Consultancy: Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADT) at UNICEF

Job no: 532352

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS/ CONSULTANTS

Title of Assignment

Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADT)

Section  

Disability NYHQ and ESARO Education

Location

Remote, no travel required

Duration

36 days within a period of 8 months

Start date

From: 01 July 2020

To: 28 February 2021

Background and Justification

Since 2014, UNICEF has been conducting wide-ranging consultations on ADT as a key lever for advancing access to the learning process and inclusion in school, and has established solid partnerships to advocate, develop standards and guidelines, work on technology development to further build upon the open technical standards in accessible publishing, and is committed to maintaining a strong global advocacy and supporting national policy advancements on Inclusive Education. This project aims to strengthen technology development and application of ADTs to promote accessible learning and inclusion in schools in Africa and to promote global coordination in achieving the same as well as in prompting replication in other countries.
Since the emergence of Covid-19, we have seen children with disabilities having more difficulty accessing the continuity of learning generally conceived for most children without thinking about specific accessibility issues. The ADP project has the responsibility to build on the existing project to advance the agenda of inclusion of children with disabilities by providing innovative ICT-based solutions and in particular HQ's global initiative on Learning Anytime Anywhere.  The recruitment of the consultant is of particular importance to document the progress of the pilot countries and to capitalize on this initiative in the reconstruction of the systems post-Covid-19.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

To support the coordination of the UNPRPD multi-country ADT project in ESARO (Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya) in collaboration with UNESCO over the course of 11.5 months.
The consultant will support the four-year UNPRPD pilot project aimed at increasing access to information and educational materials through accessible textbooks implemented jointly by UNICEF Uganda CO and UNESCO, in partnership with MoEs. It will also allow the UNICEF Kenya CO to continue and strengthen the current pilot and enable Rwanda to activate the publishing ecosystem and advocate for inclusive policies.
The 3 countries are at distinct levels of implementation of inclusive education and ADTs and can mutually benefit from each other’s experience. The Regional Offices of UNICEF and UNESCO will facilitate opportunities for other countries in the region to enhance national inclusive education efforts through participation in regional activities and knowledge sharing. UNESCO coordinates 3 regional meetings over the course of 24 months (first meeting took place in July 2019). Regional capacity development, C4D campaigns, advocacy processes, and trainings between countries are also planned. UNESCO provides trainings for young persons with disabilities on innovative technologies to produce ADT and document the process and results in order to facilitate inclusive education in a range of countries. UNICEF will jointly support the activities and organize a consultation on sign language.
The candidate will report to the Education Specialist (Equity), ESARO. The role will provide critically needed project coordinating support dedicated to managing, reporting and monitoring planned activities in all 3 piloting countries in collaboration with UNESCO for successful outcomes, and effectively support the RO in completing all planned activities. Effective implementation of the above tasks will help to contribute the needed acceleration within the workstreams toward achievement of Goal Area 2- Every Child Learns.

Scope of Work

• Support ESARO and HQ Disability Section in the coordination of the multi-country UNPRPD project;
• Work with UNESCO, country and regional offices to prepare progress report as well as the annual workplans and submit them to HQ Disability;
• Collect, compile, document and communicate processes and results with RO and HQ Disability.
• Bring technical expertise if needed and support activities implemented by COs (Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya)
• Support to organize the regional meeting for knowledge sharing and lessons learned from the 3 pilot countries.
• Develop ToR for the recruitment of a consultant in charge of the development of a Guidance on the use of Sign Language in Accessible Digital Materials
• Support to organize the regional meeting for knowledge sharing and lessons learned from the 3 pilot countries.

Work relationships/Reporting to:

The consultant will report to the Education Specialist (Equity) at ESARO and will work closely with relevant HQ Disability as well as the Education colleagues in country offices to prepare the reports and budgets using the UNPRPD reporting framework.

• Desired competencies, technical background and experience
• Advanced University degree in international development, Education, or related field
• 8 years of relevant professional work experience in Education and equity
• Experience on Children with disability, innovation and knowledge on Accessible digital textbook will be an asset
• Sound knowledge of UNICEF programmes is highly desirable, along with understanding of programme management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting practices
• Fluency in English, with excellent written skills, is required
• Experience of working independently and at distance (ie remotely).

Administrative issues

The assignment will be supervised by the Education Specialist (Equity) in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Education Section. The consultant will be able to complete the assignment remotely, no travel is expected.

Conditions

As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.

Risks

Given that deliverables, particularly the reports and work plans, are directly linked to the work of Country Offices, it will be important to sensitize and make deadline for COs clear.