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For every child, education

The UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is seeking to establish a Roster of Education experts. Becoming a Pre-Qualified Consultant in the UNICEF Roster is a one-off standard application that opens the door for potentially multiple assignments. Once pre-qualified, consultants will be eligible for direct recruitment by UNICEF offices in the region for a three-year period. Over the three-year period, UNICEF will make extensive use of the roster for eligible consultancy requirements; this is therefore a unique opportunity for any interested and qualified consultant to submit one single application and, if entered onto the Roster, to be immediately considered for any future assignments by UNICEF in the relevant area of expertise.

BACKGROUND

Access to education

All children and adolescents have the right to quality education. While great progress has been made in ECAR to get children into basic education, with net enrolment rates generally above 95%, an estimated 1.6 million children of basic school age are out-of-school. The challenge is more serious for children aged 3 to 6, with over 8 million children of pre-primary school age estimated to not be benefiting from early education programmes. This can heavily impact their education paths and careers later on, with children from marginalized communities the hardest hit. At the secondary level, 1.7 million adolescents are estimated not to be in school; equity gaps are also evident amongst these young people, impacting their skills development and later ability to find employment.

Additionally, there are many more children, perhaps millions, from the most marginalized communities, that are excluded from national data collection procedures and thus are invisible in national indicators on education. For example, there are an estimated 5.1 million children with disabilities in the region, the majority of whom are likely to be out of school; those in school are often in special schools or classrooms, despite attempts to introduce and ensure inclusive education. Adolescents and pre-primary school age children, children from rural or lower socio-economic backgrounds, children from ethnic and linguistic minority groups (mainly Roma children) and children with disabilities (CwD) are particularly at risk of being out-of-school or dropping out early. In some countries gender stereotypes combined with age characteristics lead to gender-based exclusion, especially at the secondary level – discriminating against girls in some countries, against boys in others. Children falling into multiple profiles of exclusion are the most at risk of never entering at all, dropping out early, or not acquiring the necessary skills to find meaningful employment or advance their own and their society’s development.

Poor learning outcomes

Learning outcomes in the region are persistently low. The latest round of PISA tests shows that on average, the 15-year-old in the participating countries in ECAR are 2.5 years behind their OECD peers. About half are failing to master basic reading, mathematics skills and science skills. In many countries, the national assessment systems are not yet fully developed, and there is often little data on student learning outcomes; however available data shows severe equity gaps, equivalent to several years of education, across the region for children from marginalized communities (CwD, minorities, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds).

Poor education quality in the region impacts the development of foundation, transferrable, job-related and digital skills. Not only is the out-of-school rate for upper secondary age adolescents high, youth unemployment and the number of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) is also high. This highlights the limited skills acquired by young people in ECAR and their ability to find meaningful employment with those skills. This also contributes to emigration of the brightest from the region, especially towards the European Union (EU).

A region in transition

In ECA, the past twenty years have been a time of transition, with major political, administrative and structural changes and public finance reforms. Yet many challenges remain in establishing strong equity-enhancing and pro-poor education systems with clear oversight responsibilities at all levels: this includes coordination between central and lower-level governments, adequate funding to various levels of education, gaps in policy formulation and implementation, meaningful involvement of civil society and communities in education, and the indirect costs of education faced by many families and communities. Countries in Eastern Europe are heavily influenced by the EU, striving to align their policies to the accessions requirements and general EU recommendations (including on skills development and high-quality early childhood systems).

UNICEF in ECAR

UNICEF works in 21 countries in the ECA Region[1]. While acknowledging that each country is unique, with unique challenges and capacities, the Regional Office strives to give guidance and support to enable countries to work towards SDG 4 and develop strategies that support the global UNICEF mission and Education Strategic Plan. The global Education Strategy 2017-2030 priorities learning, access and system’s support, with a focus on equity, in line with the global UNICEF pillar on education: every child learns.

The regional flagship result for the current period is that ‘by 2021, 700,000 out-of-school girls and boys are enrolled in high quality, inclusive pre-primary, primary and secondary education’. The focus, while strongly on access, emphasizes quality, considering the persistently low learning outcomes in the region. The regional focus is to ensure UNICEF Country Offices work together with their government counterparts and development partners towards accelerating efforts to expand access, improve quality and reduce inequities in participation and learning. Given that children’s exclusion in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is rooted in complex, diverse and interacting situations, equity in school participation and learning can only be realized through comprehensive system reforms. Accordingly, across the ECA region, UNICEF has focused its programming at system level, recognizing that contributions to systemic change represent the most effective and sustainable route to the progressive realization of children’s rights. Top priorities for the region include inclusive education; teacher training and capacity building, particularly in the field of assessments; and data collection, analysis and utilization. Priorities also include strengthening on-going innovations and promising initiatives at country level, generating knowledge by identifying and documenting good practices, and facilitating the exchange of information and knowledge between countries.

EXPERTISE SOUGHT

In order to drive forward quality, inclusive education in the region, the UNICEF Regional Office for ECA is seeking technical expertise, competencies and skills across several education domains. Potential candidates will be required to have a minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience (two years or more in the ECA region will be counted as an asset) as well as expertise and competencies in one or more of these sub-areas:

Service categories

Area of expertise sough

Curriculum development

Expertise in assessments

Teacher education

Systems strengthening

Education Management Information System (EMIS)

Children with disabilities

Inclusion of marginalized groups

Innovation

Education in emergencies

Early Childhood Education

Second Decade Education

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES OF A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE

The Minimum Qualifications required are as follows:

In addition, having the following experience or competencies will be considered an asset:

Candidates to the UNICEF’s Pre-qualified Consultants Roster should be:

Remarks:

How to apply:

Applicants are invited to:

Please note that only candidates who are under serious consideration will be contacted for the next steps (interviews). Once pre-qualified, consultants will be eligible for direct recruitment by offices in the region for short-term consultancies within a two-year period.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourage qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.

[1] Albania; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Georgia; Kazakhstan; Kosovo; Kyrgyzstan; Montenegro; Republic of Moldova; Romania; Serbia; Tajikistan; North Macedonia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; Uzbekistan

How to apply:

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 to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=526466