Consultant for Field Monitoring of the Quality of Education

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

The pandemic of Covid-19 forced all actors in the system to quickly adapt to distance learning and adopt digital tools as the “new normal”, but it has also brought forward the pre-existing social inequalities and exclusion of children from disadvantaged groups, from minority background, and children with disabilities from accessing their right to learn. Children are disproportionately affected by crises, and those underprivileged are affected the most in emergency situations in which their access to education becomes severely jeopardized.

To address these structural inequalities, UNICEF has partnered with the Ministry of Education, and with support from the EU, to implement the “Bridging Digital Divide in Serbia for the Most Vulnerable Children” project, designed to ensure that every child, regardless of background or home environment, has the equal right and ability to continue learning. The overall objective is to strengthen the resilience of the education system to adequately respond to the impact of the pandemic, with particular focus on Roma children from the most vulnerable settlements. The project also aims to raise the capacities of both teachers and pedagogical assistants, so that the most vulnerable children in the context of Covid-19 pandemic can be provided with additional support that includes learning and psycho-social support, as well as diverse learning support modalities (such as through learning clubs).

Work Assignment Overview:

The purpose of this assignment is to support UNICEF in monitoring the “Bridging Digital Divide in Serbia for the Most Vulnerable Children” project, its activities and results, particularly at the school level.

Duration of the assignment: March 2022 – March 2023 (up to 58 workdays)

Task description:

1. Undertake field visits to implementing partners and schools:
   1. Monitoring the usage and maintenance of Educational Digital Libraries,
   2. Monitoring the functioning of school learning clubs and provision of learning support to vulnerable children,
   3. Monitoring the implementation of local/school plans for psycho-social support to children and parents,
   4. Supporting schools’ monitoring and self-evaluation practice,
   5. Overseeing monitoring activities of the implementing partners;
2. Prepare inputs for the overall Monitoring & Evaluation framework of the project;
3. Participate at coordination meetings;
4. Support the annual reporting.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University degree in Education, Pedagogy, Psychology, Sociology, or other fields of Social Studies and Humanities;
• At least 5 years of professional experience related to education;
• Knowledge of the Serbian education system, particularly in the area of inclusive education and education of Roma children;
• Knowledge on digital learning and using of ICT technologies in education would be an asset;
• Experience in monitoring projects in education;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving;
• Excellent oral and written Serbian and English skills..

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the following information:

1. Daily rate (all costs included, e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone),
2. Daily travel allowance for an overnight stay in Serbia (including accommodation),
3. Transportation costs per km (for travel within Serbia).

Important notes:

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

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

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

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.