Local Consultancy - Senior Expert for a Feasibility Analysis of the National School Management and Governance Approaches

Yerevan

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Yerevan
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
- International Relations
- Democratic Governance
- Education, Learning and Training
- Public Policy and Administration
Closing Date: Closed

Individual Consultant is expected to perform this assignment remotely (home based) with possible field missions as required.

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, a champion

Individual Consultant is expected to perform this assignment remotely (home based) with possible field missions as required.

How can you make a difference?

The aim of the assignment is to support improvement of Armenia’s national school leadership system through comprehensive system analysis and policy recommendations. Under this assignment, the Senior Expert, working within a team of dedicated experts composed of one Senior and two Junior Experts and guided by Team Leader, will be responsible for collecting the data and analyzing Armenia’s school management and governance practices to generate evidence-based policy recommendations for improvement of the school management and governance system in Armenia. This assessment envisages both secondary review of existing data, desk-research and, optionally, primary data collection/analysis.

These activities will contribute to the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) Target 4.1. which requires states to “that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.” At the global level, the agenda around the SDG 4 to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ by 2030, has reinforced a focus on learning assessment to gain data on learning that allow to establish and monitor education quality and learning progress.

A feasibility analysis of National School Management and Governance approaches and stakeholder inclinations towards these approaches shall be implemented to identify academic-literature-driven, optimal (efficient and effective) and context-responsive policies which foster school autonomy and accountability. The specific objectives under this assignment include:

A secondary analysis of existing research and policy documentation to map the issues and improvement recommendations connected to the existing National School Management and Governance approaches;
Cross-case analysis of existing in the country private schools’, preschool clusters’, participative schools’ and other governance models to identify alternative approaches;
Critical review of advanced international theory and practice to identify optimal school governance approaches and policies for feasibility analysis in the local context.

Key stakeholders of the assignment are the government line ministries, namely the Ministries of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MoTAI), Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MoESCS), sub-national and local authorities, UNICEF, EU and dedicated CSOs.

The knowledge generated by the study should be used by UNICEF Armenia to inform and amplify its future activities and projects in the country and will also be used by other national stakeholders to further refine the quality, cohesiveness and timeliness of policies in the field of general education.

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Inception Phase

- Support in desk researching and secondary review of data;

- Support the Team Leader to develop the Study Protocol, with basic literature review, detailed methodology;

- Adjustments of the methodology as per guidance and comments from UNICEF.

Study Protocol for the inception phase and fieldwork plan in English with detailed implementation plan and methodology

First half of June, 2021

Fieldwork Phase

- Ensure pretesting and finalization of the instruments based on the methodology developed by the study team;

- Comprehensive literature review;

- Collecting qualitative data through remote KEI/KIIs;

- Data transcription and analysis, including cross-case and other comparative analysis ;

- Debriefing meeting for UNICEF Armenia on the preliminary findings, testing elements of conclusions.

Comprehensive literature review in Armenian and English (no more than 20 pages)

Brief report and validation workshop on desk review and secondary data

Documentation of fieldwork implementation, including the full transcripts/audio-files of KEI/KIIs

End of August, 2021

Analysis and Reporting

- Data further analytics;

- Inputs in development of the draft report for UNICEF Armenia review. The contents of the report should be developed based on feedback provided after testing and analysis phase of the assignment.

- Support in the development of the final report.

Draft reports in English and Armenian

Final reports in English and Armenian with recommendations (up to 50 pages, excluding annexes) and an Executive Summary

September, 2021

November, 2021

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

Advanced university degree (Masters) in Education, Sociology, Economics, Public Policy, Social Policy or a related field. A PhD degree would be a strong asset.
At least 4 years of documented experience in education (preferably at least 2 years in either research or development of principal or teacher education programs/policies); with solid knowledge of international research practice in the field of early school leadership; as well as of Armenia’s national school leadership system;
Extensive experience in designing research projects, studies, evaluations and surveys, data analysis and report writing (both in Armenian and in English; links to published research and analytical documents relevant to the TOR to be provided).
No less than 5 years’ experience in qualitative interviewing.
Data management and processing skills through application of SPSS, STATA or other relevant packages.
Proven ability of working in teams and expert groups as well as of working in international and multicultural environments.
Very good communication and presentation skills with government and international organizations.
Fluency in written and spoken English.
Previous experience in working with UN agencies will be an asset.

For more details please refer to the attached Terms of Reference. Download File Terms of Reference (B4_Senior Expert).pdf

Terms of the application:

The deadline for the submission of applications is May 30. Applications should include:

Cover letter;
CV;
Financial Proposal;
Published research and analytical documents relevant to the TOR;
Examples of published work (paper, abstract, proceedings) in top international conferences and SCOPUS-indexed high-quality journals will be an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

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.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

This vacancy is now closed.
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