Consultancy: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Consultant for Gender Transformative Education - 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.

Consultancy Title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Consultant for Gender Transformative Education

Section/Division/Duty Station: UNGEI/ Education Section/ Programme Group - NYHQ (Remote)

Duration: 1 December 2022 – 15 November 2023 (11.5 months)

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

Hosted by UNICEF’s Education Section, the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) is a global partnership for gender equality in and through education. Our mandate is to catalyze and galvanize action locally, nationally, regionally and global for girls’ education and gender equality in education. We bring together diverse partners to support Ministries of Education and other national actors to develop and implement bold commitments to gender equality in education. We convene regional global conversations and action for girls’ education and gender equality in education, including through the leadership of young feminist activists around the world. UNGEI partners include multilaterals, regional umbrella and intergovernmental organizations, national and global civil society organizations and young feminist leaders.

The UNGEI Secretariat is governed by UNICEF policies of employment. We strive to uphold feminist and anti-racist principles in how we work and offer flexible work arrangements.

UNGEI launched a multi-country programme on ending gender stereotypes through play-based curricula for primary and secondary school students, funded by BMZ/GIZ. The pilot programme seeks to demonstrate how and to what extent play-based curricula on gender stereotypes shifts students and teachers’ attitudes and beliefs around restrictive gender norms. Through this programme, UNGEI seeks to drive momentum around ending gender stereotypes in schools and ultimately contributing to gender equality in and through education. This will be done in two ways: (1) harnessing the successes of the pilot programme for policy advocacy with donors, ministries of education and development partners, (2) driving a research and learning agenda through a coalition of partners working on the theme. The MEL will contribute to advancing evidence on the use of play-based curricula to end stereotypes and adaptation by the education sector, through the revision of curricula, textbooks and pedagogy, and will also test the effectiveness of the play-based curricula in three pilot countries (Bangladesh, India and Niger). The MEL across the three pilots will seek to capture common elements in delivery of content, KAP (Knowledge Attitude and Practice) indicators and application of a whole school approach. Baseline and end line surveys will be deployed as primary tools to this end.

In the context of the same programme UNGEI will leverage its network of partners to build a robust learning agenda that will capture evidence and insights on gender stereotypes programmes beyond the pilot countries. UNGEI convenes a Coalition of Partners who have implemented similar programmes and contributed to the evidence on this theme. Currently the Coalition is composed of 18 global and regional education partners. The Coalition agreed to develop a MEL approach and a common results framework contributing to joint advocacy and further programming.

Further, UNGEI is currently developing a ‘Young Feminist Fund’ for young feminist networks and grassroots organizations, in support of placing gender expertise at the heart of education system policy dialogues and advocacy. The flexible funding aims to provide financial, operational and strategic support for their work on the ground, thereby help amplify their voice and leadership for making gender transformative education a reality. The Young Feminist Fund will offer annual envelopes of funds for a period of two to three years.

Finally, UNGEI is developing the ‘Feminist School for Education CSOs’ which entails gender equality training for education-focused CSOs in developing countries, in partnership with Gender at Work. The Feminist School will be customized to address the context, knowledge, level and appetite for capacity building on gender equality of the selected CSOs to lead to more gender-responsive advocacy and programming by the CSOs.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

Scope of Work

Under the supervision of the Programme Manager, and in close collaboration with the programme team, the Consultant will provide substantive and technical support to UNGEI to develop and implement the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) strategies of the overall Gender Transformative Education programmes and projects. More specifically, the Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Ending Gender Stereotypes Programme (40 days indicatively):

• Support the development and implementation of a programme monitoring, evaluation and learning framework capturing the common elements in delivery of content, KAP (Knowledge Attitude and Practice) indicators and application of a whole school approach in the three pilot countries.
• Provide substantive support to the programme partners in the three pilot countries to apply baseline and end line surveys to measure the immediate results of the programme, leading to comparable data and evidence.
• Carry out the rapid assessment of the pilot implementation in the three countries and, which should include the lessons learned and recommendations for future programming.

Partner Coalition for Ending Gender Stereotypes (30 days indicatively****)****:

• Support the development of a common MEL approach and a common results framework for the Partner Coalition on ending gender stereotypes contributing to joint advocacy and further programming. The results framework should capture promising/good practices implemented by the members of the Partner Coalition.
• Attend the bi-monthly meetings of the Partner Coalition, interview/liaise with the members of the Coalition as required for the development of the common MEL approach and the results framework. Present the progress and the deliverables during the Partner Coalition meetings.

Feminist School for Education CSOs (40 days indicatively):

• Support UNGEI and Gender at Work to assess the preliminary learning outcomes of the participants of the Feminist School by developing the appropriate measurement tools in line with international best practice. The measurement tool should capture the change with regards to the gender-responsiveness of the learners and of their organizations in performing their work.
• Provide technical inputs to the donor and other reports, programme documents and knowledge products regarding the Feminist School.

Young Feminist Fund (40 days indicatively****)****:

• Provide advice and technical support to UNGEI and its partner (to be selected) to develop a MEL framework and the required tools to measure the impact of the programme on the beneficiary networks and grassroots organizations.

With regards to the Feminist School and Young Feminist Fund, the Consultant will support the development of a measurement framework for measuring the intangible impact of gender capacity building and grassroots level advocacy, respectively, with the ultimate aim to establish a “gold standard” on gender capacity building.

• The Consultant will provide substantive inputs to the terms of reference to be prepared by UNGEI for the evaluation of the aforementioned programmes (10 days indicatively****).

In line with UNGEI’s feminist and inclusive working principles, the Consultant will liaise with, consult or interview gender experts, including young feminist activists throughout the assignment during the major milestones to be defined jointly.

As a general principle the Consultant will design the monitoring and evaluation processes and tools to capture information on activities, outputs/deliverables and expected results. At the output/deliverable and expected results levels, adequate provisions for data collection shall be made covering all performance indicators (with associated quantitative and/or qualitative targets), starting with a baseline for each performance indicator. Information on key performance shall be collected/retrieved periodically in order to track progress towards project.

This is a home-based assignment.

Key deliverables:

• The monitoring, evaluation and learning framework for the Ending Gender Stereotypes Programme and for the Young Feminist Fund developed and implemented.
• The common results framework for the Partner Coalition on ending gender stereotypes developed.
• Preliminary learning outcomes of the participants of the Feminist School for education CSOs assessed.
• Technical inputs for the evaluation of the aforementioned programmes implemented by UNGEI.

Qualifications

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Minimum of 7 years of demonstrated experience in monitoring, research, data analysis in the field of education or gender equality and/or related field;
• Strong expertise and knowledge of gender in education and gender indicators;
• Experience in designing results frameworks or similar tools;
• Experience in working with education and/or women’s/feminist CSOs at the national level and education stakeholders;
• Experience in working with global education/feminist actors is an asset;
• Ability to adapt to different cultural contexts and interact with stakeholders in a respectful and efficient way;
• Ability to work autonomously and efficiently against tight deadlines, strong drive for results;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Strong facilitation skills, including for audiences with diverse levels of expertise and competency.

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, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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

Remarks:

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.