CONTEXT

Since January 2021, UNESCO has been implementing the “Improving education in the Sahel region” project, with financial support from the European Union (EU). This project concerns five (05) countries in the Sahel, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania. It is part of the concern to achieve target 4.C of the Education 2030 action framework which aims “by 2030, to considerably increase the number of qualified teachers, in particular through international cooperation for the training of teachers. “teachers in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States”, through two major axes which are: i) governance and management of teaching staff; ii) improving initial and continuing training of teachers.

Indeed, these two components constitute essential links in the promotion of quality education accessible to all. In most of the Sahel countries, governance and personnel management are experiencing difficulties, the consequences of which include, among other things, the lack of qualified teaching staff, the poor distribution of teachers according to geographical areas, and a weakness in the monitoring system. and motivation of teachers’ careers. Furthermore, it emerges empirically that there is an insufficiency in the production and dissemination of data on teachers through relevant reports which could provide an overview of the teaching staff with a view to making decisions and /or to have elements of comparative analysis.

It is in this sense that at the level of component i: Governance and management of teaching staff, it is planned to identify the relevant data to be produced and disseminated in each country concerned.

CONSULTANT TASKS

These terms of reference specify the tasks to be carried out by the International Consultant to be recruited by UNESCO. Its main mission is to improve and finalize the work started by the national teams in producing a teacher dashboard as part of the Sahel project.
To deliver this expected result, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:

1. Carry out the documentary review and reread the report on the availability of data on teachers;
2. Produce 2 statistical tables (1 per country) on teachers in accordance with the defined model;
3. Automate the updating of dashboards based on the choice of data year and country;
4. Carry out the validation of statistical tables by the ministries in charge of education, partners, and possibly the National Institute of Statistics  in collaboration with UNESCO national project managers and the focal points of the project monitoring committees ;
5. Organize 2 training workshops for the national part in the production and updating of statistical tables and the analysis of indicators (1 per country);
6. Other possible tasks in accordance with the project and the objective of the mission, at the request of the project team based at UNESCO Dakar.

CHRONOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION OF TASKS

• The consultant will be recruited for a total of 45 working days.
• The consultant will be based at home and will work primarily remotely for a total of 45 business days.
• 2 missions per country for a total of 20 working days are envisaged as part of this consultancy: a mission at the start of the mission to meet the national counterpart and proceed to the selection of key indicators for the stabilization of the dashboard of teachers; another mission to train relevant officials of the national departments of the Ministry of Education and other selected members of the project monitoring committee in the production and regular updating of the teacher dashboard.
• The consultant will receive technical materials and advice from UNESCO Dakar to carry out the service. After an initial meeting with the national authorities, the consultant will submit the work plan for the service which must include a workshop for training the national party in updating statistical tables.
• Four (4) missions, two of 4 working days and two of six (6) working days each are planned as part of this consultation.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal candidate should have the following skills and experience:

• Statistical engineer, preferably with recognized experience in social statistics and national statistical systems, particularly in education management information systems (EMIS);
• Perfect mastery of the methodology for calculating, analyzing and interpreting school indicators;
• Good knowledge of SDG4 and African Union CESA 15-25 indicators;
• Good knowledge in the design and development of dashboards;
• 10 to 15 years of experience with administrative data as well as census and household survey data;
• Familiarity with the annual collection of education statistical data and with the production and analysis of education indicators in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Good report writing skills in French;
• Ability to work in Arabic and French is an asset;
• Good communication skills and be flexible.

DELIVERABLES

The consultant must present:

• The national statistics table/dashboard on teachers;
• The workshop report on the training of the national party in updating and analyzing data;
• The final report of the consultation.

FEES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Applicants are invited to indicate their daily expenses by sending their application directly in their CV. Payments will be made after validation of the deliverables by the UNESCO project team.

SKILLS (Fundamental / Managerial)