Consultant (Rwanda, Operations), Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Hosted Fund, 36 Months, Kigali, Rwanda, Req:580777

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, EDUCATION 

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment came together with our founding CEO Amel Karboul to create the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF).

EOF is a UNICEF-hosted fund with a mandate to champion Outcomes-Based Financing (OBF) for education at all levels. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes for children and youth, by bringing together governments, public and private funders, implementing partners, and impact investors to achieve tangible, verified outcomes. We are backed by a range of world leaders who support us to shape our approach and achieve our ambitious aims.

Since its inception in 2018, EOF has established itself as a leading global player in OBF and the only dedicated centre of expertise for OBF in education and skills. With successful programs already underway in Basic Education in Ghana and Sierra Leone, EOF is now preparing to launch programs in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone, and a Skills for Employment program in Tunisia.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish large-scale outcomes funds in Quality Basic Education, mobilising ~USD 50M for these programmes from partners such as FCDO, KOICA, Bank of America and Hempel Foundation.
• Established a USD 47 million partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a portfolio of OBF programmes in early childhood care and education across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• In partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and Bank of America, EOF is launching our first Skills for Employment programme in Tunisia, focusing on end-to-end youth support from training to job placement and retention.
• Championed a new way for private impact investors to contribute to our programmes, assuming the financial risk and supporting implementing partners to achieve results. Our first programmes attracted 2-3x of the required impact investment, suggesting that the model is appealing to the private sector.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.
• Established a Learning & Engagement team which focuses on community building efforts, including the launch of the Collective Learning Initiative, bringing together actors in the OBF and early childhood care and education spaces to jointly surface learnings.
• Already started to change minds: from governments changing their sectorial strategy to embrace OBF and co-financing programme budgets, to international NGOs becoming more data-driven and focused on impact.

How can you make a difference?

The Consultant (Operations, Rwanda) will provide operational guidance and support for the implementation of the program. The Consultant (Operations, Rwanda) will report directly to the Operations Specialist and work closely with EOF’s team. An estimated 12 mission travels are estimated as required within Rwanda to visit sites of the programs’ implementation. This will be an estimated 4 travels per year of the assignment. Each mission travel will be for an estimated 5 working days.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

Deliverable	Description	Estimated number of working days	Deadline/ timeline
Deliverable 1: 15 written reports on EOF’s implementing partners, their expenses and recommendations for how to improve their financial processes. Reports written and shared with EOF’s implementing partners. Estimated 15-20 pages per report.	On 15 occasions throughout the contract, and supported by EOF’s Operations Specialist, lead the expense verification exercise for EOF’s program in Rwanda. The activities required are: • Request transaction listings from implementing partners • Review and verify a sample of transactions • Undertake visits to the partners’ offices • Draft and share a report on the transactions with each partner including recommendations for how to improve their financial processes. • Monitor the ongoing implementation of these recommendations.	180 (12 days per verification exercise)	15 occasions through the program: • 3 in 2025 • 5 in 2026 • 5 in 2027 • 2 in 2028
Deliverable 2: Site visits to EOF’s implementing partners conducted, with detailed reports (estimated 5-pages each) summarizing the key observations from the site visits.	Conduct site visits, supported by EOF’s Operations Specialist, to a sample of program sites (5 sites per visit), ensuring program implementation aligns with standards. Write detailed site visit reports summarizing activities, successes, challenges, and recommendations for improvement. Reports must be shared with stakeholders within one month after visits. Visits will also be used to gather inputs in order to update the program’s protocols related to safeguarding, field visits, and operational procedures.	120 (8 days per site visit)	15 occasions through the program: • 5 by the end of 2025 • An additional 4 by the end of 2026 • An additional 5 by the end of 2027 • The final visit by the end of the assignment
Deliverable 3: 8 reports on market research for local procurement.	Produce a report summarizing market research to support the offices’ local procurement planning. Examples could include local office supplies and local vehicle hire. Each report should be 5-8 pages.	24 (3 days per procurement process)	Estimated 2-3 times per year: • 2 by the end of 2025 • 3 times • 3 times in 2027
Deliverable 4: 15 site visits organized for EOF’s program team to program ECE centres.	Lead logistics for 15 site visits, including booking vehicles and accommodation for EOF’s team to visit ECE centres in Rwanda that are participating in EOF’s program.	30 (2 days per site visit)	15 occasions through the program: • 5 by the end of 2025 • An additional 4 by the end of 2026 • An additional 5 by the end of 2027 • The final visit by the end of the assignment
Deliverable 5: 4 reports written and shared with EOF’s Operations Specialist for the EOF Rwanda program. 3-5 pages per report.	Summarize in the report the assets EOF holds in Rwanda, how these are stored in line with UNICEF policy, and key risks and mitigations.	4 days (1 day per report)	4 reports in total: • 1 in 2025 • 1 in 2026 • 1 in 2027 • 1 in 2028
Deliverable 6: 12 workshops delivered for EOF’s central team and its implementing partners to develop solutions to program implementation challenges.	Organize the logistics for and facilitate half-day in-person workshops between EOF’s central team and its implementing partners to develop solutions to key implementation challenges that have arisen for the program. Prepare pre-reading of estimated 20-page slide deck per workshop.	48 (4 days per workshop)	Estimated 12 workshops overall • 3 by the end of 2025 • An additional 4 by the end of 2026 • An additional 4 by the end
Deliverable 7: 2 reports (2-3 pages maximum) detailing the payment calculations for each implementing partner, the communications with NCDA, and the process for making the payments.	Reports detailing the payment process from EOF to its implementing partners. This will include coordinating with the NCDA finance team to ensure the smooth processing of payments to EOF’s implementing partners on the annual payment dates.	20 days (10 days per payment)	On two occasions during the contract – In July 2026 and July 2027
TOTAL ESTIMATED WORKING DAYS		426

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

• A degree in political science, economics, finance, business, education, international development, international public policy, or a related field, is required.
• A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in operations, program implementation, project management or monitoring activities.
• Operations (e.g. logistics and administrative tasks, low-value procurement and processing invoices) and administrative (e.g. organizing travel logistics and managing office supplies) experience is required.Experience coordinating meetings and maintaining effective communication with counterparts, including government officials.
• Experience drafting reports and presentations to various stakeholders.
• Familiarity with local operational context of Rwanda.
• Fluency in English and Kinyarwanda is required.

DESIRED REQUIREMENTS

• Experience working in the education sector in Rwanda is strongly preferred.
• Experience with conducting monitoring activities is preferred.
• Experience or an interest in international development, the global education sector, and international aid is desirable.
• Experience in innovative finance, particularly Outcomes Based Financing, is an asset.

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. 

Interested candidates are required to fully complete their application profile, upload a cover letter and their financial proposal that outlines the daily fee rate in USD and anticipated travel costs, as the consultancy assignment requires travel within Rwanda.

Applications with incomplete profile and without a financial proposal will not be considered.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.