Consultant: Program Support, Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Remote (6 months)

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, education . . . There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on underserved populations, including the hardest to reach: rural populations, girls, children with disabilities, and refugees. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth by paying for employment and retention outcomes.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education. It is more than just a fund – it is a powerful new set of partnerships and way of working.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement. Our approach is at the cutting edge of development finance, shifting risk to the private sector, crowding in private capital, and harnessing the capacity and capability of non-state actors, with huge potential to achieve better outcomes for children and youth around the world.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish what will be, once launched, the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries.

• Become established as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated centre of expertise for RBF in education and skills.

• Become established as the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations.
• Built our institutional capacity to contract and implement large scale outcomes funds more efficiently and effectively than historic impact bonds.

• Established a strong culture of performance, and an active focus on ongoing professional development for all our team.

  How can you make a difference?

EOF is seeking to recruit a high-caliber Associate to support our rapidly growing pipeline of work in the early childhood sector that will help improve the effectiveness of funding for early learning and holistic development outcomes for children.

The broad purpose of this consultancy is to work closely with governments, donors, and service providers/impact investors to design and implement programs, as well as build on EOF’s thought leadership in this space. The consultant will typically be working on 1 – 3 projects at a time and will often be responsible for defining your own workstreams, ensuring that our efforts lead to the success of a program. The Associate role is crucial for the success of EOF and we need a highly motivated and capable individual, who shares our passion for the mission, and has the capacity to help us succeed. The consultant will report to the Program Manager

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT (TASKS, SMART DELIVERABLES, DEADLINES):

Tasks

End Products/ Deliverables

Duration/ Deadline

Country scoping:

• Working with a Program Manager to define the strategy and workplan for scoping a country/region, with the aim of identifying appropriate contexts for results-based financing programs and outcomes funds in early childhood education, identifying the barriers to outcomes and the value add of the RBF mechanism.
• Conducting data analysis to understand educational shortcomings and conducting market research to advise donors on how they can best generate a social return.
• Engaging stakeholders (central and local governments, donors, service providers) to understand the local context and suitability of results-based financing.

• Assessing the suitability of results-based financing instruments in different contexts and education sectors and presenting your research to guide decisions.

• Condensing the scoping research in a simple way to present to the program team, in order to reach a decision on whether a particular context is suitable for results-based financing.

• Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and Word reports presenting insights of data analysis and research conducted for internal and external audiences.
• Drafting reports summarizing findings of the scoping exercise for donors

Ongoing

P****rogram design:

• Working with the Program Manager to establish the objectives, theory of change and key parameters of the program, including target population, payment metrics, financial model and overall funding envelope.
• Conducting analysis, presenting the key considerations and making recommendations to the rest of the program team on key design choices.
• Engaging stakeholders (central and local governments, donors, service providers) to tailor the program design to the local context.
• Research the provider and investor markets and engage with market participants to fine-tune program design.

• Prepare materials for workshops to engage government officials and donors with the program design.

• Research briefs presenting options for the program team to inform choices related to the design of results-based financing programs.

• Draft financial models in Excel.
• Draft report sections summarizing findings

Ongoing

Support wider organization-building at EOF****:

• Support EOF’s communication and advocacy strategy through publications and participation in relevant events.
• Contribute to EOF’s operations and recruitment processes as a core member of the team, in support of EOF’s goals

• Ensure the line management of more junior members of the EOF team and external consultants, providing regular feedback and promoting their growth and development, and conducting mid-year and end-of-year reviews.

• Blog posts, articles and presentations as relevant.

• Delivering mid and end-year reviews of junior members of the EOF team

Ongoing

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

• A first university degree (Bachelor's) in economics, political science, finance, education, or a related field is required. A Master’s degree in these fields would be preferred but is not required.
• Experience in innovative financing, in particular with RBF instruments or incentive structures is preferred.
• Experience in early childhood development or basic education programs is preferred.
• Experience working in Africa/the Middle East is preferred.
• Experience in evaluation, design and/or program management is preferred.
• Relevant experience includes, but is not limited to, the following sectors: International development; Charity or public sectors; Strategy consulting; Think tanks/research institutes; Investment or development banking.
• Proficiency in all Microsoft Office Tools.
• Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in Spanish, French or Arabic is preferred. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, or Russian) is an asset.

Duration

6 months

Location

Home-based

Payment

Payments will be made monthly. The proposed rate should inclusive of all professional fees, daily allowances, living allowances, and other administrative costs and should assume a full-time commitment.

Visa

Consultants are solely responsible for obtaining their visa prior to travel. No visas will be facilitated by UNICEF.

Travel

Should “mission travel” be required, UNICEF will manage and pay for travel via Travel Authorization. However, this will be subject to the following prerequisites: Medical Clearance, Security Clearance through the Travel Request Information Process (TRIP) system, the Basic and Advanced Security in the Field Trainings, Travel Visa, and liability waiver. Trip prerequisites will be met at the expense of the consultant.

Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel. Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC at http://icsc.un.org). The consultant must travel on UNICEF approved airlines.

Insurance

Consultants and individual contractors are fully responsible for arranging, at their own expense, all insurance, such as life, health and other forms of insurance, covering the period of their services as they consider appropriate. They are required to certify that they are covered by medical/health insurance.

How to Apply:

Applicants are invited to include a cover letter of interest, upload a resume/cv, and proposed fees (monthly in British Sterling), to undertake the above TOR. Please also indicate your availability in your cover letter.

Applications submitted without a proposed fee will not be accepted.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

Core Competencies

• Build and maintain partnerships
• Work collaboratively with others
• Think and act strategically
• Demonstrate self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Manage ambiguity and complexity

Functional Competencies

• Intellectual curiosity
• Data & analytical skills
• Process management
• Quality control

To view our competency framework, please visit 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 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.