Technical Coordinator to support transition programmes for children who have missed school and do not speak school language with UNICEF in Uzbekistan

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, quality education

In Uzbekistan, more than 50% of students who complete primary education do not have the required foundational & transferable skills according to the recent UNICEF and Ministry of Public Education (MOPE) study. Analysis shows that curriculum and syllabi for most subjects and grades are focused on what is taught, not on what is learnt, mostly describing knowledge and omitting skills or attitudes. De facto, textbooks play a role of both syllabi and teacher’s guides, and overall teaching approach could be named as “textbook-centered”. This prevents teachers from seeing a holistic picture of progressive curriculum attainment, which shapes and nurtures children’s cognitive, social and personal development. Students are expected to learn the same content at the same time with limited opportunities for multiple ways of engagement. There is little or no use of formative assessment to support different learning needs. No pre-service and in-service teachers’ training programme exist on adaptive teaching and addressing learning losses, remedial and catch-up programmes. Though Uzbekistan is extremely multilingual, multiethnic, and multicultural country, there is no pre-service and in-service teachers’ training on multilingual education and addressing needs of students who speak different language at home.

There are also significant regional disparities in the school attendance rates and learning outcomes. Surkhandarya is one of the regions lagging behind others in learning achievement. This region has the largest ratio of teachers without a graduate/bachelor’s degree (18,6 %), with the highest proportion of schools working in double shifts (87%).

This situation is further exacerbated by the arrival of citizens of Afghanistan after the upsurge of violence across the country in 2021. While the border to Afghanistan was closed in August 2021, many of those Afghan citizens, including families with children, who arrived in Uzbekistan before, do not want to return to their home country. Uzbekistan has been proactively promoting the importance of providing support to Afghanistan to address immediate and humanitarian needs and invited the international community to utilize Termez as a humanitarian logistical hub for that purpose. In close collaboration with the ACO and the UN Termez logistical base, UNICEF Field Office is supporting UNICEF Country Programme implementation in Termez region.

Contributing to the overall enhancement of the quality of education and the strengthening of the resilience of the population in the Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan, UNICEF is implementing the EU supported project on “Ensuring enhanced access to inclusive education, social services, and legal aid in the Surkhandarya region”.

Specific project activities related to school education include introducing formal and non-formal inclusive (multi-lingual) education for school-age Afghan and host community children with a particular focus on girls by developing new working modalities, methodology, teacher training and offering classes in the mother tongue and transitions to mainstream language while addressing learning losses.

The Technical Coordinator under the general supervision of the Education Specialist and technical guidance from the International Consultant on developing capacities for designing and implementing transition programmes for children who have missed school and do not speak school language will technically coordinate EU project implementation assuring that all deliverables are in good quality and submitted on time, and all activities are conducted as specified in the ToRs and workplan and bringing in specific technical expertise and knowledge of the local context.

Work Assignments / Deliverables / Timeline

I. Inception phase – February 2023

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

• Master in Education, social studies, public management/administration, international development, and/or other fields, relevant for the given assignment. 
• Awareness and understanding of education and social development trends in Uzbekistan, with particular focus on inclusion and/or language education.
• Competencies in facilitating the coordination and collaboration of diverse stakeholder groups and good teamwork with international and national consultants.
• Trainings and workshops facilitation skills.
• Knowledge of UN approaches/ procedures would be an advantage.

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.