Consultancy to support the ECW and Canada Education Migration response projects in LACRO, Panama City, 12 months (HOME-BASED)

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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

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions with the most extensive and complex migration crises in the world. Millions of children, adolescents and families are in transit, as they have had to leave their homes for various reasons: instability, poverty, extreme weather events or armed violence, among others. However, not all of them can enter the legal channels for regular and orderly migration, due to lack of official documentation, lack of economic resources, which leads them to travel on foot, putting their safety at risk, such as the dangerous Darien Gap, located between Colombia and Panama. In Panama alone, the arrival of refugees and migrants from Venezuela increased 50-fold (from 2,819 in 2021 to 148,285 in the first ten months of 2022).

According to the latest migration report published by UNICEF, at least 29,000 children and adolescents crossed the dangerous Darien in 2021. It is estimated that 40,000 children made the crossing in 2022 and more than 60,000 children have crossed the Darien jungle in the first eight months of 2023, half of them under the age of 5, making it the year with the most child crossings on record. Worldwide, children account for 13 percent of the migrant population, but in this region, approximately one in four people on the move (25 percent) is a child.

The education needs and challenges of refugees and migrants from Venezuela to the effective exercise of children’s right to education are still exacerbated by the learning losses and impact of Covid 19. According to UNICEF, between March and September 2020, nearly 130,000 Venezuelans returned to their country of origin in the context of the pandemic, of which 32,500 were children. There are also several irregular seafaring migration routes to and within the Caribbean. These include maritime crossings from Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) to Caribbean islands, from the Dominican Republic and Haiti to Puerto Rico, from Cuba to Florida, and departures from Haiti to LAC and the United States. These voyages are often made in unseaworthy vessels, leaving their passengers at risk of capsizing and drowning. Since 2014, at least 987 migrants, including at least 40 children, have died or gone missing along these routes.

UNICEF promotes the rights and welfare of all children and adolescents in everything we do. Together with our allies, we work in 190 countries and territories to transform this commitment into practical actions that benefit all children, especially focusing our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded, worldwide.

UNICEF works to put the rights and well-being of the most disadvantaged children at the heart of the social, political, and economic agenda, in line with our equity focus, working across our organization and with our partners in government, civil society and the private sector to support shifts in public policy, fuel social engagement, and increase investment for children. The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office is based in in Panama, operating in 36 territories, including 24 country offices, in which 16 are Small Island Developing States (SIDS).For more information about UNICEF and its work. (www.unicef.org/lac)..)

Internally, the Strategic Plan 2022-2025 details specific work dimensions to achieve 2030 education goals. To ensure that every child learns, UNICEF works in 2 result areas: 1) ACCESS to quality learning opportunities, despite recent progress, there are still too many children who aren’t attending school. And, for those who do attend, too many are not getting a good quality education. UNICEF’s work addresses both challenges – increasing access to education and improving the quality of education; 2) LEARNING, skills, participation and engagement, Children and adolescents are growing up in a transforming world. UNICEF’s work helps to prepare them for the future by providing opportunities for them to develop life skills, digital skills, transferrable skills and vocational skills for specific jobs.

To achieve these objectives, UNICEF LAC Regional Office (LACRO) aims to improve access, learning and protection for children in emergencies and fragile contexts: prevention and response in emergencies, including displaced children. Strengthening policies, regulatory frameworks and procedures to ensure access to education and completion for children on the move are some of the activities carried out by UNICEF LACRO section to fulfill its commitments to children. UNICEF LACRO is a strategic partner of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, the Government of Canada (GAC) and Response for Venezuelans (R4V). Since 2019, ECW has supported Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru with a First Emergency Response (FER) and subsequently, a Multi Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) launched in three countries: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and a regional component. Led by UNICEF LACRO, the regional component has been key in supporting the monitoring of the implementation of national policies and regulatory frameworks on the inclusion of children on the move in education systems and, as a result, enhances the capacity of education actors, strengthens the availability of relevant data and supports resource mobilization efforts.

UNICEF LACRO is also a strategic partner of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to respond to the educational needs of migrant and refugee children in the region through the project Education for Venezuelan children and adolescents and host communities in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, which complements many of the work streams within ECW's MYRP. Similarly, UNICEF LACRO co-leads the regional coordination of education for migrant and refugee response (R4V), supporting national platforms in their preparedness and response to the migration crisis.

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the UNICEF LACRO Regional Emergency Education Specialist, the purpose of this consultancy is to support the LACRO EiE team to have key information and data products to facilitate the development of the ECW Multi Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) and Education for Venezuelan children and adolescents and host communities in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru project activities. The consultant will develop key Information Management products related to the MYRP and Education for Venezuelan children and adolescents and host communities in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru projects.

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the Education in Emergencies Specialist, the consultant will provide professional technical, operational, and administrative assistance throughout the programming process for the education migration response agenda for the EiE team. This includes the support to the ECW Multi Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) regional activities, the Education Multi-Year Resilience Programme for Venezuelan and host community boys, girls and adolescents in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (GAC project) activities, and response for Venezuela (R4V) coordination. The consultant will support the Education in Emergencies Specialist in the implementation of the regional activities to strengthen and implement evidence-based policies, strengthen capacities at regional and national level and to support countries to have reliable, accurate, relevant and timely data for the migration and refugee response, monitoring and delivery of results; technical and operational support to project implementation; networking and partnership building; innovation, knowledge management.

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

• A Bachelor University degree in economics, information management or any related field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in project management support and information management (IM), data analysis, and data visualization.
• Familiarity with data sources and use of Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, or other design or visualization software.
• Experience with data reports and dashboard visualization tools.
• Experience working in both development and humanitarian contexts is an asset.
• Experience working remotely, very responsive over email or throughout virtual applications.
• Understanding of UNICEF programme work in the region (desirable).
• Fluency in Spanish and English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS)

UNICEF competencies: building and maintains partnerships, demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness, drive to achieve results for impact, innovates and embraces change, manages ambiguity and complexity, thinks and acts strategically and works collaboratively with others.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

Administrative details

Supervision: The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Education in Emergencies Specialist.

Workplace: The consultancy is home-based. Travel may be involved. International/national travel may be required, discussed and agreed with the consultant (a separate travel line will be included in the contract).

Duration: Estimated start date is December 4, 2023 until December 15, 2024.

How to Apply: Application should be submitted online and should include: TMS application form duly completed, Cover Letter, Study certificates and Financial proposal (Daily fee or deliverable fee).

Qualified candidates are requested to indicate an all-inclusive (lump sum) fees for the services to be including all associated administrative and travel costs.

Consultants must have their own equipment, tools and materials needed to perform their services. They will use their own laptops/computers, any application or system needed to complete the assignment. They need to provide the full service without using UNICEF resources. The access to UNICEF email and system is restricted to UNICEF staff therefore consultants should not be granted access unless it is imperative to complete the assignment.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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 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.