Consultant at UNESCO

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Dar-es-Salaam

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 1 to 6 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 30-NOV-2020

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

Long Description

1. Introduction

Early childhood Development (ECD) includes all supports necessary for every child to realize his or her right to survival, protection and care that will ensure optimal development from zero to age eight (Evance, J 2000). ECD is influenced by characteristics of a child, child’s family and the broader surrounding social environment. ECD requires nurturing care and services that encompass 5 domains of nurturing care: Early Learning, Health and WASH, Nutrition, Responsive Caregiving, and Security and Safety. Deprivations in early childhood have a life-long impact. In low- and middle-income countries, extreme poverty means an estimated 250 million children under 5 (43% of all under 5 in these countries) are at risk of suboptimal development and stunted growth. In 76 countries, an estimated 30% – or more – of young children are at risk of poor learning, inadequate education and reduced adult earnings.

In Zanzibar too, young children are at risk of not developing to their full potentials.  The stunting rate is 23.5% and 7% of children are wasted.  Pemba has the highest prevalence at 9% (TDHS 2015-16). The UN Convention of the Right of the Child which states that, a child has the right to develop to the maximum extent possible. The convention recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Moreover in 2015 Early childhood development was included in sustainable development goal reaffirming its growing status in the global agenda. Tanzania has ratified Regional and International Conventions on the rights of the child including the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child of 1990 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations of 1989 respectively. Zanzibar is also committed to such conventions, as it is part of Tanzania. The Zanzibar Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty known as MKUZA III in-line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize on Pre-primary Education as an important part of Early Childhood Education (ECE).

D-Tree (2019) Zanzibar ECD baseline report show that while a few health and development indicators, such as vaccination coverage and regular play, were high, nearly 10% of children in Zanzibar have some developmental delay. Targeted interventions and health promotion activities across all domains of health, nutrition, and development could improve child well-being and development outcomes in Zanzibar. Issues of child protection and their wellbeing have been considered in different sector policies, though in varying aspects. For example, Education Policy of 2006 has largely engaged children from the age of 4 who start their formal education (i.e. pre-primary education). However, this policy is silent on children less than 4 years.

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

2. Justification

UNESCO Dar es Salaam is implementing the UN Joint project on ‘Empowering adolescent girls and young women through education in Tanzania’, part of which intends to strengthen the national capacity to develop and implement Life Skills including ECCE/ECD and parental education. This is in line with SDG 4; to ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education by 2030. It is within this context that UNESCO is planning to support the Ministry of Labour Empowerment, Elders, Women and Children (MLEEWC) in Zanzibar to develop ECD regulations to guide registration, operationalization and monitoring of Preschools, Day Care Centres and Crèches. The activity will be implemented incollaboration with UNICEF and other ECD stakeholders.

Child development is guided by various legal and regulatory frameworks including but not limited to; Education Policy (2006), Zanzibar Population Policy (2008), Child Protection Policy (2009) and Children’s Act No.6 of 2011. Apart from having in place these regulatory frameworks, key documents including ECD regulations, ECD guidelines, caregiver training manuals, National M&E plan do not exist. Due to this gap there is a limited understanding of the concept of ECD and its impact to optimal development of the child, poor coordination mechanism among ECD stakeholders and hence poor provision of ECD services.

To start with, ECD regulations for the provision of clear definition of different ECD service providers, roles of the Ministry on inspection, registration and monitoring of different ECD service providers will be established. The regulations will also provide elaboration on the roles and responsibilities of different ECD service providers, essential tools for assessment and monitoring of ECD centres, and will set forth legal procedures in case of violation of the regulations.Therefore competent specialized individuals with extensive legal background and or experience on ECD and other cross sectoral areas including education, child protection, nutrition, health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Tanzania are invited to submit technical and financial proposal based on the following TORs.

Long Description

3. Objective

The main objective of this assignment is to develop early childhood development (ECD) regulations in Zanzibar.

In order to achieve the above objective, the following activities should be implemented;

1. a. Review existing ECD related documents including Zanzibar Children’s Act No.6 of 2011, the Tanzania Mainland ECD Regulations for Day Care Centers, Zanzibar Education Policy (2006), Zanzibar Health policy, Zanzibar Social Protection Policy(2014) and its Implementation plan (2018-2022), Zanzibar Population Policy (2008), and the Zanzibar vision 2020.
2. b. Write the inception report which outlines understanding of the work, proposed outline of the regulations, detailed work plan, budget and data collection tools
3. c. Draft the proposed ECD regulations outline
4. d.  Facilitate a 3 – days workshop to review the proposed outline and drafting the content for the regulations as per the agreed outline. Members of the ECD TWG will be invited
5. e. Conduct field visits for collection of views from stakeholders through in-depth interviews and FGDs
6. f. Write the draft Regulations by taking into considerations inputs from various stakeholders
7. g. Facilitate a 2 – days workshop to discuss the draft regulations with the MLEEWC and ECD TWG
8. h. Finalize the draft regulations by taking into considerations inputs from various stakeholders

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial) Accountability (C) Communication (C) Innovation (C) Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (C) Planning and organizing (C) Results focus (C) Teamwork (C) Long Description

4. Outputs/Deliverables

1. a. Inception report  including a detailed work plan and implementation modality
2. b. 1st draft of the ECD Regulations
3. c. Final ECD Regulations in English
4. d. Progress report

5. Management and Reporting

UNESCO shall facilitate the activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour Empowerment, Elders, Women and Children (MLEEWC) in Zanzibar and     UNICEF. The consultant shall submit the deliverables to UNESCO. ECD Technical Working Group will be established under MLEEWC to oversee the             process of developing the ECD Regulations.

– For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Advanced Degree in Law, Social Work, Sociology, Early Childhood Development (ECD)  or related field

Work Experience: At least 5 years of extensive experience in the legal sector or ECD

Skills/Competencies

• Knowledge on local contexts/social cultural practices and policy and legal settings in Zanzibar.
• Excelent communication and writing skills; Fluent in both English and Kiswahili
• Demonstrated experience in facilitation of workshops/trainings
• Results based

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Interested candidates should click on “Apply Now”, and or if the button is not visible, look for, download and complete the Employment History form (Word file). At the end of the Word file, insert extra pages with the following required information:

• CV and  a letter indicating how their qualifications and experience make them suitable for the assignment.
• Technical Proposal and Budget to be charged for the assignment, which should be quoted in TZS

Additional Information

• Travel cost should be included in the budget
• This contract is for a period of 4 months.  Estimated start date is: 15 December 2020
  Assessment
• Only applications providing the information requested under application procedure will be considered.
• Evaluation of qualified applicants may include an assessment exercise and a competency-based interview

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information. To apply, please visit the UNESCO careers website. No modifications can be made to the application submitted.

The evaluation of candidates is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice, and may include tests and/or assessments, as well as a competency-based interview.

UNESCO uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of candidates.

Please note that only selected candidates will be further contacted and candidates in the final selection step will be subject to reference checks based on the information provided.

Footer

UNESCO applies a zero tolerance policy against all forms of harassment.

UNESCO is committed to achieve and sustain gender parity among its staff members in all categories and at all grades. Furthermore, UNESCO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities, as well as nationals from non-and under-represented Member States (last update here) are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality. Worldwide mobility is required for staff members appointed to international posts.

UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

The deadline for submitting the application is 30 November 2020

CLICK HERE TO APPLY