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For every child, education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbkJiMmvKqk

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

To support information and data management of the Afghanistan Education Programme across the entire portfolio including sector wide reporting in education.

The Education Section seeks to recruit a home-based international consultant in the capacity of Ensuring children in Afghanistan equitably access quality education through strategic information management and reporting. The Consultant is expected to undertake the assignment remotely with four (4) in-country mission to Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalal Abad and Mazar-i-Shrif.

The Consultant will work directly with the Education Section under the direct supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, who is based in Kabul.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Education M&E specialist, and in close collaboration with the Education Managers for first and second decade programming in education, the consultant is responsible for supporting the engineering and maintenance of information management systems and dashboards on specific interventions and funds under the different grants (including those from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the European Union,  European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operation, Global Partnership for Education, The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Government of Japan,  Japan International Cooperation Agency, Government of South Korea, Government of Spain, and  Danish International Development Agency. that are managed by different staff members to ensure management of data in terms of financial transactions, implementation progress, and results against the agreed reporting requirements of each of the donors. This will include support in the setting up and generation of relevant dashboard for monitoring purposes of different grants, supply production and distribution and update and maintenance of the integrated education information system and associated databases and dashboards.

This role includes, pro-actively working with and build the capacity of the field offices and Kabul team for each program intervention, targeting per location and reporting against budget, implementation progress and results etc. The consultant will work closely with the M&E/IM Specialist and Education Specialists in the Education Section to closely follow up, monitor and mobilize staff and third-party monitoring partners (TPMs) for quality assurance of all ongoing implementation through data base maintenance and visualization and in close coordination with the M&E/IM specialist.

UNICEF’s Annual Workplan and HAC for 2025 and 2026 is over USD 260 mln. Significant funds have been received towards the five priority interventions: i) payment of teacher incentives, ii) expansion of CBE, iii) in-service teacher training, iv) the provision of textbooks and the v) provision of basic teaching and learning materials. While there will be one overall results framework reflecting progress towards each of the priority interventions, aligned with the AESTF, it will be important to ensure adequate reporting and visualization against each key intervention and grant received (expenditures, activities and results). UNICEF’s expanding education portfolio in Afghanistan—including CBE, teacher professional development, learning materials, construction, and emergency response—requires dedicated information management (IM) capacity. The complexity of programme components, real-time monitoring needs, and diverse donor requirements have outgrown the current staff capacity. An experienced consultant is needed to establish and maintain integrated IM systems (e.g. ActivityInfo, PowerBI), manage national and subnational data flows, support the Education Monitoring Framework, and streamline internal and sector-wide reporting. As UNICEF assumes secretariat and chairing roles for the Sector Technical Working Group (STWG) and future coordination platforms, regular analysis and presentation of EMIS 2024 data and sector-wide reports—developed in coordination with UNESCO—will be essential. The consultant will also be tasked with building sustainable systems and processes, while mentoring national staff in Kabul and zonal offices, enabling a full transition of IM responsibilities to national officers by 2027.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Applications must include:

• Cover letter.
• Resume.
• Samples of previous work.
• Financial offer in USD. (This should only be the day rate for working days. UNICEF will provide a daily sustenance allowance for calendar days spent in Afghanistan, including weekends, to cover out-of-pocket costs while in-country, including accommodation. Travel, international and local, will be reimbursed.)
• Applications submitted without financial and technical proposals will not be considered.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advanced 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.

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

• An advanced university degree in Information technology, Computer science, Data science, Applied mathematics, public administration, or any other relevant studies.

A minimum of eight years of professional experience in:

• Proven expertise in quantitative data extraction, processing, and analysis, including the use of relevant software for data visualization and reporting.
• Strong command of Business Intelligence (BI) tools for end-to-end data workflows (ETL), validation, analysis, and visualization, with mandatory experience in Power BI, including developing automated dashboards.
• Familiarity with advanced statistical analysis software such as SPSS, R, or Stata is an asset.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and SharePoint.
• Solid understanding of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes and experience using data collection platforms such as ActivityInfo (required) and Kobo.
• Theoretical and practical experience in designing and managing relational databases, including writing queries and database coding.
• Demonstrated experience in training and capacity-building on information management systems and data processes, ideally in development or humanitarian settings.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with close attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to work effectively in diverse and multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong organizational and time management skills, with the ability to handle multiple priorities and meet tight deadlines.
• Experience of supporting IM for grants funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and/or EU, as well as various other funds is an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template here: Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

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:  

Interested consultants are required to apply online, indicating availability and all-inclusive lump sum fee to undertake the terms of reference.

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.