National Consultant - Education Programme at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential - to the benefit of a better world.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: National Consultant - Education Programme Monitoring Data Analysis and Report

Job Number: 514890
Location: Nigeria
Work Type: Consultancy

Purpose of Assignment

• The purpose of this consultancy is support the analysis of UNICEF education programme monitoring data and prepare narrative reports and policy briefs
• The consultant will specifically analyse the data and prepare narrative reports for the following:
  • Community mapping and listing of out of school children data collected from four focus states (Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara).
  • School based management committee effectiveness monitoring data collected from five states (Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara).
  • Integrated Quranic school interim survey data collected from three states
• The consultant will report to the Education Specialist (M&E) with technical support from Basic Education Programme team based in Abuja
• The assignment does not require travel outside the consultants home based.

Background
UNICEF Nigeria is implementing Basic Education programme which contributes to reducing the number of out-of-school children and improving learning outcomes for children in development and humanitarian context primarily focusing on states in the north west and north east of Nigeria with high burden of out of school children. The Basic Education programme is being implemented in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, Universal Basic Education Commission at the national level and with the state ministries of education and State Universal Basic Education Board of target states and other implementing partners.

The education programme has a strong focus on strengthening monitoring and evaluation (M&E), especially building capacity of government to generate timely and reliable data required for equity based planning and tracking of progress. The M&E data collection processes UNICEF is aiming to strengthen include annual school census, school based management committee effectiveness monitoring and tracking out of school children in targeted communities, through a process called community mapping and listing of out of school children.

The UNICEF M&E approach relies on the government systems primarily to ensure capacity building of government officials for sustainability. In addition, a quality assurance process has been built into the M&E systems to validate quality and reliability of monitoring data generated through government system.  The quality assurance processes use the same tools and approach but undertaken by independent enumerators directly managed by UNICEF.

This consultancy is required to analyse three sets of monitoring data collected with UNICEF financial assistance so that the information can be used for assessing/reporting progress as well as fed back to partners to improve programming. The community mapping data for instance enables the measurement of change in the number of out-of-school children in target areas and support evidence based planning to reduce the number of out of school children in in communities with high number of out of school children.

Scope /Focus of the assignment Areas of focus
The assignment entail analysis of three sets of programme monitoring data and preparing narrative technical report with recommendations based on analysis of the data and prepare advocacy briefs for engagement with government partners on out-of-school children issues. The scope and specific tasks for each component is presented below.

Detailed Analysis of Community Mapping Data:

• The mapping and listing of out-of-school children covered 628,061 households in 18 focus Local Government Areas (LGAs) in four focus states (Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto)
• In total, 1,582,406 children aged 3-17 years were recorded in the targeted households out of which 528,869 children were reported to be in school, 1,018,521 out of school and 35,016 completed primary six
• The consultant will receive the community mapping data in Microsoft Access format.
• The data analysis will focus on the following key variables:
  • Out-of-school children in the targeted LGAs
  • Community underserved with regard to education service delivery
  • Availability of schools within the catchment area and by extension overview of school capacities in terms of classrooms and teachers
  • Identified existing inequalities / disparities in access and distribution of schools
  • Detailed information on OOSC  Age, Residence' particular household where they reside, status of school attendance (in school and out of school) and the reasons why the child is not enrolled in school
  • Characteristics of respondents (household heads)
  • Type of school preferred by parents, (h) distance to school (mean and median).
• Based on analysis of the data, a comprehensive narrative technical report will be prepared by the consultant highlighting the key findings and recommend how the out of school data and the reasons for non-school attendance might be used to support programmatic interventions and decisions.
• In addition, the consultant will prepare a policy brief for each state highlighting major findings and recommendations to support evidence-based advocacy, communication and dissemination
• Therefore, narrative state specific process oriented reports will be shared with the consultant. In addition, UNICEF Basic Education Programme team based in Abuja will provide summary of how community data has been used so far to support the targeting and implementation of various interventions within EAC project.

The Integrated Quranic Schools (IQS) Interim Survey Data:

• The IQS survey was conducted in three states (Niger, Bauchi and Sokoto) covering 600 IQS (200 in each state). The survey focused only on quantitative data related to student enrolment & attendance, teacher information, teaching/learning schedules and learning environment
• The consultant will receive the survey data in both Microsoft Access and Excel files. The analysis and report is expected to cover the following indicators/variables and others the consultant may propose for discussion with UNICEF:
  • Enrolment disaggregated by gender
  • Teachers and students' attendance rate on the day of survey disaggregated by gender
  • Number of teachers/facilitators disaggregated by gender and professional qualifications
  • Mean and median students to class ratios disaggregated by state
  • Mean and median students to teacher ratios disaggregated by state
  • Mean and median teaching time by day disaggregated by state
  • IQS with established centre based management committees

School Based Management Committee (SBMC) Effectiveness Monitoring:

• The SBMC effectiveness was conducted in 350 schools randomly selected from the list of 1,050 GEP3 pilot schools in five states (Bauchi, Niger, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara)
• The effectiveness monitoring covers both qualitative and quantitative data in relation to SBMC roles and responsibilities described in the national guidelines. The consultant will receive entered data in Microsoft Excel and Access
• The analysis and report is expected to cover the following indicators/variables and others the consultant may propose for discussion with UNICEF:
  • Girls attendance rate on the day of visit
  • Teachers attendance rate on the day of visit
  • Proportion/number of SBMC that meet effectiveness criteria
  • Proportion/number of SBMCs that have activities in school development plan that target girls' enrolment/retention
  • Resources mobilised by the SBMCs to support school improvement
  • Estimated number of out of school children who are no school because of SBMC action
• For each of the above components, the consultant will undertake the following processes:
• Draft report outline and update it based on feedback from UNICEF
• Review the datasets received from UNICEF to ensure, in consultation with UNICEF Education Specialist, the data is clean and error free before commencing analysis.
• Conduct analysis of the data and prepare appropriate data tables and charts.
• Prepare draft report and share with UNICEF for comments
• Finalize reports incorporating comments from UNICEF.

Deliverables

• Consultancy work plan indicating timelines for the deliverables and draft report outlines
• Analytical report on out of school children with recommendations based on major findings of the analysis
• Policy briefs on out of school children issue for each of the four states
• Analytical report of the IQS interim survey for the three states
• Analytical report on SBMC effectiveness for the five states
• Data tables and graphs used in all reports submitted in MS Excel file

Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience Required

• Advanced Degree in Education, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science.
• At least 8 years of experience and demonstrated experience in education, research or monitoring and evaluation
• Demonstrated skilled in the use of data analysis packages (Excel, SPSS, and Access)
• Strong analytical skills using diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data
• Experience working on gender issues
• Extensive knowledge and skills of education and social sectors in Nigeria, in northern Nigeria will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrates, applies and shares technical knowledge.
• Communicates effectively, both orally and in writing, to varied audiences,
• Fluency in English language and writing skills.
• Contract will be for a total duration of 4 months

Application Closing Date
8th August, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online
 
Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.