International Consultant - Tracer Study on Girls Education and Skills Partnership at United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: International Consultant - Tracer Study on Girls Education and Skills Partnership

Job no:584961
Location: Abuja
Contract type: Consultant
Duration: 15 Months
Level: Consultancy
Categories:  Education

Background

• Nigeria is home to an estimated 237 million people, 49.7 per cent of whom are children aged 0–18.1 The child population is growing at 1.5 percent per year.
• The rapid child population growth places significant pressure on the delivery of social services, while it creates potential to reap dividends from the impending youth bulge if the country successfully invests in children’s education and skilling.
• Nigeria has striven to provide quality education, learning and skills development opportunities to the increasing number of children, but it has fallen short of the goal. Although basic education is free and compulsory, 10.2 million children of primary school age and 8.1 million children of junior secondary school age remain out of school.
• Due to the limited access to schooling and poor quality of education, about 75 per cent of children aged 7–14 do not develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills4, which are building blocks for continued learning and acquisition of advanced skills.
• The gaps in foundational skills are cumulative across the life cycle, resulting in an increased risk of school dropout and a lower chance of developing the skills necessary to participate in society and the labour market. For example, 74 per cent of the adult population in Nigeria are financially illiterate.5 Over 80 per cent of Nigerian youth aged 15–24 years do not have digital skills,6 which are essential to work and thrive in a knowledge-based and technology-driven economy.

Scope of work
The objectives of this tracer study are as follows:

• Assess the effectiveness of GESP in increasing girls’ skills and attitudes to work as well as the programme impact on transition to work (i.e., employment and entrepreneurship) and income generation.
• Assess the extent to which the GESP interventions are gender-transformative (e.g., sense of agency; self-esteem; self-efficacy) and addressing barriers faced by adolescent girls and young women.
• Examine the social impacts of the programme on parental and community attitudes toward girls’ education and employment?
• Identify enabling and constraining factors by examining how various factors (e.g., programme designs; characteristics of girls; skills and practice of trainers and employers; attitudes of parents and community) are associated with the outcomes.

Work Assignment Overview
Inception of tracer study

• Conduct a desk review.
• Draft an inception report.
• Organize an inception meeting.
• Finalize an inception report

Deliverables / Outputs:
Inception report with research plan

Preparation of data collection:

• Draft, pilot and finalize survey instruments.
• Develop survey manuals.
• Train national consultants.
• Develop sampling frames and guidelines.
• Coordinate sampling.
• Develop and finalize survey plans.

Deliverables / Outputs:

• Survey instruments.
• Survey manuals.
• Record of training for national consultants.
• Sampling frames and guidelines.
• Survey plan.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Advanced university degree in education, international development, social sciences or other relevant fields.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in education. research, including quantitative and qualitative methods, in development and/or humanitarian contexts.
• Experiencing in leading and/or coordinating a research team.
• Experience in gender analysis
• Strong knowledge of the education, skills, and labor contexts in Nigeria and/or other sub-Saharan countries.
• Experience working with UN agencies or other international development agencies.
• Demonstrated skills to present ideas concisely for diverse audiences and to give practical, actionable advice grounded in evidence.

Application Closing Date
28th October, 2025; 11:55 PM West Central Africa Standard Time.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online