Organization: UN Children"s Fund
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 14 Aug 2015
Background & Rationale
One of the key outputs for education in the 2014-2017 UNICEF Strategic Plan is “Increased national capacity to provide access to early learning opportunities and quality primary and secondary education”, and one of the related output indicator is “Countries with innovative approaches at scale to improve access to education and learning outcomes for the most disadvantaged and excluded children”, for which UNICEF developed an Innovations in Education approach.
As part of this work, UNICEF is entering into a new programme in collaboration with the Department for International Development (DFID) and UNHCR. This programme has two components. The Amplify Programme (Phase I), approved in October 2014, is currently active and is sourcing and testing innovations that respond to the challenge of maintaining and improving learning in conflict contexts. The Take to Scale (TTS) Programme (Phase 2) aims to build on lessons learned from the Amplify Programme by evaluating promising emergent approaches –proposed by innovation/implementation teams[1] – and generating lessons on their scaling up process. The second phase will launch a Take to Scale Accelerator for education in emergencies, which seeks to embed evaluative practice into the scaling process, enlist expertise from external evaluators to build a robust evidence base of effective innovations and identify factors that enable effective scaling-up of small-scale successes to meet the large-scale education demands that governments and partners currently face. For Phase 2, UNICEF will contract an Evaluation Services Provider (ESP), a firm or a consortium, which will be in charge of building the generation of evidence component, striking the right balance between developmental and impact evaluation methods for the five innovative interventions selected in the programme and for the overall Phase 2 approach.
At the same time, UNICEF just started the development of an evidence/evaluation strategy for its education portfolio. The recent Global Synthesis Review of UNICEF Evaluations in Education showed that vast improvements are needed to raise the overall rigor and quality of evaluations across the Education Programme and become more effective in informing the decisions around UNICEF country programmes and Government-led Education Sector plans, based on robust evidence. Moreover, the Evaluation of UNICEF’s Upstream Work in Basic Education and Gender Equality (2014) also found the need for expansion of both institutional and human resource capacity for upstream work, particularly in improving analytical skills and evaluation skills for policy dialogue. In the Education sector, strong evidence in what works is gradually improving, but much greater efforts are needed to expand the context-specific evidence base and to use evidence in making the right intervention choices that can improve equity and learning on a country by country basis: no size fits all, i.e. evaluation findings in one country are not always valid in other contexts (external validity issue). With expansive field presence and innovative programmes, UNICEF is well-positioned to be a key contributor to the evidence base of what works, especially of innovations that could be effective at scale.
Purpose
[1] They may include NGOs, UNICEF COs, UNHCR COs, Government Agencies
The consultant will serve as technical lead for UNICEF in the area of quantitative evaluation and will work in close collaboration with the ESP for the Phase 2 of the DFID-UNICEF-UNHCR Programme and the HQ Evaluation Office. In particular, she/he will support the preparation and implementation of the evidence/evaluation strategy for the education portfolio, with a focus on providing guidance for the development of fit for purpose evaluation methods for innovative programmes. This will include methods that could be applied in fragile contexts and that could take into account challenges related to scaling up innovation.
Expected results: (measurable results)
The following results are expected by the end of the consultancy:
· Selection of the Evaluation Service Provider (ESP) for Phase 2 technically supported
· Selection of the innovation/implementation teams for Phase 2 technically supported
· Innovation/Implementation teams of Phase 2 technically guided and mentored in terms of quantitative evaluation expertise
· Phase 2 programme management supported
· Specific chapters of UNICEF’s education evaluation/evidence strategy drafted
· UNICEF Regional and Country Offices and implementing partners technically supported in the design and implementation of their programmes’ evaluation (consistently with the implementation of the capacity development pillar of the UNICEF’s education evaluation/evidence strategy)
Duty Station
UNICEF HQ New York Offices.
Timeframe180 days
Start date:August 24, 2015 End date:May 10, 2016
Key competences, technical background, and experience required
a) Master’s degree in social sciences, statistics or another quantitative field
b) 3-8 years of junior to mid experience in applying research, evidence and data-driven decision making to medium and large-scale programs with an appreciation for practical and logistical constraints
c) Strong familiarity with various research and evaluation design concerns, including experimental and quasi-experimental methods
d) Strong familiarity with a range of data processing, statistical, and geospatial software packages such as Stata, Excel, R, CSPro, Optimal Design, Open Data Kit, ArcGIS, QGIS, etc., with the ability to discover, learn and apply new technologies that increase the efficiency of data analysis and learnings.
e) Strong interpersonal and communications skills to work effectively with a team that is geographically dispersed
f) Self-directed/self-motivating personality, with proven ability to manage demands from multiple stakeholders while adhering to program deadlines and priorities
g) Quick to learn, motivated to self-teach and capable of independently translating new knowledge into practice
h) Willingness to travel as needed to meet the demands of the programme
i) Fluency and strong writing skills in English are required. Fluency and strong writing skills in another
official UN language highly desirable.
*Please see deliverables and deadlines in attached chart.
How to apply:
How to Apply
Applicants are requested to send their submissions to with subject line: “**Consultant – Evaluation Specialist**” by 14 August 2015, 5:00pm EST.
Applications must include:
• Cover letter,
• CV, and
• P-11 form (http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc)
• Indicate where you heard about this advertisement
Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above as well as expected length of time for work. Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.
NOTE: Files should not exceed 5.0MB limit
UNICEF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
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