Consultancy: Development of Survey Data Management System for Education, D & A Section, DRP - NYHQ, Requisition #514719

1. Support the Statistics and Monitoring Specialist (Education) to manage the MICS-EAGLE Initiative, and to coordinate with Education Program Division, regional and country offices and other internal and external partners. 2. Data analysis, Report drafting, and Quality assurance 3. Support data dissemination and advocacy activities for Global Project on Learning and Equity

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.

Background & Rationale

UNICEF plays a critical role in monitoring the situation of children and women in the world and for reporting on progress toward internationally set goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the World Fit for Children (WFFC) goals and UNICEF’s Strategic Plan (SP) targets. To support the global monitoring, UNICEF maintains a series of global databases on key indicators, assists countries in collecting necessary data through the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and conducts statistical analyses of the data for global reporting purposes.

UNICEF started implementing the sixth generation of MICS survey in 2017 that comes with several new modules. They include two newly developed education modules that assess early learning outcomes (the Functional Learning Skills Module, or the FL module). The FL module is designed to monitor SDG4.1.1.(a) and the results are comparable internationally.  It adopts a direct assessment method for children’s early learning in reading and math at the level of Grade 2 and/or 3 in primary education among children who aged 7 – 14 years old, and identifies the most marginalized children in terms of learning outcomes.  As MICS adopts sampling frameworks for household survey, it reaches not only children in school but also out of school children, and provides nationally-representative indicators, which can be disaggregated by sex, location (urban-rural), Socio-Economic Status (SES), sub-national geographical unit (e.g., province), and disability. Hence it is a great source for sector analysis and monitoring for equity in education, and will be implemented more than 50 countries from 2017-2019. 

The MICS-Education Analysis for Global Learning and Equity (MICS-EAGLE) Initiative was developed by the Data and Analytics Unit (DAU) and the Education Programme Division, and was launched in June 2018.  The initiative aims to support educating sectors around the world through providing consistent technical assistance to develop Country Report (CR) and Evidence-Based Policy Discussion (EBPD) note, which summarizes major policy recommendations and detailed action and advocacy plans, using MICS6 and other household survey data sets.   Currently five (5) countries in the West and Central Africa region and one (1) country in the East and South East Asia region plan to participate to the initiative.

Purpose: 

The consultant will have three major roles to support the MICS-EAGLE Initiative as follows.

1. Support the Statistics and Monitoring Specialist (Education) to manage the MICS-EAGLE Initiative, and to coordinate with Education Program Division, regional and country offices and other internal and external partners.

• Develop tools needed to facilitate the MICS-EAGLE Initiative including TORs for customization and the national workshop, STATA and SPSS codes for data analysis, draft of data visualization plan and so on.
• Facilitate discussion with participating countries regarding the methodology to analyze learning and equity in education using MICS6 datasets.
• Monitor project progress, draft project proposal to mobilize resources, and provide inputs for donor reports.
• Provide organizational supports to national and international meetings.

1. Data analysis, Report drafting, and Quality assurance

• Provide technical inputs to customization workshops.
• Under the supervision of the Statistics and Monitoring Specialist (Education), develop draft Country reports (CRs) through
  • Carrying out data analysis according to the agreed MICS Education analysis templates with country offices, and
  • Working with data visualization consultant and designers to produce high quality graphs, charts, tables and maps for CRs,
  • and consolidating inputs for draft CRs from country and regional offices as well as the Education Programme Division.
• Provide technical supports to Country Offices for the development of EBPD notes.
• Present findings of draft CRs and other analysis results for country offices, if requested.

1. Support data dissemination and advocacy activities for Global Project on Learning and Equity

• Assist country offices for localization and contextualization of findings from education data analysis, and provide advice on the production of UNICEF publications and other reports, fact sheets, brochures and related materials for country offices.
• Lead the process for developing the UNICEF education database summarizing the results from the project covering early grade learning and equity in education, linking to existing database and data visualization and dissemination tools.

In addition, the consultant is expected to provide technical and logistics supports to the education team in the DAU.

Duty Station : New York City, USA.

Travel : Required.

Copyright: UNICEF will retain all copyrights of any materials produced by the consultant under this assignment.

Remuneration: Payment will be made upon the satisfactory and timely submission and approval of the deliverables and not actual number of days worked. All remuneration must be within the specified agreement.

Timeframe

Start date: 1 September 2018                     
End date:   31 March 2019  

Expected results: (measurable results)

Key competences, technical background, and experience required Deadline

• Education: Advanced degree (Master or higher) in statistics, education, economics, or other social sciences.
• Work experience: At least 5 years of experience in data processing and statistical analysis.
• Proven record of drafting official report publications.
• Proven experience in working with data from household surveys in particular DHS and MICS.
• Computer skills: Competent in STATA, and Excel, Word, PowerPoint.
• Languages needed: Ability to communicate effectively in English and French, both orally and in writing, is required.
• Other skills and attributes: excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and manage multiple takes; strong interpersonal communication skills.

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.

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

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.