Consultancy - Global Ecosystem Development Associate - Early Childhood, Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Remote, 11.5 months, 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 . . .

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on underserved populations, including the hardest to reach, rural populations, girls, children with disabilities, and refugees. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth by paying for employment and retention outcomes.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education. It is more than just a fund – it is a powerful new set of partnerships and way of working.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement. Our approach is at the cutting edge of development finance, shifting risk to the private sector, crowding in private capital, and harnessing the capacity and capability of non-state actors, with huge potential to achieve better outcomes for children and youth around the world.

Rationale for the consultancy

EOF has entered into a strategic partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to scale excellence in early childhood education. By 2025, we expect over 250 000 children to directly benefit from our programs, and many more to benefit indirectly, as a result of our partnership.

How can you make a difference?

The Global Ecosystem Development Associate – Early Childhood will help our Head of Global Ecosystem Development – Early Childhood to grow a vibrant ecosystem for the effective use of results-based finance in early childhood education, and develop global public goods that can be used by a range of stakeholders in the early childhood space.

The consultant will report directly to the EOF Head of Global Ecosystem Development – Early Childhood and work closely with the Partnerships and Early Childhood teams.

DESCRIPTION OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Movement building: You will help us to strengthen a movement behind the effective use of RBF in ECE, through:
  • Analytics: Conducting desk research to help us to define nodal players in the ECE space – mapping existing networks, influential figures and target beneficiaries.
  • Convening: Designing gatherings for our partners to discuss barriers to the use of RBF in ECE, share lessons learned, and identify good practices.
  • Engaging: Helping our Head of Global Ecosystem Development – Early Childhood to build and maintain a network of champions for the use of RBF in ECE.
• Creating and embedding global public goods: You will help to develop a catalogue of public goods for the use of RBF in ECE, and advance their implementation, through:
  • Research and strategizing: Mapping existing knowledge and identifying the most critical information gaps hampering the effective use of RBF in ECE and our movement building goals. Proposing a catalogue of global public goods that will help to achieve the most impact, at the lowest cost (e.g. MOOCs, manuals). Identifying platforms, media and audiences for this work.
  • Analytics: Tracking the uptake of our work, and identifying the support needed to help target beneficiaries to make good use of this work.
  • Drafting: Drafting written global public goods, such as thought pieces and manuals
• Strengthening Capacity: You will help to strengthen the capacity of public and private sector actors to scale the effective use of RBF to improve early childhood education, through:
  • Design: Co-creating training materials and curricula for the use RBF in ECE, in partnership with external contributors such as Brookings and the Oxford GOLab.
  • Facilitating: Helping to run trainings and workshops to build expertise in this area.
  • Relationship management: Helping our Head of Global Ecosystem Development – Early Childhood to maintain regular communication with our partners, to help identify their development needs.

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

• A Bachelor’s degree in Education, Economics, International Development or related field.
• Good knowledge of and a sound network in the early childhood education space – while not a requirement, this would be desirable.
• Good knowledge of innovative financing, particularly RBF instruments, or are committed to acquiring it.
• Experience writing reports and other materials for external publication.
• Experience developing networks and/or communities of practice, and of engaging with senior stakeholders across both the public and private sectors.
• Experience contracting work to and managing consultants and other external contributors.
• Experience managing a high workload and competing priorities.
• Experience working in or with low- and/or middle-income countries, particularly in Africa, the Middle East or South America.
• Experience or an interest in international development, the global education sector, and international aid is desirable.
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in Spanish, French or Arabic is preferred. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, or Russian) is an asset.

Duty Station

Remote

Duration 11.5 months

Proposed Payment Schedule

Payments will be made monthly. The proposed rate should inclusive of all professional fees, daily allowances, living allowances, and other administrative costs and should assume a full-time commitment.

Insurance: Consultants and individual contractors are fully responsible for arranging, at their own expense, all insurance, such as life, health and other forms of insurance, covering the period of their services as they consider appropriate. They are required to certify that they are covered by medical/health insurance.

How to Apply:

Qualified candidates are requested to upload a cover letter, resume/cv, and their proposed fees (monthly rate in British Sterling) by 22 May 2022. Please also indicate your availability in your cover letter.

Applications submitted without a financial proposal will not be accepted.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

• Think and act strategically
• Nurture, lead and manage people
• Innovate and embrace change
• Manage ambiguity and complexity
• Demonstrate self-awareness and ethical awareness

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.

Remarks:

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.