Country: Georgia
Closing date: 18 Mar 2019
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Early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Georgia represents a decentralized system with municipalities in charge of provision of public ECEC services free of charge for children 2-6 years of age. In response to a number of system level challenges in ECEC, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the first ever Law on Early and Preschool Education and Care (EPEC) in June 2016. The law includes major innovations targeted at improving quality, access and equity in ECEC throughout Georgia. The EPEC law introduces mandatory national standards and a standard-based authorisation system for all public and private preschool institutions.
UNICEF is supporting the Government of Georgia with the implementation of the EPEC law. In 2016 and 2017 UNICEF provided technical assistance to relevant line ministries in the development of national technical regulations and standards. Four of the regulations, the standards on WASH, Nutrition, ECEC pedagogue professional standards and education standards, have been approved by the Government of Georgia in October 2017. Additionally, UNICEF provided technical support to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MoESCS) of Georgia to develop training modules and related teaching aids for ECEC pedagogues. In 2019 UNICEF will continue supporting the central and local government in implementation of the EPEC Law, including development of a framework document and capacity building on inclusive early and preschool education.
To provide technical assistance to the MoESCS in its efforts to develop a framework document on Inclusive Early and Preschool Education for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities, UNICEF is recruiting a qualified and experienced national consultant legal expert for a consultancy of 4 months as below explained.
Overall goal of this consultancy is to support the MoESCS in its efforts to develop, consult, validate and approve the framework document on Inclusive Early and Preschool Education for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities. The legal expert will support a second national consultant working on Inclusive Education and work in close coordination with the MoESCS, UNICEF and the group of key stakeholders identified by the MoESCS and MoIDPLHSA (Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons, Labour, Health and Social Affairs).
The specific tasks, deliverables and timelines under the consultancy are:
Deliverable 1: Report on the review of relevant legislation on available services; Written feedback on mapping report (developed by IE national consultant) of available services in Georgia for children with SEN and disabilities (including description of their roles, functions and interrelations with other services), recommendations on new services needed.
Timeline: Month one.
Deliverable 2: Detailed report of the Focus Group Discussion/s with key stakeholders.
Timeline: Month one.
Support IE national consultant in revising and finalizing the list of key content areas and subareas of the framework document on Inclusive Early and Preschool Education for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities.
Deliverable 3: Written feedback on draft list of content areas and sub-areas of the framework document.
Timeline: Month one.
Deliverable 4: Written feedback on draft framework developed by IE national consultant; First full draft of the framework document on Inclusive Early and Preschool Education for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities.
Timeline: Month two.
Deliverable 5: Second draft of the framework document.
Timeline: Month three.
Deliverables 6: Workshop agenda; PowerPoint presentations; Workshop report including description of all issues discussed and agreed upon;
Timeline: Month three.
Deliverables 7: Finalized framework document on Inclusive Early and Preschool Education for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities; PowerPoint presentation on the final framework document (PPT in Georgian and English); final report on completed tasks and deliverables (final report should be in English).
Timeline: Month four.
The consultancy service is required for the duration of four (4) months starting from March 2019. The service is based in Tbilisi with possible required travel to municipalities. The consultant has no entitlement for annual leave, sick leave, maternity, adoption or paternity leave or any other kinds of special leave. UNICEF also does not provide or arrange any health insurance coverage for consultants. A Health Statement must be submitted to UNICEF prior to signing the contract.
The consultant will work under the overall supervision of UNICEF's Education Officer. Day-to-day supervision and guidance will be provided by UNICEF's Education/Early Child Education Officer.
Qualifications and experience required are:
Competencies required are:
The consultant's performance will be evaluated against the following criteria: timeliness, responsibility, initiative and quality of the products delivered.
The consultancy fee will be negotiated between UNICEF and the consultant on the basis of an initial offer from the consultant. The consultancy fee will be paid to the consultant in one or several instalments upon submission and approval of relevant reports and quality deliverables.
The contract may be terminated by either party before its expiry date by giving a 14 days' notice in writing to the other party. ÂHowever, in the event of termination on the ground of misconduct, UNICEF will be entitled to terminate the contract immediately, without earlier notice. In case of early termination of the contract, the Contractor will be compensated on a pro-rata basis for no more than the actual amount of work completed to the satisfaction of UNICEF.
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=520316