National Consultant for Project Proposal Development, Prishtina, Kosovo, Education Section, 23 days, home based

Contract

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Title of Consultancy: National Consultant for Project Proposal Development Type of Engagement: National Consultant Duty Station: Prishtina / Home Based Start Date: 01 October 2021 End Date: 12 November 2021

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

UNICEF work in Kosovo focuses on ensuring that the rights of children are identified and attended to, either directly or through advocacy with partners and relevant Kosovo institutions. The UNICEF Kosovo Programme for the period 2021-2025 focuses on the significant challenges facing children, adolescents and youth at different stages of their growth and development, embedded across three key programme pillars: i) First decade: Young Children and Their Parents, ii) Second decade: Empowerment and Participation of Adolescents and Young People, iii) Normative agenda: Social Inclusion and Child Rights Monitoring.

The strategic role of UNICEF in Kosovo encompasses, among others, convening value-shared partnerships while advocating for child rights and leveraging resources for children and their families. This strategic vision provides the rationale for the partnership between UNICEF and Institutions of Kosovo, partners and donor organizations and also the basis for increased advocacy for increased investments in and improved quality of expenditure on children’s programming and human capital development as a basis for sustainable child development and rights and economic growth. In the context of the unprecedented crisis brought about by the advent of COVID-19, UNICEF has also undertaken immediate coordinating and fundraising action to enable programmatic support to contribute in the national response for preventing and addressing the impact of COVID-19 in accessing essential services for women, children and youth.

In addition to direct funding applications, pooled funds, and bilateral donors, UNICEF Kosovo also focuses on supporting line ministries to develop and submit concept notes and donor proposals, on advancing the child rights agenda through influencing and supporting the implementation of national strategies, policies, and programmes, at par with knowledge generation.

This purpose of this consultancy is to support the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation to conceptualize the key components, coordinate the preparatory work and prepare the project proposals and accompanying documentation for submission to the donor, in the thematic area of Early Childhood Education.

Scope of Work:

This engagement will be carried out under the overall supervision of the UNICEF Education Specialist/Officer and in close coordination with the Deputy Minister of Education within MESTI, and will involve the following:

• Review of relevant documentation for full familiarization with the issue that will be covered in the proposal – i.e. strategies, evaluations, publications, workplans and the similar.
• Consultations with the relevant staff and/or institutions/organizations for developing the content structure in line with the needs and donors’ requirements.
• Development of a full set of project documents for the designated concept note, project proposal, result framework, and budget documents in line with donor’s requirements, in discussion with the UNICEF Kosovo team and the respective Institutional partner
• Ensuring the quality and timely addressing of comments in consultation with the Institutional representatives and UNICEF Kosovo team
• Preparation of all project proposal documentation, including the description of action, results framework and budget forms, for final submission to the donor
• Strengthening of capacities for compilation of project proposals through the design and implementation of a dedicated training for respective staff within the Ministry of Education.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone: Review the strategic, legal and other documentation related to early childhood education as per the project proposal objective Deliverables/Outputs: Full familiarization with ECE documents, situation and guiding concepts for the project proposal

Tasks/Milestone: Engage in discussion with the UNICEF Kosovo team, Institutional partner representatives to define the overall scope and key project proposal components Deliverables/Outputs: Key components, structure, and result areas of the project proposal are defined

Tasks/Milestone: Draft the concept note and result framework vis-à-vis the specific guidelines for the project proposal and share draft with the UNICEF Kosovo team and Institutional partner (i.e. M&E section) to review results orientation Deliverables/Outputs: Concept note and results framework is drafted and reviewed by the respective M&E sections.

Tasks/Milestone: Draft the project budget in alignment with specific donor requirements and share for review with the Institutional partner and UNICEF Kosovo team Deliverables/Outputs: Finalize the content of the full project proposal, including final

Tasks/Milestone: Editing and proofreading, for final review by the UNICEF Kosovo team and Institutional partner representative. Deliverables/Outputs: line with quality standards and are ready for submission to the donor

Tasks/Milestone: Review previous and/or current documentation proposal documents compiled by respective departments within the Ministry of Education. Deliverables/Outputs: Needs for strengthening capacities for development of project proposal documents identified.

Tasks/Milestone: Develop training content and conduct project proposal development and RBM approach training with relevant Ministerial staff. Deliverables/Outputs: Training completed with relevant Ministerial staff.

Minimum Qualifications required: Masters

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Graduate degree in the social sciences, economics, development studies or other relevant field;
• At least 5 years of experience, preferably in the development/humanitarian sector and with experience in fundraising, resource mobilization, communication and/or reporting;
• Required experience in project proposal writing for the EU and other donors;
• Preferred experience on UN system operations and donor assistance in both development and emergency settings;
• Preferred knowledge of national strategic frameworks, the EU development strategy and relevant international frameworks;
• Proven analytical and report writing skills.
• Ability to write concisely, clearly, and under time pressure
• Strong communication, facilitation, negotiation and coordination skills.