International Consultant

Call for Consultancy International Consultant Terms of Reference

Organizational unit: UNESCO Myanmar Project Office

Title: International Consultant - Development of Teacher Competency Framework Implementation Plan for Ethnic and Community school teachers

Duty Station: Yangon, Myanmar

Duration of the contract: 1 August 2023 to 30 November 2023 (contract start date is tentative and subject to change without prior notice.)

Application deadline: 23 July 2023

1. Background:

UNESCO works to Strengthen Pre-Service Teacher Education in Myanmar (STEM). The project addresses four fundamentally important aspects of pre-service teacher education. These include:

• • formulating a policy framework of pre-service teacher education and identifying standards for quality assurance, - improving the curriculum and creating good networks to accumulate and share knowledge and experiences, - developing institutional/management and human resource capacities, and - mainstreaming inclusion and equity issues in teacher education.

Under STEM project, UNESCO is supporting the development and implementation of Teacher Competency Framework (TCF) which is developed upon regional and global teacher competencies required for effective teaching and learning, as well as nationally relevant competencies required for teaching in Myanmar and context specific competencies for Indigenous teachers working to support Indigenous education in Myanmar. Last year, UNESCO provided the technical support on the review and revision of TCF for ethnic and community school teachers to ensure to be compatible with the diverse conflict sensitive contexts. Conflict Sensitive Education (CSE) enhanced TCF, provides clear and concise profiles of what teachers are expected to know and be able to do for their professional growth in remote, conflict-affected and fragile settings. To roll out TCF successfully in their respective areas and communities, an implementation plan is essential to take further steps and take systematic approaches to long-term and sustainable implementation. It also aims to facilitate better coordination among ethnic education providers and outlines the steps that needs to be taken by the partners to accomplish a shared goal. Before implementation plan is developed, situational analysis will be conducted to understand current context to implement TCF and inform the best possible approach to implement TCF activities in the evolving context.

II Objectives:

The objective of this consultancy is to conduct a situational analysis to implement TCF and produce a TCF Implementation Plan which includes but not limited to implementation strategies, approaches for implementation, awareness raising plan, monitoring & evaluation plan, arrangement for cooperation and collaboration, capacity needs for teachers, assessment tools development, summary of activities and estimated cost.

1. Work Assignment:

The individual consultant will perform the tasks under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, the direct supervision of the Head of Office of UNESCO Myanmar Project Office, the day-to-day guidance of the Project Officer and in close collaboration with the STEM project team. The individual consultant is sought to complete the following:

• • Design a work plan for the delivery of situational analysis and development of the TCF Implementation Plan and it includes the objectives, questions for different stakeholders and suggested stakeholders to interview through virtual communication; - Conduct a desk review of the relevant documents such as existing TCF focus on CSE, the review report for TCF, TCF mapping; Teacher Professional Development guidelines; Capacity Needs Assessment and other related documents; - Develop a specific plan for situational analysis, by identifying factors that will be assessed, and creating a list of questions for each factor, together with the approaches/methods for this assessment; - Create research tools including a set of questionnaires, interview questions, etc. that will be used for this needs assessment; - With the support from UNESCO, conduct the assessment such as survey, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to inform the current situation and the best possible options of TCF implementation; - Conduct consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders to prepare the report based on analysis; - Produce situational analysis report of no more than 45 pages, excluding annexes; - Develop a draft outline of the TCF Implementation Plan, taking into consideration the outcomes and outputs for the TCF; - Produce a first draft of the TCF Implementation Plan consisting of no more than 45 pages outlining (excluding annex) detailed implementation strategies, draft mapping of ethnic education partners & stakeholders coordination and support to TCF implementation, and draft awareness raising plan;
• • Produce a final version of TCF Implementation Plan, incorporating comments received from UNESCO and various stakeholders; - All deliverables will be developed by the individual consultant in collaboration with UNESCO and ethnic education providers. All comments received from UNESCO and its partners on the situational analysis and TCF implementation plan, must be thoroughly reviewed and addressed in the revision and finalization process;
• • Prior to submission, the individual consultant ensures that proper copyediting and proofreading should have been carried out for all deliverables and the relevant templates and formats should have been closely followed. The individual consultant may be requested by UNESCO to revise the deliverables if they are determined by UNESCO to be unsatisfactory and/or incomplete against the required standard of quality. No additional payment will be made for any correction of the deliverables;
• • Prepare handouts and presentation slides for interviews and consultation meetings; - Facilitate/join consultation meetings with UNESCO and relevant stakeholders, when necessary; and - Communicate with UNESCO on a regular basis to update on the progress of the assignments.

1. Deliverables and Timeline:

The individual consultant shall submit to UNESCO the following deliverables in English and in editable format such as MS Words and/or MS Excel:

1. Work plan by 11 August 2023;
2. Draft a set of questionnaires, interview questions, etc. that will be used for this needs assessment by 18 August 2023;
3. Draft situational analysis report with presentation file by 22 September 2023;
4. First draft of TCF Implementation Plan with presentation file by 13 October 2023;
5. Final version of situational analysis with presentation file by 30 October 2023; and
6. Final version of TCF Implementation Plan with presentation file by 30 November 2023.
7. Location and travel:

The work of the international consultant is home-based.

1. Required Qualifications for Specialized Knowledge/Experience:

Education and experience:

• Advanced University Degree in Education, Social Science or a related field;
• A minimum of ten years of experience in education, capacity building and planning preferable at both national level and departmental level;
• A minimum three years of experience in Monitoring and Evaluation; and
• Strong analytical skills and excellent written and oral communication and report writing skills in English.

Desirable qualifications:

• Experience in developing capacity development plan for teachers;
• Good understanding and knowledge on the use of technical terms related to teacher competency framework;
• Proficiency in using common office ICT productivity tools;
• Ability to work independently on delegated tasks and collaboratively in a multi- cultural environment; and
• Good knowledge of the Myanmar country context or context similar to Myanmar.

How to apply

Interested applicants are invited to submit in writing to the UNESCO Myanmar Project Office:

• • Technical Proposal clearly referencing “International Consultant- Teacher Competency Framework Implementation Plan” indicating: 1) how your qualifications and experience make you suitable for the position, 2) the methodology/ approaches to be adopted to carry out the assignment, 3) updated CV with contact detail of three referees and 4) a sample work on implementation of a capacity building plan for teachers or teacher competency standards implementation; and - Financial Proposal indicating the expected consultancy fee.

UNESCO places great emphasis on ensuring that the objectives of the work assignment, as described in the Terms of Reference, are met. Accordingly, in evaluating the proposals for the assignment, attention will focus first and foremost on the technical elements. From those proposals deemed suitable in terms of the criteria in the Terms of Reference, UNESCO shall select the proposal that offers the Organization best value for money.

Your application should reach yangon@unesco.org by email no later than 17:00 Hours (Yangon time) on 23 July 2023.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.