Afghanistan: Curriculum Specialist (Adult Learning & Education)

Background

The Programme for Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) is a national programme that aims to improve the proficiency level of literacy and numeracy skills of youth and adult population in Afghanistan. The principle goal of the ELA Programme is to increase the awareness about the importance of literacy among national-level stakeholders and to address the challenges of literacy in a sustainable and proactive manner, considering that the budget allocated to literacy under the MoE is currently only roughly under 2% of the education budget. The ELA Programme’s main focus is to support the MoE to establish a decentralized and community based modality of implementation that connects MoE with provinces, districts and communities in all phases of planning, implementation and monitoring. UNESCO seeks to further strengthen the institutional and organizational capacity MoE so that the departments responsible for youth and adult literacy are able to gain the capacity to sustain this important decentralized modality of literacy provision. The first phase of the ELA Programme (2008 – 2010), funded by the Government of Japan provided literacy courses to 255,438 youths and adults in 50 districts in 9 provinces[1] of Afghanistan. With additional funding from the Government of Japan in 2010-2013 the outreach of ELA Programme (Phase II) was expanded to 99 districts of 18 provinces[2] , with a total reach of 325,662 youths and adults, of whom 60 percent were women. Building on the lessons learned from the previous phases, ELA Programme Phase III started in November 2013 and is expected to last until March 2018. The total funding for each phase is as follows: Phases I, II and III was USD15 million, USD19 million and USD 34 million respectively. In addition to the Government of Japan’s funding, the Government of Sweden (December 2014) and Finland (July 2015) committed more funding to the ELA Programme, resulting in the expansion of the geographical coverage to 30 provinces. In June 2016, the Government of Finland committed additional support to ELA III that led to the expansion of the programme to the remaining four provinces of Afghanistan. This effectively increased ELA Phase III’s total funding portfolio to approximately $32 million for four years, and the total coverage to 155 across all the 34 provinces[3] , and expected to reach out to 634,000 youths and adults. So far, ELA Programme still remains the largest national literacy programme in Afghanistan.

In addition to literacy provision, ELA provides technical support to the Ministry of Education, Literacy Department (LD) in areas of capacity building and institutional reform, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy and outreach, curriculum development and teacher training. Besides, the ELA Programme supported the MoE in design and development of curriculum and instructional materials for Level one of the Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education. Furthermore, UNESCO continues to support the LD to develop Skill Based Literacy (SBL) workbooks to compliment basic literacy course for those learners who may opt to further their education in eight different skill areas[4]. Seven of the eight skill areas have been drafted and 4 of them are currently being piloted in selected provinces.

In reference to the Afghan national constitution, the government is responsible to providing free and compulsory basic education, for all afghan population[5]. DMoEL with the technical and financial support of UNESCO, was able to prepare level one curriculum framework for basic general literacy (equivalent to grade 1-3 of basic general education). The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical leadership in developing equivalent post literacy curriculum framework to cover the remaining two levels of non-formal education (equivalent to grade 4 – 9 of general education).

In addition to basic literacy centers, there are some evening adult education classes commonly known as ‘night shift schools’ and some daytime adult schools known as literacy schools for adults where unfortunately the formal education curriculum is practiced. Considering the large number of illiterate youths and adults, and a significant number of people who have graduated from level one of basic general literacy course, the provision of equivalent Adult Basic Education/non-formal has to be expanded very fast to meet the current demands. There is also urgent need to improve the quality of teaching – learning process and encouraging and retaining youths and adults in the Basic Education schools. The curriculum framework for equivalent education program needs to be carefully designed to meet the needs of youth and adults of Afghanistan who have already acquired the basic general literacy skills and have the desire to progress through the non-formal education pathway as well as the local situation. The curriculum designer will be expected to consider the equivalency framework in the context of continuing education, not only to provide education for learners to transfer to formal schools, but also to help them towards self-improvement as well as equipping them with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to living in our changing global society.

Therefore, specialist is expected to develop an equivalent curriculum framework for levels 2 and 3 of adult literacy and basic education. Which could be used as a guideline for developing curricula and instructional materials for the mentioned levels (equivalent to grades 4-9 of formal schools).

Scope:

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Kabul and the Chief of Education unit Kabul Office and the direct supervision of the Adult Literacy & NFE Program Manager, the incumbent specifically, will work in close coordination with the Ministry of Education’s Literacy Department and the Curriculum Directorate to provide technical leadership in the drafting of the curriculum framework for adult literacy and basic education equivalent programme as well as to strengthen the capacity of the assigned team and other relevant stakeholders in curriculum and instructional material design and development for equivalency programmes. The specialist will closely work with a team comprising of UNESCO staff, national experts (trainers, curriculum officer, subject specialists, teachers, evaluators etc.) of DMoEL, MoE and NGOs In order to accomplish this assignment, the Curriculum Specialist should plan to develop the Curriculum framework as follows: - Study the principles and goals of the revised national formal programme;- Identify the target groups;- Conduct a needs assessment according to the target group;- Determine types of programme in relation to the target group’s needs;- Write principles, goals, aims and objectives;- Design the curriculum framework to guide design and development of content and teaching materials, and a plan how to implement the equivalent programme.

Main Responsibilities:

Under the general supervision of the head of Education Unit and direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Curriculum Specialist shall:

Task 1: Literature Review

• Conduct a technical review of the curriculum framework developed for basic general literacy (equivalent to grade 1-3 of formal basic education) which was recently developed, the national formal basic education curriculum framework, the draft National Qualification Framework (NQF);

• Review post literacy (of Adult Basic Education equivalent programmes in other countries, especially with the best practices to find out what are distinguished characteristics of Adult Basic Education equivalent Programmes;

• Review post literacy curricula and instructional materials of some other countries preferably the countries that have similar contexts as Afghanistan to learn from their experiences, challenges a best practices;

• This desk review exercise will culminate into and an inception report and an action plan, which will clearly stipulate the roadmap for the curriculum framework development process.

Task 2: Provide technical assistance to conduct a needs assessment:

• Working with the Literacy Department, Curriculum Directorate at MoE and other stakeholders, lead the needs assessment design and execution including data collection, analysis and presentation;

• Plan and lead regional consultative workshops with various stakeholders;

• Provide technical leadership in the analysis of needs assessment collected data;

• At the end needs assessment exercise the curriculum expert will be expected to organise a stakeholders’ workshop, whose purpose will be to solicit feedback on preliminary findings and recommendations’

• Consolidate the comments and feedback from the workshop for preparing a zero draft of curriculum framework.

Task 3: Draft a curriculum framework for levels 2&3 in close coordination with MoE/DMoEL

• Draft a curriculum framework considering findings of the literature review and feedback from the workshop;

• Conduct a workshop to present the drafted framework to relevant stakeholders and get their feedback;

• Incorporate the feedback into drafted framework;

• Finalize the curriculum framework.

Deliverables:

• An Inception report following the initial in-depth review which outlines the curriculum framework development process, brief note on the document analysis methodology and instruments for interviews with different stakeholders, and an outline of the final report, including proposed annexes;

• Brief of the main findings and recommendations from the stakeholder consultations to facilitate presentation for the national stakeholders’ workshop;

• A detailed curriculum needs Assessment findings report, including the outcomes of the national stakeholder’s workshop, to be shared with the MoE and other stakeholders;

• Initial draft of the curriculum framework;

• A brief of the feedback from the national stakeholders/validation workshop;

• Final draft of the curriculum framework of equivalent non formal education programme (levels 2 and 3) – equivalent to grade 4 – 6 of general basic education.

Qualifications and requirements:

• The candidates to the position of Curriculum Specialist (Adult Learning and Education) will be evaluated according to the following competencies and qualifications:

Academic qualifications:· Ph.D. degree in the field of education preferably with specialization in Adult Basic Education or Curriculum Development with experience in Non-Formal Education. A Master’s Degree shall be complemented with four more years of relevant professional experience.

Years of Work Experience:· Minimum 5 years of work experience in Non-Formal Education/Adult Basic Education· Minimum 8 years of work experience in curriculum and instructional material development· Experience of working closely with government institutions· Experience in institutional strengthening and capacity building is an added advantage. · The specialist should be qualified and experienced in the planning, design and development of curriculum for non-formal education /adult education;· The specialist should have experience in developing learning and instructional materials;· Professional experience working in Afghanistan or conflict-affected areas highly desirable;· Thorough understanding of the issues surrounding development of educational institutions in transitional countries; and demonstrated ability to work closely with and mentor a diverse team.

Competencies:

• Core: Integrity, Commitment, Building and maintaining partnerships, Teamwork, Communication, Creativity and Innovation, Results Based Management and Results Based Budgeting;

• Managerial;

Skills:

• Excellent planning and facilitation skills;

• Cultural awareness and sensitivity;

• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and flexibly;

• Ability to research, analyze and present complex information;

• Ability to establish and maintain strong and effective working relationships;

• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills;

• Strong analytical and presentation skills;

Language requirements:

• Fluency in both written and oral English is a requirement. Knowledge of another official UN language would be an asset**.**

• Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto (desirable);

Working period and work conditions:

Working period

9-month contract with a 3-month probationary period; with a possibility of extension, subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds.

Work conditions

The position is based in Kabul. UNESCO will provide cell phone, office space and access to office equipment as required to perform tasks.

[4] These skill areas are; Bee Keeping, poultry farming, fish farming, tailoring, Basic health and first aid, starting your own business and vegetable gardening, were identified through a rapid needs assessment survey for the development of this instructional materials.

[5] Afghanistan constitution: Article Forty-Three, “Education is the right of all citizens of Afghanistan, which shall be provided up to the level of the B.A. (lisâns), free of charge by the state.

The state is obliged to devise and implement effective programs for a balanced expansion of education all over Afghanistan, and to provide compulsory intermediate level education.

Article Forty-Four
The state shall devise and implement effective programs for balancing and promoting of education for women, improving of education of nomads and elimination of illiteracy in the country.”

The interested candidates should send the following documents to k.human-resource@unesco.org before April 05 2018 (by midnight, Kabul time), with subject KAB/EDU/03/2018/04

ü A cover letter

ü An up to date curriculum vitae

ü Up-to-date UNESCO curriculum vitae (https://en.unesco.org/careers/media/3705)

Please note that applications received after April 05 2018 (midnight Kabul time) will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates whose application responds to the above criteria will be contacted for interview. UNESCO regrets its inability to reply individually or attend to telephone queries on the advertised post.