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For every child, the right to education

How can you make a difference? 

Background:

UNICEF Regional Office in South Asia (ROSA) has launched a regional programme to promote the use of learning/skills assessments and data for improving learning and skills outcomes in both development and emergency contexts in South Asia. Learning assessments and effective data use are central to the programme’s Theory of Change (ToC), with a focus on:

• Learning Assessment Enhancement – improving the quality, comparability, inclusivity, and crisis sensitivity of assessment tools, with attention to gender, disability, climate/environmental knowledge, psychosocial well-being, social-emotional learning (SEL), and digital readiness.
• Capacity Strengthening – building technical and institutional expertise in psychometrics and data use at national, sub-national, school, and community levels.
• Knowledge Sharing – generating and disseminating regional public goods, such as repositories, guidelines, and good practices, to help countries apply effective approaches at scale.

Despite progress, recent regional analyses highlight persistent gaps that hinder effective assessment use:

• Weak psychometric rigor and compromised comparability across assessment cycles.
• Limited national technical capacity and high staff turnover in government institutions.
• Fragmentation across multiple assessment initiatives, undermining coherence.
• Poor integration of assessment data into planning, management, accountability, teacher support, and classroom practice.
• Lack of attention to accessible reporting, dissemination, and monitoring of uptake.

These gaps underscore the urgent need for specialized psychometric expertise to ensure national learning assessments are credible, comparable, and usable in both development and emergency contexts.

Purpose:

The consultancy will address these gaps by strengthening national learning and skills assessment practices across South Asia so that they provide a reliable foundation for system accountability, inform classroom practice, and remain relevant in development and emergency contexts.

The consultant will:

• Provide direct technical support and training to the countries in the region, ensuring assessments are psychometrically robust, usable by policymakers and educators, and supported through sustainable capacity-building efforts.
• Contribute at the regional level by producing knowledge products on psychometric rigor, inclusivity, and crisis-sensitive assessment, aligned with UNICEF and partner initiatives.

Through this dual focus, the consultancy will ensure that psychometric rigor translates into improved management, teacher support, accountability, instructional relevance, and crisis sensitivity, while contributing to regional public goods that advance education system strengthening.

Scope of work:

The consultancy will deliver specialized psychometric support to strengthen the design, implementation, and use of national learning and skills assessments in South Asia. The primary focus will be on country-level engagement—conducting psychometric reviews, providing technical recommendations, and building national capacity—while also contributing to regional knowledge products and global public goods. Activities will align with the programme’s Theory of Change (ToC) pillars, emphasizing stronger assessment rigor and comparability, sustainable institutional expertise, and the generation of data that strengthens system management and accountability, informs teacher support and classroom practice, and supports preparedness and response in emergency contexts for improving learning and skills outcomes.

Country-Level Support

The support will include:

• Psychometric reviews of national assessments, covering sampling, scaling, item analysis, reliability/validity, and comparability across cycles, with explicit attention to their relevance for system management and accountability, alignment with teacher support and classroom/formative assessment practices, and adaptability for both development and emergency contexts.
• Translation of psychometric findings into actionable recommendations for Ministries of Education and UNICEF Country Offices, demonstrating how assessment results can be applied to strengthen system accountability frameworks, inform teacher support and classroom practices, and guide emergency preparedness and response in education.
• Capacity transfer to national teams through tailored workshops, practical training modules, and ongoing mentoring, focused on applied psychometrics and effective data use for policy planning, system management (including from district offices/local governments),classroom improvement, and preparedness/response in emergency contexts.
• Where relevant, review and adaptation of crisis-sensitive assessment items, ensuring they are fair, reliable, and usable in emergency contexts, while also linking with classroom-level formative tools and mechanisms for accountability at national, sub-national, and community levels

Global/Regional-Level Support

The support will include:

• Global literature/desk review on approaches to measuring social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental health/psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergency contexts, with lessons and applicability to South Asia.
• Joint regional knowledge product (e.g., guidance note or technical brief) on psychometric rigor, inclusivity, and crisis-sensitive design, developed in collaboration with the regional programme team.
• Contributions to regional and global public goods on SEL and crisis-sensitive assessments, ensuring they complement existing UNICEF and partner initiatives (e.g., UNICEF ESARO’s EiE Toolbox, ECW’s Holistic Learning Outcomes Measurement initiative, INEE’s PSS-SEL Toolbox, allchildrenlearning.org assessmebt platform) and are effectively adapted and taken up by countries.

Deliverables and Timeline:

The consultancy will be implemented over up to 80 working days between December 2025 and June 2026. Deliverables are framed as results-based outputs, with flexibility to adapt to country demand and contextual needs. The consultant is expected to support at least three countries in South Asia, with additional engagement possible depending on priorities, opportunities, and available resources.

Country-Level Deliverables (~65 days)

1. Psychometric review reports for at least three national learning assessments, covering sampling, scaling, item analysis, reliability/validity, and comparability across cycles. Each review will provide recommendations for strengthening system management and accountability, teacher support, classroom practice, and applicability in development and emergency contexts.
~18 days

2. Targeted technical products (e.g., briefs, mentoring notes, or reports) on crisis-sensitive item adaptation, where relevant, documenting good practices and actionable guidance for strengthening assessment systems at national, sub-national, and classroom levels - ~12 days

3. Capacity-building packages and workshops/webinars (minimum three), tailored to government and UNICEF Country Office needs, with practical training materials on applied psychometrics, item validation, and data-to-policy use, including explicit linkages to classroom instruction and emergency contexts - ~35 days

Global/Regional-Level Deliverables (~15 days)

1. Global Literature review on approaches to measuring social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental health/psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergency contexts, with lessons and applicability to South Asia - ~8 days
2. Joint regional knowledge product and contribution to regional and global public goods on SEL and crisis-sensitive assessments  (e.g., guidance note or technical brief) on psychometric rigor, inclusivity, and crisis-sensitive design, co-developed with the regional programme team - ~7 days

For this assignment, travels are planned to be done in a selected number of South Asian Countries, still to be determined. The consultant will be responsible for arranging their own travels, in alignment with UNICEF policy. Travel costs will be re-imbursed based on proof of payment for tickets + boarding passes and any other reimbursable payments agreed as per contract, and in line with UNICEF policy.

Remarks: all applications should be submitted along with the financial proposal.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Advanced degree in Educational Measurement, Psychometrics, or a closely related field

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

Essential:

• At least 6 years of professional experience in large-scale learning assessment design, psychometric analysis (e.g., sampling, scaling, item analysis, validation), and reporting.
• Proven track record of collaboration with Ministries of Education and national assessment units in South Asia or comparable low- and middle-income contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in capacity strengthening and institutionalization of psychometric expertise, including strategies to mitigate staff turnover and sustain capacity.
• Strong facilitation and training skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts into accessible formats for policymakers, practitioners, and non-specialist audiences.
• Excellent command of English (written and spoken), with proven ability to produce high-quality technical documents and to communicate complex assessment findings in formats accessible to policymakers, practitioners, and non-specialist audience.

Desirable:

• Experience applying psychometric expertise in development and emergency contexts, including linking national assessments with classroom formative tools and assessment approaches used in crises.
• Familiarity with assessing non-academic domains, such as social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental health/psychosocial support (MHPSS), particularly in fragile or emergency settings.
• Knowledge of South Asian languages

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable female applicants are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.