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, dedication.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) is seeking a consultant to be the technical lead for the work surrounding raising the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) by strengthening governance, monitoring and evaluation as part of a Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project in Portugal. This project is part of a multi-country project with Bulgaria. The consultant will be primarily assigned to the Portuguese component of the action but will have to closely collaborate with Bulgarian counterparts to ensure synergies. This Terms of Reference covers a two-year duration, but consultant will be recruited for the first one year of the project. Extension of the contract is possible based on performance evaluation and exigencies of service.

Scope of Work

With funding from the EU Commission, DG REFORM, under which UNICEF has been contracted to provide technical support, UNICEF will be working with the Portuguese Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI) and the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security (MLSS) to create a national ECEC quality framework as a tool to strengthen the quality of ECEC services, together with related setting level tools.

Both ministries are committed to closely collaborate in order to expand the ECEC network, while ensuring equitable access and consistent quality across services. Through the TSI, the Portuguese authorities wish to adopt a tested and piloted quality framework for early childhood education and care. This will be achieved through the following key activities:

• Evidence generation
  UNICEF will support the Portuguese authorities in gaining extensive knowledge of the current status of the ECEC sector through: a) “As-is” analysis of governance and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) with regard to quality in ECEC; b) Analysis of good practice from other EU Member States/European countries.
• Framework development and testing
  UNICEF will develop a National quality framework and associated indicators, as well as monitoring and evaluation tools, which will be tested at setting level.
• Recommendations for framework adoption
  UNICEF will draft a report with final recommendations for implementation and dissemination of the framework by the State authorities.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Support to programme development and planning.

Working closely with the ECARO ECD Officer:

• Develop inception report and work plan for the programme.
• Coordinate the project steering committee and expert working groups of the programme.
• Coordinate with the ministries on the operational arrangements for the implementation of the programme.
• Develop and manage communication tools for use throughout the programme span.
• Lead and oversee the impactful implementation of the programme, together with steering committee.
• Partake in regular project standing meetings.
• Join quarterly steering committee meetings and provide updates as required.
• Provide the ECARO ECD team with timely information to inform project reports.

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results.

• Manage and follow-up on the implementation of all program components related to the ECEC programme to ensure their progress is in accordance with the established goals, plans and strategies.
• Ensure roles and responsibilities are clearly defined across the programme and ensure all components are being implemented in sequence with concrete linkage between programme activities and streams of work.
• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues, provide solutions, recommendations and/or alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decisions.
• Support organization of kick off and closing meetings.
• Join twice-monthly coordination meetings and quarterly steering committee meetings and contribute to reporting.

3. Technical deliverables

a) Working closely with a local research team lead on the provision of technical inputs for the “As-is” analysis of governance and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) with regard to quality in ECEC in Portugal.

• Analyse the current knowledge, attitudes, practices and approaches to the monitoring and evaluation of quality ECEC in Portugal, involving key stakeholders as needed through a desk review and primary data collection from settings and key stakeholders.
• Conduct a comprehensive analytical diagnosis of the ECEC sector covering all the domains of the European Quality Framework for ECEC, and based on the ECE Sub-sector Analysis Tool https://www.ece-accelerator.org/toolkit/section-2/tool-2-2.
• Collect initial desk review of status of ECEC sector, building from the data and results of the mapping activities, and identify key documents and resources. Dedicated focus will be given to the M&E component, but the analysis will also touch upon other components of the system.
• Hold a set of working sessions with ECEC stakeholders for deeper-dive analysis of components of the sector in order to identify:
  • what exists,
  • what are the challenges, gaps and needs,
  • roles and responsibilities
  • what materials / tools/ approaches currently exist or are being used to their knowledge
• Develop and distribute a questionnaire to settings to gather information about the current status of service provision, looking broadly at system quality, including, accessibility, availability, quality and affordability of services.
• Develop and validate report providing a comprehensive overview of the sector, as well as an initial set of recommendations of areas that need further strengthening and improvement.

b) In close collaboration with the Bulgarian counterpart, lead on the drafting of an analysis of good practices from other EU Member States/European countries which are relevant for Portugal and Bulgaria

• Gather relevant examples of good practice from other European countries and summarise them in a concise report
• In close collaboration with the Bulgaria team, identify experts from 2-3 countries who will participate to 2 learning exchanges, one in in-person and one online.
• In collaboration with the ECARO ECD Officer and the Bulgarian counterparts, organise study visit for a Portuguese delegation (7-8 persons/2 days on site) to another European country with relevant examples of good practice

c) Draft a consolidated interim recommendations report, summarizing findings and recommendations from the “as-is” analysis and the good practice study.

d) Develop and pilot an ECEC quality framework comprehensive of ECEC quality statements and related indicators of quality at national, local and pedagogical and care practice (centre/school) level.

• Seeking inputs and co-creation from the working group, develop draft quality framework reflecting the split system for ECEC with:
  • Quality statements at national, local and pedagogical practice level based on existing policy, legislative and normative frameworks and;
  • Quality indicators at national, local and pedagogical practice level based on existing data collection and M&E processes where possible.
• Develop a draft guidance document on indicator definitions, data collection processes, data sources and data gaps across of three levels.
• Develop a setting level, simple self-assessment tool
• Working closely with the research team develop the methodology and project plan for testing in municipalities and settings, including training plans and training materials for data collection team

e) Draft a final recommendations report with a set of high-level recommendations for policy-makers, together with a sequencing of sub-activities linked to the recommendations, focusing on ensuring adequate implementation of the M&E system, as well as measures to strengthen governance of ECEC.

4. Networking and partnership building.

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders across relevant sectors through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on ECD programmes.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building.

• Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practice to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

137.5 working days between September 2024 and September 2026.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based in Portugal.

Should the selected candidate be based outside of Portugal, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 137.5 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master’s degree in Education, social studies and development, public health and/or medicine, nutrition, psychology, human development, child development, families’ studies or another relevant technical field.
• Five (5) years minimum of relevant professional experience in social development planning and management in early childhood development related areas is required.
• Experience managing national programme implementation essential.
• Experience working with EU funded grants, and Ministry reform programmes is considered an asset.
• Experience working on ECEC reforms across a split system is considered an asset.
• Understanding of ECEC curricula development, teacher training and mentorship and tools/processes for measuring ECEC quality is considered an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English and Portuguese is essential. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

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.