Consultancy: Review and Roadmap of UNICEF’s Inclusive Education Programming in East Asia and the Pacific Region, UNICEF EAPRO, Bangkok, Thailand

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 fulfilling 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, a better future

UNICEF works to ensure the rights of all children in the East Asia and Pacific Region. This means the rights of every child living in this country, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or ethnicity, to:

• survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security;
• development – to a good education, a loving home and adequate nutrition;
• protection – from abuse, neglect, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation; and
• participation – to express opinions, be listened to and take part in making any decisions that affect them

How can you make a difference?

The Education section, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region Office (EAPRO) is seeking an individual consultant to provide technical support on review and roadmap of UNICEF’s Inclusive Education Programming in East Asia and the Pacific Region.

For Background and Objective of Consultancy, please see an attachment:

VA2020-66 Consultancy - Review and Roadmap of UNICEF's Inclusive Education Programming.pdf

Work Assignment:

Under the direct supervision of UNICEF Regional Education Adviser and Education Specialist, the primary task of the consultant is to strengthen UNICEF’s support to teachers of children with disabilities in the region by developing a standard set of quality teacher training resources for the region.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding global travel in the coming months, the consultants should develop flexible methodologies that can accommodate remote and/or in-country travel.

1. To develop a quality disability inclusive education teacher training package for the region that can be easily adapted and taken up by national level training programmes

Given that many related resources exist in EAP and beyond, it is expected that the methodology for developing the EAP teacher training package will adapt and build on existing content, notably the national pre-service inclusive education teacher training packages that were developed and rolled out by UNICEF in Azerbaijan and Cambodia. The consultants are expected to review the Azerbaijan package and adapt it into a generic regional package to be used by EAP countries. Any additional content from the Cambodia package or other existing packages should be added as seen fit by the consultants. The generic regional package should include highlighting and comments on areas of the package that need to be contextualized and guidelines for COs to adapt/use the package.

The package should be adaptable to different teacher training channels, including pre-service and in-service modalities.

The vision for the package includes a digital or online roll out. While the digitization of the package is beyond the scope of this contract, the methodology for developing the package should consider this intention in its design.

2. To support two countries to contextualize the regional package

Two countries in the region have expressed interest to adapt the package to their context. The consultant is expected to work with two country offices and their government counterparts to contextualize the training package.

3. To develop a pre-service training curriculum and teacher training package on intellectual disabilities for Cambodia and as a resource for the region, in collaboration with the Cambodia Country Office.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has requested UNICEF Cambodia’s support to develop a pre-service teacher curriculum and training package on intellectual disabilities for its new specialized National Institute for Special Education (NISE). The consultant is expected to work closely with UNICEF Cambodia, MoEYS, NISE and other relevant local partners to develop and test the training package and to provide technical orientation to NISE teacher trainers and other officers involved in special education services from with MoEYS. In addition to the existing special diploma courses on deaf and blind, this training package enable NISE roll out its special diploma course to produce more teachers to work with and support the children with intellectual disabilities and autism. Once the package is finalized the consultant should create a generic regional version of the content to be adapted by other EAP countries. The consultant is expected to perform following tasks:

• Prepare an inception report, including literature review and work plan with timeline (no more than 10 pages, excluding annexes). Draw upon the quality disability inclusive education teacher training package developed for the region (referenced in point 1 above) and other relevant the international and already localized (for Cambodia) learning and teaching resources, existing teacher training curricula used for specialised education courses relating to intellectual disability; and identify good practices and content that can formed and/or be integrated within the a pre-service teacher training programme on intellectual disabilities specifically for Cambodia. As part of this work, carefully review the current teacher training materials developed for training teachers to assist children with visual and hearing impairment, as part of the existing special diploma course being supported by UNICEF Cambodia.

• Identify and consult with relevant stakeholders including: senior technical department directors in charge of inclusive/special education teacher training at NISE, MoEYS’ Special Education Department (SED), MoEYS’ National Institute of Education (NIE), UNICEF’s education team, NGOs currently work with children with intellectual disabilities, and, where possible, parents of children with disabilities. All interviews and discussions should be held virtually, through using video conferencing technology (such as through Zoom or Skype), given the protracted impact of COVID19 on in-country travel.

• In consultation with NISE and other MoEYS stakeholders establish an outline (of no more than 5 pages) of curriculum and core contents for the intellectual disability training package to support the preservice teacher training programme.
• Develop a draft pre-service teacher training package/curriculum for Cambodia (no more than 40 pages, excluding annexes), consisting of resources, technical contents, relevant materials and student assessments (i.e. a special diploma course for teachers working with children with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum conditions).
• Present the draft pre-service teacher training package to NISE, other MoEYS technical officers, representatives from experienced NGOs active in this area and UNICEF technical officers through a workshop to gather inputs, comments to inform the preparation of the final draft package.
• Based on additional inputs and comments received, prepare a final draft pre-service teacher training package on intellectual disabilities (of no more than 50 pages, excluding annexes) for finalization and approval of MoEYS.
• Develop and conduct 5 day-training for core trainers from NISE and other relevant MoEYS technical departments and with representatives from special education schools, in the use of the final draft pre-service teacher training package for intellectual disabilities. The consultant is expected to explore a distance learning approach to this training, including through use of ICT (such as video conferencing etc), particularly given current travel restrictions associated with COVID19.
• Produce and submit a short consultancy report (no more than 10 pages, excluding annexes), summarizing the key areas of work undertaken, results achieved and key recommendations for the implementation of the pre-service teacher training package on intellectual disabilities for Cambodia.

Work Schedule and Deliverables:

Task

Intermediate Outputs

Timeline

Development of regional IE teacher training package

• First Draft for comment by EAPRO and COs
• Final Draft

1 October - 30 November 2020

Contextualization of teacher training package to two EAP countries, in collaboration with COs

Country 1

• First Draft for comment by EAPRO and COs
• Final Draft

1 December 2020 - 31 March 2021

Country 2

• First Draft for comment by EAPRO and COs
• Final Draft

1 December 2020 - 31 March 2021

Development of preservice curriculum and teacher training package for specialists on intellectual disabilities

• Inception Report, including literature review and work plan and methodology by mid November 2020
• Consultations with key MoEYS, NGO and other stakeholders, by mid December 2020
• Draft outline of pre-service teacher training package/curriculum, by end of December 2020.
• Draft pre-service teacher training package/curriculum, by end of March 2021.
• Conduct a consultation workshop to gather feedback on the draft pre-service teacher training package/curriculum, by end of April 2021.
• Prepare a final draft pre-service teacher training package/curriculum, by end of May 2021
• Conduct a 5-day training on the new teacher training package with key stakeholders, by end July 2021.
• Prepare a final consultancy report, by end of Aug.

Between October 2020 through 15 September 2021

Estimated Duration of Contract: 135 working days during 1 October 2020 – 15 September 2021

Official Travel: The consultant will work remotely from home, with regular communication with the Regional Office and Country Offices, particularly UNICEF Cambodia Country Office who will take the lead role under Objective 3.

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

• Advanced degree in Education, and/or Social Sciences with relevant work experience.
• Minimum 10 years relevant professional experience.
• Proven solid experience working in issues relating to education, disability, social inclusion and/or related fields in developing country contexts.
• Strong experience in research, program management, monitoring and reporting.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and previous experience communicating with partners at different levels.
• Demonstrated ability in work planning and report preparation.
• Demonstrated skills in professional high quality writing in English.
• Experience working in the East Asia Pacific region highly desirable.
• Excellent communication skills in English.
• Experience working with UNICEF including developing training package.

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV or P-11, full contact information of minimum 3 references, availability, and proposed daily professional fee in USD by 20 September 2020.

FORM P11.doc

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.