Consultancy - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), London, UK or Remote, 11.5 months, 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, 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 girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. 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.

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, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program's performance: whether it is improving lives. Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries, mobilising ~$50M for these programs.
• Established itself as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated center of expertise for RBF in education and skills.
• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Established a major partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a scale portfolio of RBF programs in early childhood across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.
• Built our institutional capacity to contract and implement large-scale outcomes funds more efficiently and effectively than historic impact bonds.
• Established a strong culture of performance and an active focus on ongoing professional development for all our team.

The next chapter of EOF’s growth is particularly exciting, as we look to build on this foundation in the coming years. We will shift focus towards implementation of our first large scale programs, developing public goods and policy insights on ‘what works’ both in education and RBF. We will develop new RBF models that can be replicated and scaled across regions, as well as continuing to roll out our existing models. Ultimately, we want to improve the way governments and donors fund and implement education programs around the world

How can you make a difference?

M&E is central to the RBF programs we design, and the policy insights they generate are a key part of their value. We are seeking to recruit a high-calibre individual to lead on the design of monitoring and evaluation strategies across a rapidly growing portfolio of RBF programs, particularly in early childhood education and development but also our other focus areas across the education lifecycle. They will play a central role in creating knowledge and public goods – both on the ‘what works’ in education, as well as best practices in RBF program design, representing EOF in the ecosystem to disseminate these insights.

The MEL Manager will become a core part of EOF, working closely with governments, donors, and service providers/impact investors to design and implement programs, as well as build on EOF’s thought leadership in this space.

They report to EOF’s Chief Programs Officer and work in collaboration with the rest of the Program Team, as well as with the EOF CEO and Executive Committee.

DESCRIPTION OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

MEL Management

• Play a leading role in building in-house knowledge and capabilities in the MEL area, supporting the current culture of EOF as being an evidence-driven organization, ensuring effective systems and processes to ensure best practice across the program team
• Lead the design and implementation of projects’ MEL systems and processes capable of tracking progress against identified targets and determining its effectiveness, in conjunction with developing and promoting a learning agenda to inform program strategy
• Develop resources and provide technical guidance and training on methodologies and data collection tools, and support capacity building of program team colleagues, including country teams to implement monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

Support to EOF’s team

• Support EOF’s communication and advocacy strategy through publications and participation in relevant events.
• Contribute to EOF’s operations and recruitment processes as a core member of the team in support of EOF’s goals.
• Ensure the line management of more junior members of the EOF team and external consultants, providing regular feedback and promoting their growth and development, and conducting mid-year and end-of-year reviews
• Promote a culture of learning across the organization and ensuring that key findings are informing ongoing planning and decision-making

Support for the broader RBF ecosystem

• Maintain a strong awareness of recent research and developments in the RBF ecosystem and early childhood space, identifying opportunities for contribution by EOF.
• Create public goods and knowledge to disseminate lessons learnt through EOF’s programs, to support the broader development of the ecosystem for results-based financing
• Create strong linkages between EOF and other actors in the ecosystem and beyond, facilitating collaborative and joint work to maximize impact of lessons learnt

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

• An advanced degree (Masters) in economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Education or a related field.
• A Bachelor’s degree may be considered with 2 additional years of experience
• 5-8 years of professional experience, including experience designing and implementing MEL activities, preferably in the international development context.
• Experience in innovative financing, in particular with RBF instruments or incentive structures, is preferred.
• Experience in education, early childhood development, or skills/employment programs is preferred.
• Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis and reporting.
• The creation and sourcing of appropriate measurement tools for the education/skills sector is preferred.
• Implementing systems for capturing impact and performance data to facilitate organizational learning and evidence is preferred.
• Experience working in Africa and/or the Middle East is preferred but not required.
• Relevant experience includes, but is not limited to, the following sectors: International development; Charity or public sectors; Strategy consulting; Think tanks/research institutes; Investment or development banking.
• 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

London, United Kingdom or Remote

Duration 11.5 months contract with possibility of extension

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 15 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.