International Consultancy for technical assistance to improve the quality of Life Skills education in Abkhazia

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Friday 13 Jan 2023 at 14:00 UTC

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Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Deadline- 13 January 6 PM Georgian time

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

Purpose of activity/assignment:

Over the last 25 years there have been no methodical attempt to reform education in Abkhazia. The unresolved and protracted political conflict further complicates the situation. Education is heavily underfunded, resulting in a persistent lack of teaching materials, teacher professional development, and dilapidated school infrastructure. Consequently, the quality of education is low. At the same time, information on school attendance, drop-out rates and student learning outcomes are not publicly available, making evidence-based programming difficult.

Education in Abkhazia in various ways perpetuates mistrust and resentment between the region’s various ethnic communities and only partially reflects the existing linguistic diversity in Abkhazia, thus it does not contribute to peacebuilding. The resentment is felt particularly strongly in the sphere of mother tongue education and has the potential to cause new tensions between the divided communities. Children of different ethno-linguistic communities in Abkhazia today have very different chances to study in their mother tongue and children of each ethnic community face specific challenges.

Education has very little linkage with competencies relevant for successful development and growth beyond school years. This became noticeable during the outbreak of COVID-19 related pandemic and overall education disruption, where both teachers and students lacked basic skills and competencies that could support them in this transitional period.

In 2021, a training course on mainstreaming of practical skills into the education practices in Abkhazia, such as a combination of project-based learning, communication and conflict resolution skills, basics of computer and financial literacy for teachers from the pilot schools was developed by UNICEF. A group of local experts, under the guidance on an international expert, trained the teachers who piloted the new course in their schools. The course focuses on cultivating personal life skills, such as critical thinking, self-reflection, problem solving and interpersonal skills, as well as focus on strengthening of financial and computer literacy, project planning, healthy lifestyle, etc, through project-based learning. For smooth integration of the course into the schooling programme in Abkhazia, supportive supervision for teachers is needed to effectively roll out the course, assess the overall progress of life skills course integration, provide consultations and advice for teachers in introducing the course in targeted schools across Abkhazia (13 schools). A group of local teachers, with support from the international consultant, will develop and publish a life skills guidebook for other teachers.

Scope of Work:

The consultant will work with parental committees to sensitize on the importance of life skills education, will develop supporting materials for parents on life skills education that will be distributed among parents of schoolchildren.

The consultant will conduct training sessions for school management on the importance of life skills education. It is also expected that the consultant will provide consultations and supportive supervision to teachers in targeted schools. The consultant is to support local teachers in documenting their experience, which can be used to inform future programmes and advocacy with local teachers.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline:

Conduct series of discussions with parental groups (parental committees) on the importance of life skills education

Series of discussions/workshops with parents from parental committees are conducted

February 2023– April 2023

Develop supporting materials for parents on life skills education (to be distributed among parental committees)

Quality supporting materials on life skills are developed for parents and distributed accordingly

February 2023 – April 2023

Conduct training sessions for school management on the importance of life skills education

Quality training programme for school management on life skills education is developed

Training sessions with school management on life skills education are conducted

January - April 2023

Provide supportive supervision to teachers in target schools on piloting the life skills course

Provide supportive supervision to teachers in target schools piloting the life skills course

January – September 2023

Supervision and final editing of the life skills course guidebook for local teachers that is based on the experience of the pilot life skills course

Quality LS guidebook developed, edited and published

March -September 2023

Travel International****: Most of the tasks under the consultancy will be implemented remotely. Trips to Abkhazia might be considered depending on the situation with COVID-19 and entry procedures. In case of travel, details will be coordinated with the consultant and amendments to the TOR and contract will be made accordingly.

Location: Home based

Duration: 10 January 2023- 1 September 2023 (56 days)

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

Minimum Qualifications required:

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

  • Advanced university degree in Education or any relevant field;
  • At least 7 years of work experience in areas of education, life skills, pedagogy, including work experience in the context with transitional education;
  • Proven experience in teacher training programme development on student-centered teaching methodologies, Life Skills, as well teacher training delivery and parental work;
  • Knowledge and experience in working with and integration of UNICEF life skills programmes is an asset;
  • Excellent English language skills. Knowledge of Russian language is an asset;
  • Very good analytical and organizational skills;
  • Familiarity with UNICEF's work in the area of education;
  • Excellent communication and teamwork skills; ability to work with minimum supervision in a multi-national environment with team members from different cultural backgrounds;
  • Good knowledge and use of Microsoft package and relevant software for remote work.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.

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