International Consultancy – Development of South Sudan Country Partnership Compact’s Operational Plan through System Transformation, System Capacity and the Girls’ Education Accelerator Grants application package (60 working days)

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Background

The Education System in South Sudan is guided by laws and policy documents such as Transitional Constitution 2011, General Education Act 2012, and the National General Education Policy 2017-2027 which all articulate education as human right, compulsory and free at the primary education level. Though there has been an increase in total enrolment for all levels of formal education, access to universal primary education remains unfulfilled with more than half of the school age population that is 2.8 million children remaining out of school of which 53 percent are girls. Similarly, the quality of education and learning outcomes are very low owing to shortage of qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials and non-conducive learning environment.

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a partnership and mobilizes and delivers funding to countries most in need of education support to transform their education system. GPE’s goal is to accelerate access, learning outcomes and gender equality through equitable, inclusive, and resilient education systems fit for the 21st century. South Sudan’s Partnership Compact has been approved by the GPE in January 2024. Based on the findings of the Education Sector Analysis as well as the Enabling Factors Analysis, the partnership compact has articulated the general education sector priority reform as improved learning outcomes in an inclusive basic education, with key focus on foundational grades of basic education (pre-primary and lower primary). The transformative thrust of this priority reform is on improving teaching practices especially in foundational stages of learning and the provision of key learning and teaching resources to the intended users (learners and teachers). The outcome areas identified in the Compact and endorsed by Local Education Group (LEG) are:
1. Improved management of teachers for a better curricular delivery in pre-primary and lower primary.
2. Reduced costs to education and an overall improved learning environment that support better learning outcomes.
3. Increased access to education, with a focus in providing better opportunities for girls and children with disabilities.
4. Improved service delivery and coordination of general education.

The STG, GEA and SCG are intended to support the implementation of these priority reforms that the Ministry of Education and Instruction and its development partners have agreed upon, as set out in the Partnership Compact.

Under the GPE 2025 strategic plan, South Sudan is eligible for the GEA of $10 million, SCG of 2$ million, and STG of $46.43 million (of which 20% that is $9.29 million is dependent on the fulfillment of the high priority enabling factor – volume, efficiency, and equity of domestic financing). The primary purpose of this grant is to support the country in transforming its education system by making focused, evidence-based investments in programs that unblock system bottlenecks.

The Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) acting as a Grant Agent (GA) for the STG and Save the Children (SC) Consortium as GA for GEA and SCG are currently developing the grant application and related documents to access South Sudan’s approved indicative allocation for regular GPE system transformation grant in accordance with the strategic parameters for GPE support.

Scope of Work

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support in the preparation, development, and finalization of the high-quality Grant Application Package (Programme outline/Concept note, Programme Document, Budget, and relevant annexes) in compliance with the guidelines and templates of GPE. Specifically, the scope of the assignment is as follows:
1. Review the Partnership Compact, GPE Board Guidelines and Board Decision on South Sudan, MoGEI policy documents, evidence, strategies, and sector development plans, as well as other relevant documents to inform the development of the programme document.
2. Develop the Program Outline/ Concept Note, ensuring that it reflects inputs from the GPE Secretariat, MoGEI, and members of the LEG for approval by the GPE Secretariat. The Programme Outline will include a) proposed components and key interventions, b) gender hardwiring, c) alignment with partnership compact priority areas and interventions, d) theory of change or results chain, e) key results and indicators, f) overview of implementation arrangements, g) sustainability, h) risk assessment, i) aid effectiveness, j) results-based financing, k) programme costs by component.
3. Develop a high-quality draft Grant Application of the STG, SCG and GEA following GPE guidelines and informed by key sector documents, including the Programme Outline/ Concept Note, Partnership Compact, GPE Board Guidelines and Board Decisions, Sector Plans and Strategies and in line with the stipulated timeline for submission to the GPE Secretariat.
4. Manage all the consultative processes, including convening, and facilitating consultation workshops and meetings required to gather and integrate inputs from key stakeholders such as the MoGEI and members of the LEG to ensure shared consensus on interventions to be implemented based on the priorities of the Partnership Compact, General Education Strategic Plan 2023-2027 and the processes to develop Programme Document.
5. Revise the Programme Documents in the Grant Application Package to address and integrate inputs from the MoGEI, LEG, and GPE secretariat, ensuring that the final outputs incorporate critical inputs from stakeholders and meet all the required GPE Secretariat quality assurance standards.
6. Finalize the Grant Application Packages using templates provided by GPE and with input from UNICEF and SC Consortium and implementing partners, MoGEI, GPE Coordinating Agencies in South Sudan and the LEG by November 15th 2024 for submission to the GPE Secretariat on or before December 23rd, 2024.

Below are the expected deliverables, timelines and estimated budget.

Minimum Qualifications required*: Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• An advanced university degree in Education or Social Sciences.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.
• A minimum of eight (8) years’ experience working in a development context.
• Experience of work in a UN organization is an asset Desirable.

• Technical expertise in developing high-value applications for the Global Partnership for Education grants.
• Sound knowledge of GPE guidelines and processes.
• Extensive experience on education programming, planning, and policymaking processes in the public sector or government.
• Ability to engage and work with a variety of stakeholders (Government, development partners, civil society, indirect and direct program/project beneficiaries).
• Analytical, with good computer and data analysis skills.
• Familiarity with the South Sudan education context or similar fragile and emergencies prone countries.

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.