Full-time (home-based) Consultancy to support the development and deployment of digital initiatives and communities of practice in the area of early childhood development.

ECD section of the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia is looking for a full-time (home-based) consultant to support the development and deployment of digital initiatives and communities of practice in the area of early childhood development.

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, results

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical support to the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, country offices and their partners for the roll out of regional digital assets/tools in support of ECD practitioners, young children and their families and establishing communities of practice focusing on specific ECD related issues.

How can you make a difference?

The UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) supports work in 22 countries, coordinating regional efforts and supporting the local efforts of Country Offices across the region. Our ambition is to get the entire region working together - as one - on behalf of its most vulnerable children. With a special commitment to meeting the unique rights of young children ECARO endeavors to support targeted and coordinated efforts to mainstream Early Childhood Development (ECD) principles in health, nutrition, education, child protection, and emergency planning and response. Furthermore, building on the robust corpus of evidence on early childhood development, UNICEF promotes implementation and scale-up of evidence-based, and effective multi-sectoral packages aimed at ensuring that all children, including the most vulnerable, reach their development potential.

Within the framework of the Regional project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of children and their families in the Western Balkans and Turkey, funded by the EU, UNICEF Regional Office for ECA is supporting the countries in the Western Balkans to ensure the continuity of and the resilience of essential ECD services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Toward this end, the Regional Оffice is developing regional assets and tools that can be easily customized and deployed at local level to accelerate the work of UNICEF and its partners aiming to enhance the provision of parenting support, early learning and pre-school education, and capacity building of ECD practitioners. This includes development of a regional, digital capacity building resource package for ECD practitioners (e-learning platform based on the Microsoft Learning Passport hosting an online training package), regional mobile parenting application Bebbo, providing guidance and support to parents of young children (The New Bebbo App | UNICEF Europe and Central Asia), as well as tools for strengthening the use of digital platforms for preschool education and early learning. Within the framework of the EU funded project, UNICEF is also rolling out activities for raising awareness among practitioners and key stakeholders in the Western Balkans on early childhood intervention for children with developmental difficulties, as well as for building communities of practice in areas of ECI (including assistive technologies), pre-school education, parenting of young children and home visiting.

Scope of Work: The present consultancy aims to support the development and deployment of regional digital assets and tools aiming to expand support for parenting, pre-school education and early learning and capacity building of ECD practitioners, as well as activities aiming to establish communities of practice and cross-border knowledge sharing and learning on specific ECD related issues.
The consultancy includes the following specific tasks:

Support the deployment of the e-learning platform for practitioners working with families with young children:
1. Support the customization and maintenance of the regional instance of the Microsoft learning passport for the purpose and the targeted audience of the e-learning platform.
2. Support the development and uploading of digital training resources on the e-learning platform, including digitalization of the developed new resources in Articulate 360, support for development and customization of additional digital resources (i.e. recordings of webinars delivered by UNICEF partners or other), as well as other documents/features to ensure quality learning experience of the platforms (tests, summary and introductions to the courses, visual representation).
3. Draft different documents to support the deployment of the platform in countries, including user guides and tutorials for users and administrators, information leaflet, generic TORs as needed, presentations or short videos for users.
4. Update of the landing page for the e-learning platform.
5. Provide technical support and coach selected 3-4 countries, with a specific focus on the countries in the Western Balkans to customize and deploy the platform at local level.
6. Support preparation of meetings/trainings with selected COs to facilitate the deployment of the platform and/or the development of quality digital resources to support learning of practitioners.
7. Coordinate closely with the team working on digital platforms for early childhood education and formal education to create linkages, share resources and coordinate guidance and knowledge shared with country offices.
8. Other tasks as identified in the process of development and deployment of the e-learning platform.

Mobile parenting application Bebbo:
9. Support countries deploying Bebbo to adapt content and relevant resources.
10. Support upload and moderation of resources in the Bebbo Content Management System (CMS).
11. Support knowledge management of Bebbo related resources.

Strengthening the use of digital platforms for preschool education and early learning:
12. Support the development of training and knowledge sharing videos for use of Learning Passport and developing/ adapting interactive online materials.
13. Create interactive materials based on identified and approved courses and support countries in the translation/ voice over of existing resources in English.

Support for regional capacity building, knowledge sharing and establishing communities of practice in the Western Balkans on specific issues related to ECD.
14. Support the organisation and coordination of webinars and country exchange calls for the purpose of knowledge sharing, learning and building of communities of practice.
15. Logistical support and organization of a training course on Early childhood intervention consisting of 7 online sessions: coordinate translation and interpretation, technical support during the sessions, preparation of invitations, registration forms and other necessary documents.
16. Support the establishing community of practice in the Western Balkans and Turkey on specific issues related to ECD, including through provision of logistical and technical support for preparation on online and face-to-face meetings, establishing dedicated shared spaces, preparation of technical documents (presentations, thematic documents, etc.) and facilitate sharing of resources
17. Develop the first draft of the project newsletter for the Regional project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in coordination with the country colleagues and the regional office thematic leads; assist with the regional communication activities on the project.
18. Technical and logistical support for organization of the final event of the Regional project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 o the lives of children and their families in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

Other:
19. Support the preparation and documentation of the meetings with COs on specific issues related to the implementation of the Regional project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of children and their families in the Western Balkans and Turkey (across health, education, ECD and child protection result areas).

Working modality: full-time, remotely, for 7 months between June - December 2022.

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

- University degree psychology, early childhood development, early child education or education, social work or other in a relevant field.
- At least 1 year cumulative experience with similar tasks with the UN agencies or international NGOs working on ECD/E is mandatory.
- Good knowledge of digital and online tools development,
- previous experience and knowledge of Microsoft Learning Passport, platform for development of e-learning courses, Content management Systems (CMS).
- Strong interest in Human Rights, especially Child Rights, Women's Rights and the Rights of Children with Disabilities.
- Strong analytical and writing skills, capacity to synthesize, structure and clarify complex issues.
- Proven experience of delivering capacity building.
- Fluency in English is a minimum requirement.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.

How to apply: Interested applicants should apply online, duly complete the online profile and application, upload required within application documents including a Personal history form (downloadable from http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc) or CV (P11 prevails)  Candidates should indicate their fees in USD dollars in the application form (without travel). Applications without a fee will not be considered.

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. The candidate may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid).