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, answers

Despite the global learning crisis, even in the most difficult contexts, there are some “positive deviant” schools: those that are outperforming (in terms of learning, participation, and/or equity) other schools in similar contexts and with the same resources. Unfortunately, these positive deviant schools are often not identified and very little is known about the positive deviant practices and behaviours being implemented in these schools or their communities that make them perform better than others. Even less is known about how to incentivize and scale up these positive deviant practices and behaviours in lower performing schools.

The Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research, led by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight (UNICEF Innocenti), has been designed to address these evidence gaps and inform policy and implementation. The research aims to identify and scale positive deviant practices and behaviours to improve learning outcomes. The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as other methodologies and approaches including behavioural sciences, scaling science and implementation research.

The DMS research is currently being implemented in 15 countries (Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Lao PDR, Tanzania, Togo, Viet Nam and Zambia) and is co-funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/International Development Research Centre (IDRC) global programme for Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), Jacobs Foundation, Norad, Hewlett Foundation, Schools2030 (Agha Khan Foundation) and UNICEF internal resources.

How can you make a difference?

The consultant will support the smooth implementation of the DMS research by supporting Ministries of Education i) accessing, cleaning, and linking administrative education datasets, ii) supporting the quantitative data analysis of these administrative datasets to identify the resource and contextual factors associated with school performance; iii) supporting the finalization of the DMS Stage 3 in selected countries; and iv) contributing to country, regional, and global synthesis reports. These tasks will be done hand-in-hand with Ministries of Education, UNICEF country offices, regional offices and headquarters and development partners at country level and will put emphasis on ‘learning-by-doing’ capacity strengthening activities.

Major areas of work and responsibility
The consultant will perform the following activities in collaboration with other DMS researchers and in partnership with Ministries of Education, UNICEF Country Offices and Regional Offices:
• Clean, link and integrate education data systems to improve their relevance and reliability. This activity will be done hand-in-hand with Ministries of Education, and other relevant stakeholders– ensuring capacity-building in the process.
• In close collaboration with the DMS quantitative researchers, perform data analysis on the resources and contextual factors that are associated with school performance (in terms of learning outcomes, gender & equity, and retention) from the previously merged datasets.
• Contribute to development and submission of International Review Board (IRB) ethics protection protocols prior to starting data collection activities, as relevant.
• Undertake quantitative research data cleaning and analysis on positive deviant practices and behaviours.
• Collaborate with qualitative research consultants to triangulate findings from the quantitative and qualitative data collected.
• Strengthen the capacity of Ministries of Education and UNICEF field offices and through trainings and ‘learning-by-doing’ activities in the areas of data cleaning, analysis and interpretation.
• Provide guidance and quality assurance on education database management to Ministries of Education and UNICEF field offices.
• Draft country, regional, and/or global level reports and ensure publications adhere to UNICEF Innocenti Quality Assurance processes, including soliciting and responding to internal and external review.
• Develop additional dissemination outputs, knowledge products and donor reporting requirements, including blog posts, PowerPoint presentations, and/or social media content.
• Support additional activities for the DMS research, the broader workstreams of the Education unit and/or UNICEF Innocenti upon request.

For further information, please see the full Terms of Reference:  DMS Francophone Quantitative Researcher 2024 ToR EXT.pdf

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

An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in education, database management, education economics, political sciences, other related social sciences.

• Essential skills:
  • A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national or international levels in the areas of education research, database management, education economics, with developing country level experience essential.
  • Strong quantitative research, database management, and data analysis skills.
  • Proven experience of statistical analysis software packages (e.g., Stata…).
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills, including in translating research for policy-audiences and other education actors.
  • Demonstrated ability to work well as part of a team and to forge and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including Ministries of Education officials, academics, and development partners.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills, including in translating research for policy-audiences and other education actors.
  • Demonstrated ability to work well as part of a team and to forge and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Commitment to UNICEF’s core values of care, respect, integrity, transparency, and accountability.
  • Ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment.
  • Fluency in English and French required
• Desirable qualifications:
• Previous knowledge and experience with the Data Must Speak research methodology is an asset.
• Experience working in the UN or other international development organizations is an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, 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/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.