Home based : Early Childhood Education Consultant – ( 90 working days between 15 February 2024 and 30 September 2024) – Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

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, an advocate

Scope of work

Early childhood offers a critical window of opportunity to shape the trajectory of a child’s holistic development and build a foundation for their future. The European Pillar of Social Rights states that all children have the right to affordable early childhood education and care (ECEC) of good quality. It is in the earliest years of a child’s life that the foundation and capacity to learn is laid, and this is built on throughout life. Learning is an incremental process; building a strong foundation in the early years is a precondition for higher level competence development and educational success as much as it is essential for health and the well-being of children. Participating in early childhood education and care is beneficial for all children and especially beneficial for children in a disadvantaged situation. It helps by preventing the formation of early skills gaps and thus it is an essential tool to fight inequalities and educational poverty. Quality, affordable ECEC also allows for increased parental workforce participation. In May 2019, the Council of the EU adopted a Recommendation on high-quality early childhood education and care systems approved by the education ministers of EU Member States.

UNICEF is working with countries across Europe and Central Asia, as well as EU member states to support system reforms to improve access, quality and inclusion within the ECEC sector. UNICEF ECARO is working closely with the European Union to provide technical support to select countries through the Technical Support Instrument. The technical support includes, but is not limited:

• Evidence generation in the area of ECEC within the countries receiving technical support, and across EU member states where good practice can be adapted for other countries.
• Development of strategic frameworks to strengthen quality and conditions in ECEC.
• Supporting the development of strategic recommendation and planning to feed into national strategies.
• Strengthening capacities and knowledge of ECEC stakeholders in countries, especially in relation to ECEC quality and monitoring.
• Development of communication resources and campaign strategies to strengthen the perception of the sector.

UNICEF is seeking a consultant to support the coordination and oversight of these projects, to provide guidance to teams working on the projects and to ensure quality assurance of all deliverables under the project. The consultant will work closely with the UNICEF ECARO teams, the EU, country ministry representatives and the research/consultancy teams.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Develop project reports, budgets, technical materials.
• Provide technical guidance and inputs into deliverables from other consultants
• Oversee the implementation in line with the budgets and timelines.

Working closely with UNICEF ECARO teams, EU, Ministries and local project teams:

1. Development and review of Quality Frameworks for Austria and Cyprus:

• Provide technical guidance and inputs to the QFs being developed in Cyprus and in Austris.
• Support the development of the M&E Frameworks for each project.
• Support the development of the methodology of the Cyprus Framework piloting and provide technical guidance to the piloting report.
• is shared and learned from.

2. Technical support to the development of strategies and recommendations for reforms in Austria and Cyprus:

• Together with the technical teams in each country provide input into the strategy documents being developed and provide technical and strategic guidance.
• Have high-level consultation meetings with stakeholders to ensure buy-in to the strategies and to ensure synergies with other processes.

3. Provide technical support to the communication strategy being developed in Austria

• Provide ECEC expertise to the communication consultant, including supporting with key ECEC advocacy messages to be incorporate into their work.
• Ensure all activities are in line with best practice for child development and wellbeing.
• Review and provide technical inputs to the commutation strategy and action plan being developed.

4. Develop end project reports and contribute to end-project meetings.

• Develop end-project reports for each country (AT and CY), reflecting the implementation based on the inception reports and incorporating recommendations and next-steps for sustainability.
• Develop PPTs for each end-project meeting.
• Conduct meetings with stakeholders for project transition.
•  Develop project reports for donors and partners.

5. Programme management and coordination.

• Manage and follow-up on the implementation of all program components related to the ECEC programme ensure their progress in accordance with the established goals, plans and strategies.
• Ensure roles and responsibilities are clearly defined across the programme and ensure all components are being implemented in sequence with concrete linkage between programme activities and streams of work.
• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions.
• Facilitate project coordination meetings, meetings with project consultants and stakeholders.
• Take part in project Working Group meetings every quarter or as needed.
• Facilitate project steering meetings every quarter.

6. Knowledge management and capacity building.

• Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Create linkages with the broader ECARO and UNICEF ECE and ECD agenda.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.

Activity and Deliverables

Estimated Duration of the Contract

90 working days from 15 February 2024 to 30 September 2024

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a remote consultancy, in the same time zone of Geneva.

The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place. Travel costs for any travel undertaken from home country will be reimbursed to the Consultant based on actual costs in support for the Activities and Deliverables.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant. Please propose a Professional Fee for 90 working days between 15 February 2024 to 30 September 2024 to undertake this assignment.

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

• Advanced university degree (Master’s) in Education, child development, public health and/or medicine, nutrition, psychology, human development, child development, families’ studies or another relevant technical field

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required

• Seven years minimum of relevant professional experience in early childhood education and care (at national/systems level).
• Understanding of ECEC quality assurance, workforce development, data and monitoring, and policy/legal reforms is essential.
• Knowledge of the ECEC agenda in the EU.
• Experience managing national programme implementation is highly desirable.
• Experience working with Ministry reform programmes is highly desirable and ideally experience working on ECEC reforms across a split system.
• Experience managing EU projects, including experience in developing project agreements and experience in EU narrative and financial reporting is considered an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Experience working in Cyprus and/or Austria is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is essential. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV, and a Financial Proposal in your application by indicating your availability and a lumpsum based on 90 working days to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.