Consultancy:Technical Assistance in Education and Skills, ESARO at UNICEF

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS/ CONSULTANTS

PART I

Title of Assignment

Individual Consultant for Technical Assistance in Education and Skills

Section

Education

Location

UNICEF ESARO, Nairobi, Kenya with travel in the ESA region as necessary

Duration

128 days within a period of 7 months

Start date

From: 15 January 2019

To: 31 August 2019

Background and Justification

UNICEF seeks to contribute to the realization of the rights of all children, especially the most disadvantaged. Since learning and skills development are key areas to achieve this envisaged impact, UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2018 – 2021 in its goal area 2 includes a focus on strengthening education systems to effectively support children and adolescents to learn and to develop skills for personal empowerment, active citizenship, non-violence, gender equality and employability, both in and out of schools, including in humanitarian situations.

Investing in adolescents’ learning and skills development – including in particular, the most disadvantaged adolescents – is a priority that UNICEF has identified for the second decade of a child’s life. This priority links directly to the achievement of SDG targets, including those related to ending poverty in all its forms, enhancing education and life learning opportunities and promoting employment and decent work for all. Strategies adopted by UNICEF to provide better opportunities for adolescents to be productive and break intergenerational cycles of poverty include 1) accelerating programming for the retention of primary school students, transition to post-primary education and secondary completion with a focus on quality and learning outcomes; 2) investing in programmes that nurture adolescents as innovators and critical thinkers, both through formal or non-formal learning environments; 3) supporting social protection approaches that build the skills and knowledge required for employability and entrepreneurship; and 4) eliminating child labour, in particular hazardous work, for children who are old enough to work.

UNICEF is working towards strengthening policy and programme interventions that improve skills development for adolescent boys and girls (10-17 years) by contributing to their learning of content and skills and by providing them with increased opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and citizenship. This area of work will follow a multi-sectoral approach and build on the evidence and expertise generated by the various sections within UNICEF (education, child protection, adolescents and social inclusion) as well as the expertise of other organizations.

Since issues of employability and employment require an approach that links both the supply and demand side, collaboration between key multilateral actors is a critical component of our work and it is built on 1) good practices in areas of learning and employability of adolescents; 2) the complementarity of roles between these organizations; and 3) lessons learned from existing regional/country level collaboration in the area of learning and employability.

UNICEF’s work on skills development has a clear focus on the most disadvantaged adolescents, both those who are 10-14 years and who dropped out of school or are at risk of dropping out, and older adolescents who are not in school or training or employment. Hence all programming aims to be multi-sectoral and address issues of exclusion, among others through social inclusion schemes, addressing social norms as well as providing better learning and employability opportunities for young people.

Scope of Work

• Goal and Objective: Under the supervision of the Regional Education Advisor the consultant will provide technical advice for scale up of country office programming on skills for employment and transitions to the workplace. The consultant will bring an understanding of existing evidence and multi sectoral interventions in adolescent skill development and employability, including social inclusion, and apply a participatory and consultative process to the development of products and programs. The consultant will support the development of the programming documents for Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, with specific attention to the joint results frameworks (Including Theory of Change, Results and Indicators). The consultant will coordinate with country office focal points on planning and drafting programme documents and support timely and quality inputs on programme design from the involved agencies, the donor and the private sector. The programme design will be in line with the Global Visioning paper on “Inclusive Jobs and Education for displaced persons and host communities”.
• Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: This assignment supports output 1 of the Education AWP: Quality evidence and partnerships for risk-informed programming and financing to ensure that girls and boys including those with disabilities complete primary and secondary with grade level learning outcomes, under activity 5: undertake research on skills deployed in the informal economic sector in both rural and urban settings to inform better strategies for adolescent education and employability

Activities and Tasks:

• Support country office partnerships with Dutch government (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda) with stakeholder engagement and participation: review and quality assure format and programme of consultations with stakeholder groups
• Conduct regional mapping of actors involved in skills work in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, along with other countries, in collaboration with those Country Offices.
• Support country offices to produce high quality programme documents, by providing technical assistance and quality assurance to:Intervention logic/theories of change
• Results frameworks with clear monitor
• Support country offices to develop quality, costed implementation plans, including agreement on the role of participating agencies and necessary collaboration
• Support country offices with communication with Dutch government, as well as with responses to feedback.
• Support UNICEF in its outreach to organizations to discuss potential deepening of cooperation (e.g. UNICEF focusing on second decade of life and transferable skills, World Bank Group focusing on skills, learning and employment, and ILO focusing on vocational skills and employability; UNHCR on education and skills among children on the move);
• Develop guidance for COs on education programming for adolescents based on the Global Skills for All Framework, the Regional Adolescent and Young People Investment Case Framework and the mapping of current skills work
• Support COs on equipping marginalized adolescents and young people with skills to succeed in life, livelihoods and work (e.g. alternative pathways, accelerated learning, second chance education, innovative approaches to secondary, blended learning).
• Undertake research on skills deployed in the informal economic sector in both rural and urban settings to inform better strategies for adolescent education and employability.
• Work relationships: The consultant will be engaged with ESARO Education, Child Protection and PPP teams: with Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda UNICEF staff involved with the development of the Dutch partnership; and with UNHCR, ILO, IFC, World Bank and the Dutch government. The consultant will report to the Regional Education Advisor in the Education Section, ESARO.

Payment Schedule

Interim payments are linked to deliverables. Payment is upon satisfactory completion of deliverables.

Desired competencies, technical background and experience

• An advanced university degree in social studies, education or a related field (Master or above); with strong expertise in learning, education, skills and employability
• At least eight years (8) of experience in the design, implementation and/or evaluation of education and/or training and skills and employability programmes in low or middle-income country contexts.
• Experience in the design and/or implementation of programs to develop the skills of children and/or adolescents, to improve their employability, including engaging the private sector and initiatives to ease the transition to the work place.
• Understanding of the evidence base on youth employment, including skills for employability.
• Strong programme design skills, including capacity to prepare logical, coherent and consistent documents including evidence, theories of change/results frameworks, log frames and budgets; and experience in coordinating dynamic, multi-agency programmes
• Evaluation and/or research skills an asset, including use of mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative).
• Ability to work efficiently and effectively with project members in various locations and from different disciplines, including remotely writing and revising proposal documents.
• Experience in and ability to coordinate UN agencies and interact at the professional level with donor representatives and other stakeholders
• Excellent English speaking/writing skills required, another UN language an asset.

Travel

While the consultant will be based in Nairobi, Kenya- the work requires travel to Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda; each country will be visited twice for five (5) days each within the consultancy contract period. The consultant will be responsible for the logistical arrangements and cost implications of these visits and should include detailed, costed plans for this in the application.

Administrative issues

This consultancy is dependent on the availability of resources. The focal points for this contract are Abhiyan Jung Rana (Regional Education Advisor), Jess Shaver (Education Specialist) and the Dutch partnership coordinator in the Partnerships team (ESARO). Monthly progress meetings will be held face-to-face and remotely when necessary throughout the contract duration. Frequent (daily/ weekly) communication will be facilitated and expected for coordination purposes between the consultant, the CO and RO focal points.