UNICEF National Consultancy - Education Officer, Digital Learning Jobs in Kenya

UNICEF National Consultancy - Education Officer, Digital Learning Jobs in Kenya

Job no: 555924

Contract type: Consultant

Duty Station: Nairobi

Level: Consultancy

Location: Kenya

Categories: Education

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.
Terms of Reference

Introduction

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations.

The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism.

There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries.

Consequently, the focus on equity accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The world is facing a learning crisis. More children and young people than ever before are enrolled in school – but 250 million remain out of school. Half of all children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and write a simple sentence by age 10.

Quality of and access to education and skills-development opportunities are limited – especially for the most marginalized children and young people, including girls, children with disabilities, and children impacted by emergencies.

Despite the global growth of technology, more than half of the world’s children and young people are on the wrong side of the digital divide, losing out on an opportunity to build better futures for themselves.

The pandemic crisis had shown us that Digital Learning could be a great equalizer in education. To realize the rights of all children in Kenya, particularly those who are most disadvantaged, UNICEF is increasing its scope and scale of work on digital learning solutions to provide equitable access to quality education for all.

Accelerating digital learning and school connectivity initiatives will also help children and youth to learn and develop critical skills for employment in a digital world.

To respond to the global learning crisis, UNICEF has led global initiatives through ’re-imagine education', driving change in five strategic areas to unlock opportunity, choice and learning for every child and young person.

Reimagine Education Initiative aims at increasing access to world-class digital learning for every learner. The initiative focuses on five components: i) world-class digital solutions, ii) devices, iii) connectivity, iv) affordable data and v) young people’s engagement.

World-class digital solutions ensure a modern education for all children and young people no matter who they are or where they are – so all children have all the skills they need to succeed. Learners should have devices to access digital learning.

Digital learning content should be accessible, of high quality and affordable so that cost does not become a barrier to accessing learning material. Last-mile connectivity for schools enables access to the internet and access for children & young people to information, opportunity, and choice – unlocking opportunities for young people’s engagement in this agenda.

UNICEF Kenya under the GIGA initiative has been able to connect schools to the internet, and we intend to advance the interventions and enhance the learning component.

This is aimed to increase access to learning opportunities including for learners with disabilities, improve education learning outcomes, increase opportunities for young people to develop and build their digital skills and help to deliver the re-imagine education agenda.


Activities, Tasks, Outputs and Deliverables

Under the general guidance and supervision of the Education Specialist (Quality), the consultant has the following key functions/accountabilities:

• Contribute to the design and management of digital learning initiatives that are aligned with the global Reimagine Education initiative
• Contribute to the deployment of accessible digital content, the provision and scaling of internet connectivity to schools, teacher training, affordable data, empowerment of youth and digital monitoring.
• Contribute to project management processes, generation, and review of terms of reference and vendor selection for the digital learning initiatives.
• Collect, analyze and share information on implementation of digital learning initiatives.
• Contribute to the development and quality control activities during planning and deployment of digital learning initiatives – with a strong focus on the inclusion of the most marginalized/vulnerable children in the most deprived counties of Kenya.
• Prepare draft inputs for programme/donor reporting on digital learning initiatives.
• Undertake field visits and surveys and share information with stakeholders to assess progress and challenges. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
• Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships, and support fundraising for education programmes.
• Support the education specialist in research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fundraising and partnership development purposes.
• Provide support in identifying, capturing, synthesizing, and sharing lessons learned for knowledge development and capacity development of stakeholders.
• Research, benchmark and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development of knowledge sharing products and systems, updating the inventory of digital learning initiatives and Innovations, assets, resources, and networks
• Participate as a resource person in capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders on digital learning.

Expected Results

The following outputs shall be expected of the Education Officer:

• UNICEF’s current work on connecting schools and digital learning is reviewed with highlights of gaps, opportunities and recommendations for improvement.
• A strategy for UNICEF KCO engagement in ICT in education is drafted with the support of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office. This should include mapping of current stakeholders working in the area of ICT in education and recommendations for areas of engagement for UNICEF to consider based on the needs on the ground and UNICEF’s global, regional and local comparative advantage.
• UNICEF’s work on Digital Learning in Kenya is supported including the development, implementation, management and monitoring of projects and partnerships on digital content, teacher capacity building, connectivity to school, empowerment of children and youth and digital monitoring.
• Technical Assistance, and support to the development and implementation of the policy framework legislation for the national ICT in education including digital learning is provided
• Opportunities for resource mobilization are identified, new partnerships and proposals are developed in close collaboration with Kenya Country Office Focal Points and other stakeholders.
• Technical assistance and support in the development of reports on digital learning initiatives in Kenya.

• Lessons learned and best practices are identified, synthesized, and analyzed for integration into broader knowledge management

Minimum Qualifications required:

Bachelor’s degree in Education or other related areas.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

A minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in education, innovation in teaching and learning, digital content development and relevant technical field.

Experience with monitoring and evaluation of projects with multi-partner engagement.

Experience working in digital learning with the Ministry of Education among other organizations.

Ability to work and coordinate efficiently and effectively with project members in various locations and from multiple organizations

Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to write succinctly and clearly.

Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required, strong written and verbal competency is necessary.

How to Apply

For more information and job application details, see; UNICEF National Consultancy - Education Officer, Digital Learning Jobs in Kenya

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