Myanmar: Consultant – Education Management Information System

I. Background

UNESCO has been providing technical assistance to the Myanmar Ministry of Education (MOE) in the strengthening of Myanmar’s Education Management Information System (EMIS) since 2013, following the classification of data management as a priority action area through its Comprehensive Education Sector Review. In 2015 and 2016, with UNESCO’s technical support, MOE finalized its sector-wide EMIS Strategic Plan, a five-year road-map for EMIS development in Myanmar; successfully developed its first- and second-year Operational Plan and Budget for two consecutive years; established the EMIS Implementation Unit (EIU) to undertake day-to- day operations of EMIS development in Myanmar; and launched the design of Myanmar’s upcoming sector-wide, decentralized and integrated EMIS.

During 2018 a pilot was conducted and completed on the first phase of the implementation, the Basic Education and Human Resources Modules. During 2019 the Basic Education and Human Resources modules will be rolled out nationwide and additional modules will be developed including the TVET, Higher Education and Finance, Asset and Procurement modules.

In 2019, as MOE embarks on EMIS software development and roll-out, UNESCO will continue to provide technical assistance and capacity building support in the strengthening of Myanmar’s EMIS. As more partners become involved in supporting EMIS implementation, UNESCO will play a key role in ensuring that development partners’ support are well coordinated and feed into a single integrated EMIS system. A senior consultant is thus required to provide technical advice to MOE at all stages of EMIS software development and implementation. The consultant shall also design and conduct training for government officials responsible for the implementation of EMIS activities.

Within the framework of ‘Enhancing Statistical Capacities for Education – Towards Strengthening SDG 4 Monitoring in Asia and the Pacific’ and as a part of the Regional Monitoring Mechanism, the UNESCO Bangkok office, together with UNICEF EAPRO, has developed a training manual on monitoring SDG 4-Education 2030 for the countries from the Asia-Pacific Region one of the training manual modules is on strengthening Education Management Information System (EMIS). The module has been drafted by experts and reviewed through expert meeting last year. There is a need for a consultant to review the module, study the comments and feedback from the expert meeting and incorporate them into the module in order to finalize this component of the training manual.

II. Assignments

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, and the direct supervision of the Head of UNESCO Project Office in Myanmar, and in close collaboration with the programme officer of the UNESCO CapED team in Myanmar, the consultant will provide technical advice and capacity building to the relevant unit in MOE to strengthen EMIS in Myanmar. In particular, the consultant shall undertake the following tasks:

1. Provide timely technical advice to MOE’s EMIS Implementation Unit to ensure the timely development of Myanmar’s EMIS in accordance to the EMIS Strategic Plan.

2. Provide quality assurance to all aspects of the rollout of the first phase of development which includes the Basic Education and Human Resources Modules. a) Conduct data validation and quality exercises

b) Review data completeness at all stages of the rollout.

c) Develop technical documentation to support the rollout including review of processes and guidelines for EMIS.

1. Generate a publication on the first phase data at the conclusion of the rollout and baseline data collection. The publication should analyse data according to national (and SDG indicators) and should highlight disparities in the provision and access to education services.

2. Provide quality assurance to the second Phase development pilot for the TVET, Higher Education and Finance, Asset and Procurement modules. a) Quality assure the reports and interfaces

b) Develop technical documentation to support the rollout including review of processes and guidelines for EMIS.

1. Assisting with selection and activation of business intelligence tools to enable analysis capacity for power users.

2. Conducting weekly review meetings (5 days) every 12 weeks (4 meetings) including final workshop to review EMIS. As part of the review meetings:

a) Provide technical advice to MOE in managing and monitoring the technical aspects of the software development process, and thereby assure the quality of all aspects of software development, such as the finalization of the software design, the proper testing of software and processes, and the validity and appropriateness of training materials and support.

b) Provide technical advice to MOE in managing and monitoring the nation-wide software installation and roll-out process, including an initial pilot run of the EMIS software at selected subnational education offices.

c) Conduct training workshops for MOE officials responsible for EMIS development, data management and statistical analysis, as well as develop training materials tailored to the needs of MOE.

d) Assist MOE in finalizing and adopting EMIS policy documents to fully institutionalize EMIS functioning within MOE at both the national and subnational levels.

e) Conduct at least two half-day coordination meetings in Yangon with development partners to update them on progress with EMIS implementation and receive

feedback from partners also involved in EMIS development.

1. Under the guidance of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) at UNESCO Bangkok, review and revise of the existing draft training module on EMIS under the framework of "Education 2030 Activities in Asia and the Pacific- Component on Capacity Enhancement for SDG4 Monitoring" a) Review the existing draft training module on EMIS and provide suggestions for improvement

b) Revise the draft training module in consultation with specialist at UNESCO Bangkok Office

III. Expected deliverables

1. Revised final draft training module on EMIS to UNESCO Bangkok (to be submitted no later than 15 April 2019).

2. A report of the technical evaluation of all qualified EMIS software development proposals (to be submitted no later than 31 May 2019).

3. A mid-term report on the status of EMIS software development and implementation, including progress achieved and challenges encountered (to be submitted no later than 31 August 2019).

4. An analytical publication on the first phase baseline data (to be submitted no later than 2 December 2019)

5. A final report on the status of EMIS software development and implementation, including progress achieved and challenges encountered, as well as any other deliverables produced in the framework of the contract, such as project documents, policy briefing notes, etc. (to be submitted no later than 2 December 2019).

IV. Duration of contract

5 months full-time equivalent work at senior consultant level over the period from 1 March 2019 to 31 December 2019.

V. Required travel

• Up to 20 working days on mission to Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw.

VI. Qualifications

• Academic qualifications: Postgraduate qualification in information technology, computer science, computer engineering, data science or data management or related field

• Experience: At least 10 years of experience in providing technical assistance to governments in the areas of education management information systems, education sector data management and/or education planning and management

• Language: excellent spoken and written English

Call for Consultancy

Request for technical and financial proposal

Reference: MM/UNESCO/0119

Issue date: 7 February 2019

Request to submit a written proposal for a work assignment with UNESCO

UNESCO is inviting written proposals from Individual Consultants for the work assignment described in attachment A.

To enable you to prepare a proposal for this assignment, please find attached the following document:

• Terms of Reference (see attachment A);

Your written proposal should comprise:

a) A Technical Proposal consisting of

• an up to date curriculum vitae, and

• an approach and methodology for the assignment, a work plan and comments on the Terms of Reference if any (in brief).

b) Financial proposal for the assignment quoted in US dollars only. Please show any travel costs separately.

Proposal and any supporting documents must be in English.

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 Organisation best value for money.

Your proposal should be submitted by e-mail to yangon@unesco.org no later than close of business 17:30, Yangon time, on 15 February 2019. E-mail proposals should not exceed 5MB and clearly referencing "**International Consultant – Education Management Information System"**.

It is the individual’s responsibility to ensure that her/his proposal is received by the deadline. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Thank you for your interest in this UNESCO assignment. We look forward to receiving your proposal.

Min Jeong Kim

Head of Office

UNESCO Myanmar Office