LP team supports countries in utilizing locally sourced content with best practices and technical advisory services, and in addition maintains a global library of content for adaptation and use by requesting offices.

As a result of global demand, the Learning Passport team is rapidly scaling and requires additional capacity to support guidance, maintenance, partnerships, management and implementation support for UNICEF Country Offices as they source and adapt digital learning content for the Learning Passport.

Scope of Work:

The objective of this consultancy is to provide technical support to the LP Global Team and support the sourcing, upload, organization, and quality assurance of digital resources on the Microsoft Sangam platform. Specifically:

Content Development and management:

1. 1.

• Map available sources of quality content available nationally, regionally, and globally, enabling its utilization and sharing via the LP Global Digital Library.
• Create a overall LP content strategy, including uploading and organizing of open educational resources (OER) and proprietary partner resources towards building a Global Digital Library on the LP platform, the LP Collaboration Site on SharePoint, and, when operational, the LP global Content Store.
• Develop guidance on content quality for teachers, teachers training programs, formal and non-formal education, in line with the guidance to be provided by the Global LP Team.
• Work with the Global LP Team and Country Offices to support the design and develop LP compliant e-learning content, such as videos, games, ppts, quizzes, etc.
• Support efforts to upload content on a specific country instance, including adaptation and translation of content for Spanish speaking Country Offices in LAC Region.
• Document technical issues related to content, which were encountered on the online and offline instances.

Support coordination with national and international stakeholders:

• Regular communication with the UNICEF Regional Offices, UNICEF Headquarters in New York, as well as other Country Offices.
• Serve as a best practice ‘clearing house’ for Country Office content strategies and partnerships
• Maintain regular communication with all relevant counterparts, including civils society, academia, and institutions.
• Share best practices between Learning Passport participating countries and other countries in the regions with similar efforts.
• Provide final report including recommendations for further platform development.

Other activities may be needed to support the purpose of this contract.

Deliverables throughout the engagement period:

1. Content Development management

• Guidance developed re quality of digital content
• Mapping of quality education digital content conducted for all above mentioned areas and including the content for most vulnerable groups (children with disabilities, children on the move, etc), and information shared with all key actors and stakeholders
• Upload and organization of educational resources towards building a Global Digital Library on the LP, and the LP Collaboration site on SharePoint, and the upcoming LP Content Store
• Provide technical support to procuring digital content services (e.g. curation, digitization, localization, production) and quality assure their deliverables from a digital perspective.
• Support efforts to upload content on a specific country instance, including support with translation in Spanish to country offices in LAC Region.

2. Support coordination with national and international stakeholders

• Regular communication maintained with Regional Offices, HQ, and other CO conducting relevant programs

3. Other activities needed to support the purpose of this contract

• Support provided for meetings/interviews/focus groups with actors and stakeholders.
• Contribute and manage knowledge resources and support general knowledge sharing by producing knowledge management resources, organizing activities to ensure sharing, exchange and collaboration and documenting lessons learned, challenges, and good practices.
• Basic translation services in Spanish provided when needed, including support with translation in Transifex.

The consultant is expected to work closely with the Global Learning Passport team members, Country Office colleagues, private sector partnering organizations, and other relevant partners. The deliverables are specified but may include additional tasks related to content management and training users on how to use the Learning Passport platform. While the deliverables are in roughly chronological order, the consultant may work on any deliverable at any time, contingent on supervisorial approval.

Qualifications

(1) Education

• Advanced University degree in IT, Education, Educational technology, Child Development, International Relations, Social sciences or another relevant field.

(2) Work experience

• Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in education technology, digital content management, and capacity building of learners and educators.
• Demonstrated experience in creating and editing content; experience creating content for web, for young people, or for use by secondary-level students is highly desired.
• Strong understanding of how to evaluate and measure content quality and effectiveness.
• Knowledge of the latest developments in digital (education) solutions and platforms.
• Experience in digital learning design and interaction design concepts
• Very good technical understanding and familiarity with information and/or learning management systems.
• Fluency in English is a minimum requirement. Fluency in Spanish would be an advantage. Experience leading and/or supporting international programmes would be an advantage
• Working knowledge of at least Office 365 tools, MS Teams, SharePoint.

(3) Competencies

• Self-starter, with ability to multi-task and work under pressure to achieve results,
• Analytical and conceptual thinking,
• Attention to details,
• Able to work in a multicultural setting,
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion, and loyalty according to the UNICEF core values.

Requirements****:

• Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include:
• your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, to apply to become a part of the organization

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.