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, a fair chance
Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.
Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/
How can you make a difference?
Under the supervision of the Education Specialist the consultant will work with the National consultant to develop the coordination mechanisms and partnerships for the sustainable expansion of UNICEF supported innovations in Education. It is expected that the international consultant will provide necessary coaching and technical mentoring to the National Consultant so that the latter can continue the T4D in education activities independently after the contract for the International consultant comes to an end. In addition, the consultancy will provide technical support to the Ministry of Education to explore opportunities for the expansion of above T4D innovations. In consultation with the ICT section in UNICEF and others key partners such as NITA-U, UCC, prepare a national deployment plan for KOLIBRI and KUPAA . Coordinate with NITA-U, MoES and UNICEF in the implementation of the KUPAA project, including completion of a MOU between these actors. Provide coaching and mentoring to the National education innovations consultant so that the later can operate independently after the completion of the contract of the International consultant. Prepare funding proposals for UNICEF for the expansion of each of the above mentioned T4D innovations. Propose new areas for Innovation in Education and develop a process for the sustainability of current and future T4D initiatives.
Background
UNICEF has increasingly leveraged appropriate technology to promote programme impact, particularly as regards to quality education and access to information. To that end, UNICEF partnered with the Government of Uganda to leverage the T4D solutions such as EduTrac and other RapidPro applications; pilot the Kolibri and Kupaa; enhance the quality of special needs education through assistive devices and adapted learning materials for children with disability under the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) project.
EduTrac is an SMS-based and RapidPro-powered data collection system, which the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) uses to monitor education indicators more frequently than the annual schools census would allow. The data collection process involves school administrators and district education officers responding to periodic polls via free-of-charge SMS messages. These messages are visible to national officers and other stakeholders through a web-based reporting dashboard for analysis. Thus, EduTrac aims to support districts in their efforts to improve planning and monitoring of education services while at the sector level, MoES uses the data to support faster, more targeted school supervision and management. EduTrac is also part of the Integrated Inspectorate System. The Statistics and Basic Education departments at MoES are working with UNICEF to digitize the collection of pre-primary data and address existing gaps through the use of uSurvey and RapidPro in five pilot districts.
Kolibri is an innovative digital education platform piloted with leadership from MoES in 32 government-aided secondary schools with computer labs and 12 youth centers with digital kiosks located in 13 districts across Uganda. Kolibri, which can run without Internet, seeks to provide adolescents, especially girls, access to digital and open educational resources to improve learning outcomes in mathematics and sciences, and to enhance digital literacy and life skills. Through Kolibri, deployment in formal and informal education settings, learners and educators can gain knowledge and skills to be competitive in an increasingly digital economy. Kolibri has reached over 2,000 students, 190 teachers, 144 volunteers and mentors, and 4500 adolescents in refugee settlements through training and mobilization.
Kupaa is a digital platform that links schools, guardians, and the school ecosystems bringing all income and expenditure of the school into one transparent system. The platform facilitates digital payment of parental contribution to school. By digiting the school finance and admin data, Kupaa allows the administration of the school to manage students, guardians, and teachers; track financial flows; and gives real time information on key school indicators to school, district and Ministry officials. Kupaa is live in more than 300 schools located in 4 districts with over 164,000 students, 118,000 guardians, and 5,000 teachers. There is a plan to expand Kupaa to 1000 schools in the next two years.
Under the UNPRDP project, digital accessible learning materials have been designed and adapted for pilot in 20 primary schools. This project included designing materials for children with Visual Impairment (VI), Blind, Hard of Hearing (HoH) and Deaf; adapting and aligning the materials to the syllabus/curriculum and producing the materials in Daisy/other similar formats using multi-media with accompanying teachers’ guides. UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports and Kyambogo University have tested and deployed these materials in the 20 pilot schools along with the associated capacity building necessary for learners, teachers, teacher educators, parents and the local community. The emphasis now is to ensure effective use of these accessible learning materials and assistive technology and pedagogical capacity enhancement in the classroom. To that end, UNICEF contributed mobi-stations with Kolibri where learners and teachers can access nearly 200 open education resources.
Key Tasks:
- Conduct a mapping of potential funding opportunities for expansion of the UNICEF supported T4D innovations.
- In consultation with the ICT section of UNICEF, Support MoES, NITA-U, UCC, and partners in the expansion of Kolibri, Assistive Device and KUPAA.
- Coordinate with NITA-U, MoES and UNICEF in the implementation of the KUPAA project, including completion of a MOU between these actors.
- Prepare funding proposals for UNICEF for the expansion of each of the above mentioned T4D innovations.
- Provide coaching and mentoring to the National education innovations consultant so that the later can operate independently after the completion of the contract of the International consultant
- Propose new areas for Innovation in Education
Deliverables:
- A report on the potential opportunities for expansion of the UNICEF supported T4D innovations and a Road map for such expansion
- An agreed work plan for the expansion of Kolibri, Assistive Device and KUPAA.
- Draft MOU between UNICEF, NITA-U, and MoU on the governance and expansion of Kupaa. Report of Kupaa expansion to additional 500 schools.
- Individual funding proposals with unit costs for Kupaa, Kolibri, Edutrack, and assistive devices and one pager brief on each of them.
- A report on the progress made on such mentoring and coaching
- A report on potential areas for innovation in education prepared in consultation with the key stakeholders
To qualify asan advocate for every child you will have…
- The consultancy is open to International professionals. Advanced university degree in a relevant discipline, ideally in education, communications or information sciences, social sciences or international relations. Experience in EdTech or digital learning is required.
- At least 5 to 8 years of experience in professional work at the national and international levels in programme management, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, related to technology-based innovation.
- Demonstrated experience in partnership creation, ideally at the local and regional levels.
- Experience in implementing innovations like; RapidPro and digital learning would be an asset.
- Excellent writing, editing, and communication skills.
- Strong analytical, conceptual thinking, and problem-solving skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
The competencies required for this post are….
View our competency framework at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
UNICEF 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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.
More Information
- Job City Kampala
