Individual contract for Education in Emergency Coordinator, Brasilia, Brazil

Background & Rationale

Between 2015 and May 2019, Brazil registered a total of 212,441   Venezuelans migrants and asylum seekers, an estimated 6453,0500 (30%) being children.  The majority enter the country via the border in the northern State of Roraima, concentrating in the municipalities of Pacaraima and Boa Vista, where 13 official shelters and triage centres, managed by the Brazilian Army and UNHCR, host 5,536 people (1,562 children <15 years). According to Federal police, 50,397 Venezuelan migrants resides in the State of Roraima (62% of the total) and it is estimated that over 25,000 Venezuelans reside in Amazonas (mostly in Manaus). With an average of 500 migrants crossing the border daily, and no plan to increase the shelter capacity in Roraima, a greater number of migrant families, amounting to nearly 40,000 persons, are living in makeshift houses, precarious accommodations or simply on the streets. Among the migrant population, Venezuelan indigenous communities are amongst the most vulnerable. It is estimated that there are currently 4,654 indigenous refugees and migrants from Venezuela, mainly of Warao (81%), Pemon Taurepan (17%) and Eñepa (2%) ethnicities, with about half living in indigenous shelters in Roraima (900 individuals), Manaus (around 700) and Pará, and moving in the states of Roraima, Amazonas and Pará. 

Since February 2018, the Government determined several measures regarding emergency assistance to receive persons in vulnerable situations due to the migratory flux and the humanitarian crisis. Simultaneously, UNICEF initiated its interventions in Roraima and established an Office in Boa Vista. Building on its development programme to support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in Brazil, UNICEF’s response to the needs of children and families in the context of the migration crisis focuses on ensuring access to essential services and programmes. UNICEF aims at strengthening the capacity of actors responsible for providing quality protection, education, health/nutrition, water and sanitation services (including Government, non-governmental and community organisations), so that they are fully equipped to assist children on the move and their families. UNICEF advocates for the rights and voices of children and women as an integral component of the response. UNICEF’s zonal offices in Belem and Manaus are also increasingly supporting the emergency response in respective cities. 

For January 2020 onwards, UNICEF is leading the Education sector on the Response for Venezuelans (R4V) platform in Brazil. The R4V is a regional Inter-Agency Coordination platform that manages the Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) that will be implemented in 2020. The RMRP is a strategy to address the needs of 2.2 million refugees and migrants in 16 countries, aligned with governments responses and in coordination with development actors. It is also a coordinated operational response benefiting to refugees and migrants but also host communities in four key areas of intervention. The platform works as coordination mechanism to ensure synergies between 95 partners, avoid duplications and minimize gaps. The R4V is also a funding mechanism to enable the mobilization of funding and provide a comprehensive overview of the needs and the response.

As leaders for the Education sector (co-led by the Norwegian Refugee Council), the response focus on assessing the major educational challenges and adequately delivering non-formal education programmes, as well as promoting the capacity development of the public education sector at municipal and state levels, to adequately absorb migrant children and adolescents in formal schooling. UNICEF also supports the integration and interiorization processes by providing adequate information related to the educational demands and needs of the refugee and migrant children and adolescents in the host communities. The provision of non-formal education in and out shelters is integrated with Child Protection, offering gender, cultural and age sensitive psychosocial support and violence prevention activities.

UNICEF’s response to the Venezuelan migration crisis in 2020 will continue to support the Government response, known as Operação Acolhida (OA), in the states of Roraima and Amazonas, with the aim of scaling up multi-sectoral interventions at the border, in the municipalities of Pacaraima and Boa Vista in the State of Roraima, as well as in Manaus, in the Amazonas State and in Para State. The focus will be on the provision of immediate humanitarian aid to women, children and adolescents on the move, while enhancing the capacities of basic social services (e.g. primary health care, nutrition, WASH, formal and non-formal education, child protection) in Brazil’s poorest states. UNICEF will also support the Government’s Voluntary Federal Relocation Programme (known as interiorization) and the socio-economic integration of children and adolescents on the move along the axes from Manaus (Amazonas State) to Fortaleza (Ceará), reaching over 1,500 municipalities across 18 States in the Amazon and Semi-Arid territories.

Purpose

The Education in Emergencies Coordinator (EiE IC) reports to the Chief Education (Brasília) and Humanitarian Project Manager (Brasília) as a second supervisor responsible for technical oversight and guidance. The EiE IC provides overall technical, managerial and operational leadership in delivering Education technical support and services within the context of the humanitarian response. He/she works closely with other team members (national and local), national authorities, and partners to deliver strategic results for migrant and refugee children and adolescents. In particular, the EiE IC is responsible for: (i) conducting and updating the situation assessment and analysis, (ii) providing technical assistance at national level to the Education Sector for the R4V Platform, local teams, service providers, donors, UN agencies and partners (iii) ensuring effective coordination of the education partners, including the members of the Education sector on the RMRP, (iv) supporting programme progress monitoring and reporting. Travels might be required to Amazonas, Roraima and Para to follow up, monitor and evaluate and coordinate education in emergencies activities.

Expected results:

Result 1: Situation assessments, analysis and reports mechanisms are timely delivered monthly.

Activities:

• Conduct rapid assessments (incl. by leading inter-agency needs assessments), analyse existing research sources and monthly data gathered through partners or external source to determine education priorities (focusing on emerging issues, programme integration, risks and needs). This will allow for a regularly updated national and local situation analysis to verify that interventions, mobilization of actors and advocacy of UNICEF responds adequately and sufficiently to the situation affecting children, their families and the community;
• Draft in a timely manner education-related sections of key reporting requirements (including UNICEF’s bi-monthly/ monthly sitreps, R4V platform monthly reports and others as requested);
• Develop technical contributions to education components of the emergency appeals and donor reports and support internal and inter-agency initiatives related to the mobilization of funds.

Result 2: The coordination and management of the Education in Emergencies component of the humanitarian response is supported monthly.

Activities:

• Develop, monitor and report on UNICEF’s humanitarian response in education in coordination with authorities and partners. In particular: i) prepare  Project Proposals; ii) present PCAs on behalf of the team to the Contracts Review Committee (CRC) and ensure follow-up with the NGO partners, including programmatic visits, payment requests within the HACT procedures; iii) monitor project implementation ensuring efficient utilization of resources and delivery of supplies in compliance with UNICEF rules and procedures; iv) provide technical support and guidance for the setting up and functioning of the Super Panas (this includes identification of capacity gaps, and development of guidance manuals);  v) Identify opportunities and propose mechanisms to strengthen the local education system, in order to respond to the needs of children in the move; and v) promote internal coordination with other relevant programmatic areas and foster cross-sectoral linkages/joint programming whenever feasible (Child Protection, WASH, Health, C4D and others).
• Support and monitor the integration of education emergency response into the UNICEF Seal of Approval, in particular: support the municipalities in the implementation of education activities in line with their proposed Plan of Action; share information with the municipalities on the education workshops being held in partnership with the local and international NGOs; support the engagement of adolescents from the NUCAs from other municipalities in education initiatives.
• Contribute to the overall development of education humanitarian/children on the move programme objectives, strategies, and results-based planning within the framework of the yearly Refugee and Migrants Regional Response Plans (Regional and National Platform), and the HAC.
• Provide technical support throughout all stages of the programme review and annual work planning processes strengthening linkages between UNICEF’s humanitarian and regular education programming

Result 3: The inter-agency coordination and the intersectoral work via R4V platform is operated following UNICEF’s humanitarian and technical guidelines.

Activities:

• Provide leadership for the effective and efficient coordination of the Education sector on the RMRP/R4V. Secure the active engagement and buy in of relevant inter-agency, government and non-governmental stakeholders, mainstream and contextualize selected global standards, norms and tools (e.g. INEE) and provide technical guidance to the sector coordination of education responses. Provide technical guidance for: i) the development of workplans, reporting tools, protocols and advocacy messages; ii) the elaboration of inter-agency initiatives on capacity development and delivery of services (e.g. case management).

Timeframe

Start date: 06/01/2020                         End date: 06/12/2020 

Deliverables

The services included in the contract will be delivered continuously, with the same intensity throughout the months. The results will be evaluated by the following deliverables per result:

• Result 1: At least one situation assessment, analysis, situation and/or technical report delivered per month.
• Result 2:  At least two meetings organized with implementing partners/R4V partners. At least one monitoring and evaluation report on the status, challenges and lessons learned of the implementation of the Education in Emergencies component.
• Result 3: Participate in at least one intersectoral/coordination meeting per month.

Payment schedule