Long Term Agreement (LTA) for Engagement of Individual Consultants for Learning and Skills Strengthening (3 years; home-based; with travel as needed) – Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS)

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, dedication.

The purpose of the assignment is to engage learning and skills strengthening services to design, implement and facilitate trainings, mentorship initiatives, learning strategies and competency frameworks to better support country clusters and partners.

How can you make a difference? 

UNICEF works towards realization of the rights of children as prescribed in the Convention of the Rights of the Children. These rights pertain to child survival, protection, development, and participation.

Established by the Inter-agency Standing Committee as part of the cluster approach, the Global Education Cluster (GEC), co-led by UNICEF and Save the Children, works towards a predictable, equitable and well-coordinated response addressing education concerns of crisis affected populations by reinforcing capacities of cluster staff and partners, providing timely remote and direct field support, strengthening robust assessment and analysis, and advocating on their behalf. Ensuring country clusters and partners have the requisite skills and knowledge to undertake these processes is a key pillar of the GEC strategic plan and one of its global core functions.

Linked to this, there is an ongoing requirement for capacity strengthening expertise to design, implement and facilitate learning and skills strengthening opportunities for country clusters and partners to reinforce coordinated education in emergencies response.

OBJECTIVE(S)  

The overall objective is to set up a Long-Term Agreement to facilitate and expedite the process by which the Global Education Cluster will hire Learning and Skills Strengthening Experts for specific projects requiring the design, implementation and/or facilitation of capacity strengthening initiatives and opportunities such as trainings, mentorship, learning strategies, and competency frameworks.

MAJOR TASKS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

Tasks include, but may not be limited to:

• Design, implementation and/or facilitation of trainings (in-person, online or hybrid)
• Design, implementation and/or facilitation of mentorship initiatives
• Development of learning strategies
• Development of competency frameworks

Responsibilities of the Consultant:

• The consultant will use their own equipment (personal computer, relevant software and other accessories that may be required for this task).
• The consultant will not give the content/material or any part thereof, to any third party without the written permission of UNICEF. All components will be a property of UNICEF, and the consultant will not share the same with anyone else.

Responsibilities of UNICEF:

• The GEC will provide all details pertaining to the activity and the requirements.

DELIVERABLES AND DEADLINES

No.	Deliverable	Timeline
1.	TRAININGS: • Design trainings (in person, online or hybrid) based on learning needs of education clusters and partners, including working with key GEC partnerships (i.e. Initiative for Strengthening Education in Emergencies Coordination) • Implement trainings, including organization, participant management, and evaluation of learning achievements • Facilitate trainings, including training of trainers	March 2024-March 2027
2.	MENTORSHIP: • Design mentorship initiatives based on learning needs of education clusters and partnerships • Implement mentorship initiatives • Facilitate mentorship initiatives
3.	LEARNING STRATEGIES: • Develop and/or update global, regional, and country level learning strategies to address critical skills and learning gaps, including in collaboration with key partners
4.	COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS: • Identify and analyze critical learning and skills needs, gaps and opportunities • Develop and/or update competency frameworks to address gaps • Support roll-out of competency frameworks

DUTY STATION  

This is a home-based consultancy; however, travel may be involved for certain deliverables.

TRAVEL

When travel is required, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging, etc. should be agreed upon, between the supervisor and the consultant prior to travel and will be reimbursed based on the current UNICEF travel policy.

ESTIMATED DURATION OF LTA

Three (3) years subject to satisfactory performance evaluation and continuing need for the service.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

 Financial Proposal_Skills and Knowledge Strengthening LTA.docx

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

Education:

• Master’s degree in international affairs, humanitarian affairs, education, political science, management or other relevant field

Experience:

• Minimum of eight (8) years of work experience in the humanitarian sector and/or the education in crises sector, both at the country and global level.
• Significant experience in developing and delivering trainings and skills and learning strengthening initiatives for the humanitarian sector.
• Previous experience working in cluster coordination and/or education in emergencies sector.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required

HOW TO APPLY

The application to be submitted through the online portal should contain three (3) separate attachments:

1. A Cover letter explaining suitability for position (to be uploaded online under “Cover Letter” tab)
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV) (to be uploaded online under “Resume” tab)
3. A financial proposal indicating professional fee as per the above template. Please do not forget to specify your name in the file while saving. (To be uploaded under “Financial Proposal” tab)

Important Note: Please do not indicate financials anywhere else in the online application form, please mark “n/a or 00”, under the fee related questions in the online application form.

Please make sure to include all documents indicated above. Otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete and invalid, and will not be considered further.

• Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
• Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
• Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.
• Female candidates meeting the requirements are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds including persons living with disabilities to apply.

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.