UNICEF Zimbabwe national individual consultancy: Zimbabwe Technology and Education Consultant - Learning Passport Technology Deployment - 11 months

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background

The Education section in UNICEF Zimbabwe is seeking an individual consultant to provide technical support and management of the implementation of the Learning Passport, as part of the emergency education response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital platforms have taken a central role in delivering continuity of learning during the COVID-19 crisis. The Learning Passport - https://www.learningpassport.org/ a UNICEF Supported Digital Education Platform is an ambitious new partnership between UNICEF, Cambridge and Microsoft. It aims to improve the education of millions of vulnerable children around the world who face barriers to learning because of poverty, discrimination, conflict and disaster such as COVID-19. It ensures continuity of learning amid the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain an online learning resource beyond COVID-19.

The platform for Zimbabwe will provide a digitized curriculum with textbooks and a selection of supplemental content, in national languages, that is jointly curated by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) to best serve learners' and educators' specific needs. The Passport will capture a record of the curriculum subjects each student learns and guide learners with little additional support needed. the objectives for deploying digital online content by UNICEF and the Ministry are;

• Provide learners in both formal and non-formal education access to learning resources
• Complement and aid learning in institutions

Under the guidance of the Chief of Education, the overall purpose of the individual consultant is to:

• Support the Zimbabwe Country Office to deploy Learning Passport as part of the emergency response development programming;
• Manage, coordinate and support all programme implementation activities related to Learning Passport;
• Oversee all knowledge management, monitoring and reporting activities related to Learning Passport; and,
• Provide technical guidance to Zimbabwe Country Office on strategies and issues related to Learning Passport and other education and technology initiatives.

ASSIGNMENTS

Under the supervision of the Chief of Education, the individual consultant will deliver on the following key activities;

a. Coordinate and oversee the rapid deployment of Learning Passport Platform to MoPSE, providing technical assistance in the localizing the technology, curating content, coordinating various actors, supporting Country Office Learning Passport staff and ensure deployment and user success.

b. Serve as key focal point and coordinator for LP and partners in MoPSE, including content creators and other UNICEF stakeholders.

c. Serve as lead support in troubleshooting and user support for users and stakeholders at key moments of engagement, e.g. support sourcing and uploading content in collaboration with Education Staff and government agencies, creating categories, courses, and lessons, ad providing analytical reports from data aggregated by the platform.

d. Provide technical support to procuring digital content services (e.g. curation, digitization, localization, production) and quality assure their deliverables from a digital perspective.

e. Contribute and manage knowledge resources and support general knowledge sharing by producing knowledge management resources, organizing activities to ensure sharing, exchange and collaboration and documenting lessons learned, challenges and good practices.

f. Draft monitoring, financial and other regular reports to the Country Office, Regional Office and global teams; Oversee and provide inputs to monitoring exercises for internal and external stakeholders and funders of the Learning Passport (grants' reports, annual results report, needed updates, etc).

g. Scope complimentary ICT for learning and Edtech tools that could be integrated to support Learning Passport related technology efforts.

h. Support UNICEF Zimbabwe on other activities related to the Education and Technology agenda in Zimbabwe.

Tasks/Milestone

Deliverables/Outputs

Timeline

Localising the technology and coordinating various actors

Monthly status report 1

1 December 2020

Curating content and coordinating various actors

Monthly status report 2

1 January 2021

Support for users and stakeholders at key moments of engagement

Monthly status report 3

1 February 2021

Integrate complimentary ICT for learning and Edtech tools

Monthly status report 4

1 March 2021

Technical support to procuring digital content services

Monthly status report 5

1 April 2021

Knoweldge management resources, organizing activities to ensure sharing, exchange and collaboration and documenting lessons learned, challenges and good practices

Monthly status report 6

1 May 2021

Monitoring financial and other regular reports

Monthly status report 7

1 June 2021

Monitoring reports

Sustainability plan

Monthly status report 8

Monthly status report 9

1 July 2021

1 August 2021

Final report

Monthly status report 10

1 October 2021

Consultancy requiremen

Bachelors degree in Education, Information Technology, Statistics, Communication or any other relevant field. In lieu of a specific academic degree, relevant experience may be considered to meet this requirement

• At least 5 years of professional work experience in Technology for Development (T4D) and/or information system development, including mobile and web-based applications, with manifested capacity to manage programmes involving many stakeholders. Specific experience on ICT fro learning or digital learning is an advantage.
• Experience managing user-driven design processes in software development and support
• Experience in digital learning design, content development and management
• Proven training and capacity building skills for a range of stakeholders
• Good technical understanding and familiarity with information management systems
• Knowledge of at least Teams, SharePoint, GitHub, Trello, Jira
• Excellent communication abilities, in both written and oral forms. Consultant should be at ease in presentations and meetings with D-level (UN) or C-level (private sector) executives.
• Demonstrated ability and experience in coordination, and able to work under pressure is required
• Fluency in English is a minimum requirement. Experience working with MoPSE is an asset

Application Procedure

If you meet the entry qualifications and you are interested and available to undertake the consultancy assignment, please submit your application online, upload your cover letter, highest academic certificate qualification, CV, technical proposal and an all-inclusive financial proposal detailing your professional fees, including travel, per-diem etc for delivering the assignment as applicable.

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.