OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Unit, UNESCO Phnom Penh Office

Duty Station: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Type of contract : NonStaff

Duration of contract : 8 months, tentatively October 2024 to May 2025

Recruitment open to : External Candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Tim: 14 October 2024

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

I. Background
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYin Cambodia, together with its partners, is committed to providing inclusive, quality education and lifelong learning for all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). This, in turn, supports the Royal Government of Cambodia (RG’s development agenda, the Pentagonal StrategyPhase I, which was launched in August 2023 as the country’s longterm socioeconomic strategy, to be implemented in phases over the next 25 years.
Building on the success of the implementation of the Strengthening Teacher Education Programmes in Cambodia (STEPCa, UNESCO and the MoEYS are implementing the second phase of STEPCam (STEPCam Ifrom 2024 to 2026, financed by the $62 million System Transformation Grant (STfrom the Global Partnership for Education (GP.

STEPCam II aims to improve student learning outcomes in Cambodia by improving the quality of education through support for robust systems of initial and continuous teacher education and mentoring for classroom teachers and the advancement of digital strategies for teaching, learning, and education management. The programme focuses on a set of interventions across four components:
● Component 1 supports the national reform of the preservice teacher education system, including the shift to a 12+4 system, to ensure new teachers enter the profession qualified and welltrained
● Component 2 strengthens and expands the CPD system and its connections to career pathways, supporting and incentivising teachers to upgrade their knowledge and competencies throughout their careers
● Component 3 supports the training and mentoring of classroom teachers in early grade learning (EG, including strengthening systems of formative assessments and student tracking to better monitor learning and support all students, and
● Component 4 promotes a uniform approach to digital transformation in Cambodia’s education system and the effective use of digital tools for quality teaching, learning, and education management.

II. Objectives
Under the overall authority of the UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, the supervision of the Chief of the Education Unit, and direct supervision of the STEPCam Programme Manager, the Consultant will provide technical support to the monitoring, reporting and evaluation of STEPCam activities. The Consultant will be responsible for the establishment of effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and the development of sound monitoring methodology and tools, coordinating closely with MoEYS technical departments and the UNESCO programme management team.

Long Description

III. Specific tasks

Provide technical support to UNESCO and MoEYS technical departments to establish effective monitoring mechanisms and develop quality methodology and tools for data collection, cleaning and analysis to regularly track progress of activities implementation and systematically measure progress against approved indicators and targets at the outcome and output levels in the M&E Framework in line with UNESCO’s ResultsBased Management (RBprinciples, including:
a. Conducting a technical review of the STEPCam M&E Framework and its indicators and provide sound expert advice on proposed approaches to measure and/or synthesise results and design appropriate tools and/or templates to facilitate effective reporting and collation of quality programme and activity results from relevant technical departments
b. Develop a monitoring plan in close cooperation with the relevant MoEYS technical departments, which should include clear definitions of the parameters and indicators, measurement methodology, data sources, frequency of data collection and reporting, standard operating procedures for data collection processes and responsibilities, and guidance on measurement calculation
c. Develop reporting tools for relevant MoEYS technical departments to provide reports on supervision and/or monitoring visits, summarising outcomes of the visits, implementation progress of the activities and interventions and challenges identified to facilitate early identification of bottlenecks and reporting to the programme management team
d. Develop training materials and conduct training workshops/sessions to support capacity building of the MoEYS technical departments in ensuring effective programme monitoring throughout implementation, including using STEPCam monitoring and reporting tools and the monitoring dashboard
e. Develop the methodology to assess the demonstrated changes in the efficacy of teachers and/or improvements in teaching practices over time for activities targeted at supporting teachers (e.g., using data collected through classroom observation tools and/or mentoring data demonstrating the progression of teachers through rating level
Provide technical support for the design and planning of sound methodology, approaches, procedures and tools including for data collection and management, to measure and evaluate progress against five Outcomelevel indicators (Outcome 1, 2, 1, 1 and 2) in the STEPCam M&E Framework, namely:

Long Description

The Consultant will work in close collaboration with MoEYS technical departments, responsible Programme Officers and technical experts, including:
a. Design a contextappropriate methodological framework, with clear definitions and parameters, to assess the progress and programme result against each of the Outcomelevel indicators
b. Develop appropriate empirical study design and methodological tools for measuring progress and programme results as guided by the methodological framework, which should ensure that the data collected and analysed are sufficient to demonstrate progress and results can be attributed to specific contributing factors and interventions developed and implemented under STEPCam.
Conduct a baseline study for Outcome indicators 1 and 2 according to the developed methodological frameworks and tools to establish the baseline values, including reviewing and synthesising available information from MoEYS technical departments as well as primary data collected in line with the approved methodological framework and measurement tools
Design and develop a userfriendly Excelbased monitoring dashboard, with inputs to be entered and maintained by MoEYS technical departments, to facilitate the regular monitoring and reporting of programme and activity implementation

Long Description

Provide technical advice and quality assurance to the Education Quality and Inspection Department (EQIon the design, planning, methodology and instruments for the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMstudy to generate evidence and evaluate the impact of the Early Grade Mathematics intervention on student learning outcomes, including measurable levels of impact attributable directly or indirectly attributable to factors from the intervention

IV. Deliverables
Deliverable 1: By 15 November 2024
Draft monitoring plan detailing clear approaches to measure and synthesise results, definitions of the parameters and indicators, data source, frequency of data collection and reporting, means of verification and responsible entities
Draft tools and/or templates to facilitate effective reporting and collation of quality and reliable programme and activity results from relevant technical departments
Inputs and recommendations on the design, planning, methodology and instruments for the EGRA study

Deliverable 2: By 15 December 2024
Draft methodological framework/measurement methodology for the five abovementioned Outcomelevel indicators (Outcome 1, 2, 1, 1 and 2)
Draft Excelbased monitoring dashboard for monitoring of programme and activity implementation
Final tools and/or templates to facilitate effective reporting and collation of quality and reliable programme and activity results from relevant technical departments

Deliverable 3: By 30 January 2025
Draft training materials to support capacity building in effective monitoring and evaluation in line with the M&E Framework
Final Excelbased monitoring dashboard for monitoring of programme and activity implementation
Final methodological framework/measurement methodology and for the five abovementioned Outcomelevel indicators (Outcome 1, 2, 1, 1 and 2)
Draft empirical study design and methodological tools to establish the baseline for Outcome indicators 1 and 2
Final methodological note and baseline figure calculation for Outcome indicator for Outcome 1 on early grade teachers attaining Level 2 and 3 in STEPCamsupported provinces

Short Description

Deliverable 4: By 28 February 2025
Draft empirical baseline study reports for Outcome indicators 1 and 2
Draft empirical study design and methodological tools for Outcome indicators 1 and 2

Deliverable 5: By 5 May 2025
Final empirical baseline study reports for Outcome indicators 1 and 2
Final empirical study design and methodological tools to establish the baseline for Outcome indicators 1 and 2
Final empirical study design and methodological tools for Outcome indicators 1 and 2
Final completion report summarizing the key achievements/outcomes at the end of the consultancy, including in ensuring the quality and accuracy of mentoring data in line with reporting and analysis requirements, as well as recommendations for way forward to effectively monitor and report STEPCam results on a regular basis
Handover folder with final versions of all key M&E documents and tools developed during the consultancy period
Final approval of deliverables will be under the authority of the STEPCam Programme Manager, after receiving preapproval from relevant MoEYS departments when necessary.
V. Contract duration, location, and other conditions
The duration of the contract will be for a period of 8 months, from October 2024 to May 2025 during which the International Consultant is expected to provide M&E technical assistance.
The Consultant will be based at the UNESCO Phnom Penh Office. It is expected that the Consultant will closely liaise with relevant MoEYS technical departments, including the M&E Department. The Consultant may be required to undertake missions, which will be organised in close consultation with MoEYS Line Departments and UNESCO. The UNESCO Phnom Penh Office will provide support for the arrangements of missions as required. The Individual Consultant will be responsible for their necessary tools, equipment (laptop etc.) and software to complete the assignment.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION
• At least a Master’s degree in the field of education, development economics, statistics, public policy or other relevant fields

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
• At least 7 years of demonstrated international experience in monitoring and evaluation, education research and statistics
• Demonstrated professional experience in designing quality M&E methodological framework, methodological approaches and tools for both quantitative and qualitative analyses (minimum of 3 example
• Demonstrated professional experience in M&E and/or statistics with the UN and/or international NGOs would be desirable

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills
• Excellent interpersonal, coordination and communication skills
• Excellent training and presentation skills
• Ability to take initiative, establish priorities and capacity to work efficiently under pressure
• Ability to work in a multicultural team to achieve shared objectives
• Good understanding of education and teacher development

LANGUAGE SKILLS
• Excellent in written and spoken English