BACKGROUND & RATIONALE The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 sets out a global ambition for all girls and boys to complete one year pre-primary and twelve years of basic education by 2030. To achieve SDG4, UNICEF will support governments in the progressive realization of early childhood, primary, lower and upper secondary education. The UNICEF Strategic Plan, Core Commitments for Adolescents and Gender Action Plan (GAP) articulate these priorities. Success will be measured by improved learning outcomes and ensuring that ‘no child is left behind. This means a focus not only on enabling access, but on the equal right of all boys and girls to participate, learn and enjoy the benefits of education. The Education Section is contracting an institutional service provider to develop guidance on secondary education with a gender and equity lens. To design effective programs, UNICEF staff need to understand the challenges faced by adolescent girls and boys in a particular context. Whilst CO have the tools to identify barriers , there is a need for guidance, in the form of well packaged evidence, on effective interventions at secondary level, including where gaps in existing knowledge. The guidance will be used by UNICEF to support the equitable expansion of post primary education, providing girls and boys with relevant learning outcomes, as per SDG4.
The expected results (outputs) are that by early 2017 the following documents will be produced and shared with UNICEF regional and country offices; (i) Guidance Paper on Secondary Education and (ii) a set of modules on specific sub-themes including equity, gender, and skills for employment. See annexed Terms of Reference to develop UNICEF Programmatic Guidance for Secondary Education with a gender and equity lens for details.
PURPOSE UNICEF require an individual consultant to lead and manage the institutional service provider in the development of guidance on secondary education. The guidance will be drafted by an institution, with the consultant responsible for identifying the key themes to be addressed through consultation across the UNICEF education cadre, coordinating the quality assurance of deliverables through the establishment of a technical reference group, and leading dissemination of the final product to UNICEF and partners. The specific deliverables are set out below.
EXPECTED RESULTS: (MEASURABLE RESULTS)
The consultant will be expected to effectively manage the development of a UNICEF Guidance on Secondary Education by engaging a wide range of stakeholders in PD/RO/CO to;
• identify the key themes to be addressed in the guidance • establish and lead a Secondary Education Reference Group across PD/RO • quality assure the products submitted by an external contractor including a meta-review of literature, guidance paper setting out approach to supporting programming efforts on secondary, and at least three modules on evidence based strategies to support (i) improved equity and learning outcomes in lower secondary education; (ii) gender equality; and (iii) skills for employability. • plan and lead dissemination of programme guidance to RO/CO
The consultant will report to the Senior Education Advisor in the Girls Education Results Hub of Education Section, Programme Division, NYHQ.
DUTY STATION: New York
TIMEFRAME: The estimated duration of the consultancy is for approximately 130 working days.
Start date: 15 August 2016 End date: 15 February 2016
DELIVERABLES
Manage Inception Phase identifying through consultation with RO five key themes to be addressed programmatic guidance (deliverable: inception report approved) Establish and chair technical reference group to manage inputs to Programmatic Guidance (deliverable: TOR agreed/first meeting held) Agree key themes for programmatic guidance with Reference Group (deliverable: themes agreed) Manage process of quality assurance of the Programmatic Guidance providing regular feedback to contractors (deliverable: feedback on first draft of modules consolidated/shared) Manage process of quality assurance of the Programmatic Guidance providing regular feedback to contractors (deliverable: feedback second draft of modules consolidated/shared) Approval of final deliverables by Reference Group Plan and implement dissemination of guidance (i.e. deliverable: webinar, visual presentation summarizing the global guidance document etc shared)
KEY COMPETENCES, TECHNICAL BACKGROUND, AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED DEADLINE
• Advanced University Degree in Education or relevant social sector (Master or above) • At least seven years operational experience at country/regional level in implementing education programmes, in a development and/or humanitarian settings, including analysis and development of sector plans. • Knowledge and experience of UNICEF and/or international development partners’ education policies and programs • Experience in the development of technical guidance and tools • Demonstrated experience facilitating partners towards common outcomes, including strong negotiation and communication skills in English. • Programmatic experience in girls education and gender equality a plus
Annex 1: Terms of Reference to develop UNICEF Programmatic Guidance for Secondary Education with a gender and equity lens
A Service Provider is being recruited to complete the below TOR. The individual consultant will manage this contract and be responsible for defining module content, quality assurance and dissemination of outputs.
Background The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 sets out a global ambition for all girls and boys to complete one year pre-primary and twelve years of basic education by 2030. To achieve SDG4, UNICEF will support governments in the progressive realization of early childhood, primary, lower and upper secondary education. The UNICEF Strategic Plan, Core Commitments for Adolescents and Gender Action Plan (GAP) articulate these priorities. Success will be measured by improved learning outcomes and ensuring that ‘no child is left behind. This means a focus not only on enabling access, but on the equal right of all boys and girls to participate, learn and enjoy the benefits of education.
To design effective programs, UNICEF staff need to understand the challenges faced by adolescent girls and boys in a particular context. Whilst CO have the tools to identify barriers[1], there is a need for guidance, in the form of well packaged evidence, on effective interventions at secondary level, including where gaps in existing knowledge.
Objectives, Purpose and Expected Results
The objective of the assignment is to develop guidance on secondary education. The purpose is for CO to use this guidance to support partner governments to equitably expand access to post primary education, providing girls and boys with relevant learning outcomes, as per SDG4. The guidance should have a strong gender and equity perspective in line with UNICEF’s mandate to focus on the most disadvantaged children and adolescents.
The expected results (outputs) are that by early 2017 the following documents will be produced and shared with UNICEF regional and country offices; (i) Guidance Paper on Secondary Education and (ii) a set of modules on specific sub-themes including equity, gender, and skills for employment.
Description of the Assignment
The Programme Guidance on Secondary Education will be comprised of three modules;
Module 1 (equity):** should provide information evidence based strategies that can support improvements in education access to post-primary education opportunities for disadvantaged children – e.g. the poor, ethnic and linguistic minorities, children from remote areas, children with disabilities, and other vulnerable and marginalized groups. The module will support decision-making in this regard. It will link to existing guidance where available (i.e. allinschool.org). The module will be developed in consultation with the Education Section (in particular the P&P team), disability colleagues and relevant regional advisors.
Given UNICEF’s focus on the most marginalized, approaches need to be tailored to the life paths of different groups of adolescents and embedded in the socio-economic context of each country. A life cycle approach facilitates an understanding of where adolescent boys and girls exited the education system, and how they might be supported to re-enter education or to acquire relevant skills and knowledge through other pathways. It will consider both the provision of education services, as well as the barriers faced by disadvantaged groups and how these have been overcome. This will include strategies to improve the accessibility of post-primary education through flexible learning programs. The paper will include a synthesis of existing evidence as well as examples of good practice in UNICEF programming, including in fragile contexts and humanitarian settings.
Module 2 (gender):** should provide information on evidence based strategies to support girls’ (and boys’) education and gender equality and will support decision-making in this regard. This will include a synthesis of the evidence base in this area. The guidance should consider the multiple gender-related barriers faced by disadvantaged adolescent girls and boys (i.e. poor, rural, disabled, ethnic minority etc.) in accessing education and achieving relevant learning outcomes. The specific challenges faced by boys in some contexts should be referenced. The module will be developed in consultation with the Education Section, Gender Section, UNGEI and relevant regional advisors.
The guidance will align to the existing UNICEF Gender Action Plan Strategy on Girls’ Secondary Education, and signpost existing UNICEF/UNGEI and other partner resources, where these exist. It will set out the need for UNICEF to adopt a multi-sectoral response to removing gendered bottlenecks to girls and boys continued progression through the education system, including short case studies from UNICEF/other partners.
Module 3 (skills for employability):** should provide information on possible evidence based strategies to improve skills of adolescent boys and girls and will support decision-making in this regard. The module will set out the range of knowledge and skills needed by young people (for life, learning and future livelihoods) and multiple pathways through which these can be obtained. In doing so, the module will consider patterns of workplace transitions experienced by adolescent and youth in different contexts (building on the MENA paper on Workplace Transitions).
The comparative advantage of partners will be highlighted, as well as areas where UNICEF may add value, for example by targeting the most disadvantaged youth in skills development programs. The guidance will build on the Core Commitments for Adolescents (education) set out in the Second Decade Programme Guidance (UNICEF, 2016). It will be developed in consultation with the Second Decade matrix group, signposting existing guidance and resources where these exist (i.e. ILO, World Bank, GIZ). The module will be developed with Education, Adolescent and Child Protection Sections and relevant regional advisors.
The Guidance Paper on Secondary Education will help UNICEF COs make choices in terms of how to support the development of post-primary education. It will summarize key messages from the analytical paper and modules and will identify broad areas of UNICEF comparative advantage to inform contextualized decision making during the development of a Country Programme Document. It will also feed into the UNICEF Global Education Strategy (2016) to be developed later this year.
A draft UNICEF analytical paper on secondary education with an equity lens has already been developed. It provides evidence to support sector-level choices in terms of secondary education expansion with an equity focus. It will inform the deliverables, but its finalization is beyond the remit of this consultancy.
Methodology
The deliverables should help Country Offices’ decision-making in terms of support to education at post-primary levels. They should summarise, updating them if necessary, existing evidence reviews, identifying critical dimensions and trends. They will assess the strength of the evidence base for key policy and program strategies. UNICEF case studies will be used to illustrate how these have been implemented. The guidance will identify existing tools that can support country offices to further their analysis and planning (e.g. MoRES[2], OOSCI, Education Sector Analysis, conflict analysis). The evidence and case studies should be designed in a format suited to the needs of UNICEF Country Office staff. This will require a synthesis of the evidence reviews in to short, easy to read briefs or modules that can be used to inform programming.
A highly “collaborative approach” should be utilised with inputs from Education Section, cross-cutting sections at HQ and Regional Offices. The Education Section will facilitate this consultation through existing networks. The findings of the “evidence reviews should be shared with UNICEF staff*”to facilitate a discussion on the areas at post primary where UNICEF should ‘lead’ and where we should ‘support’. This will inform the final synthesis of evidence, as well as recommendations, contained in the modules.
The modules should also include or provide links to practical tools on how to support programming efforts post primary, including key principles and effective programming approaches[3], with a gender and equity perspective.
Deliverables
The package will be submitted in English and will include:
Meta-review of literature (by end September)
- Making use of existing literature reviews, synthesize and present findings against each of the three module, including gaps in evidence. Use the UNICEF internal analytical paper on secondary and Girls’ Secondary Education Game Plan to frame the presentation.
Modules (by January)
- Draft and final modules presenting possible activities/interventions, related evidence, tools and case studies to inform strategies to support improved equity and learning outcomes for adolescent boys and girls post primary. To include a succinct executive summary.
Guidance Paper (by Jan)
- Summary of key messages from each module to inform decision making at Regional and Country Office level.
Power point presentation (by Feb)
- Visual presentation summarizing each module for use in dissemination (15 slides max per module) and/or other formats as appropriate.
[1] Gender Programmatic Review tool (2016 updated), Programme Strategy Note Guidance (2015), Girls’ Education Review tool (draft), Situational Analysis Guidance etc.
[2] UNICEF programs are informed by MoRES (Monitoring Results for Equity Systems) – a planning, programming and monitoring approach developed to address and track factors that constrain results for the most marginalized children.
[3] i.e. refer to the Second Decade Programme Guidance (2016) for an example of principles of adolescent programming.
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