Individual Consultant: Technical Assistance for Strengthening Information Management in Nepal Education sector wide approach - Kathmandu, Nepal Country Office ( Only for Nepalese National)

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, education.

With the state restructuring according to Nepal’s 2015 Constitution having been rolled out in terms of institutional setup and mandates across the three tiers of Government, Nepal’s previous five regions and 752 districts have accordingly been replaced by seven provincial governments and 753 local (municipal-level) governments as the new second and third tiers of government. As part of this decentralization, all functions and functionaries that had previously been managed by central, district and village (VDC) authorities relating to school education have now been transferred to the provincial and local governments. New legislation, institutions, and administrative procedures are being formalized for the administration of this new setup as prescribed in the Constitution. This means that local governments have the mandate to develop their own education plans and budgets alongside those of the federal government.

As the Government of Nepal is in the process of finalizing the new long-term SESP, which is set to succeed the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) at the end of the fiscal year 2021-22 and run up to 2030, it is paramount for the successful initiation and implementation of the new sector plan that the strategies and activities are adequately owned, contextualized by the 753 local governments and reflected accordingly in the Local Government long term strategic plans and annual work plans and budgets.

UNICEF in its role as Focal Point for the LEDPG and grant agent of the has been the lead agency in providing the MoEST technical assistance in the area of system strengthening. In its role of DP focal point and GPE SCG co-grant agent, UNICEF is looking to continue the mobilization and coordination of technical assistance to strengthen sector coordination and dialogue across all tiers of government and to strengthen institutional capacity for the implementation of the SESP, including the adaptation of the federal plan into the provincial and local education sector plans.

How can you make a difference?

On behalf of the Local Education Development Partner Group (LEDPDG), UNICEF as Focal Point is set to support the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) with required technical support to initiate the School Education Sector Plan (SESP) in the federal context through the long-standing Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) in the Nepal school education sector. Specifically, UNICEF is committed to mobilize an Information Management expert that can support the following needs that have emerged from the reviews and analyses undertaken over the past year to inform the SESP:

- Support the MoEST Development Assistance Coordination Section in the scoping of and development of a development assistance information system that is compatible to other systems in the Government (such as the MoF-AIMS and the AMP), allows to systematically record, monitor and coordinate the different types of development assistance mobilized in support of the SESP, including a dashboard and user roles for relevant sections in MoEST, CEHRD and others as required and a sub-national level coordination mechanism to inform coordination of external support to provincial- and local governments in SESP sub-sectoral area, cross-cuttingand cross-sectoral themes.

- Support IM needs identified during the development of the SESP Communication Strategy, including on dissemination of information and possibility for public and stakeholders to engage in the sector dialogue when appropriate.

- Support IM needs to knowledge management, coordination and communication within the JFP- and LEDPG consortium

Duration of Contract: The total duration of the contract is for 50 working days within a period of 4months tentatively starting from 15 November 2022.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks****Deliverables****Timeline****Proposed Fee (Nepalese Currency)Scoping of information- and reporting needs and user profiles related to development assistanceSubmission of inception report on development assistance information management system By 15 December 2022 Scoping of information- and reporting needs and user profiles related to SESP Communication StrategySubmission of inception report on development of SESP Communication Strategy By 10th January 2023 Establishment of a Development assistance information management system, including dashboard and admin/user rolesDevelopment assistance information management systemBy end January 2023 Development of a Nepal SWAp portal, including cloudbased archive, dashboard and features to facilitate JFP/LEDPG coordination and communication Developed Nepal education SWAp PortalBy end February 2023 Sharing of recommendations and lessons learned regarding IM needs in implementation of SESP through a SWAp modalitySubmission of final report and conduct presentationBy 15th March 2023 To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

Master’s degree in Information Technology Management (IT),or related discipline with a Bachelor’s degree in IT is required. -

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience including in software engineering and as lead developer of an information management system with proven skills on applying appropriate software (such as Agile Scrum Software).
• Knowledge to code and develop online portals and websites. - Knowledge to demonstrate skills in scrapping, process automation, data analysis and visualization
• Knowledge to demonstrate the use of Python. Familiarity with related programs (such as seaborn, numpy, matplotlib, pandas, etc.) will be considered an asset.
• Certified and proven skill as database administrator
• Knowledge to demonstrate fluency in cloud service providers (such as AWS, Azure, etc.).
• Fluent in English and Nepalese and comfortable having high level verbal/written communication in both languages.
• Previous work experience in supporting Government in IM-related tasks. Working with government entities in the education sector will be considered a strong asset.
• Previous work experience in UN agencies on Information Management will be considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

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 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:

Request to submit financial proposal as per deliverable in Nepalese currency.

Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Candidates from under-represented ethnic groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

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.

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.