UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting proposals from qualified individual consultants to provide technical assistance in the Development of the 2020 Education Sector Performance Report and the Joint

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.

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For every child, quality education!

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY

SECTION

Education

CONSULTANCY TITLE

Technical Assistance in the Development of the 2020 Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) and the Joint Sector Review Report

TYPE OF ENGAGEMENT

Individual Consultant

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

To provide technical support required by the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education (MoPSE) in the education sector performance review process that cover the fifth and final year of the ESSP by: 1) producing of a 2020 Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR); and 2) preparation of the Joint Sector Review report.

BACKGROUND

Since 2016 when the Education Sector Strategic Plan (20216-2020) was crafted to guide the planning, implementation and monitoring of the education sector, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has come up with subnational plan. The MoPSE has come up with the Provincial Operational Plan and the District Operational Plan to guide planning at those levels. The Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP2016-2020) of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) has been the guiding plan of the education sector since 2016 until 2020. Each year MoPSE develops a National Operational Plan (NOP) supported by 10 Provincial Operational Plans (POPs) and 72 District Operational Plans (DOPs), which subsequently reflect School Development Plans (SDPs) in their districts. These plans are the basis for their specific actions annually at school, district, province and national levels respectively.

Since 2014, MoPSE and partners has conducted annual Joint Sector Reviews (JSR) to assess progress made against the indicator targets set in ESSP and annual NOPs. Each JSR is preceded by an annual Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) that consolidates, analyzes and presents progress made against ESSP’s key performance indicators (KPIs). The main sources of such data will be Education Management Information System (EMIS) and Teacher Development information System (TDIS) data, information from any research studies, evaluation or assessments made, information generated by MoPSE and its partners through routine and special monitoring, supervision and inspection visits (including joint monitoring visits), meetings and workshops held on specific issues relating to the sector, District Operational Plan and Provincial Operational Plan reviews and other credible documentation generated by independent players in the sector.

At the same time, district and provincial education offices conduct annual review, which contribute to national level Joint Sector Review (JSR) where MoPSE and partners will discuss both ESPR report as well as review results from districts and provinces. The JSR will produce a JSR meeting report and concrete aide-memoir with key recommendations for actions to be taken in the subsequent year.

In 2020 the education sector like any other sector was hit hard by the Covid19. Schools closed on the 24th of March, two weeks before the closure of first term, as part of the health regulations to mitigate the spread of the disease. Schools remained closed for almost 6 months with the first group of learners getting to school on 14 and 28 September 2020 for the Cambridge and ZIMSEC exam classes respectively. The other groups joined on the 26th of October while the last one will join on 9th of November. The situation in the schools has since remained dire with teachers not coming to schools citing incapacitation and most schools not well equipped with the PPE and equipment to fight Covid 19. Due to long closure of the schools, most schools who entirely depend on fees and levies were left grounded with no resources to maintain the schools. Against this backdrop, the Education Sector Performance report will assess the impact of Covid 19 and the sector’s response plan.

The current ESSP 2016-2020 is coming to an end this year. The process of the development of the next ESSP2021-2025 has already started on a two-pronged approach. First a consultant has been hired to do the Education Sector Analysis which has since been completed and awaits finalisation and endorsement. The second process has been the development of the National Development Strategy which is expected to be in place by November. This is the national blueprint guiding the national priorities, education included. The process included consultation of MoPSE, UNICEF and World Bank. The consultant has set the road map for the development of the ESSP 2021-2025. Findings from this ESPR would also be very useful to the development of the ESSP.

MoPSE therefore requires technical support in producing a 2020Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) and planning and organizing annual Joint Sector Review (JSR). There EMIS for 2020 will be very limited, if it is done. Data is usually collected in May and the finalisation of the report in September. For this year, all this while, schools were closed. It is for this reason a capable consultant (national or international) is being recruited to provide this support. This consultancy will involve working with MoPSE Head Office and UNICEF, and engaging with key stakeholders, development partners, relevant sector ministries, departments and parastatals, selected Provincial Education Directors and District Education Officers (DSI’s) and their staff members who are a part of the implementation process of the ESSP.

While the focus of this activity will be at the national level, it is linked to other review processes taking place at the district and provincial levels. The districts and provinces will be expected to carry out their reviews in October and November respectively. The consultant will be expected to review a sample of the review reports produced by provinces and districts to gather information that might shed light on progress and experiences at these decentralized levels. The results of the district and provincial level reviews are expected to feed into the national ESPR report.

ASSIGNMENTS:

The consultant will be responsible for the following…

• Review and understand the ESSP document and the accompanying NOP (and sample of POPs and DOPs) and the strategic issues and priorities identified in it that require programmatic attention, with focus on access, quality, equity and management/coordination issues at national, provincial, district and school levels;

• Review a variety of documents and statistical reports on the sector, including legal documents, sector policies or policy guidelines, sector plans and strategic documents, programme planning documents, programme implementation reports, research studies, conducted by key stakeholders, evaluations and assessments, workshop reports, minutes of relevant meetings (Education Coordination Group [ECG], EDF Steering Committee), field monitoring, supervision and inspection reports, donor annual review reports, routine statistical reports such as EMIS, annual budgets (government and other) and statements of expenditure and others;

• Review programs by analysing national level data (both quantitative and qualitative), and to understand the status of the system at the subnational (provincial and district) levels which are responsible for monitoring and supervising policy implementation, and the school level where education programmes are implemented;
• Support the different MoPSE Departments to prepare inputs for the review against relevant aspects of the NOP’s and to draft relevant sections of the Education Sector Performance Report and the JSR report;
• Consolidate evidence emerging from the reviews by different departments and different players (including development partners and CSOs) at different levels and draw links among them, considering success stories, best practices, challenges and bottlenecks;
• Refer to the ESSP and NOP (MIPA and DIPA)targets and establish how far the Ministry has gone towards meeting its targets, its core indicators, supplementary indicators, and in tracking the performance against key programme targets (e.g. EDF, GPE etc.) such as equity, efficiency and learning; Refer to the ESSP and NOP targets and establish how far the Ministry has gone towards meeting its targets, its core indicators, supplementary indicators, and in tracking the performance against key programme targets (e.g. EDF, GPE etc.) such as equity, efficiency and learning;
• Based on desk review and interviews, consolidate and prepare a 2020 Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) to be shared with key stakeholders prior to annual Joint Sector Review (JSR);
• Support MoPSE in documenting and reporting the annual Joint Sector Review (JSR) meeting at the national level in the first quarter of 2021. This will include:
• Support the facilitator in developing the programme for a 2and half day JSR meeting;
• Sharing the Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR) with key stakeholders;
• Organizing presentations against key performance indicators;
• Attend the JSR meeting and draft the JSR report to document the process, consolidate the substance of all presentations made, summarize discussions held at the JSR meeting, including any other written submissions made, and accurately capture the recommendations or proposals and decisions made at the JSR meeting; and
• Consolidating recommendations into an Aide-Memoir to guide future actions.

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Produce an inception report and Draft a table of contents for 2020 ESPR report by reviewing ESSP, previous ESPR reports, other documents focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) and identifying relevant documents to review and stakeholders to interview

Inception Report with ESPR Table of contents.

January 2021

Complete the ESPR report which sets out the progress against the key performance indicators in the ESSP and the main programmes (EDF and GPE)

Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR)

February 2021

Support MoPSE to prepare, organize and facilitate a national annual JSR meeting, ensuring (a) focused presentations by departments, provinces and selected districts, partners, and other stakeholders; (b) moderating theme-based panel discussions; (c) documenting meeting procedures and capturing essential content and keeping track of agreed points, decisions and recommendations.

Draft JSR report meeting report and the Aide Memoir

February 2021

Finalize the JSR report and Aide Memoire by incorporating feedback from the ECG meeting

Final JSR Meeting report and Aide Memoir that meets MoPSE standards.

March 2021

Minimum Qualifications required:

An advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Education, Social Science or Developmental Studies

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Sound knowledge of the planning and policy making processes in the public sector or government
• A minimum of five (5) years’ experience working in a development context
• Ability to engage and work with a variety of stakeholders (government, development partners, civil society)
• Good communication and facilitation skills, with fluency in spoken and written English. Knowledge of Shona and/or Ndebele is an added advantage.
• Good oral and written communication skills in English, with good report writing skills
• Analytical, with good computer and data analysis skills
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to support multi-disciplinary teams in a multi- cultural environment
• Familiarity with the Zimbabwean education context

Supervisor: Chief Education

Start Date: December 2020

Total Working Days: 82 days

Payment Schedule

The payment of the fees will be made in accordance with the following terms:

1. 15% at the delivery of an Inception report outlining the table of contents of the ESA Report
2. 20% at the delivery of the Education Sector Performance Report (ESPR)
3. 25% at the delivery of Draft JSR report meeting report and the Aide Memoir
4. 40% at the delivery of the Final JSR Meeting report and Aide Memoir that meets MoPSE standards.

DSA (if applicable) – No, Home based

Application requirements

Technical Proposal

Financial Proposal (itemised and all inclusive)

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.