Home-based local part-time consultancy: AKELIUS Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant, Rome, Italy (112 days)

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, results

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.[1] 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. The pilot will benefit children in primary schools (aged 6-10 years old) and children in the last year of kindergarten (aged 5-6 years old) in 2 selected in Bologna and Rome. In Bologna initiative will be implemented in close collaboration with local authorities and a CSO (“AIPI” – more details below). In Rome the initiative will be implemented directly by the school. It will be implemented over a period of 2 years (September 2021- August 2023).

Fit for purpose project monitoring and operational research is planned to be conducted from September 2021 to understand the process of co-creation and implementation and to estimate the impact of the programme on language learning outcomes and. The data collected will be analysed by UNICEF Office of Research as part of a global evidence generation for the UNICEF-Akelius partnership and digital learning project.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision of the Youth and Adolescent Development Specialist, P4, in Rome, and technical supervision from the Skills building Project Manager, 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.

Specifically, the consultant will :

Support project monitoring through:

• Translation & adaptation of 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

Contractual arrangements:

• Duration: The consultant will be expected to work part-time (10 days/month) for 11.5 months, betweem September 2021 and August 2022, for a total of 112 days.
• Duty Station and travel: The consultant will be home-based in Rome but will be expected to travel four times to Bologna, depending on COVID-19 travel restrictions. The Consultant will be responsible for organizing their travel. All travel expenses (tickets, accommodation, public transport, meals) will be reimbursed. The maximum travel lumpsum is EUR 1,000.
• Payment: The consultant will be paid monthly upon timely and satisfactory submission of deliverables as per the table above.

• Travel:

• 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.

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

Required:

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, international development, education or related field;
• A minimum of 2 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.

Desired:

• Experience in education, technology and digital learning
• Previous experience with UNICEF and or the UN;
• 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 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.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

To apply:

Applicants are invited to:

• Complete their UNICEF profile FULLY;
• Attach CV and Cover Letter;
• Indicate a daily fee, bearing in mind that the maximum daily fee allowed for this consultancy is EUR 150, travels not included. Applications without fees will not be accepted.

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.

[1] Invalsi Open, Studenti immigrati: inclusione in corso, https://www.invalsiopen.it/studenti-immigrati-inclusione/