OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Paris

Classification of duty station: [[filter12]]

Standard Duration of Assignement : [[filter13]]

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 20 OCT 2023

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

This consultancy contract is a full-time position for an initial period of 11 months with the possibility of subsequent contracts for a total cumulative period of 2.5 years, subject to successful performance and budget availability and continuous need of the consultancy services.

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CONSULTANCY

Background and rationale

One billion children – nearly half of the world’s children – live in ‘extremely high risk’ countries on account of climate and environmental shock and stress. Nearly 40 million children a year have their education interrupted by climate-induced disasters and subsequent disease outbreaks following extreme weather events. Climate change is also linked to multiple indirect effects on children’s education, increasing risks of malnutrition, disruption of livelihoods, increased child marriage and child labor, which keep children out of school. Teachers are often not prepared to teach about climate change and environmental subjects, and schools are often not well-equipped to prepare students to become empowered to both find and apply solutions and mobilize their communities for climate action. The foundations of a just transition to green livelihoods and lifestyles depend on the ability of education systems to provide relevant, quality, equitable learning opportunities to all children. GPE partner countries as a whole are particularly vulnerable to climate change; out of the top 60 countries ranked by UNICEF as having the highest children’s climate risk in the world, 55 are GPE partners. In a survey of all GPE Partner countries in February 2023, 88.5% of survey respondents (23/26) indicated their demand for this type of support. The Climate Smart Education Initiative aims to enhance countries’ capacities to mainstream climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability into education sector plans, budgets and strategies as well as to enhance education ministry capacity for cross-sectoral coordination on climate and environment-related policy and programming.

Global Coordination Group

At the global level, this initiative will be managed by a coordination group composed by GPE and the initiative partners (UNESCO/UNESCO-IIEP and Save the Children) to ensure institutional alignment, general program coordination, and coordinated communication efforts. The Global Coordination Group will act as the project implementation unit overseeing the programs, including the development of all relevant documentation, baseline assessments for both countries, costed technical work programs for each country, and global monitoring reports. The process is described in detail below. As all activities during the inception phase will require collaboration between both CSES Initiative partners, the Global Coordination group will ensure joint implementation coordination from the outset, across organizations and with country project teams.

Long Description

Country project teams

In all countries, country project teams will be established in response to the country-specific workplan and its capacity and resource needs. Each Grant Agent will assign staff with relevant expertise in the areas required, including a focal point from each Grant Agent to coordinate all in-country activities. The GPE Secretariat will be included in all correspondence and planning related to the country-specific workplan, including the Country Team Lead and Education Specialist supporting GPE’s wider engagement in that country.

Implementation process

The implementation process for the Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative will follow a cycle with the following steps:

(1) Identification of country need and demand,

(2) Identification of country priorities (baseline assessment + TORs),

(3) Development of costed technical workplan,

(4) Endorsement by the Local Education Group,

(5) Implementation of capacity support,

(6) Monitoring, adaptation and learning ,

(7) Close out and evaluation.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the overall authority of IIEP Director and the Technical Cooperation Team lead, the UNESCO-IIEP-based technical coordinator for this position will report to the lead of the Equity and Resilience Cluster (the IIEP project lead for the Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative), in close consultation with UNESCO’s Section of Education for Sustainable Development (ED/PSD/ESD) and will coordinate the first four steps of the process as outlined above. Specifically, she or he will be tasked to:

• Liaise with and coordinate inputs from the global initiative team (UNESCO-IIEP, UNESCO ED/PSD/ESD, Save the Children, GPE), the IIEP and ED/PSD/ESD technical teams, UNESCO field offices’ technical teams and Save the Children local teams (at country-level), and external contractors as relevant, for the development and finalization of inception reports in up to 18 countries.
• Liaise with and coordinate inputs from the global initiative team, the technical teams, and country-level teams for the development and implementation of scoping missions in up to 18 countries.
• Provide guidance and technical expertise for the development and finalization of country-specific programme documents in up to 18 countries by liaising with and consolidating inputs from the technical teams, the global initiative team, and country-level teams.
• Work in close collaboration with the technical teams and the Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) officer for the programme to monitor implementation.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in the field of education, international development, social sciences or economics.

Experience

• At least ten (10) years of experience in the field of education technical cooperation projects, in particular in the area of crisis-sensitive planning, of which preferably seven years acquired at international level.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of the issues surrounding education in the context of developing and/or emerging countries, in particular of those related to educational planning and management for climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability.
• Confirmed understanding of contemporary developments in the global education arena and of effective strategies for improving educational planning and management, in particular in crisis-affected contexts.
• Ability to design, manage and implement development programmes/projects with considerable autonomy.
• Proven competencies to advise Member States on questions related to the role of education in preventing crisis and mitigating its effects.
• Ability to design and implement training programmes and workshops.
• Ability to work with and lead multicultural teams.
• Ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Excellent ability to build and sustain effective partnerships inside and outside of the Organization.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
• Excellent IT skills, including knowledge of MS software (Word, Excel etc.)

​​​Language

• Excellent knowledge of French or English and good knowledge of the other language.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Experience

• Experience in developing training materials.

​​​Language

• Knowledge of other official UNESCO languages (Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Russian).

APPLICATION PROCESS

Application modality

Interested candidates should complete the on-line application, download and complete the Employment History form (Word file). At the end of the Word file, insert extra pages with the following below required information and upload as a single PDF document.

Please send a copy of all requested documentations below on [email protected]

1. An updated detailed curriculum vitae.
2. A short technical proposal of not more than 2 pages describing your approach to the assignment.
3. A financial proposal: A competitive fee for the assignment, which should be quoted in USD and expressed on a monthly basis – the overall cost of the assignment, expressed as an overall lump-sum.

Additional Information:

• This Consultant Contract is for full-time position over an initial period of 11 months with the possibility of subsequent consultant contracts for a total cumulative period of 2.5 years, subject to successful performance, budget availability and continuous need of the consultancy services.
• This consultancy will be based in Paris with frequent visits to UNESCO Headquarters and IIEP Paris office, with the possibility of teleworking tentatively up to 5 days per week. No travel is supported.
• The Estimated contract start date : October 2023.

Assessment

• Application should be submitted in just one file with all the documents required (pdf format) to be uploaded in the application section “Employment History Form” and a copy of documents requested to: [email protected]
• Only applications providing the information requested under the application procedure will be considered.
• Evaluation of qualified applicants may include an assessment exercise and a competency-based interview.

Payment is conditional on the completion of the tasks and the satisfactory submission of the deliverables within deadlines as agreed with the project leader. The applications that do not include this information will not be considered for the following phases of the counting process. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The consultant may be selected before the date indicated above. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews.

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

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