Consultant - Monitoring and Evaluation at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Consultant - Monitoring and Evaluation (Conceptual Framework Development)

Job Number: 511811
Location: Abuja
Work Type: Consultancy

Purpose of Assignment

• The objective of this consultancy service is to strengthen EAC M&E system towards the establishment of functional and effective evidence generation and tracking mechanism through the design, enhancement and or development of mix of three data collection approaches or processes namely an administrative system which is school level individual pupil tracking, Education Management Information System / Annual School Censes, EMIS/ASC and the community mapping
• The later process will serve as secondary data for tracking the reduction of the out-of-school children at community level, while the school level individual pupil tracking will track out-of-school children once they enter school, enhancing EMIS by strengthening the evidence at school level. Comprehensive community mapping / household listing in the focused LGAs will provide useful datasets' qualitative and quantitative evidence, for baseline and end line evaluation on project impact at school and community levels with regards to the expected goals and objectives of EAC project.
• The M&E system will support improvement in the collection and analysis of data, including the establishment of a database for tracking individual out of school children to complement administrative routine data collected through Annual School Census to be used as a reliable data sources for tracking and monitoring progress being made in the implementation of various intervention within EAC project
• The tracking of the reduction of out-of-school children within the targeted Local Government Areas (LGAs) or States will include two sub-sets of tracking mechanisms:
  • Tracking the reduction of out-of-children from community level (community level household listing through community mapping exercise) and
  • Tracking the out-of-school children enrolled in grade one every year and their subsequent progression to higher grades within the school system for a minimum of 5 years of schooling within the project time frame
• By the end of the project period all new enrolments in all grades will be tracked.
• Reporting to the GEP Education Specialist, M&E, the Consultant will be responsible providing remote and in-country support for the Governance/M&E component of GEP
• This support is specifically with regard to the development and piloting of an institutionalized individual learners tracking mechanism and capacity development prototype to strengthen the reporting mechanisms for an effective rolling out M&E related activities in target project states (Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara) within EAC project
• The Consultant will work closely with GEP team, Federal Ministry of Education (FME) NEMIS, State Ministry of Education (SMoE), State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and support EMIS and M&E capacity building initiatives in SUBEB and SMoE and provide advice and expertise to address data and reporting challenges.

Background

• The UNICEF Country Office, Nigeria is implementing an EAC-funded multi-year Out-of-School Children project which aims at increasing the number of children (boys and girls) in school in target states in northern Nigeria
• With a total of 10.5 million children out of school, Nigeria accounts for almost one in five of all school age children living in extreme educational poverty worldwide
• Educate A Child (EAC) extension of the GEP3 (Girls' Education Project Phase 3) is managed by UNICEF in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission at the national level and with the state ministries of education and State Universal Basic Education Board of target states and other implementing partners (IPs)
• Under this extension of GEP3, interventions will focus on increased access and improved quality, aligned with the overall UNICEF Education Country Programme
• The project aims to reach approximately 501,574 out-of-school children in five years, increasing the overall impact of GEP3 to one and half (1.5) million children.
• Interventions are in line with UNICEF's vision and mission of the realisation of children's rights including their right to education and focusing on out-of-school children and quality education for them. Building the lessons from the redesign of GEP3, seven strategic interventions have been selected for the partnership with EAC which will enable UNICEF and its partners to reach more out-of-school children in northern Nigeria

These interventions contributing to achieving two objectives:

• Objective 1: Increase access for OOSC in target states in northern Nigeria
• Objective 2: Improved quality of teaching and learning environment

Interventions will be sustained, through service delivery modelling, support to the implementation of existing policies, leveraging state commitment, capacity strengthening and technical assistance. Together they will ensure increasing numbers of out-of-school children access quality education.

Scope/Focus of the Assignment

• The assignment will entail the consultant effectively supporting the Âmonitoring, data collection and maintenance of records on all EAC interventions in the respective EAC focus state (Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara) according to the EAC state work plan and M&E Framework contributing the overall results of EAC and in partnership with state education agencies.
• Under the management supervision of Basic Education Chief and guidance of the Education Specialist M&E, the incumbent shall carry out the following task in fulfilling the expectations of this post. The scope and specific tasks are presented below.

Work Schedule

• This contract is to run for 80 days, from 1st April 2018 to July 2018 (within a period of 4 months).
• Follow up on the previously developed conceptual framework for the child-tracking system for out-of-school children by finalizing the TRACE system Handbook, including the following modules:
• Module 1. Getting Started:
  • Conceptualizing the TRACE system:Â to provide the overall context for system development; outlines the basic concepts underlying the TRACE methodology; and sets up a 'building block approach used to articulate the methodology.
  • Planning and monitoring TRACE implementation: to guide development of an action plan to implement and monitor a country-specific intervention to develop a child-tracking system, with a focus on the sustainability of the system.
• Module 2. Building the TRACE System:
  • This module provides guidance for field-based partners to systematically collect data on out-of-school children, as well as in-school children who are at risk of dropping out, and tracking their progression into - or out of - the primary school system.
• Module 3. Harmonizing databases and reporting TRACE Data:
  • This module is a technical guide for database management, ensuring all related databases 'speak to each other', and for online reporting.
• Prepare guidelines for field-based implementation management structure, to be integrated into Module 1b. The focus of these guidelines should be on sustainability.
• Develop Module 4. Using data in community-based monitoring: 'Identify and Act':
  • This module guides community-based partners through a process of taking actions in response to the specific challenges facing children who have never entered school and remain out of school. This module should be prepared in collaboration with managers of other EAC-GEP program components (e.g. and other UN agency partners, if required.
• Undertake quality assurance of outputs from the community mapping exercise.
• Assist, where required, in the implementation of key planned activities in the project 'Roadmap', remotely and during on site missions on a flexible 'call-down basis', in order to ensure the timely and effective implementation of the Roadmap. Examples of possible key action areas where assistance may be required are:
  • Piloting the existing school records keeping templates / inclusion of manual children individual tracking at school level
  • Establish field-based implementation management structure
  • Conduct State-level training of trainers (ToT) in data collection using Tools not already piloted; specifically, prepare data collection training plan for State and sub-state level training, including list of enumerators
  • Monitoring Data collection/capture using Tool 2a
  • Monitoring Data collection/capture using Tool 2b and Tool 3
• Assist in mid-line review/formative evaluation, including preparation of an analysis/evaluation framework; and make recommendations for scale up.

Deliverables
A Handbook, including the following modules:

• Module 1. Getting Started:
  • Conceptualizing the TRACE system and 1B. Planning and monitoring TRACE implementation
• Module 2. Building the TRACE system;
• Module 3. Harmonizing databases and reporting TRACE data.
  • Report on field-based implementation management structures.
  • An optional Module 4. Using data in community-based monitoring
  • Quality assured community mapping and OOSC household lists.
  • Call-down assistance in the implementation of key planned activities in the project 'Roadmap' during on site missions.
• Examples of possible deliverables are:
  • Revised existing school records keeping templates;
  • Report on implementation management structure;
  • Data collection training plan for State and sub-state level training;
  • Monitoring plan/quality control for data collection/capture using Tool 2a, Tool 2b and Tool 3
• Inputs for a mid-line review/formative evaluation and end-line/summative evaluation.

Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required
Education:

• Advanced Degree in Education, Social Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of experience and demonstrated experience in education, research or monitoring and evaluation
• Demonstrated skilled in the use of data analysis packages (Excel, SPSS, and Access)
• Competent in relational database design such as MS-Access or MS SQL Server with broad understanding of information management systems and technology,
• Extensive knowledge and skills of computer programs applications, particularly in the area of database management system (e.g.: SQL programming),
• Strong analytical skills using diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data
• Experience working on gender issues
• Extensive knowledge and skills of education and social sectors in Nigeria, in northern Nigeria will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrates, applies and shares technical knowledge.
• Communicates effectively, both orally and in writing, to varied audiences

Language:

• Fluency in English language and writing skills

Application Closing Date
4th April, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• 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
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.