Junior Consultant_Education (PLS) Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) Review

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Remote

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Consultant

Duration of contract : 3 months

Recruitment open to :  External candidates 

Application Deadline (Midnight Duty Station Time) : 19 July 2025

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

Background

The Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) is a cultural and educational initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Dubai, to contribute to the creation of a knowledgeable, informed, and critically thinking generation in the Arab world. It is one of the activities of the Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI).

More specifically, the ARC aims to respond to the issue of low reading skills and to foster literacy as a cornerstone of individual and societal progress by addressing major barriers, such as limited access to books, high costs of books, and an education system often focused on rote learning through:

• Promoting sustainable reading habits.
• Developing critical literacy and creative thinking skills.
• Enhancing cultural awareness among students.

Long Description

Since 2015, eight editions of the ARC have been implemented. The initiative has engaged more than 131 million students, hundreds of thousands of schools, and countless dedicated educators in 50 countries, especially in the Arab region. 

In this context, a review of the ARC will be conducted to understand how the initiative has influenced children’s reading habits and reading cultures across participating communities in selected Arabic-speaking countries. This study examines the ARC’s transformative potential to offer valuable insights into how this large-scale, cross-country initiative empowers children and young people and fosters cultural understanding. These findings may help demonstrate its contribution to building a brighter future and lay the groundwork for the initiative’s potential expansion.

Objectives and scope

The main objectives of the review are to understand the following dimensions of the ARC initiative in several selected countries.

• Relevance and effectiveness of the ARC initiative and its governance: The review aims to generate insights into the relevance and effectiveness of ARC activities and governance.
• Participation and reading habits. The review aims to generate a cross-time comparison on the ARC participation (e.g. students and countries participating in 2015 and 2024) and reading data (e.g. time spent on reading, number of books read, etc.).
• Socio-cultural context and community engagement. The review aims to examine 1) literate environments and socio-cultural contexts which might have impacted ARC participation; and 2) ARC’s role in shaping learner’s engagement in socio-cultural activities within their communities and with families and peers.
• Policy implications. The review will also explore implications of ARC for the enhancement of national education policies, especially the integration of ARC into national curricula and/or strengthening of their reading component and required actions, paying attention to the alignment of curricula, pedagogies and assessments.

Expected outputs

The expected outputs of the review are as follows: 

• A comprehensive report which includes the results of the review of the ARC, noteworthy cases of ARC practices and a set of evidence-based recommendations.
• A policy brief which highlights key findings and recommendations for policymakers.

Design and Methodology

Review design

This review will adopt a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research approaches for a comprehensive analysis of data and information. UNESCO will oversee review-related activities. The data collection process will be facilitated by UNESCO through its field networks and contacts with governments, while MBRGI will mobilize its coordinators and other contacts as necessary. The draft document on review design and methods of data collection and analysis will be further developed with a senior consultant, in consultation with a Technical Reference Group (TRG), co-chaired by representatives of UNESCO and MBRGI and composed of experts.

Data collection 

In addition to ARC’s existing data, new data will be collected through surveys and interviews. The draft surveys, interview questions and reference documents for data collectors and respondents will be peer-reviewed by the Technical Reference Group (TRG) and will be pilot tested with a small sample group before their full deployment, to ensure the clarity and relevance of the tools.

• Quantitative data could be gained through: 1) ARC registration information which includes the country, school, name, age, date of birth, gender, region/district of the school, type of the school (public/private) of student participants. (Sample data will be shared by MBRGI); and 2) online surveys composed exclusively of closed-ended questions with scale-based responses to facilitate quantitative analysis except for 1-2 open questions at the end.

• Qualitative data will be collected via:1) Semi-structured Interviews with students, teachers, parents, ARC national coordinators and policymakers to collect in-depth information and their perceptions about the ARC programme and its implementation. These interviews will also facilitate the collection of personal stories (including those from previous winners); 2) 1-2 open questions that will appear at the end of the above-mentioned surveys.

The collected data, where possible, will be disaggregated by variables (e.g., gender, age, region, socio-economic background) to enable the study to provide comparative and more detailed analysis, especially for understanding the dimensions of inclusion, equity and equality of key findings.  

Main responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Director of the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems of UNESCO’s Education Sector (ED/PLS), and overall supervision by the Chief of the Section of Youth, Literacy and Skills Development (ED/PLS/YLS), who will liaise with the Chief of the Sections of Education Policies (ED/PLS/EDP) within the Division, the junior consultants will support and work in close collaboration with a senior consultant, who will lead the evaluation. The incumbents will also work closely with MBRGI country coordinators where necessary.

Main tasks

The junior consultants are expected to provide all necessary support for the delivery of the following items upon the guidance and feedback of the senior consultant.  

Inception phase:

1. Implementing activities to prepare the ground for the evaluation, including participating in a kick-off meeting with the Technical Reference Group (TRG), collecting relevant documents and the available data from the student registration platform, mapping stakeholders, and conducting scoping interviews. 
2. Finalizing the review design (including a Theory of Change) and an evaluation matrix with key questions, data collection methods, and data sources.

Instrument development and data collection phase:

1. Developing data collection tools, namely interview protocols and surveys, as well as guidance documents for data collectors and respondents.
2. Conducting a peer review of data collection instruments by members of the TRG (technical reference group).
3. Implementing a pilot test of all instruments with small samples of students, teachers, school coordinators, and other identified stakeholders.
4. Designing the sampling strategy for schools, students, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders.
5. Conducting the online and in-person data collection with all respondent groups.

Analysis and report drafting phase:

1. Cleaning and analysis of data from a student registration platform, surveys and interviews.
2. Preparing the draft and final report of the review (between 50 and 60 pages, excluding annexes: 320 words per page) in English with Annexes, including a list of references, a list of interviewees, tools, case studies and a brief survey report.    
3. Preparing 2 pagers and 2 PowerPoint slide decks to present the key findings and corresponding power point documents.

Responsibilities

UNESCO will facilitate the data collection process, including contacts with concerned governments and access to the various respondent groups, while MBRGI will mobilize its ARC coordinators to suppport the process. The consultants will be responsible for logistics, including space for work, relevant software for quantitative and qualitative data analysis, telecommunications and printing of documents. UNESCO will facilitate travel arrangements when necessary. The consultants will ensure the quality of work, considering TRG’s advice and guidance to be provided by UNESCO and MBRGI. UNESCO jointly with MBRGI will be responsible for ultimate quality assurance.

As an overarching principle, the consultants are requested to work under the supervision of UNESCO, which serves as the Secretariat for the review. The junior consultants shall provide all necessary support to the senior consultant to make sure the first draft submitted to UNESCO for appraisal and input and based on comments which would be provided by UNESCO and MBRGI, finalize the draft and submit the final version to UNESCO for its approval.

Compliance with the evaluation policies of the UN and UNESCO  

In line with UNESCO’s Evaluation Policy (2022-2029), the review will comply with the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation, UNEG Guidelines for Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations and UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation. The review consultant will have to ensure that ethical, human rights, inclusion including ‘Leaving no one behind (LNOB)’ promise, and gender equality principles are duly integrated in all consultations and at all stages of the review process. The junior consultants are expected to support the senior consultant to further develop the review methodology and propose a customized review framework, in accordance with 196 EX/12 Part I (Annex) presented in an evaluation matrix to guide the evaluation exercise.  The review report will take into account the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports and the UNESCO Evaluation Manual.

Deliverables 

The junior consultants are expected to provide all necessary support for the delivery of the following items upon the instruction of the senior consultant.

Note: The timeline of implementation may be adjusted, subject to approval, to accommodate additional administrative requirements or other unforeseen circumstances.

Required qualifications and experience

The proposed review is highly specialized and requires demonstrated expertise and excellent knowledge in the field of education and lifelong learning, as well as review and monitoring. Hence, the consultants are required to possess the following qualifications and experience.

Academic background 

• A master’s degree (or equivalent) in education, educational psychology, curriculum & instruction, measurement, literacy, social sciences, or other relevant areas.
• PhD candidates or recent graduates are also eligible.

Professional Experience

• At least 2 years of relevant experience in research, education, project assistance, or monitoring activities;
• Previous experience in conducting surveys or interviews is desirable.

Skills/competences 

• Familiarity with basic qualitative and quantitative data collection methods;
• Excellent analytical and writing skills, as well as oral communication skills;
• Ability to work independently and as a team member; 
• Strong organizational and coordination skills, as well as the ability to meet deadlines;
• Good interpersonal skills to interact with wide-ranging stakeholders, notably children, parents, educators, project managers and policymakers;
• Excellent command of Arabic and working proficiency in English.

Other requirements

• No prior involvement in the design, implementation, management, and/or monitoring of the activities that will be the object of this contract.
• Strong understanding of the socio-cultural contexts of the Arab States. The incumbents are preferably from the region.

Moreover, it is desirable that the consultant possess the following qualifications and characteristics:

• Knowledge of UNESCO’s work and the UN system;
• Previous experience in literacy and education projects;
• Experience working in multicultural and multilingual settings;
• Experience in working in the Arab region.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

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SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Please note that the duration of this consultancy is 3 months (August - October 2025). All applications should be submitted in English to Literacy@unesco.org by 19 July 2025 COB in GMT.  Please label the subject line ‘Consultancy work for the ARC Evaluation_ junior consultant’.

Interested experts are kindly requested to submit the following documents in their applications: 

1. Motivation letter with concrete examples to demonstrate the requested technical skills. The letter shall not exceed 2 pages.
2. Curriculum vitae (CV) 
3. A sample of previous work

The selection of a consultant will be made considering the following elements: 1) technical expertise, and 2) writing and analytical skills

The evaluation of candidates is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice, and may include tests and/or assessments, as well as an interview. UNESCO uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of candidates.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be further contacted. The candidates in the final selection step will be subject to reference checks based on the information provided. For any inquires and additional information, please contact: literacy@unesco.org. Thank you in advance for your interest in this work. We are looking forward to receiving your applications.

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