Job no: 546576
Contract type: Consultancy
Level: Consultancy
Location: Turkey
Categories: Education, Early Childhood Development
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, an advocate
- BACKGROUND
Zero to eight years is the period when a child’s linguistic, social-emotional and physical development is the fastest. Research shows that during this period, characterized as the early childhood years, most brain and language development is completed[1]. This critical early period is when children start to develop thinking, learning, speaking, questioning, self-regulating and social interaction skills. During these significant years of early growth and development, the connections in the brain are intensively established[2].
Accordingly, the aim of early childhood education (ECE)[3] is to prepare children for social and school life by supporting basic development areas like mental, socio-emotional, language, motor skills and self-care. Research shows that quality education during the early years increases the development potential of children and has a positive influence on their preparedness for primary school and on their success level in school during formal education in the short and medium term. In the long term, quality early learning plays an instrumental role in the development of skills that determine sustainable outcomes in life[4]. This influence, in turn, points to the strength of ECE in building human capital by investing in the individual starting during the first years of life.
Every child deserves the opportunity to survive, develop, and reach her/ his full potential, and has the right to access quality education. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has guaranteed this right for all children. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 4.2 clearly states that all girls and boys shall benefit from quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) services, care, and pre-primary education by 2030. Although all the member states adopted the SGDs in 2015, countries are still struggling to provide accessible and quality preschool education for all children.
According to the 11th National Development Plan (NDP) and the Ministry of National Education’s (MoNE) Education Vision 2023, Turkey still faces challenges in providing quality and accessible education for all children, although there has been significant progress in overcoming these issues in the last decade. In addition, Turkey is committed to providing at least one-year of compulsory ECE for all five-year-olds by 2023 which will result in more demand for quality ECE services across the country.
Despite the fact that Turkey has put remarkable effort into increasing accessibility to ECE services, Turkey still has one of the lowest net enrolment rates (NER) for preschool education among OECD countries.[1] The fact that the preschool education NER of five-year-old children is 68.30% (67.23% for girls and 69.32% for boys) and 39.11% for three-to-five-year-old children shows that substantially more investment is needed to reach the 2023 targets.[2] There are also several other constraints that Turkey is facing which impede full ECE enrolment such as parents’ practical knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding ECE, quality of ECE services, lack of developmentally appropriate and accessible learning environments, and financial barriers.
ECE is one of the priority areas of the UNICEF Turkey Country Programme (2021-2025). UNICEF has been supporting and complementing the Government of Turkey’s efforts to improve ECE services through providing technical, financial, and supply support. Furthermore, to support Turkey in addressing the challenges noted above, overcoming the existing barriers to ECE and ensuring that children reach their full potential, MoNE and UNICEF recently began a new collaboration through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) – II Programme and partnered in a project called, “Increasing Quality of and Access to Early Childhood Education Services (ECE)”. This project aims to achieve the following four main results over a period of three years (November 2020 – October 2023):
Result 1: ECE services are expanded for 3-6-year-old children, especially for the most vulnerable communities.
Result 2: ECE service capacity and curriculum and materials are revised to increase quality of ECE services based on national standards.
Result 3: Families’ beliefs and attitudes regarding the quality and value of ECE services, especially in the most vulnerable communities, is positively changed.
Result 4: A conducive environment for increased access to quality ECE services is promoted by revised ECE legislation.
Within the scope of Result 3, UNICEF TCO established a partnership with the LEGO Foundation to empower ECE service providers in 86 pilot schools across 20 pilot provinces to organize guided play sessions for young children aged 3-6 years old. The LEGO Foundation provided DUPLO play box and six bricks as in-kind contribution to the pilot provinces and supported training of trainers (ToT) for 48preschool teachers who will be assigned as facilitators and master trainers during cascading training.
How can you make a difference?
SCOPE OF THE CONSULTANCY
This consultancy establishes a short-term arrangement with two individual consultants who will provide technical support for ECE teachers to conduct guided play sessions and conduct monitoring of the sessions for quality assurance. The tasks performed by two consultants would be independent, however from time to time they may be asked to share knowledge with each other through common meetings organized by UNICEF supervisor. If one consultant does not deliver satisfactory results this will not affect the other consultant’s performance, since they have different portfolio under this ToR.
TASKS OF THE CONSULTANCY
- Provide regular online/face to face technical support for teachers to conduct guided play sessions.
- Conduct regular field monitoring visits to schools where teachers implement the guided play (learning through play) activities in 20 pilot provinces.
- Conduct trainings on guided play sessions for teachers from municipalities and ministries (online/face to face).
- Prepare and submit a final report outlining the implementation processes in the field and making recommendations for the possible second phase.
The following table is a tentative plan that summarizes tasks, deliverables, timeline, and estimated person-days needed under this consultancy. The contracted two individual consultants are expected to carry out the tasks outlined in the table below in line with the agreed-upon work calendar under the supervision of the UNICEF education officer. The two contracted individual consultants cannot make any changes in the tasks, deliverables, timelines, or person-days unless UNICEF approves ahead of time in writing.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in
*A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. - A minimum of [insert years] of relevant professional experience in
- Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
- Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ASSIGNMENT
Short-term individual consultants/experts will be required to travel within Turkey (to the 20 pilot provinces). UNICEF will cover the accommodation and travel expenses of the UNICEF approved trips within Turkey
ESTIMATED DURATION OF THE CONSULTANCY AND PAYMENT SCHEDULES
The contract will be effective from the date of signing until successful submission of the deliverables, which are estimated to require a total of 70 working days over seven months from December 2021 till June 2022.
Given the nature of the deliverables, they will have to be produced at different stages throughout the consultancy. Therefore, payments will be made upon successful completion of all deliverables. The two consultants should possess all the necessary equipment, materials, or software to deliver the tasks mentioned in this ToR. UNICEF TCO will not provide any stationery or a laptop.
COST OF THE CONSULTANCY
Payment schedule: UNICEF will issue a contract with two consultants respectively in Turkish Lira (TRY). The payment will be done in instalments upon deliverables as per contractual agreement and will be executed in TRY.
DUTY STATION
For some of the tasks, the short-term individual consultants/experts will work home-based. The implementation of the guided play activities will take place in 20 provinces (Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Bitlis, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Istanbul, İzmir, Kastamonu, Konya, Manisa, Mardin, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Tekirdağ, Trabzon and Van). The selected short-term individual consultants/experts are expected to travel to the pilot provinces to monitor the implementation and to attend cascade training to provide technical support. UNICEF will decide on the individual consultants’ travel provinces after the signature of the contract, up to 10 provinces for each consultant hired.
QUALIFICATIONS and WORK EXPERIENCE
- Education: University degree in pre-school education or equivalent.
- Language: Professional excellence in oral and written English and Turkish is mandatory.
- Experience: At least ten years of professional experience in guided play activities and in the area of play and creativity. Previous experiences conducting ECE teacher training and field monitoring, especially around guided play.
- Knowledge: Clear understanding and sense of ethics with regards to children’s and women’s rights issues
- Skills: Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills are necessary.
PROCESSES OF APPLICATION
Only individual applications are accepted, team applications will be disregarded.
Applications should be submitted in English and should include:
- Cover letter explaining how the prior experience is in line with the requirements described in this ToR.
- P11 Form.doc Form or CV, where previous experience is provided in detail.
- Any other document demonstrating the previous related work.
Financial Template.docx proposal using the Financial Proposal Template.
The applications will be evaluated from technical and financial points of view.
Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:
| Item | Technical Evaluation Criteria | Max. Points Obtainable |
| 1 | Experience in play and creativity in relation to the assignment and having at least 10 years of experience on guided play activities | 30 |
| 2 | Having experience in conducting training for ECE teachers, especially on guided play. | 10 |
| 3 | Educational background in pre-school education or equivalent. | 10 |
| 4 | Previous experience in monitoring of guided play activities | 5 |
| 5 | Experience working with private institutions and/or public institutions | 5 |
| 6 | Experience in working with UN experience and/or international organisation. | 5 |
| 7 | Cover letter’s in relation to the assignment | 5 |
| TOTAL TECHNICAL SCORES | 70 |
The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed forty-nine (49) points out of a maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points).
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 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:
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.
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.
Advertised: GTB Standard Time
Deadline: GTB Standard Time
HOW TO APPLY
- To apply please follow this link https://vacanciesinturkey.com/jobs
- To help us track our recruitment effort, please specify (on the application form and in your cover letter) how (vacanciesinturkey.com) you heard about this position.