National consultant: National consultant to support Early Grade Learning activities, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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.

UNICEF started operation in Cambodia in 1952 and opened first country office in 1973 in Phnom Penh. More information on what we do in Cambodia is available at https://www.unicef.org/cambodia/.

How can you make a difference?

To address low foundational learning (proven evidence in both national, regional, and global assessments), and help students overcome some of the learning loss, the Primary Education Department (PED) of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) has developed a comprehensive strategy to support Early Grade Learning (EGL) and its expansion across the country by 2025. Building on the distribution of learning materials in 2021, the CDPF Steering Committee in early 2022 agreed to pivot activities to finance the largest scale-up to date of EGL in the country. The program, led and coordinated by PED, follows the methods and pedagogical approaches already designed and agreed upon with other partners and targets eight provinces for Early Grade Reading (EGR) for Grade 1 roll-out, and four provinces for Early Grade Math (EGM) roll-out for Grade 2. Overall, the CDPF-supported roll-out has reached approximately 113,228 students, 3,437 teachers, 2,473 school directors, and other relevant stakeholders in the 2022-2023 school year. 1,582 primary schools are covered by EGR and a further 891 by EGM.

The program provides comprehensive support to schools, including materials for children and classrooms, training for G1 and G2 teachers, and further mentoring support from both school and master mentors to consolidate capacity development and ensure the sustainability of the approach. Training for teachers also includes further pedagogical training on facilitation skills, classroom management, and gender-responsive pedagogy. A baseline assessment was conducted in February 2023, and learning will be assessed at the end of school year 2022-2023.

For the upcoming school year 2023-2024, the CDPF will continue its support to roll out the Early Grade Reading to all grade 2 classes in the already supported eight provinces. Given the complexity and importance of this work, UNICEF on behalf of the Capacity Development Partnership Fund (CDPF) is seeking a qualified individual to provide technical expertise to support the coordination, planning, implementation and monitoring of the program.

The consultant will provide technical assistance to the Primary Education Department to properly plan, implement and monitor the roll out of EGR in grade 2 in the eight target provinces.

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

• Advanced university degree in education, social sciences, international development, or related technical field
• At least three years of professional experience working on education programming and coordination,
• Experience working with Cambodian Government counterparts providing technical support, in particularly, on Early Grade Learning initiatives and mentoring,
• Experience in organizing multi-stakeholder meetings, writing reports and minutes, and following up on actions,
• Experience working with UN or other international or national development organizations is an advantage,
• Sound knowledge of the education sector in Cambodia and MoEYS policies and processes,
• Strong interpersonal skills are desired,
• Excellent project management, planning and coordination skills,
• Languages: Fluency in written and spoken English and Khmer

Please find the terms of reference for this consultancy in this attachment:

TOR National Consultant - EGL tms.pdf

Financial offer template.docx

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.