Individual Consultant - to support the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare for the strengthening of ECD programmes (pedagogy focus), Windhoek, Namibia

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, deserves the best start in life

Background and Justification

Background:

Every child deserves the best start in life. The early years of a child's life from conception up to the age of 8 years are critical in terms of building a strong foundation for healthy development, lifelong learning and well-being for the individual. For society, quality early childhood development (ECD) programmes lead to successful communities, economic productivity, and harmonious civil societies. With quality implementation, integrated early childhood development is a highly effective and cost-efficient approach to ensure that all children develop their full potential. The 2017 Lancet series on ECD stressed that the human brain develops faster between conception and the ages of 2-3 than at any other time in life. It further points out that it is during the first 1000 days that a child's development responds most readily to nurturing care in terms of health, nutrition, responsive care giving, safety and security, and early learning.

Quality ECD provides a vital foundation for lifelong learning, health and wellbeing. However, in Namibia only 13% of children aged 0-4 attend Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers (ECD-MIS, 2018) and the pre-primary net enrolment rate is at 31.4% (EMIS 2017). While ECD has been slowly gaining momentum in Namibia over the past five years and has been identified as a development game-changer in the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5), access and quality remain a serious challenge. This contributes to high repetition rates in Grade 1 which stands at 20% (EMIS AEC 2018) and high rates of repetition are a trend that continues into later grades, peaking in Grade 10. Survival rates across all grades show a rapid drop-out as learner's progress through school.

In Namibia, ECD service provision falls under the responsibility of individuals (parents/educarers/caregivers), communities, churches and the private sector. The Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGEPESW) has the mandate to register and supervise ECD centres notably their level of compliance with established minimum standards for ECD centres (Namibian Standards for ECD Centres, 2012). The Ministry also provides training and subsidies to Educarers working in registered centres and having qualifications in ECD. As of 2018, there are 3,010 ECD centres operating in all the 14 regions of the country with 5,531 ECD Educarers providing services to 96 154 children from 6 months to 4 years old.

There are a number of different training providers for Educarers operating in Namibia and many centres are run by untrained managers and have untrained staff. Some Educarers can benefit from a 7-week ECD course offered by the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare. Different methods and approaches are taken in ECD centres across the country, and to streamline this the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare introduced the 3-4 Curriculum in 2013. Despite various training options, the majority of ECD teachers (over 70%) are still un or under-trained, and this has a serious impact on quality of teaching and learning. Further, the majority of the national and regional officials overseeing the ECD portfolio across the ministries of Gender and Education do not have an ECD background.

How can you make a difference?

ECD is increasingly becoming a priority in Namibia both for the benefit of individual children and as a development strategy to address persistent poverty and poor education outcomes within one generation. However, challenges remain in terms of ECD expertise in centres, as well as a lack of pedagogical expertise applied to planning, oversight and monitoring.

Considering the global developments in ECD, and that the early years offer an irreplaceable window of opportunity (UNICEF, 2019), there is a need to ensure that the MGEPESW's ECD programmes cover all aspects of holistic child development, and that ECD centres benefit from optimal training and support. Therefore, the MGEPESW is seeking an ECD expert, with a grounding in ECD pedagogy and training to support the strengthening of ECD training programmes, documentation development, centre oversight and capacity of ECD coordinators nationally and regionally. This role would also include strengthening vital linkages between ECD and formal education as well as ECD and health and protection services.

The consultant will be based at the MGEPESW and will work as part of the Community Empowerment Directorate's ECD team as a full-time contractor While the consultant will be funded by UNICEF, they will report to the UNICEF Chief CSD as a first line of reporting and to the Director of Community Empowerment a secondary line of reporting.

Scope of Work

The consultant's working arrangements will be two-fold.

1. The consultant will work to develop concrete deliverables to support the ECD agenda in Namibia (as listed below).
2. The consultant will provide day-to-day technical support to the directorate to ensure an ECD pedagogy lens is applied in directorate practices, processes and activities.

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for:

Deliverables:

1. Monthly reports tracking progress on deliverables and technical support provided.
2. Review and revise the 7-week Educarer training manual:
   1. Align with updated curriculum and strengthen curriculum implementation component;
   2. Strengthen components on teaching methodologies;
   3. Strengthen holistic development and active learning components and related assessments;
   4. Strengthen components on centre/classroom management, positive discipline and relationships with parents and communities;
   5. Develop a training assessment tool;
   6. Ensure training programme has practical components.
3. Retrain master trainers on the revised 7 week training programme, including use of the training assessment tool.
4. Support master trainers in rolling out of trainings within the regions.
5. Provide comprehensive training to all 152 CLOs at national and regional level on ECD science, pedagogies and on the key principles of what constitutes quality ECD.
6. Revise/develop a centre monitoring tool for use by Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) when visiting centres.
7. Train CLOs on the use of this tool - it should include a component on re-assessing CLOs trained under the revised 7-week training.
8. Support NIED and MoEAC with the revision of the Pre-primary Teachers Manual and ensure linkages between 0-4 curriculum and pre-primary teaching programme.

Technical Support:

1. Provide day-to-day technical support to the directorate, ensuring promotion of ECD best practice in all relevant activities.
2. Support in the development of an Annual Work Plan for ECD with SMART indicators.
3. Provide a pedagogical lens to the ECD-MIS data collection, report writing and analysis process.
4. Support the implementation and coordination of the IECD Framework and the inclusion of ECD in the NDP6 discussions.
5. Support CLOs in the implementation of their 7-week training programmes, centre support visits and parental engagements activities.
6. Provide technical support during procurement of ECD infrastructure and supplies for teaching and learning to ensure best practice promotion and alignment with national ECD standards.
7. Support the IECD Capacity Development Sub-Committee and specifically oversee and support the regulation of ECD curricula and training programmes offered by service providers and NGOs to ensure maintenance of standards.
8. Support the #RightStart campaign in the development of pedagogically appropriate materials for mass production to support early learning, teacher development, and positive parenting.
9. Support the development of hubs on excellence at model ECD centres:
   1. Support new model centre set up;
   2. Provide additional training to ECD teachers working at model centres;
   3. Support the development of an outreach plan for model centres to be a resource to surrounding ECD teachers;
   4. Assist with the development of lending resource libraries at model centres;
   5. Support CLOs responsible for oversight of model centres to maintain standards and provide ongoing support.
10. Based on the external review of the ECD subsidy system, support the implementation of recommendation to strengthen the ECD subsidy system and its accountability mechanism.
11. Support CLOs on implementing a parental engagement programme.

Reporting Requirements and Project Management

Day-to- day, the consultant will report to the Chief of CSD as the first line of reporting and to the Director of Community Empowerment in the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Child Welfare as a second line. All contracting will be managed by UNICEF and the consultant will be responsible to submitting deliverables to UNICEF, once signed off by the Director at MGEPECW. The consultant will be expected to provide a monthly report against an invoice, the consultant will be expected to provide email updates to MGEPESW and UNICEF on a regular basis.

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

UNICEF is seeking the services of an individual expert with the following qualifications and skills:

• Advanced degree (Master's degree) in ECD, Education or Psychology.
• Minimum 5 years of experience working in the ECD/ Early Education field.
• Experience in and knowledge of the ECD/pre-primary sector in Namibia.
• Classroom experience teaching ECD aged children and/or training ECD or Pre-primary teachers is essential.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in working on curriculum development, teacher training and child development.
• Experience in conducting continuous professional development trainings.
• Solid knowledge of planning and operational management.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, organise and implement effective workplans.
• Strong analytical ability and capacity to prepare strategies and proposals.
• Dynamic interpersonal and communication skills.
• Energetic, creative and pragmatic.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Well organised.
• Competent with digital technology.
• Fluency in English.

The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF's General Terms and Conditions for individual consultants and contractors.

Administrative issues

The Consultant will be contracted by UNICEF through a competitive hiring process. The consultant should be based in Namibia and able to commit to this office-based position full time. The consultant will be contracted by UNICEF but will work closely with the Directorate of Community Empowerment in the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGPESW). The consultant will be supervised by the UNICEF's ECD Officer and he/she will also report to the Chief of Child Survival and Development at UNICEF Namibia.

Conditions:

• The consultant will work on their own computer(s) and will be based at the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare.
• The contractor must be eligible to work in Namibia and is responsible for arranging required visa to Namibia.
• UNICEF shall be entitled to all property rights, including but not limited to patents, copyrights and trademarks, with regard to material which bears a direct relation to, or is made in consequence of, the services provided to the Organization by the consultant. In certain cases, UNICEF may be prepared to share intellectual property rights, requiring at a minimum, that UNICEF must be acknowledged in all use and publications of the data generated under the present consultancy, and retains the right to use the data for further analysis and publication with acknowledgement of the research institution concerned.
• UNICEF will cover the internal work-based travel costs of the consultant, based on case-by-case approval.
• Consultants are not entitled to payment of overtime. All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or Contractor.
• Consultant will be required to complete online courses related to Ethics, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Security related trainings prior to taking up the assignment and/or travel.
• Consultant will be required to sign the Health Statement for consultants/individual contractor prior to taking up the assignment, and to document that they have appropriate health insurance covering COVID-19, including Medical Evacuation.

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

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are requested to complete an application including profile to the respective advertisement on https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

Proposals should include;

• Interpretation of the Terms of Reference (ToR) and deliverables (identify relevance or possible gaps),
• Brief proposal outlining approach to undertaking activities,
• Consultancy profile and summary of similar work completed, examples of previous work to be included.
• Detailed budget including travel. Tax to be included as separate line item.

Evaluation Weighting

70% technical

30% financial

100% total

Technical evaluation will be based on the following:

• interpretation of the terms of reference and proposed methodology;
• Candidate's qualification and relevant experience, and;
• Overall quality and depth of technical proposal.

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:

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.