Consultant (Evaluation), Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), Hosted Fund, 12 Months, Remote, Req:575407

We are seeking to recruit an exceptional Consultant (Evaluation) to work with EOF’s program team and provide strategic and technical advice on the design and implementation of country-level monitoring, evaluation and learning across all three of our portfolios: early childhood care and education, basic education, and skills for employment.

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. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, EDUCATION 

There are few greater challenges faced by the global community than the twin crises of learning poverty and youth unemployment. In response, the Education Commission (chaired by Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education) and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen) came together with our founding CEO (Her Excellency Dr.) Amel Karboul to create EOF. We aim to improve the education and employment outcomes of 10 million children and youth, by supporting governments to utilize a range of innovative finance instruments at scale, including outcomes funds and other results-based financing (RBF) instruments.

EOF is backed by a range of world leaders who support us to shape our approach and achieve our ambitious aims, as well as leaders in education and impact investing:

EOF supports improvements in the quality of education and skills programs, with a special focus on girls and underserved populations, including those in the hardest to reach rural areas. It measures (and pays for) what matters – both core skills like literacy and numeracy, but also critical 21st Century skills such as socio-emotional skills, ICT skills, and other broader fundamentals of a quality education. It helps close the persistent gap between the skills needed by employers and those attained by today’s youth.

For all the above, EOF pays primarily on the basis of the results achieved, ensuring that taxpayer-funded domestic resources, aid, and philanthropic funds are only used to pay for what works. This is a game-changing way to finance results in education, focusing attention and realigning systems on the most challenging but most important measure of a program’s performance: whether it is improving lives.

Together with our supporters, we believe this is the early stages of a much larger movement, with huge potential to increase learning outcomes for children and youth around the world, though improved aid effectiveness and government spending.

Since our inception in 2018, EOF has:

• Partnered with governments in Ghana and Sierra Leone to establish the two largest outcomes funds to date in developing countries, mobilising ~$50M for these programs.
• Established itself as a leading global player in RBF, and the only dedicated center of expertise for RBF in education and skills.
• Become the first outcomes fund hosted by the United Nations within UNICEF, as a scalable platform to partner with governments around the world.
• Established a major partnership with the LEGO Foundation, to develop a scale portfolio of RBF programs in early childhood across a diverse range of countries, as well as to amplify the movement and ecosystem of partners around this approach.
• Had our innovative approach featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, FT, Economist, Brookings, and more.
• Built our institutional capacity to contract and implement large-scale outcomes funds more efficiently and effectively than historic impact bonds.
• Established a strong culture of performance and an active focus on ongoing professional development for all our team.

How can you make a difference?

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Evaluation is central to the EOF’s programs, and the policy insights they generate are a key part of their value. We are seeking to recruit Consultant (Evaluation) to work with EOF’s program team and provide strategic and technical advice on the design and implementation of country-level monitoring, evaluation and learning across all three of our portfolios: early childhood care and education, basic education, and skills for employment.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

Deliverable	Description	Estimated number of working days	Deadline/ timeline
Deliverable 1: Technical advice to the program team on the selection of evaluation firms who will lead the implementation of the evaluation strategy for EOF’s programs.	a. Three Terms of Reference drafted (c.10-15 pages each) for the procurement of evaluation firms, in consultation with each program team. b. Participate in the selection process to procure evaluation firms, through providing written comments on received bids (estimated 15 bids for each of the 3 programs, 10 pages per proposal), and participating in follow-up calls with evaluation firms to ask questions about their proposals.	52 days (12 days to draft TORs, 45 days for the selection process)	Two programs by the end of 2024, and the third program by the end of March 2025
Deliverable 2: Technical and strategic advice to the program teams on the definition of the evaluation methodology and protocols for each program.	Draft a 10–15-page written proposal per program (3 programs in total) on the best evaluation method for each program, recommendation of protocols and estimated budget, in close collaboration with each country program team and program team’s leadership. Questions for decision making include decisions around experimental, quasi-experimental and observational methods, calculation of standard deviation improvements in learning, assessment of benchmark data of improved results in similar programs for decision on target setting.	60 days (20 pages per proposal)	Two programs by the end of 2024, and the third program by the end of March 2025
Deliverable 3: Technical and strategic advice to the program teams on the definition of the programs’ learning agenda scope.	This will include: the definition of research questions, data collection methods, tools to be used, learning opportunities on evaluation, in close coordination with the program teams and for the ECCE portfolio with the learning & engagement team. Conduct the technical assessment and support the consultation process to confirm and finalize the scope of the learning agenda for each program and the definition of data collection, analysis and reporting of findings during implementation. The expected output is a 5–10-page report per program (3 programs in total) on the recommended learning agenda scope, written in consultation with the program team and EOF leadership team.	30 days (10 per program)	By the end of the contract
Deliverable 4: Technical support to evaluation firms through the programs’ implementation.	a. Join monthly calls between the program team and evaluation firms (one monthly call for each of the three programs, estimated 90 minutes in length) to provide technical advice on the implementation of the evaluation. b. Review evaluation and learning agenda reports, fieldwork preparation materials, results reports and fieldwork reports (circa. 20 pages per program) on a quarterly basis to help ensure a high quality in every evaluation cycle. c. Support the program team to make strategic decisions when issues arise (e.g., paying for significance or not, implications of using a cross-section vs tracked cohort on the statistical power, lack of transparency of results, etc.).	53 days (9 days for meetings with evaluation firms, 24 days for reviewing reports on a quarterly basis, 20 days for supporting with evaluation issues as they arise)
TOTAL ESTIMATED WORKING DAYS	195

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

• An advanced degree is required in education, economics, statistics or a related field with a strong quantitative research component.
• A minimum of 10 years is required of progressively responsible experience in quantitative research, with a focus on education programs in international development contexts.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing quantitative research studies and impact evaluations, including experience with experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, survey methods, and statistical analysis.
• Experience with integrating quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods to provide comprehensive analysis of program impact.
• Demonstrated track record of designing MEL frameworks, methodologies and tools, and leading complex MEL initiatives, including impact evaluations and performance monitoring of large-scale programs.
• Previous experience or familiarity with piloting, adaptation and validation of measurement tools in education.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage research projects from conception to completion, allocate resources effectively, and meet deadlines, working effectively with external evaluation firms and internal teams.
• Experience working in complex contexts and managing competing priorities from different stakeholders (e.g., governments, evaluation firms, grantees, etc.), with a collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively and manage competing priorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex technical information to diverse audiences. Capacity to communicate highly technical pieces in a simple manner to non-technical audiences.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

DESIRED REQUIREMENTS

• Experience in innovative financing, in particular with Results Based Financing (RBF) instruments or incentive structures, is desirable.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Interested candidates are required to fully complete their application profile, upload a cover letter and their financial proposal (daily fee rate in USD).

Applications with incomplete profile and without a financial proposal will not be considered.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.