Home-based Consultancy: AKELIUS Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant (115 working days; home-based in Rome or Bologna with field travel) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO), Rome

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, Protection

Background

Since 2016, the UNICEF Regional office for Europe and Central Asia outposted office in Italy is providing support to the Government of Italy on children and young migrants and refugees, to ensure timely, equal and appropriate care, protection and support for social inclusion, as part of the Regional Migrant and Refugee Response.

Language learning constitutes one of the most crucial factors to ensure social inclusion of students with migration background into the national school system, in order to fulfil their right to education and, at the same time, to comply with the obligation to complete the first cycle of the school system. More broadly, Italian language learning represents one of the first steps towards their social inclusion in Italy. According to Invalsi Open, a poor language literacy affects their learning progress and their educational pathways. Overall, Invalsi results in 2019 show lower performance in Italian and mathematics of students with migration background, compared to their peers with Italian citizenship. On the contrary, the English results revealed the opposite trend: Italian pupils score worse than students with migration background – which underlines the overall lower performance of Italian students in English literacy. In line with the current educational priorities set by the National Recovery Plan in Italy, attention must be given to the strengthening of the Italian and English skills of students in secondary schools. From a life-cycle approach point of view, the additional focus on primary schools is of particular importance to equip students with strong language skills from the start of their educational pathway.

To respond to these needs the UNICEF ECARO Migrant and Refugee Response in Italy and Akelius Foundation have established a partnership to facilitate the accessible continuous learning for children identified by the schools as being intensively delayed in literacy skills, particularly children with migration background and their Italian peers, by providing access to literacy skills development through the Italian and English digital language learning courses. Launched in the school year 2021-22, the pilot benefits children in the last year of kindergarten (aged 5-6 years old), in primary schools (aged 6-10 years old), and in the first two years of lower secondary school (aged 11-12 years old) within 2 selected Comprehensive Schools in Bologna and Rome. In Bologna, the initiative is implemented in close collaboration with local authorities and a CSO (“AIPI”), while in Rome the initiative is implemented directly by the school. Data collection and analysis of the first year of piloting was conducted in close collaboration with the UNICEF Office of Research, as part of a global evidence generation for the UNICEF-Akelius partnership and digital learning project, with the production of an interim report.

The second year of implementation in 2022-23 of the Akelius initiative is embedded in the broader UNICEF interventions in support to the Ukrainian refugee emergency, with the goal to scale up the initiative in other regions and cities, supporting the language learning for school insertion and social inclusion of recently arrived children in Italy, including Ukrainian refugee children. While the monitoring and evaluation of the scale up phase in new schools will be conducted with the support of a partner at national level (the CSO “ISMU”), collaboration with the UNICEF Office of Research will continue focusing on the monitoring and evaluation with the 2 schools involved in the first year of pilot (Rome and Bologna).

Therefore, fit for purpose project monitoring and operational research is planned to be conducted from October 2022 to understand the process of co-creation and implementation and to estimate the impact of the programme on language learning outcomes. The data collected will be analysed by UNICEF Office of Research, with the objective of consolidating the results in a final report that will be part of the global evidence generation for the UNICEF-Akelius partnership and digital learning project.

Scope of Work

Key responsibilities include: Support to project monitoring and operational research of the second year of the Akelius pilot programme in Italy.

Specifically, the consultant will:

Support project monitoring through:

• Translation & adaptation of the research plan and project monitoring tools;
• Regular collection and quality assurance of teacher feedback data, demographic and attendance data;
• Regular collection and quality assurance of learning assessment data;
• Regular collection of data on platform functionality;
• Regular data entry on the Trello platform.

Support operational research through:

• Translation & adaptation of operational research tools;
• Primary qualitative data collection – classroom observations, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews.

Purpose of the Assignment

Under the direct supervision of the Youth and Adolescent Development Specialist, P4, in Rome, and technical supervision from the Skills building Programme Consultant, Italy, the AKELIUS Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant is primarily responsible for supporting the project monitoring and operational research component of the AKELIUS pilot programme in Italy.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone******Deliverables / Outputs******Timeline / DeadlineTranslation & adaptation of research plan and project monitoring toolsProject monitoring tools adapted and available in Italian10 working days;

By Months 1-2 and 5

Translation & adaptation of operational research toolsOperational research tools adapted and available in Italian10 working days;

By Months 1-2 and 5

Project monitoring data: regular collection and consolidationProject monitoring data available30 working days;

End of each month starting Month 2

Learning assessment data: regular collection and consolidationLearning assessment data available30 working days;

End of each month starting Month 2

Platform functionality: Regular collection, consolidation & data entry on the Trello platformPlatform functionality data collected from teachers’ and partners’ feedback and available on the Trello platform10 working days;

End of each month starting Month 2

Primary qualitative data collection – classroom observations, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (Rome and Bologna)Approximately 20 interviews/FGDs;

10 classroom observations

20 working days;

By end June 2023 (starting Month 4)

Drafting of monthly reportMonthly report5 working days;

By end of each month

Estimated Duration of the Contract

115 working days (between November 2022 - October 2023)

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The assignment will be home-based in Rome or in Bologna, Italy.

The Consultant will travel to field locations in Italy. The Consultant will be responsible for organizing their travel. Travel expenses (tickets, accommodation, public transport, meals) will be reimbursed. The maximum amount for travel overall will be EUR 1,000.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants/Individual Contractors apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant is responsible for his/her for travel arrangements. The most economic and direct route is authorized.
• Travel costs will be reimbursed after the completion of mission upon submission of the invoice together with the supporting documentation.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. Please indicate a daily fee based on 115 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required

• Masters in social sciences, international development, education or related field;
• A minimum of 4 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in project monitoring and/or operational research;
• Excellent planning & organizational skills;
• Strong communication skills - both oral and written;
• Fluency in Italian and English required.
• Experience in education, technology and digital learning.

Desired

• Previous experience with UNICEF or other UN agency;
• Experience in working in support to vulnerable groups of children (e.g. children with a migration background, Roma children, children with low socio-economic background, etc.).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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:

Please include a full CV and Financial Proposal in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and daily rate (in EUR) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a daily rate will not be considered. 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.

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.