Consultancy: Individual Consultant for Learning Passport implementation in ESAR and establish the Regional Learning Hub

Contract

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

Title of Assignment

Individual Contractor for Learning Passport implementation in ESAR and establish to the Regional Learning Hub

Supervised by

Shiraz Chakera, Education Specialist, ESARO Education

Location

Remote, no travel required

Duration

11.5 months

Start date

From: 02 November 2020

To: 15 October 2021

Background and justification

As countries all over the world closed their schools in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, billions of children were left out of school, often for a prolonged period of time and with limited access to distance learning. This unprecedented crisis represents a unique opportunity to upscale digital learning solutions and, more broadly, technology for development to improve access to education and learning outcomes and build stronger, more resilient education systems. UNICEF took this opportunity to initiate a global push for digital learning for every child which consists of four elements: world-class learning solutions, connecting every school to the internet, providing devices for learning to children and securing low-cost access to online education. In Eastern and Southern Africa, technology for development has room and potential for expansion. Digital learning solutions have undergone a rapid expansion to facilitate country-level curriculum for children and adolescents whose schools have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of these initiatives particularly, the Learning Passport, has gained momentum in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. In July 2020, Somalia Puntland deployed the Learning Passport. Some ESA countries (Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho) are already in the process of establishing it in concertation with governments and several countries have expressed their interest in using the Learning Passport as their national online learning platform.

As part of these efforts to support countries to upscale technology for learning in response to COVID-19 and beyond, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), in collaboration with UNESCO, UNHCR, INEE and the Learning Passport team, is developing a Regional Learning Hub. This Learning Hub aims at supporting governments’ and other stakeholders’ access to high quality, open source, ready-to-deploy teaching and learning materials to use through their education systems.

An individual contractor is required to support national-level deployment of the Learning Passport and help conceive, design and develop the Regional Learning Hub for Eastern and Southern Africa. As such, an individual contractor with education (systems, curriculum, EdTech) and technology for development (software development, project management, systems) experience is required to support UNICEF ESARO and its partners working on the Regional Learning Hub.

Scope of Work

Purpose of assignment:

The purpose of this assignment is to:1) support country-level deployment of the Learning Passport (for countries currently inquiring); and 2) the development and deployment of the Regional Learning Hub on the Learning Passport platform.

2. TA details/reference to AWP areas covered:

Activity 23: Development of resources and platform on continuity of learning

3. Major assignments/Responsibilities:

Regarding the country-level deployment of the Learning Passport in the region, the individual contractor will support the global Learning Passport and Microsoft teams and Country Office Education and T4D focal points in the establishment and maintenance of the platform in the ESA countries. This comprises the following activities:

• Providing information about the Learning Passport to Country Offices expressing interest in deploying the platform and supporting them in their dialogue with governments
• Deploying the Learning Passport at country-level, which includes:
  • Discussing with partners and Learning Passport users to understand the needs, demonstration to users of what it can be used for, how it can be implemented and how it has been put in place in countries
  • Training to determine how to customize the tool and what content will be hosted
  • Designing and customizing the site
• Troubleshooting, collecting, collating and forwarding any system related issues to the global LP and Microsoft teams. This includes providing routine monitoring and support, gathering user feedback and working with the Innovation Team to recommend any necessary modifications.
• Technical suggestions for feature enhancements if needed based upon the feedback from the users and approval from Learning Passport team and Microsoft.
• Timely response to technical queries from users.
• Assist in guiding deploying countries in the localization of global content resources
• Any other day-to-day technical support to the Learning Passport Programme if time permits.

Regarding the development and deployment of the Regional Learning Hub, the individual contractor will work with the regional teams of UNICEF, UNESCO and UNHCR, and INEE and the Learning Passport team to establish and document a proof-of-concept version of the Regional Learning Hub (please see annexes for more information on the concept of the Regional Learning Hub). This will cover the following activities:

• Testing and establishing the Regional Learning Hub on the Learning Passport platform, which comprises 3 activities:
  • Discussing with partners and Learning Passport users to understand the needs
  • Co-design with partners to determine how to develop site requirements
  • Designing and customizing the site
• Curriculum mapping, analysis and meta-tagging: reviewing existing global, regional and national curriculum frameworks in order to develop a curriculum framework for the Regional Learning Hub that would be easily adaptable to ESA countries. This framework would form the basis of the organization of curated content on the Hub.
• Mapping available content: This will involve mapping existing content databases (e.g. Learning Passport, USAID IRI database, UNHCR database [https://www.unhcr.org/5e787bea4], INEE database, Khan Academy, Kolibri Library) and:
  • Quality assuring the content
  • Mapping against the Regional Learning Hub curriculum framework
  • Analysing the gaps in two ways: (i) curriculum domain/skill; (ii) completeness vis-a-vis the ready-to-deploy structure
• Supporting the curation and creation sets of resources: This concerns the ready-to-deploy resources across the phases (pre-primary, primary, secondary), skills (numeracy, literacy, science, …) and modalities of delivery (audio, video, digital, print).
• Assist in guiding deploying countries in the localization of resources on the Regional Learning Hub, including developing guidance to support national-level stakeholders on this process.
• Establishing a beta version of the Regional Learning Hub:
  • Migrating the curated and created content on the Regional Learning Hub aligned to curriculum framework
  • Pre-testing the beta version of the regional platform (internally) to be then shared with country MoE users for first user-testing
  • Finalizing the beta version of the Hub after first round of testing: Making necessary adjustments based on feedback from users following their first testing of the beta version in order to get a finalized version of the Hub that is ready to be shared with Country MoE users and donors

4. Work relationships/reporting to:

The individual contractor will report to the ESARO Education Specialist (Quality) and is expected to work closely with ESARO Education Section and the Learning Passport team members—especially the Technology Deployment Specialist, Country Office colleagues, and other relevant partners, including other UN and development partners working on the Regional Learning hub.

The deliverables are specified, but may include additional technical tasks related Learning Passport and the Regional Learning Hub as assigned by the supervisor. While the deliverables are in roughly chronological order, the individual contractor may work on any deliverable at any time, contingent on supervisorial approval.

5. Expected Deliverables and timeline, which will be linked to the payment schedule:****Area

   Tasks

   Deliverables

   Country-level deployment of Learning Passport

   Deploying the Learning Passport at country-level, which includes:

• Discussing with partners and Learning Passport users to understand the needs, demonstration to users of what it can be used for, how it can be implemented and how it has been put in place in countries
• Training to determine how to customize the tool and what content will be hosted

• Designing and customizing the site

  Functional customized Learning Passport platform for each country (minimum 4 countries)

  Troubleshooting, collecting, collating and forwarding any system related issues to the global LP and Microsoft teams. This includes providing routine monitoring and support, gathering user feedback and working with the Innovation Team to recommend any necessary modifications.

  Monthly reports

  Technical suggestions for feature enhancements if needed based upon the feedback from the users and approval from Learning Passport team and Microsoft.

  Monthly reports

  Timely response to technical queries from users.

  Monthly reports

  Development and deployment of the Regional Learning Hub

  Testing and establishing the Regional Learning Hub on the Learning Passport platform, which comprises 3 activities:

• Discussing with partners and Learning Passport users to understand the needs

• Co-design with partners to determine how to develop site requirements

• Designing and customizing the site.

  Monthly reports

  Curriculum mapping, analysis and meta-tagging: reviewing existing global, regional and national curriculum frameworks in order to develop a curriculum framework for the Regional Learning Hub that would be easily adaptable to ESA countries.

  Curriculum mapping and framework

  Mapping available content: mapping existing content databases

• Quality assuring the content

• Mapping against the Regional Learning Hub curriculum framework

• Analysing the gaps in two ways: (i) curriculum domain/skill; (ii) completeness vis-a-vis the ready-to-deploy structure

  Mapping report

  Supporting the curation and creation sets of resources: This concerns the ready-to-deploy resources across the phases (pre-primary, primary, secondary), skills (numeracy, literacy, science, …) and modalities of delivery (audio, video, digital, print).

  Monthly reports

  Establishing a beta version of the Regional Learning Hub:

• Migrating the curated and created content on the platform following the previously developed curriculum framework

• Pre-testing the platform internally

• Adjusting and finalizing after the first round of user-testing with country MoE users

  Beta version of the Regional Learning Hub ready to be shared with donors

Payment Schedule

The individual contractor will be paid in 12 equal monthly instalments based on monthly reports and completion of the deliverables outlined in the table above.

Additionally, the 6th monthly payment will be dependent on establishing the following deliverables:

• Functional customized Learning Passport platform for at least 2 ESAR countries
• Curriculum mapping and framework for the Regional Learning Hub
• Mapping report for the Regional Learning Hub

The final 12th monthly payment will be dependent on:

• Functional customized Learning Passport platform for at least 2 additional ESAR countries
• Beta version of the Regional Learning Hub established.

Desired competencies, technical background and experience

• Advanced degree in a relevant discipline, ideally in Education or Information and Communication Technology
• At least five (5) years of progressively advanced experience in software development and project management
• At least five (5) years’ experience on working in the education sector with understanding of curriculum issues
• Experience in rolling out of large-scale projects, especially in hard to reach areas in developing countries is desirable
• Strong understanding of project management and coordination tools with attention to deadlines
• Strong understanding of how to evaluate and measure content quality and effectiveness
• Advanced skills in writing, editing and communicating in English is a must, especially writing high quality technical reports
• Strong analytical, conceptual thinking and problem-solving skills
• Full working knowledge of MS-Word (including using Style, References and Review functions)
• Previous working experience with a UN and/or international organization desirable
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish effective work relationships

• Experience of working independently and at distance (ie remotely).

• Administrative issues

The assignment will be supervised by the Education Specialist (Quality Education) in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Education Section. The individual contractor will be able to complete the assignment remotely, no travel is expected.

Conditions

The selected individual contractor will be based remotely. The individual contractor is expected to have his/her own computer with access to high speed internet.

As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary. The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

Risks

Risks associated with the contract are that many of the activities are dependent on partners (at global, regional and country level) outside the control of the supervisor and individual contractor and so the supervisor and individual contractor will timelines may need to be responsive to partners’ timelines.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply online using the button below. As part of their application, candidates should provide:

• A cover letter that specifies the desired competencies, technical background and experience are met and includes the monthly fee in USD (no more than 2 pages)
• A short CV (no more than 4 pages).

Candidates with questions about the opportunity should contact Shiraz Chakera at schakera@unicef.org.