Individual Consultant: Clean Air and Environments for Preschool Children in Viet Nam

Consultant Teaching & Training Programme & Policy

Contract

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For every child, Education

Background

Globally, Viet Nam is one of the most vulnerable countries to devastating impacts of climate change. Meanwhile, air pollution is both a source and a consequence of climate change. According to the latest Environmental Performance Index (EPI) report in 2022[1] carried out by Yale and Columbia universities, air quality in Viet Nam is among the 10 worst nations in the Asia-Pacific region at 18 out of 25 while global ranking 130 out of 180, and it is forecast that air pollution will continue to worsen.

Children are among the most vulnerable populations to air pollution given their physiological development. In Viet Nam, not only children living in big cities with high levels of outdoor air pollution such as Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) are affected, but children in rural areas are suffering from indoor air pollution caused by the use of unclean fuels and technologies for cooking and heating, and ambient air pollution from agriculture and waste burning.

Besides affecting children’s health with respiratory diseases, severe air pollution also poses compound challenges to the national education system and children’s right to learn. As seen in many countries, toxic air led to temporary school-shutdowns leading children to be absent from school. Moreover, according to UNICEF’s regional study in 2019[2], evidence has linked higher pollution levels in the air to lower academic performance, learning comprehension and concentration as well as an increase in absenteeism and risks of children dropping out of school.

One of UNICEF Viet Nam’s interventions is conducting an initiative called “Danger in the Air: Clean Air and Environments for Preschool Children in Viet Nam”, focusing on the most vulnerable young children with some pilots in Dien Bien province and HCMC, aimed at four key components:

- Reduced exposure of young children to dangerously polluted air through demonstrated approaches implemented in preschools;

- Enhanced government policies and plans to ensure sustainable solutions addressing air pollution and its impact on children’s education and learning;

- Increased public awareness and promotion of behavioral change to address environmental issues including air pollution and reduce their impacts on children and education;

- Promoting children as agents of change through innovative child- and adolescent-led initiatives contributing to resilience and environmental awareness in schools and communities.

Among all related activities, UNICEF Viet Nam is planning to procure a number of air purifiers and provide them to 10 selected preschools located in the areas highly impacted by air pollution in Dien Bien and HCMC. It is one of the joint efforts with Viet Nam’s Ministry of Eduction and Training (MOET) to create cleaner learning environments in rural and urban settings, and reduce the impact of air pollution and climate change on children’s learning, development and well-being, contributing to climate-smart education. In addition to the supply side, education managers and teachers from the schools shall be supported with capacity building on child-centred integrated air quality management to ensure a holistic approach to the issue.

Meanwhile, there is currently a lack of UNICEF Viet Nam’s in-house experts who have relevant expertise and dedicated time to provide technical assistance required. As such, it is necessary to recruit a national consultant who will work closely with UNICEF Viet Nam, MOET and other partners to maximise the momentum introducing solutions for addressing indoor and outdoor air pollution for schools in Viet Nam with a cost-benefit analysis for investment.

In addition, given that the trainings for education managers, teachers and the study of an investment case on child-centred integrated air quality management for public preschools in Viet Nam both require specialized expertise on climate change, environment and air pollution to influence policy-makers with strong evidence, outsourcing of an individual consultancy is required.

Purpose and objectives:

The national consultancy aims to provide professional technical and operational assistance to UNICEF Viet Nam and MOET in addressing the impact of air pollution on the development of preschool children and promote green habits for a clean environment in preschools and communities through the following activities:

1. Development of training materials and conducting trainings on child-centred integrated air quality management, promotion of green habits for a clean environment for preschool education managers and teachers in Dien Bien province and Ho Chi Minh City;

2. Undertake a study on an investment case on child-centred integrated air quality management for public preschools in Viet Nam.and its impact on young children’s education, learning and well-being at preschools in Viet Nam.

The main objectives of this assignment are to:

(1) build capacity for preschool education managers and teachers in Dien Bien province and Ho Chi Minh City on child-centred integrated air quality management, promotion of green habits for a clean environment; and

(2) understand the challenge, the opportunity, what needs to be done, what will cost, what benefits and outcomes that the education sector can gain back through the investment on child-centred integrated air quality management for public preschools in Viet Nam.

Ultimately, the analytical study of investment will be an essential advocacy tool to demonstrate the cost and value of the investment and identify financial gaps, necessary resources and commitment required on addressing air pollution and its impacts on the learning and overall well-being of young children, contributing to the advocacy of this issue in education in the 2021-2030 Education Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) in Viet Nam. It will also offer an opportunity to position UNICEF Viet Nam in the support of the Government of Viet Nam for the best interest of every child.

Audiences:

The primary audience for the study is MOET and UNICEF Viet Nam while the secondary audience includes other development partners, organizations in public and private sectors.

Impact and Dissemination:

Based on the evidence and key findings, the study will provide child-sensitive recommendations to MOET, UNICEF Viet Nam, development partners, public and private sectors on what and how education and other relevant systems could, in parallel, be utilized and strengthened to address the impact of air pollution on the development of preschool children and promote green habits for a clean environment in preschools and communities.

The study will provide national programmatic guidance on approaches to address air pollution and its impact on children’s learning, development and overall well-being, drawing on lessons leant and successful models.

The intervention and study will be showcased at a national workshop developed in coordination with MOET who would be in the position to take action on the recommendations.

Methodology:

The selected consultant is required to work closely and collaboratively with UNICEF Viet Nam and MOET in all steps of the consultancy.

For the first objective of the assignment, the consultant is expected to develop high-quality training materials on the topic and liaise with MOET and its line departments for comments and feedback on the materials.

For the second objective, the consultant is expected to conduct a combination of qualitative and quantitative research with primary and secondary data and evidence through key informant interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires, whichever applicable, with government officials, education managers, teachers and parents in selected localities.

The study aims to respond to four questions:

1. What are the current situation, major challenges and opportunities of preschool education in addressing air pollution and its impact on young children’s education, learning and well-being, using a child-centred approach? (analysis at the state, district, and school levels including actual perceptions from relevant students, teachers and officials about current air management school system);

2. What could be the potential solutions, green actions or investments in education from both the supply and demand sides for developing and applying child-centred integrated air quality management and for the promotion of green habits for a clean environment for preschools in Viet Nam? (Provide possible solutions from perspectives of the education sector, taking into consideration the on-going pilots of UNICEF Viet Nam and MOET; Conducting research and analyzing the different measures and cases from Viet Nam or other countries for applying the best practices and lessons learned in national and local context).

3. How is the cost and value of the investment and how to identify financial gaps, necessary resources and commitment required for the impactful and cost-effective interventions? (Develop a costing exercise and analyse it based on solid evidence to improve understanding of policy makers and the public on the impact of air pollution on children’s education, learning and well-being, especially to integrate it in the 2021-2030 EDSP so that the protection of young children from toxic air will be planned and budgeted.)

4. Who are the stakeholders that should be engaged to address the issue and how might governments, UNICEF Viet Nam and partners do things differently towards the institutionalization/national scale up of child-centred integrated air quality management? (Recommend actions and key messages for advocacy based on the evidence generated and partnership-mapping.)

The selected consultant can make sub-contracts to any necessary Vietnamese expertise to form a consulting team and self-manage this team to submit required deliverables in a timely manner. As such, the selected consultant will be fully responsible for recruitment and payment of other consultants and be fully responsible for all negotiations, decisions and deliverables.

Location of work:

The consultancy will primarily be home-based with meetings and discussions either online or offline at UNICEF Viet Nam Office or MOET Office as necessary. It also includes participation in relevant technical and advocacy meetings/workshops as required.

Given changeable availability of government partners, this assignment necessarily allows a degree of flexibility to the timeframes to enable UNICEF Viet Nam to remain agile and responsive to the needs of MOET and related partners.

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[1] Environmental Performance Index 2022: Ranking country performance on sustainability issue, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University and Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University (2022)

[2] It is getting hot: Call for education systems to respond to the climate crisis – Perspectives from East Asia and the Pacific, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (2019).

Specific Tasks and Deliverables: as attached TOR Consultancy.pdf

Management and reporting

The national consultant will be accountable to the Chief of Education and will be supervised on a day-to-day basis by the Education Specialist (2nd Decade Education and Learning) in UNICEF Viet Nam. The Education Specialist is responsible for providing technical guidance and approving intermediate and final products, with support from the Adolescent Development Officer and the UNV Education Officer (Climate Change and Environment).

The UNICEF Viet Nam’s Education Programme will support with introducing and connecting the consultant to MOET and DOETs of Dien Bien and HCMC for implementation.

Performance indicators for evaluation:

Timeliness, inclusion of and response to UNICEF Viet Nam, MOET comments, quality of services will be rendered. The performance evaluation is conducted upon the completion of deliverables according to the timeline mentioned above.

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

The consultant should have the following qualifications to effectively carry out the proposed tasks:

Qualifications and Experience

- An advanced university degree in one of the following fields: education, public policy, environmental and/or social sciences;

- At least 5-10 years professional experience in strengthening education, including education management and policy, budgeting at government level, private sector engagement, scientific research, including but not limited to climate change, environment, air pollution and/or child welfare, or other relevant areas;

- Proven experience of high-quality report writing and documentation.

Knowledge and Skills

- Excellent knowledge and skills in facilitation, communuication, presentation, delivering trainings, survey design, data collection and analytical research in the areas of sciences, technology, climate change, environment and air pollution with a focus on young children;

- Strong coordination skills at national and sub-national levels;

- Good writing and communication skills.

Competencies

- Working experience and familiarity with UNICEF’s vision, mission and programming on education or with another UN agency is preferable;

- Previous work with UNICEF is desirable;

- Experience in working with Governments.

Languages

- Fluency in English (verbal and written).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Assessment criteria:

Applications will be evaluated technically and points are attributed based on how well the proposal meets the requirements of the Terms of Reference using the guidelines detailed in the table below.

The Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) will be used for evaluation and selection in this process.

a. Technical Qualification: 100 points weight 70 %

- An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: education, public policy, environmental and/or social sciences, 15 points.

- At least 5-10 years professional experience in strengthening education, including education management and policy, budgeting at government level, private sector engagement, scientific research including but not limited to climate change, environment, air pollution and/or child welfare, or other relevant areas, 20 points.

- Excellent knowledge and skills in delivering trainings, presentation, survey design and data collection, analytical research in the areas of sciences, technology, climate change, environment and air pollution with a focus on young children, 20 points.

- Strong coordination skills at national and sub-national levels, 20 points, 20 points.

- Working experience with the government and familiarity with UNICEF’s vision, mission and programming on education or with another UN agency is preferable, 10 points.

- Strong writing capacity and communication skills in both English and Vietnamese with evidence of high-quality report writing and documentation, 15 points.

b. Financial Proposal (max. 100 points): weight 30 %

The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 70 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview (if needed).

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to the assigned requisition in UNICEF Vacancies: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/:

1. Letter of interest and confirmation of availability;
2. CV
3. Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably less than 3 pages);
4. Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available);
5. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, travel and accommodation cost for this assignment as per work assignment;

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