Local Consultant- Project Coordinator on accessible and quality early childhood bilingual education, Tbilisi, Georgia

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.

For every child, Education

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of assignment is to support implementation of the joint project of UNICEF and Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) “Strengthening accessible and quality early childhood bilingual education in Georgia” through coordination of planned activities and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia (MESY), UNICEF and ESTDEV.

Georgia, characterized by its multiethnic and multicultural composition, encompasses two regions, namely Samtkskhe- Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli, which are densely populated by ethnic Armenians and Azeris. Within the educational landscape, approximately 300 public schools, alongside more than 50 kindergartens are providing education in Armenian and Azeri languages respectively. While students are receiving education in their respective mother tongues, in addition to the classroom hours on the subject: “Georgian as a second language”, the proficiency of ethnic minority children in the state language, Georgian, remains constrained. This limitation impedes their social integration and constrains their prospects for further educational advancements within vocational education and training (VET) as well as higher educational institutions (HEIs).

The Ministry of Education, Science and Youth (MESY) of Georgia has been implementing a bilingual education programme in preschools and schools for ethnic minority children since the 2020-2021 academic year. By the 2023-2024 academic year, 34 kindergartens are covered with bilingual education programme.

Due to limited prior experience in bilingual education within the country, several challenges are present:

(a) educators within ethnic minority preschools encounter limitations in their capacity to acquire and implement novel pedagogical strategies tailored to the needs of individual children, which inhibits their ability to assimilate and apply contemporary instructional methodologies conducive to fostering the learning and development of such students.

(b) the existing professional development landscape for educators is inadequately developed to cater to the needs of ethnic minority children as universities and VET programmes are not preparing prospective professionals to assume roles as bilingual instructors in both kindergarten settings and schools and there is limited in-service support for professionals who work with ethnic minority children.

UNICEF, in partnership with ESTDEV, aims to support the MESY to strengthen accessible and quality bilingual early and preschool education through system development and capacity building of educators and stakeholders at different levels to strengthen state language learning and improve educational outcomes for students from ethnic minorities.

Scope of Work:

The main objective of the consultant is to provide timely and quality coordination for implementation of project activities in close cooperation with the MESY, UNICEF and ESTDEV.

The consultant is expected to perform the below tasks:

1. Participate in identification of national experts dedicated to work on different documents, programmes, trainings and other technical work as described in the project documents.

2. Prepare a list of documents to be analysed by international and national experts, arrange for translation of the identified materials and share with Estonian experts engaged in this project.

3. Plan and coordinate, including logistics, of webinars, seminars, working meetings and summarizing event for the project. Support visits of international experts to Georgia, including their participation in international Early Child Education and Care (ECEC) conference in September 2024. Support organization of a workshop on Subject Benchmarks of BA level education on ECEC field, in close cooperation with MESY.

4. Coordinate the joint work of international and national experts to deliver results as described in the project, including support in organizing interviews with identified stakeholders/experts.

5. Coordinate the work needed for the study tour of Georgian specialists to Estonia.

6. Coordinate national experts to map the existing literature available to educators on Georgian language to support bilingual education.

7. Actively communicate to the preschool education development division of MESY, local municipalities, Kindergarten Unions and representatives of 10 pilot kindergartens during the project implementation to support full participation of stakeholders.

8. Ensure timely exchange of information and documents, and dissemination of final analytical document(s), prepared by Estonian and Georgian experts, among major stakeholders. Provide translations of short documents (agenda, list of participants and etc).

9. Participate in finalization of analytical document and provide inputs for the framework activities for 2025.

Duration: 1 August 2024- 30 December 2024

Travel: local travel is expected

Work Assignments Overview:

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

Minimum Qualifications required:

Minimum bachelor’s degree in social science or humanities (education, psychology, public governance, or a related field).

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

● Minimum 3-year experience in coordination of educational projects. Some experience working with Estonian experts/ Estonian projects will be considered as asset.

● Knowledge and understanding of the local education landscape.

● Experience working closely with the MESY, local governments, Kindergarten Unions. Experience working in and with multicultural environment.

● Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

● Fluency in Georgian and working knowledge of English.

● Strong skills of team working, networking, negotiating and problem solving.

● Ability to work independently with minimum supervision.

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.