Cost and Financing of Early Childhood Care and Education in Vanuatu (Consultancy)

Do you have Extensive expertise in carrying out financial feasibility studies especially in the field of education/early childhood education; we would like to hear from you!

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.

Purpose of the Assignment

The Government of Vanuatu has demonstrated great committed to its youngest citizens and would like to explore various costing and financing options/scenarios in order to be able to make a firm commitment to ECCE subsector that is based on evidence and reality and context of Vanuatu.  Different scenarios will be explored to identify the best option for supporting ECCE in Vanuatu and provide the ministry with evidence to make an informed decision about how it wants to support ECCE as part and parcel of its national education system.

The successful consultant will be required to develop at least four costing and financing scenarios for the Government of Vanuatu to achieve its ECCE goals as outlined in the education sector strategic plan (2016-2019). Specifically through the scenarios provide: 

• How ECCE services can be expanded to include all children especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged children?
• How much will the ECCE service package costs?
• How could the ECCE service package be financed?

Assignment Tasks

1. Map the existing provision and coverage of early childhood services in Vanuatu and current cost: government programmes (if any), community and private sector and average cost of these services (how much does it cost on average to run an ECCE centre with 30 children aged 3-5 in South Tarawa and outer islands, inclusive of all costs: infrastructure, rent, maintenance, materials, teachers, etc.). Prepare an analysis of findings.
2. Develop costing and financing options using scenarios provided in the detailed TOR
3. Each scenario has to be costed with financing options explored.  Financing should be realistic with all options explored such as the private sector for financing. 
4. Prepare draft power point presentation to the ministry of education to share findings to date.  The presentation will need to be finalized once the report is finalized.

Expected Deliverable

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education

• Advance university degree in Economics/ public financing systems

Years of relevant experience

• Extensive expertise in carrying out financial feasibility studies especially in the field of education/early childhood education;
• Proven experience in costing exercises
• Minimum of six years’ experience in a relevant field
• Strong  report writing and analytical skills;
• Teamwork abilities;
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the work place;
• Previous working experience with UNICEF education programmes will be an asset.
• Languages: Fluency in written and spoken English required, familiarity with local language (Bislama) an asset
• Competencies of Successful Candidate: Good analytical, negotiating, and advocacy skills;
• To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Detailed copy of the Terms of Reference is attached:  EXTERNAL Vanuatu ECCE Cost & Financing TOR.doc

TO APPLY: Interested applicants are to include the following documents in their submission:

• A cover letter describing how you meet each of the requirements listed above (max. 2 pages)
• Most recent and updated CV/Resume 
• Completed Expression of Interest (EoI) form attached  Vanuatu ECD Cost &Financing Consultant 2017 EOI.doc
• Applications missing the above 2 required documents will not be considered.

For any questions or clarifications in relation to the above consultancy please contact us at pacificvacancies@unicef.org. DO NOT forward any applications to this email address as they will not be considered, all applications must be submitted online on the UNICEF Employment page.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.