National consultant for supporting implementation of the inclusive education programme in Azerbaijan

Contract

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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

Inclusive education is a relatively new concept for the Azerbaijani education system where children with disabilities are traditionally placed in special educational institutions, such as special schools or boarding schools or educated at home. Obstacles to inclusive education in Azerbaijan include the legislation and policies not clearly addressing a definition of inclusive education and guaranteeing an access to inclusive learning opportunities for all students; lack of physical accessibility of education institutions and lack of assistive technologies to assist children in accessing the existing curriculum when possible; lack of teacher capacity to support the learning of children with disabilities in regular schools; lack of adequate transportation to school for children with disabilities.

Azerbaijan adopted the State Programme on Development of Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities for 2018-2024. From 2015 inclusive education was introduced in 4 pilot schools in Baku. At the moment these 4 schools enroll over 120 children with disabilities, including children with intellectual disabilities.

In 2018-2020 UNICEF and Ministry of Science and Education (MoSE) delivered a programme on expanding inclusive education in Azerbaijan funded by EU. The programme achieved impact on the national teacher training systems and schools ensuring teachers, schools and communities are better prepared for expansion of the inclusive education. Over 10,000 primary school teachers in 7 regions were trained on inclusive education and 6 teacher training universities already introduced the new Inclusive Education teacher training programme in their curriculum.

Since 2021 with support and advocacy of UNICEF, the Ministry of Science and Education expanded access to inclusive education to total of 22 schools in 11 regions of Azerbaijan. Although the number of children with disabilities enrolled in inclusive schools doubled over the last few years reaching 207 in 2022, the enrolment in inclusive schools remains very low (0,5% of school age children with registered disabilities).

How can you make a difference?

The main purpose of this assignment is to provide technical, administrative and coordination support to the UNICEF Country Office, the Ministry of Science and Education and the Institute of Education of Azerbaijan in strengthening the teaching and learning practices in selected inclusive schools of Azerbaijan.

Under the supervision of the Education Specialist at the UNICEF Azerbaijan Office and in consultation with Ministry of Science and Education the national consultant will support the project delivery by:

• Providing technical support to UNICEF and the Ministry of Science and Education in implementation of the joint programme on expanding a network of inclusive schools in Azerbaijan, including monitoring implementation of the programme by the Implementing Partners, identifying and collecting any relevant information and data and providing reporting, including findings and recommendations on the status of programme implementation in schools, requirements for teacher training and available needs, capacities and resources.

• Assisting UNICEF and the MoSE/Institute of Education in development and field testing of relevant guidelines, recommendations, tools and methodologies for organizing effective inclusive teaching and learning processes in the inclusive schools;

• Conducting regular lesson observations and provide continuous mentoring guidance and support to the trained trainers and staff of the inclusive schools in the selected districts; providing on-the-job professional guidance and

support to schoolteachers and other education staff on organization of teaching & learning processes in line with the requirements and principles of inclusive education and child-centred and human-rights based approaches;

• Quality reviewing the draft training materials, didactic and teaching materials on Inclusive Education;

• Regularly monitoring and evaluating the relevant outcomes of the Inclusive Education project implementation vs the agreed project objectives, indicators, deliverables and timelines and performance of the partners/contractors. Submit monthly and monitoring visit reports.

• Undertaking regular field visits and sharing information with stakeholders to assess progress. Reporting on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.

• Advising the team on how to further enhance the ongoing social behavior change towards better accepting and including children with disabilities in inclusive schools, taking into consideration any challenges that girls face when compared to the challenges faced by boys.

• Providing support in identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned from the implementation of the programme in the inclusive schools; following up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.

• Building and sustaining effective close working partnerships with the Ministry of Science and Education, Institute of Education, inclusive schools, local Education Departments/Sectors and other local stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate project implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on the Inclusive Education project.

• Support any other related task, as required.

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

• A master degree in education, preferably inclusive education, social sciences or any other relevant field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in designing and/or implementing education or training programs. Any experience in teacher training for inclusive education would be an asset.
• Previous project management experience in the development sector, including professional experience in programme planning, management and/or research in education.
• Excellent English communication, writing and analytical skills;
• Excellent Azerbaijani communication, writing and analytical skills;
• Ability to work in a team with tight deadlines;
• Availability for intensive travel to the project pilot districts;
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s mission and mandate.

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.