Support to Developing Kiribati Early Childhood Care and Education Quality Standards

Do you have demonstrated experience to support the Ministry of Education in Kiribati to develop comprehensive and integrated national quality standards for ECCE centers? UNICEF Pacific would like to hear from you!

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, access to inclusive quality early learning opportunities

UNICEF supports the Ministry of Education in strengthening equitable access to quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Kiribati. The recent enactment of the ECCE Bill and the inclusion of ECCE in the national ESSP illustrates the Government’s commitment to improving ECCE. A road map is needed for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to build and further strengthen a subsector system based on existing capacities and available resources to ensure sustainability.

The road map ought to consider the following key elements for system strengthening: ECCE legislative and policy development, including the development of quality service standards; strengthening services to improve the quality of ECCE; and response to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4 related to provision of quality pre-primary education and piloting an innovative and cost-effective two-month accelerated school readiness programme in South Tarawa as a model for universal school readiness for Kiribati five-year-olds.  UNICEF will work closely with the MOE to close equity gaps and ensure that communities, parents and children understand the importance of early education and can advocate for children’s rights. A cost and financing study has been carried out in April 2017 to identify the resources and financial mechanisms that best suit the capacity and needs of the government to ensure sustainability of an intervention that potentially could be introduced nationally. Support to the ECCE sub-sector involves a multi-sectorial approach, including Child Protection, Education, Health & Nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to develop and enact the ECCE legislation and map out its operationalization through the development of Kiribati Quality Standards (KQS) for ECCE.

How can you make a difference?

After consultation with MOE, UNICEF has agreed to provide technical and financial support to the development of KQS for ECCE, including a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework with compliance mechanisms and tools for ECCE centres’ continuous self-assessment and MOE to monitor implementation of the KQS for ECCE. UNICEF would like to engage an ECCE consultant to support the MOE in developing KQS for ECCE and a M&E framework with compliance mechanisms and tools.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A university degree (Master’s or higher) in University degree in Social Sciences or Education with focus on ECCE
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in ECCE development
• Expertise in developing education benchmarks;
• Experience in developing M&E frameworks;
• Proven ability to conceptualize, innovate, plan and execute ideas in national contexts;
• Good facilitation and communication skills;
• Good versatility, judgment and maturity skills;
• Computer skills, including internet navigation and various office applications.
• Previous working experience with MoET and UNICEF education programmes will be an asset.

**All applicants must include in their submitted documents a completed copy of the provided Expression of Interest form included in this advertisement. 

 EXT. TOR Kiribati Quality Standards for ECCE Consultancy.doc  Kiribati ECE Quality Standards 2018 EOI.doc

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are Good analytical, negotiating, communication and advocacy skills;

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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