School Mapping Consultant

The consultant will perform school mapping, including cleaning and validating school data, cross-referencing school geo-location data with other sources, creating visualizations, advise on real-time digital connectivity testing and collect additional datasets to use with school geo-locations. Duration of the assignment: up to 120 working days over 10 months period (Nov 2019 – Aug 2020).

There is a growing interest in advancing the digital agenda in Serbia. Currently, the development of the National Digital Strategy is led by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications (MoTTT). Education is due to be one of the topics in the Strategy and its further operationalization is expected within the education sector, including institutional set-up on national, regional and school level to support digital learning. On the other hand, the Law on Foundations of the Education System already defines digital competencies among the aims and expected educational outcomes of students. Accordingly, new curricula in primary and general secondary education emphasize IT and computer sciences, usage of modern technologies in learning, entrepreneurship and project learning. Moreover, the educational authorities adopted the document on digital competence of teachers aiming to support teachers in the process of integrating digital aspects into their everyday practice.

The MoTTT has over the past few years provided computers and internet connectivity to a number of schools across Serbia. In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MoESTD), it is currently implementing the project “Connected Schools”, which aims to enable Internet access in 500 schools in Serbia by 2020. Still, many schools, especially in rural areas far from urban centers, will not be covered by this project, and it is important to have an overview of how many schools and children are affected by this digital gap, in order to find other ways to connect them to the global network.

One of the challenges for educational planners has been to provide equitable access to quality educational facilities to all children, including digital technology and internet connectivity. Collecting comprehensive and accurate data on this and presenting it in an easily observable metric is one of the key challenges for overcoming inequities. Without this information, organizations and governments cannot effectively use technology to improve education, increasing the digital divide in education.

One of the solutions to overcome this challenge is school mapping. It provides a comprehensive snapshot of educational facilities and basic information such as child coverage in schools, the number of teachers, the availability of internet, amongst other information. School mapping also presents an opportunity to overlay school infrastructure information with survey data on different issues pertaining to children wellbeing and their educational experiences. Current initiative partners with global Project Connect initiative of UNICEF aimed at mapping every school in the world with the goal of providing real-time data to assess the quality of each school’s internet connectivity. Once the mapping exercise is completed, the data will be made available on an interactive online platform (MagicBox).

Work Assignment Overview:

The purpose of this consultancy is to perform school mapping based on the available data from the MoESTD and MoTTT, and additional trustworthy sources of data, particularly in the area of schools’ internet connectivity, overlaid by other available data relevant for education and wellbeing of all children.

Under the general guidance and directions provided by UNICEF, the consultant will perform school mapping, including cleaning and validating school data, cross-referencing school geo-location data with other sources, creating visualizations, advise on real-time digital connectivity testing and collect additional datasets to use with school geo-locations. This will require liaison with UNICEF Innovation Fund on matters related to technical implementation of MagicBox and data validation.

Duration of the assignment: up to 120 working days over 10 months period (Nov 2019 – Aug 2020)

Detailed task description:

Task 1. Clean and validate school data and cross-reference school geo-location data with other sources.

Activities:

• Cleaning all data received from MoESTD and MoTTT (school geo-locations and connectivity information),
• Validating school geo-locations received from the Ministries,
• Analyzing potent sources of additional data for school mapping,
• Devising a way to gather additional data from identified sources,
• Cross-referencing data with already available sources.

Deliverables:

• CSV file with cleaned and validated school geo-location data,
• Additional set of CSV (or any other structured format) files related to school data.

Timeframe:

• 25 days, until the end of December 2019.

Task 2. Create visualizations based on school data.

Activities:

• Propose topics for visualizations,
• Create visualizations.

Deliverables:

• 10 visualizations in digital format (good for online and offline publishing).

Timeframe:

• 50 days, until the end of August 2020.

Task 3. Advise on real-time digital connectivity testing.

Activities:

• Consult UNICEF Innovation Fund staff in order to develop a proposal of real-time monitoring of Internet connectivity,
• Help in defining criteria for schools to be part of the pilot phase.

Deliverables:

• A document describing the necessary steps and scenario for real-time connectivity testing in selected schools.

Timeframe:

• 15 days, until the end of April 2020.

Task 4. Collect additional datasets to use with school geo-locations.

Activities:

• Create dataset for fast-food joints near schools and acquire geo-locations of these places,
• Create dataset for bookmaking businesses near schools and acquire geo-locations of these places,
• Create any additional dataset which might be interesting in the context of school locations and children-related topics.

Deliverables:

• Datasets in CSV files,
• An article for UNICEF Serbia website on the mapping results/conclusions,
• Visualization(s) based on the additional datasets.

Timeframe:

• 30 days, until the end of July 2020.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Advanced university degree in Sciences, Information Technology, Geo-spatial studies or other related disciplines.
• At least three years of professional experience in data collection, data visualisation, mapping or performing similar activities.
• Professional experience in GIS and mapping services, internet connectivity projects and education information systems.
• Proven experience in the development of software, web-based data management tools and processes for data collection, analysis and reporting related to the field of education.
• Experience in Information and Communication Technology, particularly with respect to internet connectivity would be an asset.
• Familiarity with Serbian education system.
• Knowledge or experience with technical regulations of the country in relation to the implementation of the project.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and meet deadlines.
• Positive work attitude and ability to apply sound judgement.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work as part of a team, as well as on own initiative and independently.
• Ability to communicate clearly (orally and in writing) in both English and Serbian.

How to apply:

The application must include a financial proposal in RSD as a separate document, providing the following information:

1. Daily rate (all costs included e.g. health insurance, pension, usage of mobile phone),
2. Daily travel allowance for overnight stay in Serbia (including accommodation),
3. Transportation costs per km (for travel within Serbia).

Important note: Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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.