National consultancy to support Education Sector Working Group Coordinator, Kigali, Rwanda,12 months (Office based) – For Rwandan Nationals ONLY at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): (Deadline 21 February 2024)

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For every child, Education

To learn more about UNICEF work in Rwanda, please visit the country website https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/RWA/ or watch this video about UNICEF work in Rwanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7B91m5Yzoc

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Background:

The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), along with its affiliated agencies (REB, NESA, RTB, HEC), and Education Development Partners (EDPs), maintains a collaborative relationship through the Education Sector Working Group (ESWG). This group serves as a forum where MINEDUC and stakeholders engage in oversight, governance, and management discussions related to education sector priorities outlined in government policies and plans. The ESWG’s primary goal is to improve the quality of education by coordinating interventions from EDPs and ensuring efficient use of development assistance aligned with education sector priorities. Through policy dialogue and coordination, the ESWG aims to prevent duplication of efforts, leading to the effective utilization of EDP support for the benefit of the education sector.

In formalizing it operations, The ESWG has developed the Rwanda Education Sector Working Group Operational Framework to guide the organization, coordination, and management of the ESWG. The framework provides for the establishment of an ESWG Secretariat to ensure effective functioning and coordination of the education sector. The framework envisaged the need for a minimum of one full-time staff dedicated to the tasks and responsibilities of the Secretariat. In addition, the ESWG Secretariat will work closely with the Director General in charge of Education Sector Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in MINEDUC on all matters regarding the sector coordination with all EDPs and other education stakeholders. The Secretariat will be headed by a coordinator reporting to the Chair and Co-Chairs of the ESWG.

Key Tasks:

The major roles and responsibilities of the education sector working group coordinator encompasses tasks and functions, related to effective management and governance of the sector working group, including monitoring, evaluation and learning, communication, and capacity development within the education sector working group role. They key responsibilities include the following.

1. Support implementation of the Rwanda ESWG operational framework, especially to ensure the ESWG structures as outlined in the operational framework are functional. This will also include providing secretariat support to the ESWG to ensure effective coordination and alignment of sector partners’ supported programmes with government priorities to avoid duplication and create synergies and maximize results of programmes.

Support the development, implementation, and monitoring of education sector priority activities related to the Education Sector. This involves developing and supporting implementation of framework for programmes

2. supported by sector partners. It also involves conducting regular visits to assess ESWG members’ activities and ensure a thorough understanding of all aspects of their programmes as well as developing a collective approach involving all EDPs, facilitating information dissemination and sharing of best practices.
3. Support the communication and advocacy to solicit support for ESWG priorities. This will involve developing and implementing communication strategies to effectively convey sector priorities, achievements, and challenges. It will also involve supporting the communication and coordination of the subsector and technical working groups and taskforces as needed.
4. Strengthen capacities of the MINEDUC and the affiliated agencies to operationalize the joint ESWG work plans in collaboration with EDPs. In consultation with the Chair and Co-Chairs, the coordinator will identify individual training needs for self, or any other staff involved in the work of the Secretariat to enhance capacity for effective delivery of the ESWG plans and activities.  The coordinator will plan and follow up implementation of capacity building interventions to meet the identified training needs as appropriate.

Undertake other duties as delegated by the Chair or Co-Chairs of the ESWG.

Tasks/Milestone:

• Support the coordination and alignment of the Education Partners programmes, interventions and resources to the education sector to avoid duplication and create synergies.
• Support the coordination of quarterly ESWG meetings including setting the agenda and venue in coordination with the ESWG Co-chairs.
• Facilitate communication and overall coordination between MINEDUC (Chair) and the Co-Chairs of the ESWG including issues regarding funding of projects, budgeting, and progress updates.
• Support the development, implementation, and monitoring of education sector priority activities in alignment with the Rwanda Education Sector Working Group Framework
• Support the organization and coordination of the forward-looking Joint Review of the Education Sector (JRES) organized in collaboration with Director General in charge of Planning.
• Support the communication and advocacy of the ESWG and the sector.
• Support the capacities of the MIEDUC team to operationalize the joint ESWG work plans with EDPs.
• Conducting regular visits to assess ESWG members’ activities and facilitate information sharing and exchange of best practices.
• Prepare ESWG plans, reports, and other strategic documents for consideration by the Chair and Co-Chairs of the ESWG in consultation with ESWG members.
• Support the organization and coordination of the backward-looking Joint Review of the Education Sector (JRES) organized in collaboration with Director General in charge of Planning.
• Review and update the ESWG implementation work plan and report annual progress to co-chairs.
• Prepare summary of ESWG and subsector and technical working group plans and progress update

Deliverables/Outputs:

1. Monthly work plan and progress report
2. Annual work plan of the ESWG linked to the ESWG Operational framework.
3. Quarterly ESWG meeting minutes detailing discussions, decisions, action items, and any follow-up tasks circulated to members.
4. ESWG plans, reports, and strategic documents put together and shared with members as appropriate.
5. Activity monitoring report
6. Field visits organized and coordinated prior to every planned sector review.
7. JRS review report and presentations shared.
8. Communication plan for the ESWG Developed.
9. Capacity building plans developed.
10. Quarterly ESWG meeting held and circulated to members.
11. Best practices identified and shared with ESWG members.
12. Updated status of JRS resolutions implementation
13. JRS report with clear action points shared.
14. Annual progress report on the ESWG work plan
15. Final report summarizing key achievements, lessons learned and recommendations for enhancing sector coordination.
16. Summary of subsector and technical working group workplans and actions taken in implementing the ESWG work plan.

Duration and Duty Location

This consultancy will be completed within 12 months. The consultancy is office based in MINEDUC.

Selection Criteria

Applications shall be assessed based on their technical and financial proposals. Maximum scores for technical and financial applications will be 75% and 25%, respectively.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in education, international development, Economics, and social sciences.
• At least 5 years of professional experience at national or sub-national levels in coordinating the implementation of educational programs, policy, or strategy.
• Experience working and providing technical support or implementing programs in the Rwandan education sector or in the region.
• Experience in organizing multi-stakeholder meetings and follow-up of decisions and actions.
• 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 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: 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.

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