Individual Consultant for Coordinating Foundational Learning Delivery Unit at the Ministry of Education, Kigali-Rwanda, 12 Months (office based)

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, Education

To learn more about UNICEF career and the work in Rwanda, please visit the country website https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/RWA/ or watch this video about UNICEF work in Rwanda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7B91m5Yzoc and UNICEF Careers UNICEF Careers.

How can you make a difference? 

Background

The mission of the Ministry of Education is to transform the Rwandan citizen into skilled human capital for the socio-economic development of the country. This will be achieved by providing equitable access to quality education to all. To realize this transformative power of education, children need to acquire foundational literacy and numeracy skills as the building blocks for more advanced skills.

Over the last several years, remarkable progress has been achieved in Rwanda’s education sector. This includes expansion of access to education, enhanced education infrastructure and teachers’ capacities as well as increased focus on learning outcomes at all levels. Ambitious strategies are in place to further enhance the quality of education, improve learning outcomes and regularly measure learning within the education sector.

The Ministry of Education and its affiliated agencies are at a crossroads of ensuring the delivery of priority programmes and a spotlight is set on the ability of the education sector to produce well qualified citizens that can help drive Rwanda’s vision to become a middle-income country by 2035 and high income, with highly skilled human capital by 2050. There is plenty of evidence that shows the acquisition of foundations of literacy and numeracy skills in the early is a key success factor for ensuring transformation in the education sector.  However, recent (2023) assessments findings show that around 33% and 39% of children in third grade do not meet learning benchmarks in literacy and numeracy respectively. This calls for a bolder strategy to ensure that all children meet the required benchmarks, especially in their first three years of primary education.

To ensure that children are achieving foundational learning skills, the Ministry of Education has developed the Foundational Learning Strategy. The strategy presents clear interventions and actions that need to be implemented to ensure all children achieve the foundational learning skills essential for future learning. Ending learning poverty (the share of 10-year-old children who cannot read and understand simple text) through effective implementation of the Foundation Learning Strategy (FLS) is one of the strategic priorities of the Ministry of Education.

To this end, a “Delivery Unit” has been established within the Ministry of Education to ensure the FLS is effectively implemented. To achieve this, an experienced consultant is required to serve as the Delivery Unit Coordinator. He/she will coordinate implementation of all the activities of the delivery unit, support implementation of the strategy and resources mobilization.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of the consultancy is to support the Ministry of Education to set up and operationalize the delivery unit and drive the overall implementation of the FLS to ensure it achieves its intended objectives and targets.

 The specific objectives of this assignment are to:

1. Support setup, and operationalization of the delivery unit
2. Coordinate the implementation of the prioritized interventions of the strategy.
3. Ensure capacity building of MINEDUC and its agencies staff for the effective implementation of the FLS.
4. Build partnerships and mobilize resources for the successful implementation of FLS.

Key Tasks:

The consultant will lead the following tasks, working closely with MINEDUC, its agencies and UNICEF technical teams.

1. Coordination of the implementation of the Foundational Learning Strategy

• Identify the operational needs of the delivery unit and support its effective functioning.  
• Analyze the FLS, break it down into actionable interventions, and identify those that can have an immediate impact to reduce learning poverty in Rwanda.
• Coordinate the delivery of the FLS, ensuring its implementation is on track.  
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to identify and address barriers to successful programme implementation.

2. Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting:

• Conducting needs assessments to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in foundation learning interventions.
• Collaborating with data and evidence team to assess the impact and outcomes of foundation learning strategy.
• Providing regular reports to the Ministry of Education management on the progress and success of foundation learning interventions

3. Capacity Building

• Identify capacity building needs of the Ministry of Education and agencies staff and ensure capacity building for the effective implementation of the FLS.
• Coordinate the recruitment of education policy fellow and ensure they are effectively supporting the implementation of FLS.

4. Partnerships and Resources Mobilization

• Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with governmental agencies, development partners, and other stakeholders to ensure the FLS is fully implemented.
• Foster and maintain strong relationships with existing partners while actively seeking opportunities for collaboration and mutual benefit.

• Research and identify potential funding opportunities from various sources to ensure the FLS is fully funded. 

• Support expansion of the delivery unit, including mobilizing funds for the additional roles under the unit
        through partnership.

Key Deliverables:

• Progress report on the DU delivery chain and annual work plan
• Progress report on the Annual Work Plan for the DU
• Clear delivery chain and actionable annual work plan for the DU and MINEDUC & Agencies on implementation of the Foundational Learning strategy is available
• Progress report on the success of the foundational learning interventions
• Progress reports to the Ministry of Education management on the progress and success of foundation learning interventions
• Progress report on Capacity Building plan for the Ministry of Education and agencies staff. 
• On-boarding guidelines available for DU staff
• Additional recruited staff in the DU effectively on boarded
• Progress report on the foundational Learning Interventions
• Progress report on the FLS funds mobilization strategy
• Progress report on the FLS strategy interventions including the funds mobilization
• Progress report on the partnership’s mobilization strategy
• Evidence of additional resources and partnerships mobilized for the FLS.

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

• A master’s degree in education, international development, Economics and Education.

The consultant should have the following skills and experience:

• At least 8 years of progressive professional experience
• Proven experience in education projects management and implementation coordination
• Technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: early learning curriculum developments, teaching and learning materials development and quality assurance, learning assessments and parent and community involvement.
• Experience in partnership building and resources mobilization.
• Familiarity with education policies and programs in Rwanda is an advantage.
• High degree of professional ethics, integrity, and responsibility.
• Strong project management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Knowledge of Foundational Learning

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.