Consultant; Disability Inclusive Early Childhood Education. Req.# 569516

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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Disability Inclusive Early Childhood Education Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Education Section – PG – NYHQ

Duration: 15 March 2024 – 15 October 2024

Home/ office Based: REMOTE

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The project Reinforcing Better Early Learning and Development at Scale (BELDS) for Quality Inclusive Early Childhood Education in GPE Partner Countries builds on previous work supported by KIX to integrate Early Childhood Education (ECE) in sectoral planning. 

Implemented through consortia of partners, the original project aimed to mobilize global knowledge to inform ECE policy, planning, and practice in the developing countries; develop a comprehensive e-toolkit of resources to adapt, enhance and scale-up proven approaches to strengthen ECE systems; and strengthen the capacity of national and international stakeholders on early childhood education policy, planning, and implementation.  Working closely with five target countries, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the project generated evidence on the use and adaptation of tools in a range of contexts and highlighted successful approaches and lessons learnt in mainstreaming ECE into education sector planning. 

Amplifying country experiences through UNICEF’s global and regional teams, the original three-year grant has: a) supported ECE system strengthening through tailored technical support to the Ministries of Education (at central and decentralized levels) in planning, costing, and implementing ECE programs to progressively increase the number of children participating in quality ECE b) contributed to the development of tools to support all phases of the ECE planning cycle through the ECE Accelerator Toolkit; c) contributed to the global evidence-base about approaches to effective planning for ECE and; d) mobilized knowledge sharing between GPE partner countries to enhance evidence-based policy and planning.

During implementation of the original project, consultation with stakeholders revealed a series of key gaps and needs in ECE planning, which now form the basis of the extension proposal. Under the proposed extension of the project, UNICEF and partners will: a) support the development of guidance for GPE partner countries around how to position ECE within the GPE Compact (b) support the progressive roll out of an ECE costing and financing tool developed and piloted under the original project to support budgeting, policy prioritization, and target-setting; (c) pilot tools to support advocacy, implementation, monitoring and evaluation which were developed but not tested under the original project; and d) support the development of new tools designed to facilitate greater inclusion of children with disabilities, and children in humanitarian contexts, as well as to support the uptake of gender-transformative ECE.

Under the extension phase of the KIX project, the inclusive early childhood education consultant will be responsible for strengthening existing guidance on inclusive ECE in the ECE Accelerator Toolkit.  In particular, the consultant will develop new global guidance on mainstreaming disability-inclusion in ECE systems applicable in development and humanitarian situations, that will be integrated into the ECE Accelerator Toolkit. Furthermore, the consultant will provide technical expertise in supporting global advocacy on quality inclusive ECE, with particular emphasis on disability-inclusive early childhood education in development and humanitarian situations.

Scope of Work:

Working with the Education Specialist (Early Childhood Education), selected country teams and relevant experts on inclusion and equity, the consultant will provide technical expertise and facilitate the development of global guidance on disability-inclusive early childhood education. More specifically, following the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the consultant will:

1. 1. Revise the ECE Accelerator Toolkit’s pre-primary sub-sector analysis tool from the lens of disability- inclusion in alignment with the Education Sector Analysis (ESA) Methodological Guidelines.
   2. Develop a narrative brief to capture effective practices for inclusion of children with disabilities, across all five core functions of UNICEF’s Build to Last Framework.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

• Disability Inclusive Pre-primary Subsector analysis tool with relevant templates by March 15th – June 30th, 2024
• Key indicator guide for monitoring disability inclusive ECE at national and sub-national level by June 15 – July 31, 2021
• A disability-inclusion narrative brief structured around the Build to Last framework is completed by August 1 – October 15, 2024

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree in education, special education, early childhood development or international development.

Work experience:

A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in education programme planning, management and implementation, and/or research and evaluation, with focused expertise in inclusive education. Professional experience in the field of early childhood education and/or sector planning processes is highly desirable.

Competencies/Knowledge:

• Strong technical knowledge of inclusive education with a specific focus on disability inclusion
• Excellent analytical, written, and oral communication skills. 
• Ability to communicate clearly and sensitively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent inter-personal skills with a demonstrated ability to work in partnership with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment
• Knowledge of and experience with the ECE Accelerator Toolkit and the Build to Last framework a plus.
• Fluency in English. Competency in another UN language preferred

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and

• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include/ reflect:
  • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.