National consultant to provide secretariat services for the GPE/TEACH Steering Committee and Education Coordination Group (ECG)

Consultant Teaching & Training Programme & Policy

Overview

Provide secretariat services for the GPE/TEACH Steering Committee and Education Coordination Group (ECG).

You have:

• Master's degree in Education Management, Policy and Leadership, or Development Studies.
• At least 5 years of working in Education Sector Leadership, Planning, or Coordination.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the local language is an asset.
• Expert knowledge in roles and responsibilities in managing committee meetings.
• Good communication and writing skills.
• Strong organizational capacity.
• Ability to work well with a variety of stakeholders including government officials, donors, and UN agencies.
• Strategic meeting management and track record of timely delivery.
• Strong governance knowledge.

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, a fair chance

UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights.

Supporting the Government’s vision of a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society, the country programme is aimed at contributing to sustainable socioeconomic development that provides all children, including adolescents, with opportunities to fulfil their potential, lead a healthy life, access quality learning and protection and meaningfully participate in society.

For more information about UNICEF Zimbabwe please click here

You can also access and explore all new UNICEF vacancies and create job alerts via the UNICEF Zimbabwe website link below:

https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/work-us

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Zimbabwe is seeking to hire an innovative and self-motivated individual consultant to provide secretariat services for the GPE/TEACH Steering Committee and Education Coordination Group (ECG).

BACKGROUND

The GPE has approved two Grant Agents (GA) in Zimbabwe to implement three GPE grants:

1. System Capacity Grant (SCG) for which UNICEF is the GA.
2. System Transformation Grant (STG) for which UNICEF is the GA.
3. Girls Education Accelerator (GEA) for which CAMFED is the GA.

The main purpose of the System Capacity Grant is to ensure that the education system is reinforced and provides an equity-focused leadership that creates a conducive environment to facilitate the achievements of equitable access to relevant and competence-driven primary, secondary, and non-formal quality learning opportunities and to ensure the GPE grants in Zimbabwe can be robustly and effectively supported and monitored.

The SCG sub-objectives are to

1. To provide support capacity strengthening to MoPSE, especially regarding factors that enable system transformation.
2. To enhance, as part of the GPE 2025 operating model, enabling factors for strong education systems: (1) volume, equity, and efficiency of domestic finance; (2) gender-responsive sector planning, policy, and monitoring; (3) data and evidence; and (4) sector coordination.
3. To provide support on activities that include the enabling factor of volume, equity, and efficiency of domestic finance so that it moves from being high to medium as identified in the ITAP assessment.
4. To provide support to make progress in these critical areas, according to their unique needs and context.

The secretariat services are required to support sub-objectives i) and iv).

There is a common governance structure for the ECG and GPE/TEACH Steering committees. This enables a reduction in transaction costs and ensures well-prepared meetings that have all required, updated information and timely minute-taking and sharing with all members.

The SCG is focusing on upstream work in the education sector, and not on service delivery as it could be under outcomes 2 and 3 of Partnership Compact, to ensure the fundamental strategic work on data, planning, management monitoring and financing in education are covered in an inclusive and gender-responsive way for systemwide impact. It has three windows, and this assignment relates to window three: Strengthen capacity, adapt, and learn, to implement and drive results at scale and specifically to 3.3 Capacity support to MoPSE coordination role in the Education Coordination Group and sector steering committees for TEACH and GPE programmes.

3.1 The Education Coordination Group is the national forum for regular multi-stakeholder meetings to provide support on policy and strategic issues in education and coordinate support to the education sector with different stakeholders and bodies; thus, providing a sector-wide framework for support to MoPSE priorities. It is chaired by the Honourable Minister for Education and includes MoPSE senior management, Civil Society Organizations, Private Sector organisations (Higher Life and Roger Federer Foundations), and development partners such as the FCDO and World Bank, as well as UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNESCO. The ECG supports:

• Alignment to and improved coordination of technical and financial support for the implementation of the national sector priorities of the MoPSE as stated in national planning documents.
• Monitoring government financial commitments and domestic spending effectiveness.
• Harmonization of technical support, and fitting funding modalities to support country systems.
• Advancing the strategic dialogue and exchange around bottlenecks of the sector to support the implementation of the ESSP among others.

3.2 The GPE/TEACH Steering Committees (SC) are responsible for making key decisions for each programme. Further, the SC will provide technical advice regarding practical implementation of the GPE and TEACH programme.

As the GPE and TEACH programmes have different mechanisms and reporting requirements, the SC will be held as 1 meeting to reduce transaction costs but will be done in two parts. The GPE SC will focus on GPE issues, decisions, reviews, and approvals and the TEACH SC will focus on TEACH issues, decisions, reviews, and approvals.

The meeting will alternate starting with either GPE or TEACH and in the subsequent quarter the order will be reversed. Full details are available in the Governance structure document for sector dialogue in MOPSE.

Major tasks and deliverables:

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Inception

• Come up with a Road map on the work to be done
• Provide details on Details on how to take minutes, lead the secretarial work and support governance of the sector and the distribution of minutes, agenda and meeting documents

Inception Report

January 2024

15%

Meetings

• To ensure that Minutes, Matters Arising and Resolutions of the ECG and GPE/TEACH SC meetings are kept up to date and communicated timeously to the sector, UNICEF and MOPSE chair for implementation.
• Distribution of resolutions and matters arising within working days after the meeting.
• Circulation of minutes for inputs and comments to the meeting members, within two weeks after the meeting.

Minutes of the GPE-TEACH SC meeting, Partner meeting and ECG Meeting available and circulated in 2 weeks

August 2024

30%

Secretariat support to ECG and GPE/TEACH SC meetings.

• Develop and maintain the Board calendar for relevant events and meetings annually before end January each year.
• Ensure there is an updated annual calendar and yearly work plans for all committees

2024 Annual Education sector calendar

February 2024

10%

• Preparation of agenda and matters arising in consultation with the ECG chair, GPE/TEACH SC chair, UNICEF, CAMFED and FCDO as GPE GA, GA and CA respectively

• Organise meetings and distribute packs within 7 working days prior to an ordinary meeting and 3 working days prior to an extraordinary meeting

GPE-TEACH Steering Committee meeting and ECG Meeting packs including the agenda, action points documents

June 2024

25%

Reporting

Provide midline and end of activity detailing implementation and Committee governance related matters to UNICEF and MoPSE

Midline report

End of activity report

June 2024

5%

December 2024

5%

Capacity Building

• Train of the MoPSE staff to perform the sector secretarial roles.
• Carry out in conjunction with the MOPSE, any induction of new members and training of staff to take minutes.
• Assist Chair/co-chairs with identifying training, proper induction and orientation required.
• Assist the ECG and GPE/TEACH SC meetings with annual assessment

Training schedule

Training register

December 2024

10%

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

Education:

Master's degree in Education Management, Policy and Leadership, Development Studies/or another relevant field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of working in Education Sector Leadership, Planning, or Coordination

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Expert knowledge in roles and responsibilities in managing committee meetings
• Good communication and writing skills
• Strong organizational capacity
• Ability to work well with a variety of stakeholders (Government senior officials, donors, partners, UN agencies)
• Strategic meeting Management and track record of timely delivery
• Understanding of meeting protocol
• Strong governance

Language requirements:

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the local language is an asset.

The detailed consultancy terms of reference is downloadable via this link ToR Capacity support to Education Sector Coordination_ PDF.pdf

If interested and available to undertake the individual consultancy, please submit your application online and attach the required documents including the technical proposal and an all-inclusive financial proposal incorporating an approximate number of travel days for field (local) travel.

Technical proposal: The Technical Proposal should articulate an understanding of the TOR and include the proposed Tasks/Milestones, Deliverables/Outputs, Timeline and level of effort by deliverable. The similar table provided in the TOR is indicative. Applicants may use the indicative table as a guide or deviate as per the proposed approach. The proposal should also cost-effectively propose the local travel proposed by the applicant to undertake the assignment.

Financial proposal: The Financial Proposal should include the costs (providing a daily rate as justification) for each task, including consultant fee, proposed travel costs and perdiem, communications costs and any other proposed cost.

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.

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Potential interview questions

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org