Home-Based Consultancy: Global Education Cluster Co-leadership Externally Facilitated Process (40 working days between Dec 2022 and May 2023) - EMOPS, Geneva, Switzerland

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, an education

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to facilitate a consultation with key Global Education Cluster (GEC) stakeholders, including the GEC Steering Group, GEC team, and representatives of the Cluster Lead Agencies (CLAs) at the country and global levels to renew the GEC co-leadership arrangement between UNICEF and Save the Children. The consultation will result in agreements on the following:

1. Definition of co-leadership and what it should achieve as a specific form of partnership.
2. Mutual expectations of each co-CLA’s contributions, based on a clear identification of each of the co-CLA’s comparative advantages.
3. Leadership and coordination aspects that come with the CLA role, and enumeration of the specific responsibilities and corresponding tasks, and a shared understanding of the respective organizational support involved.
4. Mutual accountability of the co-CLAs and steps to implement their mutual accountability.
5. Indicators, building on the principles of partnership, for assessing the performance of the GEC and co-leadership partnership.

The key output of the assignment is a concise document detailing these agreements. The document will be annexed (either as one annex or several annexes) to the new MoU between the two CLAs which is expected to come into effect in 2023. The externally facilitated process will be nimble and build on the Management Response to the GEC Co-leadership Review (2022) and the work underway by the CLAs and GEC team to renew and reinforce the co-leadership arrangement.

Background

The Education Cluster is the only global cluster co-led by a UN agency (UNICEF) and international NGO (Save the Children – SCI). The 2007 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is the framework used to define and outline the co-leadership arrangement between UNICEF and SCI. A review of the MoU was conducted in 2010 with the intention of updating the framework. More than a decade later, a new MoU reflecting the expansion of co-leadership practices and experience in response to the growing complexity of our operational environment became a necessity. As such, an independent Co-leadership Review was conducted (2020-22) in conjunction with the evaluation of UNICEF Cluster Lead Agency Role (CLARE II), at the request of the global GEC co-coordinators.

The Co-leadership Review found that UNICEF and SCI generally have supported the core cluster coordination functions and delivered on their coordination responsibilities as CLAs. However, issues and gaps remain unaddressed since the latest update to the MoU in 2010, which have continued to hamper the fulfilment of the arrangement. The Management Response endorsed by the two CLAs outlines several actions which UNICEF and SCI will take to address these gaps. A key recommendation of the review and priority of the Management Response is that UNICEF and SCI will undertake an externally facilitated, consultative process to renew the cluster co-lead arrangement, resulting in a new MoU that addresses all of the main gaps and challenges that have prevented the co-CLAs from achieving maximum impact through their partnership implementing the current MoU.

Scope of work

Working closely with the two Global Education Cluster Coordinators, and under the overall oversight of the GEC Steering Group, the consultant(s) will undertake the following tasks structured around two phases:

Phase 1: Desk review, consultation and drafting

1. Desk Review of relevant documents, including the existing MoU and its Annex, Co-leadership Review and Management response, CLARE II review and management response, GEC Strategy 2022-25, GEC results framework, GEC guidance and templates on co-leadership for country level (5 days)

2. Key information interviews with GEC Steering Group, GEC team and key CLA representatives, capturing work already undertaken to revitalize the co-leadership and soliciting ideas for how renew the arrangement. Consultation will also identify areas of potential disagreement with the view to propose options for addressing these issues. A total of 6-8 Key Informant (KI) interviews are anticipated (8 days)

3. Drafting of Annex(es) to the new MoU (7 days)

Phase 2: Consultation and validation of draft

The second phase will revolve around consulting and validating the draft annex resulting from phase 1 detailing agreements around the definition of co-leadership, mutual accountabilities, principles of partnerships, complementarity, CLA performance monitoring and oversight of the arrangement:

4. Consult the draft agreements (Annex) with KIs from three sets of stakeholders (KIs accountable for cluster coordination, delivering coordination functions and participating in/contributing to cluster coordination). These may include GEC Steering Group members, GEC team members, CLA representatives at country and global levels and external partners. It is anticipated 15-20 KIs will be conducted (14 days)

5. Revise and finalize draft Annex(es) (6 days)

Key Deliverables

Based on the purpose and tasks of this consultancy, the following deliverables are foreseen within these indicative timeframes for a total of 40 working days:

1. Inception brief to ensure a common understanding of the assignment process, KIs, methodology, timeline, and deliverables between the consultant(s) and GEC Steering Group (following step 1 under scope)
2. Draft Annex(es) (following steps 2 and 3 under scope)
3. Final Annex(es) endorsed by GEC Steering Group (following steps 4 and 5 under scope)

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone******Deliverables / Outputs******Timeline / DeadlineInception report of the assignment (deliverable 1)Produce a brief inception report describing approach, workplan and timeline.5 working days;

By 20 December 2022

Draft Annex to MoU (deliverable 2)Draft Annex produced, based on documentary review and select Key Informant Interviews15 working days;

By 15 March 2023

Final Annex to MoU (deliverable 3)Final Annex to MOU following consultation and validation with KIs and endorsement of GEC Steering Group.20 working days;

By 31 May 2023

Estimated Duration of the Contract

40 working days (between December 2022 and May 2023)

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based.

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 40 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

• Master's in International Affairs, Political Science, Management or other relevant field;
• Minimum of 8 years of work experience in the humanitarian sector and/or the education in crises sector, preferably with experience in the field;
• Experience in conducting reviews, assessments and/or evaluations of humanitarian issues is desired;
• Previous consultant experience on projects that require a highly iterative and consultative inter-agency process, with capacity to incorporate a range of feedback and perspectives in final products an advantage;
• Knowledge of humanitarian institutional mandates, policies and guidelines pertaining to humanitarian assistance and coordination is an asset;
• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluent oral and written English is essential.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV and Financial Proposal in your application by indicating your availability and daily rate (in US$) 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.