Consultancy to support the scale up and sustainability of Early Childhood Education and Care and Inclusive Education interventions, Sofia, Bulgaria, 15 months

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, commitment.

Building upon the modelling of the European Child Guarantee, UNICEF in Bulgaria is committed to continue to develop guidance and training packages for professionals for mainstreaming inclusive early childhood education practices. Within this intervention UNICEF in Bulgaria contributed to the development and testing of the Early Childhood Education and Care /ECEC/ Quality Framework and in 2024-2025 will provide technical support to the Ministry of Education and Science for the development of ECEC monitoring framework and its implementation at national level. The Framework aims to link together different sectors by introducing a coherent approach towards governance, content, professional development, funding, and monitoring over quality of ECEC at national, regional, and local level. The consultancy will support the coordination, evidence generation and documentation of UNICEF work in the area of ECEC.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of the assignment is to provide technical assistance to UNICEF in Bulgaria and Ministry of Education and Science in the process to scale up and ensure the sustainability of interventions in Early Childhood Education and Care /ECEC/ and Inclusive Education.

Key deliverables:

• Support activities designed for scaling up inclusive ECEC practices among professionals
• Support for the documentation and scaling up of Inclusive Education professional learning communities
• Support the sustainability of parental programme “Workshops for parents“
• Support the sustainability of the national Alternative and Augmentative Communication team
• Support the promotion, awareness and fundraising activities

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

• Master’s degree or higher in one or more of the following areas: Pedagogy, Social Sciences/Social Work, Special Education, Psychology, Project Management, Legal Studies, or another relevant field.
• A minimum of 5 years of proven experience in the area of inclusion of children with disabilities in early learning and education.
• Fluency in English.
• Excellent understanding of the conceptual framework, national policy framework and institutional arrangements related to early childhood education and care.
• Experience in project management, coordination of activities of different stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure, good negotiation, communication, and presentation skills. Pro-activity and strong orientation towards results.
• Ability to work independently.
• Ability to manage partnerships across diversity of stakeholders.
• Respect for cultural diversity and human rights.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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.

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: 

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.