Consultant (Technical Advice), Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Hosted Funds, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 30 months, Req: 561145

Consultant Programme & Policy Teaching & Training

Overview

Provide expert and strategic guidance for education program implementation

You have:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in a relevant field is required (Education, International Development, Project Management, Social Sciences or other relevant fields).
• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in the education sector in Sierra Leone.
• Have worked on developing at least 4 Education Sector Plans, at least 2 should be Education Sector Plans in Sierra Leone.
• Prior experience of working with international organisations and donors in an education setting in Sierra Leone.
• Direct experience of working with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education in Sierra Leone.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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

How can you make a difference?

Background on EOF

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.

Partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone

Delivering quality education is a top government priority and a global priority (Sustainable Development Goal 4), and to that end, the Government of Sierra Leone intends to use an outcomes fund approach. This outcomes fund will enable the government to deepen an evidence-based understanding of ‘what works’ in the local context, develop and improve existing interventions, and transfer much of the delivery risk to the non-state sector. Providers that are selected as part of this outcomes fund will be expected to work with - not replace - existing school management structures.

The outcomes fund - Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (SLEIC) – has been established as a partnership between the Government, donors, education providers, and philanthropies/social investors. The main objectives of the program are to:

1. Improve learning outcomes (literacy and numeracy) and achievement of thresholds of minimum competencies in a representative sample of primary schools, aligned with the Ministry’s agenda, during and outside COVID-19.
2. Inform which interventions and financing approaches are most effective to improve learning outcomes in education during and outside COVID-19.
3. Build sustainable capacity in schools to deliver equitable learning outcomes during and outside COVID-19.
4. Build provider capacity.
5. Increase outcomes-orientation in policy making.

Purpose of the assignment

The Consultant (Technical Advice) will support EOF by providing expert and strategic guidance in relation to the education sector as well as the local context and conditions, and contribute to overcoming any challenges that may arise, collaborate in building relationships at the local level and provide advice for a smoother implementation. The Consultant (Technical Advice) will work closely with EOF´s Central and Sierra Leone teams to provide strategic guidance during implementation and thus contribute to the success of the programme.

The broad objectives of this consultancy are:

• To aid EOF´s Central and Sierra Leone teams in building successful relationships at the local level with key education actors during programme implementation.
• To provide strategic advice to overcome any challenges that may arise during programme implementation.
• To contribute to the work of EOF in Sierra Leone by providing expert local knowledge and guidance during overall programme implementation.

The Technical Advisor is expected to deliver the following:

• Attend regular meetings such as the Steering Committee and Extended Programme Committee meetings.
• Feedback from a local perspective during programme implementation.
• Suggest solutions to problems that need to be overcome during programme implementation.
• Provide guidance for successful programme implementation.
• Strategize to successfully engage with local actors.

The consultant will report to SLEIC programme manager.

DELIVERABLES

Deliverables

Description

Estimated number of working days

Deadline/ timeline

Deliverable 1:

A post-meeting report produced after each Steering Committee and Extended Programme Committee meeting, of at least 3 pages, summarizing meeting contents and next steps.

Attend monthly Steering Committee and bi-monthly Extended Programme Committee meetings and provide feedback and inputs on topics of discussion (program implementation and strategy). Provide strategic advice and specific recommendations on follow-up actions.

2 days per month

60 days across the 30-month contract

Monthly

Deliverable 2: Monthly meetings of at least 1 hour with 2 key organizations involved with the program, and a minimum 2-page contact report produced to summarize meeting.

Contact key organizations partnering in the Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (SLEIC) and facilitate dialogue with EOF central and local team, engaging in strategic problem solving.

2 days per month

60 days across the 30-month contract.

Monthly

Deliverable 3:

A post-meeting report produced after each monthly meeting, of at least 2 pages, summarizing meeting contents and next steps.

Advice and recommendations on problem solving for issues reported by service providers during the implementation

Attend monthly meetings with EOF’s central and Sierra Leone teams to discuss solutions to any problems that arise.

Document meeting attendance with EOF’s central and Sierra Leone teams including email chain outlining follow-up next steps.

2 days per month

60 days across the 30-month contract

Monthly

Deliverable 4:

Reviewed program implementation documents (estimated 5 documents of approximately 20 pages in length each) with written feedback.

During implementation - program documents reviewed. The Consultant (Technical Advice) is expected to provide comments in the form of guidance for successful programme implementation and contribute to the success of the programme by providing expert local knowledge and guidance.

5 days per quarter

50 days across the 30-month contract

Quarterly

Deliverable 5:

Organize and facilitate meetings with strategic partners - minimum 1 meeting of at least 2 hours per month.

Develop strategies to successfully engage with local actors and facilitate discussions with EOF and Grantees to ensure a smooth program implementation.

5 days per month

150 days across the 30-month contract.

Monthly

Total estimated working days – 380

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in a relevant field is required (Education, International Development, Project Management, Social Sciences or other relevant fields).
• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in the education sector in Sierra Leone.
• Have worked on developing at least 4 Education Sector Plans, at least 2 should be Education Sector Plans in Sierra Leone.
• Prior experience of working with international organisations and donors in an education setting in Sierra Leone.
• Direct experience of working with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education in Sierra Leone.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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/individual contractors 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.

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.

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.

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Potential interview questions

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