Consultancy: Technical lead consultant for the Data Must Speak Project - Education Section, PD - NYHQ, Requisition# 508645

The consultant will serve as technical lead for the ongoing implementation and knowledge generation within the DMS Project. In particular, the consultant will perform the following tasks: i) support Ministries of Education and UNICEF COs in finalizing school/district profiles, developing typologies of schools/districts according to context, resources and performance; ii) support the automation of procedures for generating district/school profiles in a user-friendly way; iii) support the impact evaluation of DMS in Zambia and the overall formative evaluation of the DMS project; and iv) support the finalisation of the analytical report on the link between parental/community involvement in education and educational outcomes and further knowledge generation activities within DMS.

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.

Background & Rationale

Through the “promise renewed” commitment, and as part of efforts to strengthen organizational capacity to support quality education for all children, UNICEF has re-emphasized its focus on equity which is at the core of the 2014-2017 and 2018-2021 Strategic Plans. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Millennium Declaration and Education for All (EFA), UNICEF works to ensure the right of all children to education. The current and forthcoming Strategic Plans have a strong focus on equitable quality and inclusive learning within their education results. One of the key outputs under Goal Area 2 “Every child learns” in the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan is “Countries have strengthened their education systems for gender-equitable learning outcomes, including early learning” within which community participation in education is one of the five dimensions of an effective education system for learning outcomes.

In order to support progress towards this output and the related output of the 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, UNICEF-Education successfully submitted a project proposal to the Global Partnership for Education/Global and Regional Activities (GPE/GRA) fund (in order to support 5 countries). The project “Data Must Speak” (DMS), started in 2014 with two pilot countries, Madagascar and Togo, and expanded to Nepal, Zambia and Peru in 2015, and the Philippines in 2016. The project supports the setting up of data feedback tools (such as district/school profile cards) for increasing accountability (in particular for pro-equity allocation of resources), community participation and improving school performance (learning outcomes, equity and drop-out rates’ reduction). In March 2016 $750,000 in funding from the Hewlett Foundation was secured for Phase II of the project. Extending DMS into a second phase provides an opportunity to continue supporting countries while generating knowledge on community participation in education, and to evaluate the tools designed during Phase I and the impact of community participation and use of data on learning outcomes, student attendance etc. In October 2017, a further $250,000 was secured to carry out a formative evaluation of DMS to identify the critical drivers behind any results achieved and point the way forward for DMS Phase III expansion to more countries.

The DMS project is also embedded in UNICEF’s results based management (RBM) approach. As such it is important that the knowledge generated through the DMS project is used to strengthen RBM in UNICEF education and enhance the monitoring of results for children with a focus on greater social accountability.

Purpose

The consultant will serve as technical lead for the ongoing implementation and knowledge generation within the DMS Project. In particular, the consultant will perform the following tasks: i) support Ministries of Education and UNICEF COs in finalizing school/district profiles, developing typologies of schools/districts according to context, resources and performance; ii) support the automation of procedures for generating district/school profiles in a user-friendly way; iii) support the impact evaluation of DMS in Zambia and the overall formative evaluation of the DMS project; and iv) support the finalisation of the analytical report on the link between parental/community involvement in education and educational outcomes and further knowledge generation activities within DMS.

The consultancy will involve travel to NYHQ and the project’s targeted countries (6 missions is the estimated number).

Expected results: (measurable results)

The following results are expected by the end of the consultancy:

• Two countries technically supported in the finalization of the School/District Profiles and/or related data products developed as part of DMS
• IT programmes (Excel or other software) for automatically generating the profiles and related user guides developed in two countries;
• Impact evaluation of DMS in Zambia and overall formative evaluation of DMS supported
• Analytical report on parental/community involvement in education finalised

Duty Station

Location of assignment: Remote-based, with several missions to NYHQ and DMS project countries   

Timeframe

Start date:  15 December 2017

End date:  30 November 2018       

Key competences, technical background, and experience required Deadline

• Master’s degree in Economics and Statistics, Mathematics, IT or related field and at least 15 years of related experience at the senior level
• Extensive knowledge and experience in Excel, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and a statistical software (SPSS, SAS or Stata).
• Strong knowledge and experience in education systems analysis and education indicators
• Knowledge and experience in implementation of learning assessment surveys
• Excellent communication, presentation and drafting skills in English and in French
• Experience with the Global Partnership for Education a plus
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.

Remarks

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.  

At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage

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.