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Job no: 553195
Contract type: Consultancy
Duty Station: Suva
Level: Consultancy
Location: Fiji/Pacific Island Countries
Categories: Education
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The Fiji Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) has successfully applied for an Education Sector Capacity Grant (SCG) from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to support the development of an Education Sector Plan (ESP) for the period 2023-33 that reflects the priorities of the Fiji National Development Plan and is informed by an Education Sector Analysis (ESA).
The new sector plan and the analysis that underpins it must be responsive and aligned to the needs and priorities of
the government of Fiji and the National Development Plan in particular. They should be responsive to Fiji's commitment to regional and global mandates for education and human development including the Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The process undertaken to develop the new plan should be guided by good practice, including the guidelines of the Global Partnership for Education, and ensure the full engagement and ownership of the Ministry and its immediate stakeholders. The Ministry have identified a Core Technical Team to take this work forward under the overall leadership of the Permanent Secretary. Consistent with a view that the way the plan is developed can be as important as the plan itself, the process leading to its finalization must be country-led and participatory.
In addition to the development of a new Education Sector Plan, MEHA are looking ahead to develop a Compact Arrangement, which is expected to reflect a key priority for the sector and commitments to aligned contributions of government and partners to advancing that priority in Fiji. To this end, MEHA also needs to conduct a self-assessment of the enabling factors for the implementation of the priority areas namely, data & evidence, a gender-responsive sector, planning, policy and monitoring, sector coordination and coordinated finance and funding and the volume, equity and efficiency of domestic public expenditure on education. It is critical that each of the above is developed and implemented in a way that is relevant and adds value to the education sector in Fiji as a top priority, but it is worth
noting that the above are also required for Fiji's eligibility for additional funding from GPE in 2023, so the guidelines and timelines for that funding must be taken into consideration as well.
The objective of the proposed consultancy is to deliver a comprehensive, detailed and rigorous analysis of the Fiji education system, including thematic and targeted analysis, and use this to prepare an evidence-based, context specific costed and implementable Education Sector Plan for the period of the 2023-2033 and support MEHA to coordinate and document with partners priority strategies for implementation and assess the current status of the enabling factors required for these. All processes are to be completed under the strategic guidance and in close collaboration with MEHA through the CTT and ultimately the Permanent Secretary.
Scope of Work:
The scope of the technical assistance will be to work with the nominated MEHA senior staff, the CTT group and a MEHA
based education consultant to achieve the following deliverables:
An outline of the principles, methodological approach and timeline for the work of the ESA and ESP
Undertake a comprehensive Education Sector Analysis for the period since 2015, including the integration of
identified targeted and thematic analysis.
Develop an evidence-based, costed Education Sector Plan for the period 2023-2033 that is comprehensive
including a costing and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework.
The adviser will lead on the writing of all deliverables, peer review work produced by others, and provide quality control.
The adviser will also provide a substantive coordination role in collaboration with the MEHA-based consultant to ensure timeframes are met to a standard acceptable to the MEHA management team. The adviser will also be required to coordinate between the different strands of work of the ESA and ESP, to ensure that they are closely and clearly integrated. The adviser will alert the MEHA Management Team to any risks to the completion of requirements for each of the sections of work. It is to be noted that resulting documents should be clear and concise; they are to be audience-friendly and lend themselves to easy comprehension, quick reference and real-life application.
Senior MEHA staff, the CTT and heads of statutory bodies must be consulted fully to ensure their opinions feed effectively into the drafting process. Nevertheless, calls on senior MEHA Managements time should be kept to a minimum, so interactions should be efficient. The Lead MEHA officer from the CTT, the MEHA-based Consultant and the Adviser will work together to ensure this happens. As part of this work, the adviser should also specifically plan for and implement a programme of knowledge and skills transfer to the MEHA CTT and MEHA-based Consultant. However, the design of ESP is not primarily a capacity-building exercise and the production of a good quality comprehensive ESP is the main goal.
The Education Sector Analysis will provide an evidence-based and robust diagnosis of the existing education outcomes, delivery, and functionality of the education sector, framed within the context of the national development plan, and regional and global education mandates to which Fiji subscribes, budgets and domestic and international commitments. The analysis should conclude with a set of recommendations and articulate a strategic vision for the development of the Education Sector Plan.
The structure of the sector analysis will be informed by GPE/IIEP Methodological Guidelines for Education Sector Analysis and the goals for education in the NDP and other relevant mandates.
The sector analysis is expected to include detailed, descriptive and diagnostic analyses of context; policy; financing; system performance; and system capacity as follows:
Context: covering issues with a particular impact on education including those that could be clustered under the headings of: macro-economic; demographics; sociocultural context; politico-institutional context; and vulnerability including violence against children within and outside schools.
Existing policies: the purpose of which is to explore achievements under current policies and to identify effective practices by examining: domestic, regional, and international development policies that directly impact on education; international commitments made; official education policies; development partner priorities and activities; and issues relating to aid effectiveness.
Costs and financing: to analyse the level of investment in education and its trend over time, giving due consideration to: the national budget for education (all sources); government spending on education; distribution of expenditure by sub-sector; spending per student; trends in total expenditure and unit costs; and the share of education expenditure by government, households and development partners.
Education system performance: including key education indicators (access and coverage, enrolment, survival and completion rates; equity and inclusion; learning outcomes (with a particular emphasis on numeracy and literacy); and internal and external efficiency). The analysis should aim to identify key issues. At a minimum, data should be disaggregated and by gender and location, preferably at the provincial level.
Education system capacity and management: examining the effectiveness of the education administration at central and local levels, and the capacity of stakeholders. It will cover organizational aspects; public financial management; competencies and qualifications of key personnel; the capacity to prepare for, prevent, and respond to crises; the capacity to identify and respond to gender-related issues; and stakeholder analysis. Given the vulnerability of Fiji to natural disasters such as cyclones, the capacity of the system to manage and
respond to risk and how this might be strengthened going forward should also be included in the ESA. Likewise, the significant impact of COVID 19 on the sector has raised a number of issues and brought new opportunities forward for consideration in a new plan.
It is expected that the Education Sector Analysis will include dedicated analyses for each education sub-sector and specific attention to matters of equity, efficiency and learning outcomes. The equity analysis is expected to include dedicated attention to gender as well as children with disabilities, children on outer islands/maritime areas, and the most marginalized. Each sub-sector or targeted analysis will examine all specific policies, data, management issues, etc. potentially followed by general issues that apply to the entire sector. This will allow for clear findings and recommendations for each sub-sector / priority issue, as well as overall.
In addition, MEHA is being supported to undertake three thematic and mixed methodology analyses on Gender, Youth and Early Childhood Education, with the adviser responsible for the integration of these into the ESA/ ESP as appropriate.
It is expected that the consultancy will undertake a methodical and mixed approach to both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, including desk review of available documents, review and analysis of existing data, and various approaches to securing stakeholder inputs. Available data and reports include Education Management Information System (FEMIS), MICS, PILNA results, Ministry and statutory body reports, regional reports on education that are inclusive of Fiji and reports from other agencies such
as the Ministry of Economy and Fiji Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank Public Expenditure Review of Education and DFAT Gender Report for example. Perspectives and inputs from the full range of education stakeholders in Fiji are expected through consultations including interviews, focus group discussions and stakeholder workshops. Recognizing the broader scope of the education section, representatives from higher education, industry and labour mobility perspectives are expected to be included in this process.
The Core Technical Team will organise and facilitate consultations and synthesise the findings supported by the MEHA-based Consultant. All such consultations would be organized jointly with the Ministry of Education, which would provide overall guidance and manage the logistics and finances for participants, etc., The International Technical Advisor can support the ministry through the development of agendas, presentations, activities, etc. in collaboration with the Ministry, and based on the objectives of different consultations. Depending on the ability to travel in the country, the International Technical Advisor may be able to also participate in person. Remote participation may not be appropriate in all settings but will be utilized where appropriate. Feedback loops must be included in the timeline for the ESA and thematic analysis developments to ensure voices have been correctly reflected and the data used is, as much as possible, triangulated to either other quantitative data or qualitative reflections. The consultant is expected to identify two or three main issues or opportunities arising from the ESA and expand these into barriers and enablers report both as discussion points for further consideration in the ESP and to identify possible priorities for earlier action than the commencement of the new plan.
The Fiji Education Sector Plan (2023-2033) should present a vision for the education sector, from early childhood education through primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools, as well as post-secondary education in the form of both TVET and Higher Education provision. The sector plan will cover all agreed-upon sub-sectors and recognise the need for coherence across them. It will clearly articulate well-structured and strategic sectoral and sub-sectoral priorities, policies, programs, and activities for the sector, as well as suggested collaborations with other sectors. The sector plan will be evidence-based, strategic, holistic, risk-informed and results-based and achievable, sensitive to context and will pay attention to disparities. It will be aligned to the National Development Plan and be cognizant of Fiji's commitment to both regional and international education mandates
The ESP will identify the means to monitor progress along the way through a plausible results framework, which will be developed with an M&E plan that will guide the monitoring of progress throughout implementation, as well as needed improvements to education system data collection to facilitate future monitoring and reporting. The monitoring and evaluation framework will provide information for international reporting and drive domestic evidence-based policy formulation, programming, and decision-making. The International Technical Adviser will work with the MEHA-based Consultant and CTT on the development of the results framework.
The ESP will be costed at a high level, with assumptions clearly outlined, and simulations and financing projections used to identify the human, technical, and financial resources required to implement the strategic plan. A costing model will be selected for use by the CTT, in coordination with the Ministry management team, to review simulations of key costing scenarios which will guide strategic investments for each level of the system, as well as overall. This work will be extensively used in the assessment of enabling factors for the implementation of priorities from the plan and should be valid and rigorous in approach. With support from the International Advisor and MEHA-based Consultant, the CTT will work with the different divisions of the Ministry and statutory bodies in the costing exercises, as well as in working with the Ministry of Economy to devise financing options, including leveraging public financial resources for education.
An implementation plan for the first 3 years of the ESP should be drafted and costed in collaboration with the CTT under the leadership of the PS. The consultancy will be carried out through mixed modalities which include remote support and an in-country mission of 60 days. The in-country mission will be planned jointly with UNICEF and MEHA.
Applications: All applications should be supported by a cover letter, a technical proposal defining the approach and methodology for executing the consultancy with critical consideration on how a strong Pacific approach will be adopted and a financial proposal with per day professional fees in US dollars.
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
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.
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.
Advertised: 25 Jul 2022 Fiji Standard Time
Deadline: 09 Aug 2022 Fiji Standard Time
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