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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, OPPORTUNITY 

How can you make a difference? 

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on underserved populations, including the hardest to reach, rural populations, girls, children with disabilities, and refugees. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth by paying for employment and retention outcomes.

The Government of Sierra Leone has already partnered with EOF to develop the Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (SLEIC), an outcomes fund at primary education level to deepen an evidence-based understanding of ‘what works’ in the local context, develop and improve existing interventions, and transfer much of the delivery risk to the non-state sector.

Building upon this partnership, EOF and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) are collaborating to design an Outcomes Fund in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Supporting the policy initiatives of the Government of Sierra Leone, which frame ECE as a key area of expansion, this programme aims to use an Outcomes Fund approach to support the rapid expansion of ECE provision in the country through community Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, while maintaining and monitoring quality to support holistic child development. A key facet of this approach is the development of community ECD centres within existing infrastructure.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Consultant (Infrastructure Research) will support EOF by providing on-the-ground data collection and broader research activities to help answer the question of the existence of available space in primary school structures and/or community infrastructure in which community ECD centres may be established by service providers.

The broad objectives of this consultancy are:

• To aid EOF in understanding the availability and presence of existing infrastructure and the level to which it requires repairs to meet safety standards.
• To connect and collaborate with stakeholders to identify the best approach for gather this information.
• To map the districts or chiefdoms in which the infrastructure is more or less likely to exist.
• To conduct some field visits to gather insights into the infrastructure and help identify potential challenges that may be encountered in implementation.

The Consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• A workplan showing the intended approach for information gathering.
• Collected data on some infrastructure in each district showing its comparison to minimum criteria.
• A report on the findings on the general availability of infrastructure in communities, and the extent to which refurbishment is required. A recommendation on the feasibility of using existing infrastructure in this programme is needed, including an assessment of risks and mitigation strategies.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT (DELIVERABLES):

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

• An advanced degree in Education, Early Childhood Development, Development Studies, Economics, Demographics, Social Policy or other field relevant to ECE is required.
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. 
• A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience in designing data collection plans, recording information, analysing, and synthesising data sets (quantitative and qualitative).
• Experience working with communities in Sierra Leone, travelling to districts, engaging traditional leaders and other key stakeholders as well as experience in engaging with government stakeholders, NGOs, donors and private sector stakeholders in Sierra Leone are required.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered 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. 

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:  

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.