National Education Consultant: Foundational Learning and Skills Development 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: National Education Consultant: Foundational Learning and Skills Development

Job no: 585452
Locations: Kano and Jigawa
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Abuja
Duration: 12 Months
Level: Consultancy
Categories: Education

Background

• Nigeria is in the depths of a learning crisis. Approximately, 3 out of 4 children in Nigeria cannot read with meaning or solve simple math problems1. Fewer than 1 in 20 of the poorest children, 1 in 7 children in rural areas have foundational skills 
• The lack of foundational literacy and numeracy skills affects children’s ability to learn high order skills and increases their risk of repeating classes or dropping out, thereby fuelling the out-of-school phenomenon.
• This is further reflected in national literacy rates where the average national literacy rate for Nigeria is 62% - nearly half of women (47%) and nearly one-quarter (29%) of men cannot read or write.
• The learning crisis is stalling significant gains that Nigeria has made in getting more children to attend school.
• Multiple challenges affect the quality of education in Nigeria.
• If we don’t confront these, we risk stalling progress and losing gains already made for children.
• Key challenges include low and inequitable participation in early learning with just 63 per cent of five-year-olds engaging in organized learning
• At Basic education level, poor teaching and lack of teaching and learnings materials contribute to low learning achievement. At least 1 in 3 primary teachers are unqualified5.
• Ineffective cascade training has done little to remedy these gaps.
• Many classrooms lack the teaching and learning materials needed to meet children’s needs.

How can you make a difference? 
Purpose Of the Assignment:
The main objective of this consultancy is to the Kano Field Office Education team in the delivery of the Learning and skills component of the EYE programme.

Scope of Work
Coordinate the implementation of early childhood education programmes:

• In collaboration with the Kano and Jigawa State Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Board, coordinate the implementation of quality early learning and expansion of the learning-through-play model for ECE through evidence-backed policy advocacy and government planning.
• Coordinate the delivery of the Learning through play approach training to teachers and caregivers, including the distribution of ECE materials.

Spearhead the ECD advocacy initiative at state level:

• Contribute to the implementation of Foundational literacy and numeracy programmes (FLN, digital,)
• In collaboration with TARL Africa and SUBEB support delivery of the TARL in Kano and Jigawa States
• In collaboration with SUBEB support delivery of the RANA in Kano and Jigawa States

Coordinate the implementation of vocational skills development programmes (digital, transferable, employability skills):

• Undertake market survey of skills gaps/needs among OOSC adolescents and youths in the two states (mapping will include taking stock of skills training providers in the two states)
• In collaboration with relevant State Agency, develop a skills training programme and enroll 2,300 (1,200 in Kano and 1,100 in Jigawa) for skill training in 2026.

Deliverables / Outputs:

• Coordinate the implementation of early childhood education programmes
  • Output:
    • Report documenting the training of teachers and care givers using the learning through play approach.
    • Report of the documenting parental engagement programme in Kano and Jigawa
• Support implementation of Foundational literacy and numeracy programmes (FLN, digital,):
  • Output:
    • TARL implementation programme for Kano and Jigawa
    • Monitoring report documenting implementation of TARL in Kano and Jigawa
• Coordinate the implementation of vocational skills development programmes (digital, transferable, employability skills):
  • Output:
    • Skills market survey report

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

• An advanced degree in Education Curriculum, Education Policy, Teacher Training or related field.
• Demonstrated strong working knowledge and experiences in current global issues and best practices in Education
• A minimum of 5 years of experience on improving learning quality, ideally with a focus on curriculum or learning materials development, teacher professional development, quality pedagogy and teaching and learning approaches in basic education.
• Demonstrable experience supporting the development, implementation and scale-up of effective approaches for improving learning quality, ideally focused on developing and rolling out quality, curriculum-aligned content for basic education focused on foundational literacy and numeracy.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience translating evidence for and communicating with a broad range of actors (including government) on sensitive issues.
• Proven experience in the integration of FLN principles into pre-service or in-service teacher education programs, ideally in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Familiarity with competency-based education standards and instructional design in low- resources or multilingual settings:

Application Closing Date
5th November, 2025; 11:55 PM West Central Africa Standard Time.