National Consultant for Coordination of Educational Institutions in Refugee Response

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF’s office is accessible to a certain extent, and employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations that are needed for ensuring equitable working conditions.

The Republic of Serbia has faced a continual mixed-migration flow from the beginning of the migrant crisis in 2015 until today. Since 2015, hundreds of thousands of children on the move have transited through Serbia. Although the Balkan route was closed in 2016, refugees and migrants continue to arrive. The Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (SCRM) reported 4,836 refugees (June 2022) and migrants accommodated in asylum/reception/transit centres (AC/RC/TC) across the country, of whom 292 are children. Since 24 February 2022 when the conflict in Ukraine started, more than 23,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered Serbia and 20,921 have exited the country, as reported by the Ministry of Interior. Currently, approximately 2,000 Ukrainian refugees, among whom more than 500 children under 17, are present in the country. The Government of Serbia adopted the Governmental Decision on Providing Temporary Protection in the Republic of Serbia to Displaced Persons Coming from Ukraine, providing temporary protection to be issued to Ukrainian citizens as well as third-country nationals and their families.

Since 2016, UNICEF has provided significant support to the Serbian authorities to develop improved services and support the education of refugee and migrant children who entered Serbia during the refugee and migration crisis in Europe. Since 2016, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MoESTD) has organized the enrolment of all primary school children in schools, under the same regulation as host children, without making temporary protection status a precondition. During the school year 2021/22, according to SCRM data, 86 per cent of refugee and migrant primary school age children attended formal education. Particular attention has been given to developing an inclusive approach to the education of children on the move within the formal education system.

In order to provide education continuity for children on the move, UNICEF CO is engaged in Ukraine Refugee response, supporting going back to learning for refugee children, leveraging partnerships to facilitate access to quality and inclusive learning opportunities, and utilising and further enhancing already developed approaches of provision of learning support, integration activities and language learning.

Work Assignment Overview:

The consultant will be responsible to participate in coordination and implementation of the activities designed within the Education Refugee Response in Serbia, including Ukraine Refugee Response plan, as well as to support Back-to-School Campaign and UNICEF advocacy activities to support timely quality learning to the refugee and migrant children.

Duration of the assignment: October 2022 – December 2024 (part-time, home-based)

Task description:

Task 1: Coordination of different national actors, particularly educational institutions that participated in the implementation of the Education Refugee Response Plan, including data collection on refugee and migrant children:

• Support the development of project documents, agreements and other documents related to the implementation of education of refugee and migrant children within the scope of the MoESTD,
• Coordination of different partners within the education system, engaged in implementation of activities relevant to education of refugee and migrant children at the national level (local schools, Regional School Administrations, and others),
• Coordinate data collection on refugee and migrant children participation in the formal education on monthly basis,
• Support the design and monitor the implementation of project activities related to the capacity development program aimed at strengthening schools/ teachers` capacities and realization of project activities provided through schools to refugee and migrant children,
• Support the design and implementation of specific activities relevant to the education and learning support within the Ukraine Refugee Response.

Task 2: Support advocacy activities related to the quality inclusive education of refugee and migrant children and to UNICEF’s advocacy campaign Back to Learning of refugee and migrant children:

• Support the development of the UNICEF advocacy campaign Back to Learning, as well as documents relevant to advocating and promoting education of refugee and migrant children, taking into account the specificities of educational needs of refugee and migrant children from different countries of origin,
• Promote the campaign and developed materials among educational institutions and oversee the realization of the campaign activities in schools,
• Oversee the collection and development of different materials on promotion of education of refugee and migrant children (good practices, communication and promotion materials, etc.) which is realized in schools.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• University degree in Education, Pedagogy, Psychology, Philology, Sociology, or other fields of Social Studies and Humanities.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in education policy in Serbia in the area of inclusive education, particularly education of refugee and migrant children.
• Excellent knowledge of Serbian education system and education policies, and experience in working with different public institutions in the area of education of refugee and migrant children.
• Experience in the development and implementation of capacity building programs for education professionals.
• Experience in supporting the learning of children from vulnerable groups.
• Demonstrated flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving.
• Excellent oral and written Serbian and English language skills.
• Ability to work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.
• A high degree of accuracy is important.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines through excellent time management and organization skills.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the following information:

1. Daily rate (all costs included, e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone),
2. Daily travel allowance for an overnight stay in Serbia (including accommodation),
3. Transportation costs per km (for travel within Serbia).

Important notes:

Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

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.

For every child, you must demonstrate UNICEF's core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.