National Consultant at UNICEF

How Can You Make a Difference?
Purpose of Activity / Assignment:

• Under the guidance of the Education Specialist Access, the consultant will be required to:

Scope of Work
Support the operationalization of the Safe Schools Declaration:

• The Consultant will provide technical and operational support to Federal and state governments in scaling up the coverage of the Safe School Declaration implementation at the state and school levels and in monitoring implementation and coverage. The consultant will provide one-on-one support through review and feedback to 11 states as they finalize and operationalize the costed safe school implementation plans by end-March 2023, and support the integration of the identified priority activities within state education sector operational plans and budgets. The consultant will attend regular monitoring and review meetings with state authorities (e.g., quarterly or biannually) to assess progress on implementation and support the revision of plans as needed.
• Support the printing and distribution of safe school policy documents to 12 states and the procurement, distribution and monitoring of school safety kits to 1100 schools in 12 states by June 2023.
• The Consultant will support the development and implementation of training guidelines on promoting risk mitigation and strengthening school preparedness and response with key stakeholders such as teachers.
• This will involve drafting, pilot testing with teachers and local partners, revising and finalizing technical practitioner’s guide on safe schools based on the policy documents and Safe School Minimum Standards.
• The consultant will then provide a workshop to train FO staff and implementing partners on its use by May 2023. S/he will also provide oversight of the rollout of training on this guidance and monitoring of outcomes by June 2023 through close collaboration with FO key partners, including MoEs and SUBEBs.
• Initiate the development of an early warning system for school attacks by consulting with FO staff, government and implementing partners, reviewing and assessing other early warning systems in other sectors (and in the Education sector in other countries), drafting a tool to be piloted in select states, and leading state- and community-level mapping of necessary actors to be engaged to activate and maintain an effective communication network for the functioning of the early warning system by end-April 2023.
• Oversee and guide the FO staff in mid-year data collection on the results achieved on safe school implementation, review and validate the data, and input it into the Education programme monitoring dashboard by June 2023.

Advocacy and Evidence Generation:

• Develop an evidence brief using the data generated from the representative survey of schools in 11 states on the status of school safety by April 2023.
• By early May 2023, support the preparation, design and updating of the UNICEF Nigeria Education strategy note and cheat sheet on school safety, including related factors that affect access to safe learning environments, and the collection and collation of data on school safety (e.g., risks and adverse events such as school attacks and environmental threats, the implementation of minimum standards in schools).
• Consultant will work with Maiduguri FO to support the development of key advocacy products for leveraging resources for safe schooling and for the prioritization of safe schools in education plans and budgets.
• This will involve using safe school implementation data from the UNICEF dashboard to produce one report for UNICEF staff, partners and stakeholders (at the end of the June reporting round), as well as a series of at least five human interest stories (one per FO supported on implementation) and a 2-page investment case, in collaboration with key partners including the EiEWG by the end of June 2023.

Facilitate Coordination of key partnerships and inter-sectoral collaboration on Safe Schools:

• Participate in strategic meetings at National level to influence policy and agenda-setting for promoting safe schooling. The Consultant will strengthen partnerships with Federal Ministry of Education , Universal Basic Education Commission at the national level and their state counterparts, Civil Society organizations and development partners including UN system agency partners, for improved safeguarding of education.
• The Consultant will work with NCO Education Specialist Access and Equity to provide strategic leadership to the Education in Emergencies Working Group and will coordinate UNICEF Nigeria Education Section’s partnerships with CSOs, federal and state governments and private partners.

Requirements
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

• Advanced Degree (minimum Master’s) in Education, Sociology, and other related areas in Humanities.
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in Education-related programme planning, management, and/or education delivery; demonstrable technical skills in EIE and in school safety; experience in design, planning, and implementation of Education interventions through government counterparts considering equity, inclusiveness, sustainability, mainstreaming gender, and integration with other sectors; experience working in emergency/crisis or high-risk settings
• Fluency in English (verbal and written). Excellent oral and written communication in English is required.

Technical Skills:

• Experience engaging key stakeholders and partners at multiple levels of the education system (e.g., national/state level decision-makers, teachers);
• Working knowledge of key safe school documents, including Safe School Declaration, INEE minimum standards, etc.;
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization;
• Knowledge of / experience with Nigeria’s education sector context or that of another West African country; and Experience developing and/or guiding capacity strengthening / professional development with key stakeholders, including government partners or teachers.

Behavioural Skills:

• Excellent interpersonal skills; Excellent collaboration with colleagues and partners;
• Strong leadership and management skills and experiences;
• Attentive and open to feedback and new ideas; and effective planning and problem-solving skills.

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.