International Consultant to undertake a diagnostic assessment of the Maldives Education Management Information System

This opening expired 2 years ago. Do not try to apply for this job.

UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

Open positions at UNICEF
Logo of UNICEF

Application deadline 2 years ago: Friday 12 Nov 2021 at 18:55 UTC

Open application form

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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

Advert: TOR/2021/22: International Consultant to undertake a diagnostic assessment of the Maldives Education Management Information System

Background and rationale:

The Maldives Education Management Information System (MEMIS) is the specialization of the OpenEMIS open source software by the Community Systems Foundation (CSF). It was recommended to the Ministry of Education (MoE) by UNICEF and UNESCO, in an effort to offer a one-stop education data management solution for the Maldives.

The initial proposal from CSF via the UNESCO was put forward to the (MoE) on 1st July 2015. The Project commenced on December 2015, followed by the custom software development in 2016. This included the identification of the country specific requirements, development, design and testing of the software. Sample data sets for attendance, risk index generation, staff information, report card generation, palm cards, 10+ program, and Academic Performance Improvement Program (APIP) were used for testing. Data entry and transfer were started at central level in July 2016, to kickstart the use of the MEMIS. Basic trainings were held for schools in December 2016, and schools started data entry in January 2017. MEMIS was officially launched on 16th July 2017. MEMIS Support Unit at MoE was established and CSF Help Desk Services were started during August 2017.

Since its establishment, MEMIS has been hosted in Cloud Servers, purchased by the CSF. In addition, technical support as well as feature developments are managed solely by the CSF, under several contracts within this duration. Initially, UNICEF had provided all financial support for hosting and development, as the contracts were directly made between UNICEF and CSF. However, the current Software Development Contract from November 2019 to October 2022, is made between the MoE and CSF, and is funded from the Ministry of Education. This contract includes new feature developments and technical support, and provides hosting without any additional cost.

There have been significant developments within this duration. However, with later developments and enhancements in the MEMIS modules, numerous challenges have been encountered, which has continued unresolved for almost two years. This had required the MoE and UNICEF to undertake a diagnostic assessment of the MEMIS to identify the causes of the issues and seek recommendations to rectify the issues for sustainable use of MEMIS.

Purpose of the consultancy:

The purpose of this consultancy is to undertake an independent assessment of the MEMIS to:

  1. Identify the current challenges and issues encountered in MEMIS by the MoE and by the schools using MEMIS.
  2. Diagnose the reasons for the recurrent issues.
  3. Propose detailed recommendations on how to address the issues experience by the MEMIS and to sustain MEMIS.
  4. Map key options for EMIS, with their functionalities, strengths and limitations versus a few other key EMIS used in other countries including DHIS2.
  5. Map a few kep options for schools Management Systems that can be integrated with the current MEMIS.

Duty station: The consultant will work remotely with the MoE and UNICEF Maldives Country Office and UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia.

Supervisor: the Consultant will work under the supervision of Ms. Mazeena Jameel, Program Specialist, Education and WASH in collaboration with Mr. Aslam Mohammed ( Technology for Learning Focal point and ICT Associate of UNICEF Maldives Country Office.

Major tasks to be accomplished.

    • Review the contract between the MOE and CSF to identify any issues that could or might have stemmed from the scope of work or terms and conditions in the contract.
    • Review the MEMIS data base and identify design issues that could lead to the individual issues reported by MoE and schools. Provide recommendations for hosting infrastructure, database optimization and fine tuning. Also, include recommendations for improving look/feel of user interface and user friendliness.
    • In consultation with with the MoE and schools indetify the key issues faced by MoE and Schools when using the MEMIS at user level.
    • Identify the causes of disruptions in the MEMIS after each update and propose mitigation measures to prevent disruptions related to updates.
    • Review the implementation of the MEMIS policy and identify the key challenges schools face in implementing the MEMIS policy effectively in schools and propose required revisions.
    • Assess the expenditure on MEMIS for the past 3 years ( including expenditures incurred from the current contact), value for money and sustainability of MEMIS. Propose suggestions to make MEMIS more effective and sustainable, if any.
    • Map MEMIS functionalities, strengths and limitations
    • Map key alternatives to MEMIS, including EMIS used in country contexts similar to Maldives, including their fuctionalities, strengths, limitations and costs.
    • Identify at least 4 School Management Systems most popularly used in Maldives and around the world that can be integrated with MEMIS.
    • Present the findings of the assessment and the proposed recommendations to UNICEF and MoE in a virtual call.

Details of deliverables:

  • A draft report with key findings and recommendations
  • Presentation of the report to MOE and UNICEF.
  • Final report.

Estimated duration of contract and deadline for submission of end-product

Duration: 30 working days (between 15th Novermber – 20th December 2021)

Official travel involved: The consultancy will be done remotely.

Qualifications or specialized knowledge and/or experience required:

  • Must have an advanced degree in Information Communication Technology, software/database design and testing.
  • Must have at least 8 years experience in the industry.
  • Familiarization with open source software
  • Familiarity/ Experiece with Open EMIS.
  • Familiarity with Education technology will be an asset.

Interested candidates should submit an Expression of Interest along with the following documents.

  • A Timeline for the key activities.
  • CV and P11 form
  • Financial proposal for the work

Payment Schedule

Deliverables

Payment %

A detailed report on the key findings from the diagnostic assessment and recommendations.

100%

Presentation to UNICEF and MoE on the findings and recommendations

UNICEF will only make milestone payment based on achievement of specific deliverables as listed in this TOR. Also note that UNICEF does not make advance payment and UNICEF is exempted from paying VAT and any other forms of taxes.

Deadline for applications: 12th November 2021

Application link:

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.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

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.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org