National consultancy (Consultancy to assessment teachers' pedagogic and classroom management capacities and to development a modularized in-service teacher training and education plan to add

Contract

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1. Background

Country Context The Gambia is located on the West African coast and extends about 500 km inland, with a population density of 174 persons per square km, against a backdrop of a rapidly increasing population with over a third of the population below seventeen years of age. The Gambia is the smallest country in continental Africa, and is bordered on the North, South and East by the Republic of Senegal and on the West by the Atlantic Ocean.

At the household level, the Integrated Household Survey of The Gambia (IHS 2015/16) shows that poverty has remained flat in the last decade with the 3 per cent GDP growth barely keeping up with a population growth of 3.1 per cent. Poverty has also been a push factor that triggers young Gambians to leave the country by irregular means to Europe and other destinations.

The recently concluded MICS 2018 has shown that, while The Gambia has achieved a considerable progress in securing children’s rights and development in a number of areas, progress has been slow in other areas, and many children continue to be exposed to the risk of significant rights’ violations and an inability to thrive and achieve. Despite a strong commitment to improve development outcomes for children’s through enacting of comprehensive laws and policies, these have not adequately translated into desired results for children. Realization of children’s rights to basic services such as health, education, adequate food and protection from abuse are still challenging.

Another important national challenge is disparities among regions, sexes and ages, uneven performance of The Gambia in meeting children’s rights and key development targets as results remain starkly uneven by geographic area and in terms of particular groups of children. The children from poor families, children living in rural locations and informal urban settlements, children with disabilities were found to have considerable gaps in their access to services and achievement of outcomes in health, nutrition, education, WASH and social welfare.

Background to the Consultancy Assignment

Over several UNICEF Country Programmes, teacher training and capacity development was central focus. The most recent was the Programme for Improved Quality Standards in Schools (PIQSS) (2012 -2016). An evaluation of the PIQSS in 2019 recommended that “UNICEF needs to increase focus on teacher training and support systems, which will include development of teacher training systems, support the teacher monitoring and feedback systems and developing the capacities of regional teacher training outfits. This is the most sustainable approach to quality learning outcomes. It is recommended that MoBSE should strengthen its monitoring of in-service teacher training programmes.”

UNICEF and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education are partnering to acquire in-depth understanding of the teacher classroom pedagogic and management capacities. Using that information gathered, the partnership is requesting the consultant to develop a modularized teacher in-service training programme which will be used to address the capacity gaps and prepare them for new roles in the future.

It would be noted that teacher performance is to some extent influenced by their circumstances which affect their attendance. The teacher absenteeism study of 2019 reported that health, family and other official school businesses are major factors driving teacher absenteeism (UNICEF Gambia). It would be important to increase the capacities of school heads and teachers to manage absenteeism. Absenteeism leads to waste of resource up to 46 cents in every Dollar invested in education, and the prevalence of absenteeism in Sub-Saharan Africa is about 15 – 45 per cent (World Bank SDI study).

2. Purpose of the Consultancy Assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide data and guidance to contribute to the overall improvement of teacher pedagogic and classroom management practices. This will ultimately contribute to improved learning outcomes and skill development for children. The initiative is premised on the notion that quality education goals cannot be met without qualitative and well-motivated teachers. Part of which is the level of teacher professional confidence.

The objectives of the consultancy are: • To provide data on the type and extent of the capacity gaps that exist in teacher pedagogic and classroom management skills for teachers in public Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Lower Basic Schools. • To prepare a modularized in-service teacher training programme which is intended to address these capacity gaps. UNICEF and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education will use the outcome of this consultancy to guide future engagement and programme actions in teacher training activities.

3. Scope of the Consultancy

The scope of this consultancy will include but not limited to the following: • Using suitable methodologies, the consultant is expected to widely consult schoolteachers, education sector personnel, practitioners and stakeholders to create data/evidence on gaps on teacher classroom pedagogic and management capacities. • The targets are generally teachers in public Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Lower Basic Schools. Consultations should include sample from at least three (3) of the six (6) Regional Education Directorates to reflect representation. • Using the validate data/evidence from the consultation, the consultant will develop a modularized in-service teacher training programme to address the capacity gaps. • To develop pathways that the teacher may follow to attain desirable results. • The consultancy is expected to last 50 working days and spreading over not more than 4 consecutive calendar months.

4. Methodology

The strength of any application will partly depend on the soundness of the methodology proposed. To this end, no methodology will be proposed. However, whatever methodology is proposed in any application must have wider stakeholder consultation as a key strategy.

5. Schedule of Tasks, Deliverables, Duty-Station & Timeline

The following are the key tasks, deliverables for the consultant. The applicant can propose the modification in his/her technical proposal to be in line with the methodology. However, the deliverables will remain unchanged. Bearing that process will have a timeline to obtain the feedback from stakeholders, the duration is within 4 months period whereas assignment engagement will remain 50 working days.

Task Deliverable Duty-Station Anticipated Timeline in days 1. Inception report which will include the research design, methodological questions and data collection and analysis plan Inception Report Home-based 5 days 2. Field data collection – collecting data from at least three (3) out of six (6) Regional Education Directorates. Conduct KII with MoBSE, Teacher Unions and professional associations, CSO and teacher training institutions. Report of field data collection Home-based 12 days 3. Data entry, analysis and drafting of first draft training modules First draft training modules Home-based 8days 4. Presentation of the second draft training plan and module descriptions to a validation workshop Validated training modules Home-based 3days 5. Development and submission of draft in-service training plan First draft training plan Home-based 15days 6. Presentation of the second draft training plan to a validation workshop Validated training plan Home-based 5days 7. Finalization and submission of final report and training plan with detail training context for each module Final training modules and plan Home-based 2days Total number of working days for the Consultant 50days

Duty station matters and official travels • The Consultant will work from home, no office space will be provided. • The Consultant will be contracted for 50 working days over a period of two months. • The consultant will be responsible for his/her own internal travel arrangements or any other logistic requirements. • UNICEF and key ECD stakeholders will be available for consultations, debriefing and validation of the preliminary findings.

6**. Estimated duration of contract; Remuneration; Other Terms and Conditions**

The contractor will be engaged under short-term individual contract on part-time basis, immediately after the completion of the contracting procedure, for estimated period of 50 working days, starting from September to December 2021. The exact number of days proposed by the contractor will be subjected to UNICEF’s review and confirmation before the contract is signed. The Consultancy fees will be negotiated based on value for money and in line with UNICEF standards and terms of payment are stipulated below.

Payment Schedule Deliverable 1st payment: 30% Submission of inception report 2nd payment 30% Submission of First Draft training modules Power Point Presentation summarizing the draft report and preliminary findings Final Payment: 40% Submission of final training modules and plan accepted by UNICEF Final Power Point Presentation

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, does not meet the quality standards of both UNICEF and the Government of The Gambia, not delivered or has failed to meet deadlines (fees reduced due to late submission: 5 days – 10%, 15 days – 20%; 1 month – 50%; more than 1 month – payment withheld).

UNICEF does not provide or arrange health insurance coverage for the consultant. The Consultant will make his own transport arrangements (including airfares, local transportation, etc.). Obtaining entry visa to The Gambia for the team members shall be the responsibility of the Consultant. UNICEF may support if necessary.

All travel costs including daily subsistence allowances of the team members or any such expenses are the responsibility of the Consultant. The Consultant will be responsible for arranging accommodation while in The Gambia, however, UNICEF shall extend administrative/logistical support to facilitate this.

7. Supervision and Reporting Arrangements

The contractor will be supervised and report to the UNICEF Education Specialist with briefing and de-briefing to the Programme Manager PIC and the UNICEF Deputy Representative about the progress of the consultancy. The consultant will work with UNICEF and relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), participating UN agencies and Cooperating Partners, as well as other intervention stakeholders, including beneficiaries.

As part of quality assurance mechanism and ensure ownership, a reference group comprising of Government and UNICEF will be established to provide oversight to the study and provide comments to the deliverables.

8. Qualifications & Experience required

The Consultant must have the following qualifications: • Master’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, or related child rights/well-being graduate qualifications. • Demonstrated expertise and capability in conducting programme planning, development and implementation using approaches that are friendly to children. • Proven record of participation or conducting similar assignment in programme/projects relating to Early Childhood Development or in social sector. • Experience with UNICEF and other UN agencies will be an advantage • Excellent communication and interview skills • Excellent report writing and organization skills • Proficiency in English Language • Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines, through a proven track record.

9. Intellectual property rights

UNICEF retain the right to patent and intellectual rights, as well as copyright and other similar intellectual property rights to the survey protocols and tools, discoveries, inventions, production or works arising from the consultancy. Neither the Consultant/consultancy firm nor its personnel shall communicate to any other person or entity any confidential information made known to it by UNICEF in the course of the performance of its obligations under the terms of this Agreement nor shall it use this information for private or company advantage. This provision shall survive the expiration or termination of this Agreement. The right to reproduce or use materials shall be transferred with a written approval of UNICEF based on the consideration of each separate case.

10. How to apply UNICEF accepts applications from individual contractors. The Selection Committee will review applications and make a final decision of a successful application based on the quality of the Technical Proposal (70%), the Financial Proposal (30%). An interview with potential candidates will be held as the final stage of the selection process. All applications should contain the following documents: I. Technical Project Proposal, which would include at least: - Statement of how to address each the key issues/questions of the consultancy assignment - Conceptual framework of the methodologies to be used - Consultant’s profile/portfolio - Proposed timeframes (days/weeks) - Names and contact details of reference persons. - List of publications or analytical reports (if applicable) - Any other additional information to support the application (optional). II. Financial Proposal: - Detailed budget breakdown (in US Dollars).

Please send your application through the online platform accessible through this link: http://jobs.unicef.org/

Deadline for applications: 20th August 2021

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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.