Consultancy - Education Cannot Wait External Review Panel, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Remote Based (44 Working Days) Jan-Dec 2022, REQ

Contract

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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, education...

Based on the recognition that continuous access to quality learning is a priority for children and families affected by conflicts, natural disasters and displacement and that no programme nor organisation can do it alone, ECW comes as a ground-breaking initiative bringing together public and private partners eager to work together differently and mobilize the funding required to deploy immediate and sustainable solutions.

ECW’s mandate is articulated around five core functions:

1. Inspire political commitment, so that education is viewed by both governments and funders as a top priority during crises.

2. Plan and respond collaboratively, with emphasis on enabling humanitarian and development actors to work together on shared objectives.

3. Generate and disburse additional funding to close the $8.5 billion funding gap needed to reach 75 million children and youth.

4. Strengthen capacity to respond to crises, nationally and globally, including the ability to coordinate emergency support.

5. Improve accountability by developing and sharing knowledge, including collection of more robust data to make better-informed investment decisions, and knowledge of what works and does not.

Education Cannot Wait is hosted by UNICEF. The Fund is administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure.

How can you make a difference?

The External Review Panel (ERP) supports the decision making of the Executive Committee and High-Level Steering Group (HLSG) by conducting independent, technical reviews of proposals and making recommendations on funding. The independent nature of the Panel helps to mitigate potential conflicts of interest in the grant-making process. The Panel reviews applications for Acceleration Facility (AF) grants exceeding US$500,000, all applications for the Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) grants, and applications for organizations applying to be an ECW Grantee.

The Consultant will report directly to the Chief, Education.

Composition

The ERP roster consists of approximately 6-8 members (final number to be determined based on the Secretariat’s needs). A member of the ECW Secretariat will serve as the Secretariat of the panel. The Secretariat will select a minimum of two reviewers from the roster to review a given application. The ERP will conduct all reviews via email, unless otherwise specifically requested to use another medium. The selection will be made based on expertise requirements stipulated by the Secretariat.

ECW is committed to gender equality, diversity and inclusion. As such, ECW strongly encourages qualified female candidates, candidates from the global South, and candidates with disabilities to apply. ECW will strive to ensure gender, diversity, and inclusion balance in the roster.

All members serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their employers or governments.

ERP members will individually and collectively have the relevant expertise to make technically sound funding recommendations and will encompass a range of backgrounds to reflect the diversity of ECW's funding priorities. This ensures that the Panel is capable of making funding recommendations with a broad perspective and minimal bias. The Panel's membership will include, but will not be limited to:

● A wide range of relevant expertise (operational and programmatic) applicable to the types of programmes, countries and organizations supported by ECW, as well as the various windows of the Fund;

● Geographically diverse experiences, including individuals with field experience in emergency contexts;

● Experts from both the humanitarian and development sectors;

● A balance of expertise in relevant areas, such as education, different emergency contexts (such as conflicts, natural disasters and disease outbreaks), human rights, gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, inclusive education, refugees, forcibly displaced populations, education and resilience, and nexus programming;

● Assessing applications of organizing that apply to be a grantee of ECW funding within one of the three investment windows.

● Experts with fluency in English and French. Desirable languages also in Spanish.

The reviewers will not be current or former members of the HLSG or Executive Committee; or be current members of the Secretariat, Reference Groups or delegates from HLSG or Executive Committee meetings.

SELECTION OF MEMBERS

The recruitment process for the ERP roster will be open and transparent, with publicly available selection criteria. The Secretariat and Director are responsible for conducting the recruitment process.

Members are appointed for one-year term. Towards the end of the term the members can re-apply for an additional term for a maximum of six consecutive years. Upon reaching the end of a six-year term, members are ineligible to serve on the Panel for the next three years.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

All members must disclose any potential conflicts of interest prior to their appointment onto the panel. In addition, ERP members are required to inform the ECW Secretariat immediately upon learning of any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest during their term and resolve such issues before participating in any ERP activities or reviews.

EXPECTED RESULTS: (MEASURABLE RESULTS)

The ERP members will perform the following tasks, upon request:

• Review proposals for Acceleration Facility grants exceeding US$500,000, and Multi-Year Resilience Programme grants (following the Secretariat's review for completeness and compliance with agreed guidelines), and First Emergency Response applications, as needed

• Make recommendations to the Executive Committee or HLSG on funding of proposals based on technical soundness.

• Review applications of organizations applying to be ECW grantees, including short-listing expressions of interest and making final recommendations for ECW funding.

• Provide recommendations for strengthening ECW’s quality assurance processes

• Provide recommendations for strengthening ECW’s programmatic guidance

• Contribute technical inputs to Secretariat strategic-level documents

• Keep abreast of developments in Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (EiEPC), humanitarian financing, the humanitarian-development and peacebuilding nexus and other areas of relevance to ECW.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master's) in international education, human rights, social sciences, public administration, gender studies, or related fields is required. A doctoral degree will be considered an additional asset.
• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in education in emergencies and protracted crisis, including programme planning, management, and/or research in education at the international level is required, of which at least five years of field experience in crisis-affected contexts is required.
• Prior experience in working with multi-donor trust funds as well as with diverse stakeholder groups or multi-stakeholder partnerships is highly desirable.
• Prior experience in assessing funding proposals is highly desirable
• Experience in incorporating gender dimensions into education programming is highly desirable.
• Experience in programming for resilience is desirable
• Fluency in English (written & verbal) is required. Candidates with fluency in English as well as French and/or Spanish are strongly encouraged to apply

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
• Works Collaboratively with others (1)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, 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 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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/ assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

Remarks:

Applicants are invited to apply:

Include a cover letter of interest, CV, your approach to the assignment, technical proposal fee (daily in US$) to undertake the above TOR. Applications submitted without a proposed fee will not be accepted.

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE - By Deliverable

Payment upon deliverables/milestones: UNICEF will only make milestone payment based on achievement of specific deliverables as listed on the table above. These payments should be stated in terms of percentage. Also note that UNICEF does not make advance payment except under certain conditions in line with UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.

NB: Final number of working days to be discussed between the ECW Secretariat and the consultant.

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

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.

If selected for this consultancy the resulting appointment will be limited to ECW, a UNICEF hosted fund.