Consultant – DLP II Inception Phase UNRWA Education Department HQ (Amman)

Programme & Policy

Overview

Lead the inception phase for the DLP Phase II project.

You have:

• An advanced university degree from an accredited educational institute in social sciences, education, business administration or a domain relevant to this consultancy.
• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience in project management, project design, monitoring and evaluation particularly Results Based Management (RBM) at national and international levels.
• Experience of working on education or social sector projects.
• Experience of working on developmental issues of Palestine Refugees is desirable.
• At least 2 continuous years of international relevant experience outside of applicant home country, a country of citizenship or a country in which the applicant has permanent residence.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Working knowledge or fluency in Arabic is desirable.

Result of Service Key Deliverables:

1. Full Project Proposal as outlined in pt. 1 above, under ‘Duties and responsibilities’. 2. Full Logical Framework as outlined in pt. 2 above, including detailed workplans and project management structures. 3. Human Resource Plan. 4. Initial Plan for: a. Partnership engagement; b. Stakeholder engagement; c. Internal and external communications; d. Learning and evaluation strand of the project; e. Sustainability. 5. Inception Report as outlined in pt. 11, duties and responsibilities.

Work Location UNRWA HQ(Amman)

Expected duration 3 Months

Duties and Responsibilities Background and context

The UNRWA Digital Transformation Strategy (DTS), adopted in September 2021, is an integral part of the Agency’s modernisation efforts that help ensure and improve accountability, transparency, participation, equity, empowerment, inclusion and resilience, both within the Agency and amongst its beneficiaries. It also supports Palestine refugees in acquiring the skills needed to participate meaningfully in the world’s digital transformation.

As part of the DTS, UNRWA’s Department of Education developed a strategy on Information and Communication Technologies for Education (ICT4E), with a view to both strengthening the quality of education and increasing the resilience of the education system to external shocks, including in times of emergency.

UNRWA launched a Digital Learning Platform (DLP) in April 2021 to ensure education continuity even in the face of crises. The platform was designed during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable uninterrupted education to UNRWA students when in-person learning had to be suspended. To date, more than 7,000 digital self-learning cards / materials have been uploaded to the DLP, which facilitates student learning during school closures or periods of hybrid learning. Since its launch, the platform has received 6.2 million visits by 700,000 users. The platform was recognised by UNESCO’s Global Learning Coalition as a successful tool to support distance learning of students, including during emergencies.

To build on the success of the Digital Learning Platform (DLP), and take it to the next level, a DLP Phase II is envisaged. As part of this, UNRWA will undertake a pilot project, wherein teachers and students would use comprehensive and self-contained digital teaching-learning materials (TLM). This pilot will be conducted on a limited scale and evaluated with a view to potentially rolling the initiative out more broadly.

Aim The purpose of this consultancy is to provide initial programmatic support for the DLP Phase II project. DLP Phase II project would be implemented in four phases i.e. Inception, Development, Implementation and Evaluation Phases. The consultant would be responsible for leading the inception phase of the project.

Duties and responsibilities The incumbent would: 1. Develop a full Project proposal based on the initial project proposal / outline, including the following elements: a. Detailed narrative on context, problem and intervention proposed; b. Detailed information on stakeholders of the project; c. Detailed Risk Assessment and risk mitigation plan with roles and responsibilities; d. Project Assumptions; e. Detailed budget with break-up of every aspect; f. Timeline; g. Overview of Monitoring and Evaluation methodology.

2. Develop the logical framework for the project with the following elements: a. Clearly defined Outcomes, Inputs and Outputs with deliverables, deadlines, indicators and verification mechanisms; b. Theory of Change; c. Budget mapped to outputs and timeline; d. Monitoring and Evaluation Plan / Framework to help assess and analyse project achievements, lessons learnt and best practices that would help bring this project to scale. Upward / downward accountability framework developed, embedding a do-no-harm approach throughout project implementation . 3. Develop detailed implementation plans including: a. Detailed workplan including detailed activity plan / timelines for each component; b. Detailed procurement plan; c. Detailed capacity building plan.

4. Develop Project Management structures: Define Project Management and Governance Structures along with terms of reference, roles and responsibilities. This will include coordination mechanisms for operationalising the project including day to day operations, workflows etc.

5. Develop Human Resource Plan: Develop a human resource plan on the requirements of human resources for implementation, each with terms of reference.

6. Partnership need analysis, including: a. Identifying the needs for partners in particular areas of intervention through consultation with internal stakeholders; b. Develop an initial plan for partnership engagement suggesting some partnerships to explore.

7. Stakeholder Engagement and analysis Plan: develop a stakeholder engagement and analysis plan including: a. Identifying key stakeholders through consultation with internal stakeholders; b. Initial plan for stakeholder consultations and analysis.

8. Internal and external communication needs analysis: a. Identifying communication needs of the project through consultation with internal and external stakeholders; b. Develop an initial plan for a communications strategy.

9. Develop an initial learning plan, aligned with the planned project evaluation: this pilot project would provide critical insights for potentially scaling up. Hence, it is important to outline the ‘learning strand’ of the project, i.e. key methods through which we will gather learnings from implementation. This learning strand would be an integral part of the project and would be intrinsically linked to the evaluation of the project. In the inception phase, an initial learning plan incorporating the learning and evaluation strands can be developed, which can be finalised later.

10. Develop an initial Sustainability plan: while the learning from the project would provide insights into sustainability, it is important that, after consultation with relevant stakeholders, an initial sustainability plan is developed to look at the long-term sustainability of this intervention. This plan may include elements like sustainability of availability of devices, licenses and independence from external donor support.

11. Develop an inception report outlining key aspects of the achievements of the inception phase.

12. Any other tasks as required for the assignment including conducting focus group discussions, preparing presentations, etc. Reporting structure

The consultant will report directly to the Director of Education at HQ (Amman).

Qualifications/special skills An advanced university degree from an accredited educational institute in social sciences, education, business administration or a domain relevant to this consultancy.

• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience in project management, project design, monitoring and evaluation particularly Results Based Management (RBM) at national and international levels.

• Experience of working on education or social sector projects.

• Experience of working on developmental issues of Palestine Refugees is desirable

• At least 2 continuous years of international relevant experience outside of applicant home country, a country of citizenship or a country in which the applicant has permanent residence. do you have Experience of working on education or social sector projects?

Competencies

UN Core Values of Professionalism, Integrity and Respect for Diversity and Core Competencies of Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results apply by default. Default managerial competencies may apply. 4.1 Planning and Organizing 4.2 Leading and Supervising 4.3 Analyzing 4.4 Persuading and Influencing 4.5 Formulating Strategies and Concepts 4.6 Project Management

Languages - Excellent command of written and spoken English. - Working knowledge or fluency in Arabic is desirable.

Additional Information Reporting structure The consultant will report directly to the Director of Education at HQ (Amman).

Conditions and entitlements - The consultant might be required to travel to UNRWA’s Fields of Operation as well as to HQ (Amman). UNRWA will reimburse the travel cost in accordance with the agency rules on reimbursement for consultants.

• Maximum remuneration up to USD 7,900 per month equivalent of P4 based on the skills and experience of the successful candidate.

  No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org