Back National Individual Consultant to provide technical support in developing and introducing the Regional Initiative on "Learning Passport" Platform for Early Childhood Education, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

National Individual Consultant to provide technical support in developing and introducing the Global and Regional Initiative on "Learning Passport" Platform and Parenting App for Early Childhood Education in Uzbekistan

Job no: 537613

Position type: Consultancy

Location: Uzbekistan Division/Equivalent: CEE/CIS

School/Unit: Republic of Uzbekistan

Department/Office: Tashkent, Rep. of Uzbekistan

Categories: Early Childhood Development, Consultancy

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.

Background:

UNICEF has been promoting the use of innovative tools to deliver various programs intended to have positive social impact and different programme teams is taking lead to identify, prototype, and scale up digital solutions to strengthen UNICEF's work for children over the decades. Recognizing the potential of digital solutions in improving quality of life and services for children and their families, UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) supports development and scale up of technology-based solutions across the countries in ECA region.

UNICEF's work on early childhood development (ECD) in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) recognizes that every growing child need nurturing care, good health, optimal nutrition and a stimulating and safe environment that offers plenty of support for early learning. With the current COVID19 crisis, solutions are needed to ensure continuity in early childhood education services and to support the youngest learners, their caregivers and educators, during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the potential of digital solutions, UNICEF is rapidly seeking to deploy practical resources and materials to support early learning.

One of these digital solutions is 'Learning Passport' (LP) which is a global initiative led by UNICEF HQ and delivered through country offices and another one is Parenting App - Parenting Buddy, Regional initiative to support parents through mobile application t

The Learning Passport is an initiative developed in a partnership mode between UNICEF, Microsoft, Cambridge, and supported by the Boston Consulting Group. LP has been established to:

• provide local, contextualized content with a supplementary library of global content, mapped together via research by Cambridge;
• provide a platform to serve this content to children and youth online or offline, via a platform being developed by Microsoft; and
• with an individualized record of learning for a user, that is portable across physical and digital borders.

The Learning Passport, as an extraordinary emergency response, will help to create Country-level sites available on request, to Country Offices (CO) that would like to make access to curriculum and learning materials available for students with connectivity at home. While the platform has primarily been used to date for older students (primary to adolescence), the platform will be adapted in ECA region to support preschool age children, their caregivers, and their teachers to ensure age appropriate and quality early learning. The envisioned digital platforms aim to enhance continued engagement with families and parents on learning at home by providing practical resources and materials that can be applied in home settings. Its second aim is to strengthen professional development opportunities and facilitate collaboration between preschool educators and other staff on sharing ideas, best practices and activities that can be implemented in kindergartens. Ultimately, the digital preschool platforms should support building and strengthening of a national community of practice between parents, teachers and children, with shared principles around early learning and development.

Parenting App/Parenting Buddy development initiated by UNICEF ECAR in order to support parents to receive timely and quality guidance even when direct contact with service providers is not possible and overcome barriers in access to digital solutions. Another important requirement for the mobile application is that it can adequately support the most vulnerable parents with lower education level, in terms of the navigation modalities, off-line operability and selection of the core content. The app is developed based on the prototype developed by UNICEF Serbia.

The cornerstone of the system is a mobile application which was developed with an aim to support responsive, positive parenting. Its aim is to provide information about early childhood development and parental care in a parent-friendly format and to encourage parents to apply guidance and provide nurturing care at home and to apply it in everyday practices. Parent Buddy also supports dissemination of targeted messages and information on how to prevent and protect children from COVID-19. The mobile application can also be used by service providers as a resource in their work with parents and as a tool for building trustworthy relationships and a partnership for the benefit of young children. Parent Buddy contains wide assortment of articles and videos grouped under thematic categories of Play and Learning, Nutrition and breastfeeding, Responsive parenting, Safety and protection, Health and wellbeing, Parental wellbeing. The mobile application is using the information on child's date of birth, gender, season of the year and other information entered by a parent to recommend suitable content and tailored guidance. The articles and videos are complemented by a set of questions and answers from many years of parental, pedagogical and medical experience. The parent can search the contents and find answers to all questions regarding the child and parenthood - the answers are organized by age and thematic categories for better visibility and easier navigation. Parents also have a possibility to use some or all four functional features of the app: Child growth, Developmental milestones, Vaccinations and Health check-ups. The app requires parents to log in and use their e-mail, Google or Facebook accounts to be able to access the content of the app. Both parents can use the app and enter data for their children and synchronize their entries. The app operates in an off-line mode in environments with the limited internet connectivity where all the articles, FAQ and their filtering will be available but interactive monitoring features will not be available.

The Parent Buddy system was developed to respond to the following objectives:

• provide guidance to parents about early childhood development and parental care, including play and communication activities, via information database on an easily accessible platform, disseminate targeted messages and information on how to prevent COVID19, where to seek assistance, and how to talk with children to minimize stress,
• support parents to expand their knowledge of how to provide nurturing care at home,
• support and engage parents to apply new knowledge in everyday practices to stimulate child development,
• assist parents to monitor their children's health and development,
• become safe and interactive parents' repository of parameters relevant to the health and development of the child,
• reduce pressure on service providers.

In order to deploy the Parenting App/Parenting Buddy in Uzbekistan, the content of the app needs to be translated and adapted to be aligned with the contextual and cultural specificities and program priorities of Uzbekistan in collaboration with Ministry of Preschool Education (MOPSE) and Ministry of Health. Uzbekistan is one of the six countries are selected to deploy Learning Passport platforms and to develop appropriate content in line with the needs and requirements of different user group in ECA region. Uzbekistan Country Office will work with the MOPSE and Innovation Center in implementing this initiative. The UNICEF ECARO will guide and support the process of deployment of digital platforms at the national level. Funds have been allocated to implement this project form HQ for 8-12-month period.

Purpose:

Under the supervision of UNICEF UCO Chief of Education and ECD Officer and in close cooperation with the National Project Coordinator for LP deployment, the individual contractor selected for this assignment will work with government counterparts (MOPSE) for the successful adaptation and deployment of the Learning Passport global platform and Parenting App to accelerate the achievement of ECD results in Uzbekistan context. The individual contractor will also complement in liaising with all stakeholders to build a preferred set of solutions for Uzbekistan.

Description of the Assignment and Tasks:

• Under the direct supervision of ECD Officer, and in consultation and collaboration with National Project Coordinator and MOPSE, as well as the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, the consultant will be required to undertake the following tasks re (I) Learning Passport:

Content development and management

• Develop guidance on ECE content quality in line with ECARO and HQ recommendations.
• Work and coordinate the work of the Learning Passport team/working group to design and develop LP compliant e-learning content with focus on ECE. Help to develop instructor guides, parents' guides, and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
• Map needs and requirements of different user groups, including parents and teachers.
• ​Map available sources of quality content available nationally, regionally and globally, enabling its utilization and sharing.
• Review open source content for ECE available through Learning Passport.
• Support establishing of the process for content adaptation and translation.
• Review and test material with relevant internal teams and stakeholders.
• Integrate changes into revised content and design.

Support coordination with national stakeholders

• In collaboration with Project Coordinator, maintain regular communication with Innovation Centre, MOPSE and working group of specialists;
• Maintain regular communication with all relevant national counterparts, including civils society, academia, and institutions;
• Share best practices between Learning Passport participating countries and other countries in the region with similar efforts.

Quality assurance and monitoring

• Ensure quality assurance of the content and processes
• Support creating a mechanism to track access and use of LP
• Under the supervision of the ECD Officer and in consultation and collaboration with National Project Coordinator, Health Officer and MOPSE & MOH the consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks re (II) Parenting App:
• Manage work of the working group on administration of the content (review of content, translation, adaptation, and ready-made for upload of new content in the Central Management System (CMS) as follows:
• Support review of the app content in terms of its relevance, applicability and cultural appropriateness;
• Review and proofread machine translation of the content in the CMS;
• Support translation of the key words of the CMS;
• Engage in curation, review, adaptation of additional Uzbek specific content to be included in the app
• Coordinate review and translation process among the key stakeholders (translators, proofreaders, national experts, key partners).
• Build/strengthen/ facilitate partnerships with the key partners around promotion and deployment of the app.
• Support development of the national M&E framework for the monitoring of the uptake and usefulness of the app.
• Other duties and responsibilities upon request and mutual agreement related to the ECE.
• The Consultant is expected to provide monthly reports on the work done and deliverables. Upon completion of the assignment detailed Process Documenting Report to be provided to UNICEF.

Timeline:

The assignment is full time between 8-11 months starting ideally from February 2021. Preferably the candidate will be available for 11 months.

Activity

Deliverables

Number of days

Timeline

Content development and management

• A guidance on ECE quality content drafted;
• A mapping of quality content conducted, and information shared with all key actors and stakeholders;
• Instructors' and parents' guides adapted to local context;
• Developed content is quality assured and agreed with main stakeholders;

50

By March 2021

Throughout the engagement period

Support coordination with national stakeholders

• Regular communication maintained with MOPSE, Innovation Centre and UNICEF Education team;
• Regular communication maintained with all members of Working Group and regular meetings held;
• Monthly report

20

Throughout the engagement period

Quality assurance and monitoring

• Quality assurance is ensured for the content and processes
• Support provided in creating a mechanism to track access and use of LP
• Monthly report

10

Throughout the engagement period

Manage work of the working group on administration of the content (Parenting App)

• Support provided to the WG in terms of reviewing of the app content in terms of its relevance, applicability and cultural appropriateness;
• Engaged in curation, review, adaptation of additional Uzbek specific content to be included in the app;
• Monthly report

30

Throughout the engagement period

Coordinate review and translation process among the key stakeholders (translators, proof-readers, national experts, key partners)

• Review and translation process are coordinated among key stakeholders
• Monthly report

10

Throughout the engagement period

Build/strengthen/ facilitate partnerships with the key partners around promotion and deployment of the app

Monthly report

5

Throughout the engagement period

Support development of the national M&E framework for the monitoring of the uptake and usefulness of the app

Draft national M&E framework provided

10

May-June 2021

Other duties upon request and mutual agreement related to ECE

Monthly report

10

Throughout the engagement period

Process documenting Report

Report on Process Documenting

5

November - December 2021

Total days

150

Management:

Under the guidance of the Chief of Education, ECD Officer will directly supervise the National Consultant. National Consultant will be working in consultation with Learning Passport and Parenting App Teams and in close collaboration with LP National Project Coordinator, Health Officer and National stakeholders (MOPSE, MOH).

Resource requirements:

According to UNICEF policy, the final fees will be set up based on the "best value for money" principle. Total project is expected to be allocated for the period of 8-11 months. Payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of the assignment on monthly bases and provision of monthly reports of accomplished tasks and deliverables approved by the supervisor.

The candidates are requested to submit their financial offer consisting of fee for the services to be provided. The Consultant will receive direct payment to his/her indicated bank account in Uzbek Sums based on the UN currency exchange rate.

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

The candidate should have following qualifications and expertise:

• Advanced University degree in education, health, social sciences, or related field (validated by diploma);
• At least 8 years of professional and relevant experience in education, preferably in ECD/E and knowledge of the situation with ECD/E in Uzbekistan (proved by CV and work experience);
• Good knowledge of legislative and programmatic bases of Education in Uzbekistan with special focus on ECD (verified by CV and/or interview);
• A good understanding of UNICEF's work on ECD and in Supporting Families for Nurturing Care.
• Work with UN/UNICEF or other international organization would be considered as an asset
• Good networking and interpersonal skills (verified through an interview);
• Excellent written and spoken skills in Uzbek and Russian. Working knowledge of English will be an asset (verified by examination of previous written work and interview)

Procedures and Working Conditions

UNICEF will reserve copy right of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify materials produced at any time.

The consultant must clearly identify any potential ethical issues arising from the fulfilment of her/his tasks and duties in the framework of this assignment and ensure that s/he performs the assignment in a manner that does not expose UNICEF to any such risks.

The Consultant is expected to work independently and respond to feedback from the supervisor in a timely and professional manner, to be results driven, and to have the ability to work under pressure and meet required deadlines. In case of need, UNICEF shall provide for office space, ICT equipment and physical resources required for the completion of the assignment. Several travels to regions may be undertaken. All trips will be arranged based on UNICEF rules and regulations. Consultant will be provided with UNICEF account.

UNICEF undertakes no liability for taxes, duty or other contribution payable by the consultant on payments made under this contract

Reservations

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if the performance is unsatisfactory, if deliverable(s) are incomplete, not finalized or for failure to meet deadlines. UNICEF will reserve copyright of all developed materials and own primary data collected through this assignment. The materials cannot be published or disseminated without prior written permission of UNICEF. UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future. The contractor must respect the confidentiality of the information handled during the assignment. Documents and information provided must be used only for the tasks related to these terms of reference.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

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

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:

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: Jan 21 2021 West Asia Standard Time Application close: Feb 04 2021 West Asia Standard Time

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