National Consultant on Documenting Inclusive Education

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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 Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECAR) is developing a Regional Compendium of Good Practices in Inclusive Education. The compendium will include successful interventions that have helped national education ministries in ECAR to accelerate inclusive education reforms. The case studies will represent an in-depth account of the approaches that countries have undertaken, and the results achieved that would benefit our collective knowledge and inform programming interventions in other Country Offices which are currently undertaking similar work.

The process of developing the regional compendium will involve a collaborative effort of UNICEF ECARO education section and education teams in country offices in Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and Georgia, a regional consultant and national consultants (one for each of the participating countries).

In Serbia, under the strategic guidance of the Education Specialist and general supervision of the UNICEF Inclusive Education Officer, the consultant will develop a case study on inclusive education through a participative way, showing systemic changes achieved in Serbia since 2009, showing best practices and provide recommendation for further enhancement. The consultant will work in close cooperation with the international consultant engaged by UNICEF ECARO.

How can you make a difference?

The consultant will perform the following tasks:

Task 1: Review relevant studies, evaluation, reports, related to inclusive education in the country. Deliverable 1: Proposed draft case study based on the ECARO proposed template. Timeline: by January 30, 2024

Task 2: Conduct consultations with key stakeholders (Ministry of Education, Institute for Improvement of Education, Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation, teachers, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders) and UNICEF country education teams, through qualitative interviews and focus groups. Deliverable 2: The second draft of case study enriched with inputs from meetings with UNICEF and key stakeholders as well as feedback from ECARO. Timeline: by February 28, 2024

Task 3: Develop the final Case Study and Summary of the Case Study Deliverables: • Meeting consultations with ECARO regional consultant and UNICEF EDU team in Serbia • Develop the final Case Study (up to 15 pages) in Serbian and English language based on comments from ECARO and CO Serbia • Develop the summary of the Case Study (up to 2 pages) in Serbian and English language Timeline: by March 31, 2024

Duration of the assignment:

December 2023 – March 2024

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

• Advanced university degree in Education, Psychology, Pedagogy or other fields of Social Studied and Humanities.
• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in education programme planning, management and implementation, and/or research and evaluation, with focused expertise in inclusive education.
• Excellent knowledge of Serbian education system and education reform processes, especially related to inclusive education.
• Strong strategic and analytical skills.
• Excellent knowledge of child rights.
• Excellent writing and reporting skills.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Excellent knowledge of Serbian and English.
• Work experience with UNICEF and/or other international organizations would be considered as an advantage.
• Familiarity with the ECA regional education agenda is an asset.
• Ability to multi-task and meet tight deadlines under pressure.
• Knowledge of another UN languages is an asset.

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.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal as a separate document, providing a separate fee for each of the three tasks:

1. Deliverable 1
2. Deliverable 2
3. Deliverable 3

Important notes:

• Please do not forget to specify your name in the financial proposal file while saving (to be uploaded online under the “Financial Proposal” tab).
• Please do not indicate financials anywhere else in the online application form, please mark "n/a” or “00" under the fee-related questions in the online application form.
• Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

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:

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.