National Consultant: Early Childhood Development Education, Juba, South Sudan, 60 days (open to South Sudanese)

The specific purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical support to the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) to develop teacher activity guide and a training manual to facilitate the implementation of the ECE curriculum. The assignment will involve working closely with the ECE technical committee at the MoGEI, conducting workshops and meetings with senior MoGEI key staff UNICEF and partners.

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, Education 

The Education System in South Sudan is guided by laws and policy documents such as Transitional Constitution 2011, General Education Act 2012, and the National General Education Policy 2017-2027 which all articulate education as human right, compulsory and free at the basic education level including pre-primary. Though there has been an increase in total enrolment for all levels of formal education, access to universal primary education remains unfulfilled with more than half of the school age population that is 2.8 million children remaining out of school of which 53 percent are girls. The fact that there are more children out of school than in school as only 44% of the school age children access education, poses a great challenge to the country’s education system. Similarly, the quality of education and learning outcomes are very low owing to shortage of qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials and non-conducive learning environment.

Despite numerous challenges, South Sudan is striving to build a robust education system to serve its citizens. The General Education Sector Plan (GESP) 2023-2027 prioritizes access to education and provides ambitious plan to expand supply of and increase demand for education to cater for the OOSC population. By pursuing this comprehensive and ambitious plan, the government aims to unlock the transformative potential of education for all citizens of South Sudan. However, the education system continues to face challenges, many of which are exacerbated by the country's ongoing humanitarian crisis. Outbreaks of conflict and, economic stagnation and instability, and natural disasters have all had a profound impact on education in South Sudan. However, it calls for sustained investment in education to retain children already in school and to attract those still out-of-school.

UNICEF South Sudan Country Office continues to support the MoGEI in implementing several ECE interventions. ECE is one of the priority pillars of the current Country Programme (2023 – 2025. To improve the quality of learning, UNICEF supported the MoGEI to develop the ECE curriculum and ECD/E story books in the five national languages for learners to enhance school readiness. Though an ECE curriculum framework has already been developed, actual curriculum (with teachers’ guide, lesson plans, and student workbooks) still need to be developed to ensure full implementation of the curriculum and provision of teaching and learning materials. The curriculum framework for both formal and non-formal education in the country emphasizes the imperative of crafting suitable educational resources to facilitate effective lesson delivery. However, teaching and learning materials like teachers' activity guide are not fully developed to facilitate implementation.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of Assignment:
The specific purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical support to the Ministry of General Education and Instruction (MoGEI) to develop teacher activity guide and a training manual to facilitate the implementation of the ECE curriculum. The assignment will involve working closely with the ECE technical committee at the MoGEI, conducting workshops and meetings with senior MoGEI key staff UNICEF and partners.

Scope of Work
The overall objective of the consultancy is to lead and provide technical support to the MoGEI in the development of ECE curriculum materials ie activity guide for teacher and a training manual. He/she should strengthen capacity of the MoGEI staff through engaging them in workshops in writing the materials. Specifically, the scope of the assignment is as follows:

a) Conduct a desk review on relevant reference curriculum materials, teacher guides and related documents to input into the ECE
activity guide on the respective curriculum learning areas and a teacher training manual based on the activity guide.
b) Conduct consultative processes, including convening, preparing, facilitating, and reporting all consultation meetings and
workshops required to gather and integrate inputs from key stakeholders such as the MoGEI and education partners 2 weeks
after signing of contract.
c) Develop a draft report/ concept note on the findings and present to the ECE technical team for review/comments and approval.
d) Organize and conduct working workshops to guide the MoGEI ECE TWG in the development of the ECE teacher activity guide and
the training manual and orient the MoGEI team on use of the materials.
e) Provide capacity building to ECE TWG at the MoGEI and key staffs on the process of developing the curriculum guides.
f) Other related tasks as needed in this consultancy and assigned by the MoGEI.

Expected Deliverables

1. Inception Report developed shared and approved
2. ECE classroom activity guide with lesson plans
3. A training manual
4. Video clips
5. Social media posts

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

• An advanced university degree in Education or Social Sciences.
• A minimum of eight (8) years’ experience working in developing ECE teaching and learning materials, training guides in a
  development context. 
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.
• Experience of work in a UN organization is an asset Desirable. 
• Proven expertise/knowledge in Early childhood curriculum development, training, and capacity building skills. 
• Capacity development of NGOs and government partners in low resource humanitarian contexts considered an asset.
• Familiarity with the context of Early childhood Education and Development within the region
• Knowledge of the South Sudan context will be an added advantage.
• Excellent planning, writing/editing skills, facilitation skills are proven with workshops and meetings, especially with partners and Government counterparts.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and to establish harmonious and effective relationships both within and outside the organisation, more specifically with the Ministry of General Education and Instruction.

All applications MUST be accompanied with a detailed technical and financial proposal

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF's values are;

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability 

  

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.