UNICEF recruits 01 International Consultant – MICS Education Analysis for Global Learning and Equity (EAGLE)
UNICEF
Ghana
Humanitaire (ONG, Associations, …), Projet/programme de développement
International Consultant – MICS Education Analysis for Global Learning and Equity (EAGLE), Ghana
Job Number: 532424 | Vacancy LinkLocations: Africa: GhanaWork Type : Consultancy
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BackgroundGlobally, much progresses have been made in the Education sector in terms of reducing out of school-children from 377.5 million in 2000 to 263.0 million in 2016 (UIS, 2018), through the establishment of a better coordination mechanisms in both development and emergency contexts (e.g., The Global Partnership for Education, and Education Cannot Wait Fund). More than 60 countries have developed education sector plan and monitoring frameworks, and finalizing comprehensive global framework to monitor education (SDG4 targets and indicators). However, there is a strong recognition among the global education community of persistent data challenges in the education sector particularly in low and lower-middle income countries in terms of data reliability and availability to plan, monitor and evaluate education policies and programmers, and utilization for policy making i.e., evidence-based policy discussion that fully utilize available education data.
Data AvailabilityAt the global, regional and national levels, the education communities are facing serious data gap issues leading to significant lack of data across SDG4 Global and Thematic Indicators among UNICEF programme countries. The data coverage of most indicators is below 50%, suggesting that many countries are suffering either from lack of data and  at a risk of not be able to clearly measure progress against SDG4 targets by 2030, especially for i) countries with no data; ii) countries with some data but data is either insufficient or too unreliable to analyze if a country is on track; and iii) countries which require accelerated efforts to meet targets because of lack of evidence for appropriate policy decisions to be made. Without reliable data for analysis, countries challenged to present compelling investment cases for development assistance.
The vast majority of UNICEF programme countries fall in one of these three categories. This calls for concerted efforts among UNICEF country, regional and headquarter offices to identify data gaps and invest in data collection, analysis, and utilization. The MICS6 adopted education data innovation is expected to play a critical role to fill major data gaps for planning and establishment of policies to improve the education status of children, especially in learning, access to preprimary education and equity indicators, such as completion rates disaggregated by sex, location, socio-economic status, and disability status.
Fortunately, for Ghana, the Ministry of Education in the new Education Sector Plan (ESP 2018-2030) has identified key challenges for an underutilized EMIS with poor data utilization, sharing, and feedback mechanisms. EMIS which conducts an annual school census to gather pre-tertiary education data for both public and private schools, collects data on key indicators including student enrollment, number of repeaters, number of teachers, adequacy and availability of infrastructure and learning materials. However, it lacks data on system performance at the school level such as learning outcomes, inclusive education, skills, repetition and drop out, student attendance, teacher absenteeism or time-on-task and other thematic elements. Additionally, the limited capacity to use different data source to conduct deep dive cross-sector analysis to measure such variables, has led to minimal knowledge and accountability to effectively manage and improve the education system. Where data are collected, there are challenges in expedient data analysis, reporting and data utilization.
Purpose of AssignmentMICS6 was launched in 2017 by the UNICEF global team with several data innovations to better reflect measurement of the SDGs and to address data availability issues. The analysis will heavily depend on MICS6 data covering not only education but also other cross-sectoral indicators including Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI), child labour, child marriage, child functioning, ICT skills for youth, and parental engagement in education. Ghana through the Education section as part of the M&E Framework has agreed for the global team and the regional office to conduct a MICS EAGLE deep dive analysis to generate evidence to inform UNICEF Medium Term Review and Government policies for the implementation of 2018-2021 Medium Term and Development Plan and the ESP 2018-30. And together, the MoE/GES and UNICEF have prioritized this in the Rolling Workplans since the beginning of the country programme 2018. However, the MICS EAGLE activity was dependent on MICS6 data sets collected and published by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) completed in 2019.
And key component was a global MICS-EAGLE workshop originally planned in July 2020, to which Ghana was supposed to participate with MOE and GSS staff, to develop a factsheet using the most recent MICS6 data. However, due to CODVID-19, the global workshop was postponed until further notification.
As the data analysis of MICS data for education is a complex task and the time GCO has is limited to feed into the UNICEF Medium Term Review and the National Education Week (NEW). Data and Analysis team has informed the GCO of their willingness to support the MICS EAGLE and has agreed to provide one technical expert, already on the D&A team, but whose contract has ended.
Data and Analysis (D&A) at the HQs informed the GCO that the HQ had received the Knowledge and Information Exchange (KIX) grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), and offered both technical and financial support for data analysis. D&A has further proposed their continuous support by providing technical and logistical support for successful development of factsheet as well as the implementation of the national workshop using MICS-EAGLE factsheet.
The need has already been established between MoE-GES and UNICEF for an expert to support the MICS EAGLE process in term of compiling and consolidating data sets through comprehensive facts sheets to accelerate the establishment of findings and recommendations for strategic directions and aid policy decisions.
The purpose of the consultancy is three-fold:Provide technical assistance in the data analysis and development of facts from seven key thematic areas prioritized by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, aligned with and informed by the Education Sector Plan (2018 – 2030) and the next Education Medium-Term Strategy and Development Plan 2022-2025
Facilitate consultations and present findings/recommendations at the National Education Week process in Ghana.Coordinate and develop additional cross-sector variables, which cuts across sectors to inform the linkages/connections for the UNICEF Medium Term Review (MTR) Planning process. Tasks To be Completed
Overall, the consultancy will provide technical support and analyse varied data sets for the deep dive analysis and further conduct cross-sector analysis using data sets from other sectors to conclude on meaningful findings expected in a timely manner to inform decisions made both for the MTR and NEW. Will identify the gap, take stock and provide technical assistance and coordinate the next steps to accelerate the completion within 5 months.
Key tasks are as follows:
PlanningConsult with the education section in Ghana to draft workplan;Draft an inception report to outline tasks, timeline and work arrangementDevelopment of Fact SheetsDraft the tabulation planShare the draft for commentsIncorporate inputs from the Ghana Education section to finalize the tabulation planCollect complementary data (e.g., EMIS)Review existing secondary documents relevant for the development of the factsPopulate the factsheetShare the populated factsheet for commentsSynthesize thematic Area Analysis for the development of facts engage GCO in discussions on recommended findings for policy decisionsFinalize the factsheet including editing and designValidation of Facts Sheets and indicators for M&E Consultant to facilitate stakeholder validation meetings (minimum two) of Fact Sheets with the UNICEF/MoE. This will be in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education to facilitate virtual meetings and workshops on MICS EAGLE.Preparation and Implementation of National Workshops
Support the education section to draft the workshop agendaPrepare worksheet or necessary documents and tools for the workshop sessions
Support the education section to implement the national workshopProvide inputs to the national workshop report (or the conference proceedings)Facilitate selected sessions in the workshopSupport the education section to prepare materials needed for the post-workshop consultationProvide technical support to MoE Officials to ensure quality facilitation of facts findings in workshops Deliverables
Development of an inception report, setting out approach/ methodology, and work plan.
Development of Fact Sheets and other data analysis on seven different thematic areas through equity lens: Access and Completion
Skills (learning outcomes, ICT skills and literacy rate)
Inclusive Education (with a focus on disability)
Early Learning
Out-of-School Children
Repetition and Dropouts (internal efficiency)
Child Protection (child labour, early pregnancy, and child marriage)
Provide technical support with the preparation of power point and other resources for the National Workshops Packages of the presentations, documents, tools developed for the national workshop including PPP presentations
Please refer to attached TOR for details.
Expected Qualifications, Experience, specialised knowledge/skills and competencies;
Individual consultants must meet the following requirements:
Academic qualifications:An advanced degree in the field of M&E, Public Policy, International Development and other related and relevant social sciences;
Work experience:At least 3 years of experience in MICS EAGLE data analysis and fact sheets development, including engagements in MICS EAGLE data analysis from at least 2 different countries, with experience in evidence-building for programme design, policy dialogue and reforms of the educational system;
Familiarity with Ghana and previous work experience with UN is an advantage;
Technical knowledge:Technical skills in evaluation/research/survey/study design
Advanced skills in analyzing data using statistical analysis software (SPSS or STATA) and drawing conclusions from the output of the analysis.Skills in synthesizing cross-sectoral data analysis in social development interventions and programme design in education;
Personal skills and capacities:Strong interpersonal skills, including demonstrated ability to interact effectively in cross-cultural environments and with representatives from different stakeholder groups including civil society, government, UN, international NGOs (if you wish) donor agencies, and young children;
Strong written and oral communication in English;Conceptual skills and strategic thinkingCapacity to work independently and in collaboration with and coordination across a variety of partners;Demonstrated ability to adjust plans and approaches in response to changes in context; &Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and deliver quality outputs;Strong facilitation skills with good experience in managing and facilitating meetings and workshops virtually.Download File EDU – ToR_MICS EAGLE Implementation.pdf
For every Child, you demonstrate…UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The functional competencies required for this post are…
View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
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:Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
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.
Closing Date Wed Jul 01 2020 01:55:00 GMT+0200 (heure d’été d’Europe centrale)