Call for Proposals from Individual Consultants – Education (Amman, Jordan) contract

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Amman

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 1 to 6 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Duty Station Time) : 01-04-2025

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

1    BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES AND JUSTIFICATION

UNESCO is the United Nations agency entrusted with the mandate on education. As part of this role, it is the custodian of SDG4 at the global level, with prominent and extensive experience, knowledge and expertise in this field. Over the years, with the support of its specialized institutes (e.g. the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning – UNESCO-IIEP), the Organization has also positioned itself as a global pioneer in Education Sector Plan (ESP) development and monitoring processes. 

Since 2019, UNESCO has been implementing the System Strengthening Partnership programme (SSP) with Jordan’s Ministry of Education (MoE) under a Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) with the support of Canada, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland. The programme aims to improve evidence-based strategic policymaking, planning and coordination at the MoE. UNESCO is also the technical advisor for the Policy, Planning and Coordination Committee (PPCC). 

Following the extension of the SSP programme until 2025, to align with the Jordan’s extended Education Sector Plan (ESP), Jordan’s MoE requested UNESCO’s support through the SSP programme for the preparation of a new ESP starting in 2025. This request for support also included the development of Jordan’s first comprehensive Education Sector Analysis (ESA) following the internationally recognized and widely used UNESCO/IIEP methodology. The inclusion of the ESA and development of new ESP in the SSP workplan for 2023-2025 has already been endorsed by the SSP Steering Committee in November 2023, which is the legal body governing the MPTF-funded programme comprising of all four donors, MoE and UNESCO.  

In December 2023, Jordan became eligible to join the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). It subsequently became a member of GPE in the Spring of 2024, making it eligible for funds under the System Capacity Grant and the Multiplier. 

Following a consultative process, UNESCO was assigned as the grant agent by the Policy, which is Jordan’s equivalent structure to the Local Education Group (LEG) to support the Ministry of Education to finalize the ongoing Education Sector Analysis, prepare the new ESP, and develop a partnership compact. 

2.    PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Based on the above-mentioned context, UNESCO has been mandated to support the MoE with the development of the Jordan Partnership Compact under the GPE grant. The process will be led by the MoE, in collaboration with the PPCC, and will follow the GPE Partnership Compact Development Guidelines. 
The Partnership Compact development process is expected to take up to six months. It will be aligned to the planning processes that will be taking place for both the new Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and the new Executive Programme of the Economic Modernization Vision (EMV). 

The compact development process as well as the new ESP will be aligned to the Economic Modernization Vision and be guided by the education sector reform process that is currently taking place in Jordan, which will also define the structure of the new education Ministry and help in identifying the urgent priority reforms. 
The partnership compact development will also be done in a participatory, consultative and inclusive approach, to ensure the involvement, commitment, and ownership of the process of all education stakeholders in Jordan.
The priority reform identification for the GPE funding is expected to be done through the preparation of workshops and PPCC meetings that will take place alongside the ESP development. This will ensure that the identified reform priority is fully aligned with the ESP, and results of the ESA and has the needed flexibility to contribute to improving education service delivery at scale and is backed with the needed political will and measures to address all possible obstacles and risks.

UNESCO, as the technical advisor to the PPCC, will also support the MoE in forming the Task Team (TT) that is needed for the development process of the Partnership Compact. As previously agreed by the PPCC, the TT will rely on existing structures through the PPCC Advisory Group which is led by the MoE and includes representatives from the education development partners, the education sector working group and UNESCO. This group will be expanded to ensure the inclusion of experts on gender, disability and refugees as well as expertise on the chosen reform area.
The MoE, supported by UNESCO, and the TT will then lead a collaborative analytical process which starts with the Enabling Factors Analysis (EFA) focusing on the four enabling factors identified by GPE for system transformation. 
The TT will do the first screening questionnaire assessing the enabling factors and then will support the PPCC in doing the full EFA based on the chosen priority reform. 
The EFA will be done through a series of PPCC meetings (including ad-hoc meetings), and workshops and will build heavily on the results of the Education Sector Analysis that the MoE would have finalized by Spring of 2025 as well as the MoE Financial Diagnostic which took place in 2023-2024. 
These documents will also serve as the basis for the development of the new ESP as well as will inform the development of the new executive program of Jordan’s EMV. 
UNESCO, with the TT, will then conduct an EFA review, further analysing the strength and bottlenecks to the four enabling factor areas in relation to the chosen priority reform and will finalize the drafting of the compact following GPE’s revision and comments on the EFA. The draft version will be revised by the PPCC and upon endorsement shared with GPE. 

As per the GPE Guidelines for the Development of the Partnership Compact, the tentative outline of the Jordan Partnership Compact document will follow the below structure (to be confirmed with PPCC during the drafting):

I.    Introduction (approximately 500 words)
Partners and government counterparts involved; processes and consultations undertaken to ensure that the reform was identified through inclusive dialogue; existing policy frameworks, evidence, sector plans and dialogues that helped to identify the priority reform; summary of enabling factors analysis.

II.    Priority Reform Overview (approximately 2,000 words)
Description of the selected priority reform, highlighting its gender equality and inclusion aspects; rationale for the priority reform, including identification of the specific barriers to improved delivery, root causes and their interconnectedness with other sectors; explanation for how the priority reform advances system transformation, including its impact on advancing gender equality and its potential to leverage large-scale change.

III.    Enabling Factors Analysis (approximately 1,000 words)
Brief overview of the four enabling factors based on country dialogue and inputs from the Independent Technical Advisory Panel; actions to be taken to address gaps in the enabling factors, in particular those rated high-priority and strengthen them to support the achievement of the selected priority reform.

IV.    Delivering Education System Transformation (approximately 1,000 words)
Alignment of partner resources and GPE support; roles and responsibilities of country partners; GPE grants and other assets to be mobilized in support of the priority reform.

V.    Monitoring and Evaluation (approximately 1,500 words)
Theory of Change; selected indicators to measure key milestones along delivery pathways; description of evaluations or reviews that will be used to generate evidence on the implementation of compact priorities; mechanisms that partners will use for the joint learning from evidence and adaptation.

Annex: Statement of Endorsement by Government and country partners 
Mapping of partners’ funds and efforts in the education sector in Jordan 

Based on the approved agreement with GPE and timeline endorsed by the PPCC, the final partnership compact should be ready by Q3 of 2025 at the latest. 

3.    DUTIES/TASKS AND EXPECTED OUTPUT:

It is within the above-mentioned context, that UNESCO is seeking to hire an expert to develop Jordan’s Partnership Compact and perform the following tasks: 

•    Conduct Desk Review and support the development of the enabling factor analysis in liaison with the task team, including facilitation of workshop. These tasks include the identification of relevant documentation required to review the four enabling factors for system transformation to share with the taskforce team on: data & evidence, gender-responsive sector planning, policy and monitoring, sector coordination and coordinated financing and volume, equity and efficiency of domestic public funding.
•    Prepare and submit draft version of Enabling Factor Analysis for review of PPCC members, and finalize the analysis based on feedback from PPCC members. 
•    Conduct meetings with MoE staff and senior management  in close coordination with DCU and UNESCO.
•    Conduct meetings/focus groups with all stakeholders (Donors, NGOs, etc.)
•    Facilitate one to two workshops for the development of the partnership compact if needed. 
•    Deliver draft version of Partnership Compact including no more than 3 policy outcomes that if achieved, could result in transformation at a system level. 
•    Present draft Partnership Compact to PPCC and support submission to the Independent Technical Assessment Panel (ITAP) from GPE. 
•    Finalize and submit Partnership Compact based on feedback from ITAP and education stakeholders in Jordan.
•    Ensure all meetings related to Partnership Compact are adequately documented and minutes of meetings prepared.

 4. TIMETABLE AND DELIVERABLES

Education 
•    An Advanced University Degree (master’s or equivalent) in Education, International Development Studies, Social/Political Sciences or related fields. 

Work Experience 
•    Minimum 10 years of professional experience in the field of education, strategic planning, partnerships, coordination, or other relevant field, preferably in an international setting.
•    Previous experience working with Ministries of Education and partners is an asset .

Languages
•    Fluency in both English and Arabic is mandatory. 

Competencies and Skills 
•    Demonstrated understanding and experience in education sector planning and coordination 
•    Excellent demonstrated analytical, skills 
•    Excellent facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills
•    Excellent drafting skills, including ability to translate data and information into concrete and well-articulated priorities 
•    Ability to use inclusion and gender-lens throughout the whole process
•    Strong knowledge of Jordan education context is an asset 
•    Previous experience working with Global Partnership for Education is an asset.