Consultancy: Secondary Education and Skills Support - Education Section, Programme Group – HQ New York (Remote) - 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 hope.

Consultancy Title: Secondary Education and Skills Support

Section/Division/Duty Station: Education Section, Programme Group – HQ New York (Home based, remote position)

Duration: May 1, 2022 to April 14, 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

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.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

The current quality and access to education and skill-development opportunities, particularly for the most marginalized, are desperately limited and inadequate. The global school closures due to the COVID-19 crisis have exacerbated the already challenging realities for children and young people. Even before the pandemic, over 250 million children were out of school, and half of the children in low- and middle-income countries were still unable to read and write a simple sentence by age 10. On current trends, by 2030, there will be 3.5 billion children and youth below the age of 25 – all of whom need individualized pathways to fulfill their dreams. In particular, marginalized girls and children with disabilities continue struggling to access education and learning opportunities.

Within this context, UNICEF has committed to advancing access, participation and relevant learning outcomes for marginalized children in its policy leadership and support to countries for excellence in programming. The UNICEF Education strategy includes ‘secondary education and skills’ as one of the key focus areas. At secondary level, UNICEF works to expand access to certified multiple flexible learning pathways to secondary education for adolescents that will enable them to complete secondary education, transition from school to work, and develop the full range of skills (foundational, transferable, digital, entrepreneurial, and job specific) in formal and non-formal education. This focus requires global leadership to strengthen the conceptual framing, evidence base and programmatic delivery of skills development across the education portfolio. There is need to provide country offices with guidance on how to strengthen secondary education and training systems to enable children and adolescents to develop the skills needed for their future learning, personal empowerment, employment and active citizenship. There is also a need to support developing sustainable and impact technical and financial partnership to drive these goals forward.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

Scope of Work:

The contractor will provide support to UNICEF programming on secondary education and skills through technical support, tools and guidance as well as knowledge management and advocacy products leading to stronger skills development programming, contributing to knowledge sharing within UNICEF, including:

a) Advise on the implementation of guidance and tools to underpin the implementation of Result 2 of the UNICEF Strategic Plan including products funded by the PROSPECTS Dutch Partnership, the World Skills Clock, and others

b) Provide technical assistance and guidance to regional and country level, supporting results reporting, evidence generation and shared learning on secondary education and skills including work through the Global Technical Team on adolescent learning and skills.

c) Support UNICEF’s engagement in global advocacy and partnership opportunities on secondary education and skills.

d) Support UNICEF country offices and regional offices to strengthen education programming based on global and national best practices, with a focus on transferable and digital skills.

e) Provide concept papers, guidance and technical notes to strengthen the evidence base and strategic considerations leading to stronger skills development programming, contributing to knowledge sharing within UNICEF.

f) Contribute to Reimagine Education and digital learning initiatives, including work areas that link Skills and Digital Learning

g) Contribute to Second Decade initiatives, identifying, informing and sharing good practice in adopting a multi-sectoral approach to education programming that responds to the skills development needs of marginalized adolescent boys and girls.

h) Support the overall Education Section through regular participation in relevant meetings, development of briefing material, technical reviews, input to section reports and other documents and processes as needed.

In close collaboration and working with Education Specialist, Skills, the incumbent is responsible for contributing and submitting documentation as follows:

• Engage on all related items above.
• Monthly report on key outputs related to Digital Learning and Secondary Education and Skills Development
• Monthly report on key outputs related to Secondary Education and Skills Development

Qualifications

(1) Education

• 5-7 years of strong knowledge in the areas of improving learning outcomes, especially for adolescents, including secondary education , skills development,
• Experience in programme coordination, reporting, and communication.
• Good programme management in education, including programme design, costing, monitoring and evaluation and reporting.

2) Work experience

• Experience developing advocacy documents, talking points and briefing notes
• PowerPoint skills and visual design skills are desirable

3) Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills to work effectively with a team that is geographically dispersed
• Self-directed/self-motivating personality, with proven ability to manage demands from multiple stakeholders while adhering to program deadlines and priorities
• Quick to learn, motivated to self-teach and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice
• Fluency and strong writing skills in English are required.

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 (can be downloaded here: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html
  • 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 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.