National Consultancy to support harmonization of minimum national pre-primary education standards and ECD minimum standards, Kigali Rwanda, 6months ( Work from home) – Rwandan Nationals Only: (Deadline 10 May 2023)

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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 Government of Rwanda (GoR) recognizes the importance of ECD as one of the most important levers for accelerating the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The GoR has demonstrated its commitment to the well-being of young children by signing various global policy frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the World Conference on EFA, especially the significance of the early years as the foundation for the life of an individual.

The Government also has made a commitment to invest in integrated Early Childhood Development (ECD) services to combat stunting and chronic malnutrition among U5 children. According to the Demographic and Health Survey (2020), 33.1% of children are stunted. This affects the physical, mental, and emotional development of children which will have a negative impact on human capital development in the country. Therefore, investing in ECD is critical for the future productivity of individuals and socio- economic development of Rwanda.

ECD offers a comprehensive approach to policies and programs that address the growing needs of a child from the time a child is conceived to 6 years of age. A child’s growth requires the active participation of parents, the community, and caregivers to ensure the child’s physical, social, emotional, spiritual, moral, and intellectual development

The Ministry of Gender and Family promotion (MIGEPROF) developed ECD standards to provide guidelines for establishing, regulating and monitoring ECD services among providers and in 2019, these standards were revised by NCDA. The ministry of education also developed ECE minimum standards to guide the establishment, regulate the operationalization and monitor the quality of ECE centres. Essentially, the standards developed by MINEDUC and NCDA target the same partners and provision of the same services.

It is against this background that MINEDUC together with NCDA are hiring an individual consultant to harmonize already developed ECE minimum standards and ECD standards. In consultation with MINEDUC, REB, National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) and NCDA, the harmonization of terms used in this sub-sector is also part of this assignment.

Scope of the assignment

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Desk review of the existing minimum standards, guidelines, and other relevant documents, including Ministerial Instructions related to ECD and the Education Law.  

The consultant will review the ECE and ECD minimum standards to identify similarities, differences in the standards, including terminologies used and gaps to be addressed in the harmonized standards. The consultant will further conduct a comparative analysis of the two documents and guidance provided in Presidential and Ministerial Orders (MINEDUC and/or MIGEPROF) governing the establishment and operationalization of ECD programmes.

• Prepare a report on differences/gaps and areas of convergence of the ECE and ECD standards with recommended scope of a harmonized minimum standards document.

Once the consultant has analyzed differences, similarities, and gaps of ECE standards/guideline and ECD standards and after conducting a deep review of presidential and/or ministerial orders establishing ECD programmes, s/he will produce a short report outlining the scope of the envisaged harmonized standards document. The report will be the basis for combining the ECE and ECD standards to come up with one document (ECE and ECD minimum standards/guidelines) that MINEDUC, NCDA and all other stakeholders will be using to guide establishment and monitor operationalization of ECE and ECD facilities.

• Support consultation workshop/meetings with stakeholders to develop, review and validate a harmonized minimum standards and guidelines

The consultant will work with MINEDUC, REB, NCDA, NESA and partners to discuss and agree on the focus of the proposed harmonized standards. Based on the discussion, the consultant will produce an initial draft of the harmonized standards document that integrates key elements from the existing standards and is aligned with the guidance provided in relevant laws and Presidential and Ministerial Orders/Instructions. The consultant will present the initial draft to MINEDU, NCDA and partners for review and input. The consultant will incorporate all comments and inputs to produce a final draft for validation. The final draft will be submitted to MINEDUC and NCDA in a design and layout format in both English and Kinyarwanda.

The minimums standards will cover the following areas and others that may be agreed in consultation with statehooders:

• Physical environment, facilities, and equipment.
• Children’s health and safety practices including health, nutrition, food service; hygiene and care practices;
• Safety, secure relationships between children and educators.
• Teachings aids and learning materials for children aged 0- 3 years and then 3 – 6 years;
• Establishment and registration of pre-primary centers (infrastructure, equipment, personnel…) and training institutions;
• ECE/Pre-primary and ECD service providers’ management, administration, supervision, and accountability of pre-primary programs for children.
• Effective partnership and networking (with families and communities) arrangements;
• Caregivers’ qualifications, trainings and incentives;
• Support to children with specials needs
• Compliance with the ECE and ECD minimum standards and accountability
• Assessment of child’s education and development progress

• Review and align existing ECE/ECD inspection and monitoring tools with the harmonized minimum standards and guidelines

The consultant will work with ECE and ECD partners to review the existing inspection and monitoring tools to ensure alignment with the harmonized standards and guidelines. In consultation with NESA, the tools must be guided by the NESA inspection framework and associated tools.  The revised tools will be used by MINEDUC/REB/NESA and NCDA to monitor the quality of ECD/ECD services and programming. All other stakeholders will also be guided by the same tools and guideline.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

• Desk review to analyze and identify similarities, differences, and gaps between the pre-primary/ECE and ECD standards.
• Produce a report with recommendations (scope and connect outline) to inform development of a harmonized standards for both pre-primary and ECD.
• Support consultation with MINEDUC, NCDA, affiliated agencies and partners involved in pre-primary education and ECD to review the recommendations and develop the proposed harmonized document.
• Review and align existing ECE and ECD inspection and monitoring tools with the harmonized standards and guidelines.

Deliverables/Outputs:

Payment 1: 15%

1. Desk review completed and list of key documents analyzed.
2. Technical report (max 15 pages) presenting analysis of the key areas of the existing standards and proposed outline for a harmonized standards document.

Payment 2: 55%

1. Draft minimum standards document submitted to NCDA and MINEDUC for review and input from stakeholders.
2. Final draft of the minimum standards document submitted in English and Kinyarwanda.

Payment 3: 30%

1. Revised inspection and monitoring tools aligned with harmonized minimum standards.

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 any of the following areas: education, public policy related social sciences.
• At least 6 years of demonstrated experience in education and/or social development.
• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with policies, laws and development frameworks of education system in Rwanda.
• The individual consultant should have the ability to meet tight deadlines.

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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