CSESI Policy and Planning Consultant

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education

Duty Station: Suva, Fiji

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non - Staff Consultant

Duration of contract : 7 - 11 months

Recruitment open to : External Candidate Only

Application Deadline (Midnight Duty Station Time) : 21 - 11 - 2025

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

CSESI Project Background

Background and rationale

Funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), CSESI seeks to enhance countries’ capacities to mainstream climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability into education sector plans, budgets and strategies as well as to enhance education ministry capacity for cross-sectoral coordination on climate and environment-related policy and programming. The Pacific is one of the priority regions for the Initiative. CSESI is built around seven component areas outlined further in this work program and seeks to complement and inform other GPE and regional initiatives.

This work program was developed by CSESI partners (Save the Children, UNESCO-ESD and UNESCO-IIEP) based on consultations held in the Pacific from June to December 2024. The Pacific Heads of Education Systems (PHES), which forms a group of decision makers in the education sector across 15 Pacific islands countries and territories, endorsed the work program on 13 February 2025 during the 26 PHES consultation meeting, hosted by UNESCO Pacific and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in Pohnpei, FSM. 

The work in the Pacific will be undertaken as a regional initiative, involving stakeholders and participants from 15 Pacific Island States (Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guineau, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu). A cohort of participants from each country will be nominated/selected by each country to join the activities. The participants will include education planning officials and data and information management specialists.

Project Objectives

The overarching aim of the initiative is to enhance countries’ capacities to mainstream climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability into education sector plans, budgets and strategies as well as to enhance education ministry capacity for cross-sectoral coordination on climate and environment-related policy and programming. 

The objective of the work covered in this consultancy is to enhance the capacities of ministry of education officials across the Pacific region to better plan for climate change, and to better translate policies and plans into effective implementation utilizing data, evidence and traditional knowledge systems and acknowledging intersectional vulnerabilities (e.g., geographical location, vulnerable groups, gender).

Scope of the Work

The work covered in this consultancy is organized around two components, namely: 1. evidence-based planning and policies and 2. Climate data and evidence for educational planning. These components will be delivered as a joint regional capacity building programme that will include online meetings and discussions, self-paced individual/group assignments, and a study visit to a Pacific island.

1. Evidence-based policy and plans 

The first component includes two key activities: 1) Co-host three sub-regional meetings as part of the Education Policy and Planning Fono (EdPP Fono) organized by the USP IoE to discuss and develop tools for climate resilient educational planning in the Pacific.

2. Climate data and evidence for educational planning

As part of component four, UNESCO IIEP will 1) Leverage the Wansolwara Platform, a dialogic and relational space within the Pacific regional Education Framework (PacREF), to discuss and identify the data tools Pacific Island Countries are using and identify the challenges and gaps they are facing to foster climate sensitive data systems, and 2) Facilitate a study tour in a targeted country to allow up to three Pacific Island Countries to better integrate climate change considerations, discuss concrete challenges and promising practices and draft action plans for climate resilient data systems. 

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

Under the overall authority of the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for the Pacific States, and the direct supervision of the Education Programme Specialist, and in close collaboration with the National Project Officer for the PacREF and CSESI projects and Programme Specialists from UNESCO IIEP,the Technical Consultant will lead the implementation of these activities. More specifically, this will include:

1. Develop content for three sub-regional meetings as part of the forthcoming EdPP Fono

The current project design envisions a series of regional-level technical meetings and workshops. The Technical Consultant will lead the development of materials for these technical meetings and workshops (e.g. agenda, list of participants, participant learning materials), in collaboration with all partners.  The EdPP Fono, which is led by USP IoE, serves as a community of practice of Pacific education planners and managers, which meets on a regular basis in the Pacific’s sub-regions to share experiences and strengthen skills and knowledge across the region on key topics around education policy and planning. The next regional Fono will take place in 2025. IIEP proposes to co-facilitate three sub-regional meetings (Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia) as part of the forthcoming EdPP Fono, integrating and focusing on climate smart education solutions in policy and planning to ensure that no one is left behind. The sub-regional meetings as part of this Fono will take place in person and online and follow-up meetings may subsequently be organized online.

2. Co-facilitate three sub-regional meetings as part of the forthcoming EdPP Fono to discuss and develop tools for climate resilient educational planning in the region  

These subregional meetings will lead to: 1) the identification of the challenges that may hinder the implementation of policies and plans in the region, and 2) the development of policy and planning tools strengthening climate resilience in education to institutionalize climate smart action in the education sector across the region. Such tools may, for instance, include templates for risk analyses, a repository of climate smart planning lessons and experiences, identification of climate resilient indicators to be included in EMIS/data collection mechanisms and sector plans; guidance on costing climate resilient initiatives, to name a few.

Long Description

3. Leverage the Wansolwara Platform (online) to discuss and identify the tools PICs are currently using to identify schools at risk, and to identify the challenges they are facing and the gaps to foster climate sensitive data systems.

The mapping of current practices will help identify ministries of education that are well advanced in the development and operationalisation of climate sensitive data systems, and ministries of education that are less advanced but would welcome additional technical support. The mapping will link to the Pacific Climate Change Portal  https://www.pacificclimatechange.net/, which is embedded in the larger Pacific Data hub, which collates data and datasets across multiple sectors including education (https://pacificdata.org/).

4. Facilitate a study tour in a targeted country to allow up to 3 PICs to better integrate climate change considerations, discuss concrete challenges and promising practices and draft action plans for climate resilient data systems.

Based on the findings of the Wansolwara gathering on climate sensitive data systems, IIEP will organize a study tour that builds on a previous study tour facilitated by UNESCO and partners through PacREF on EMIS, strengthening initial exchange and learning across Pacific data staff. The planned study tour would include exchange sessions at country level: 1) to analyse the data landscape at country level and understand how climate change is captured by the education management information system, 2) to understand how such data is used by the ministry of education and its partners to inform climate resilient educational planning, as well as specific brainstorming sessions on challenges and best practices to ensure the integration of climate and educational data.

This study tour would result in the development of a context-specific action plan for each visiting country, which would be produced by the ministry of education’s relevant department(s) with the technical support of IIEP. Particular attention will be given to identified weaknesses of Pacific education data systems highlighted by the Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) in 2023 and the need for disaggregated data to serve the most marginalized populations in the Pacific to ensure gender parity and inclusive participation.

Long Description

5. Ensure regular follow up with relevant stakeholders

The Technical consultant will also be tasked with following up on implementation and progress with relevant regional partners, governments and consultants, contracted by UNESCO to ensure continued support. This may include consolidating and sharing relevant documents, monitoring progress on tasks to be accomplished between events and seeking input from stakeholders as relevant. It will also include a monthly meeting with UNESCO ESD and IIEP and other relevant partners to discuss progress, issues, and develop remedial/joint actions.

6. Monitor project activities and provide quarterly progress reports

All activities will be closely monitored over time. The Technical consultant will be tasked with preparing a concise outcome report after each workshop or technical meeting. The monitoring methodology will be designed at an early stage of the project, and the Technical consultant will be tasked with disseminating and collecting the monitoring questionnaires to relevant participants. In addition, the Technical consultant will provide quarterly progress reports on the outcomes of the various project activities including guidance on potential adjustments of ongoing and/or new areas for intervention based on regional developments. The quarterly reports will be addressed to the UNESCO and UNESCO-IIEP Programme Specialists leading the project.

7. Communicate effectively with all partners and contribute to the project’s reports 

The Technical consultant will provide inputs into “lessons learned” and reporting documents that will draw from the outcomes of the project to provide concrete policy and planning recommendations for ministry officials at regional and national levels. Further, the Technical consultant will represent UNESCO-IIEP in regional and national meetings to share information and progress and align CSESI activities with existing and emerging initiatives, such as PacREF. This also includes staying abreast of regional debates and innovative approaches to inform UNESCO’s decision makers to achieve sustainable and contextually relevant results.

Timetables and Deliverables

1. Submission of concept note, list of participants, and draft materials for first sub-regional workshop, Month 1
2. Submission of report for regional workshop (a) Month 2
3. Submission of concept note, list of participants, and draft materials for study visit, Month 3
4. Submission of concept note, list of participants, and draft materials for regional workshop (b), Month 4
5. Submission of report for regional workshop (b), Month 5
6. Submission of study visit report, Month 6
7. Submission of concept note and draft materials for regional workshop (c), Month 7 U
8. Submission of report for regional workshop (c), Month 8
9. Submission of country-specific action plans for data improvements, Month 9

• IIEP will cover all travel costs as and when travel to partner countries is needed.

Work Location

The Technical consultant can be located at the UNESCO Suva Office (with the option for remote work if required) , and will have regular engagement with UNESCO staff across the Pacific, HQ and IIEP as well as CSECI partner Save the Children.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Academic qualifications

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in the field of education, international development, social sciences or economics.

Years of relevant work experience

• At least ten years of experience in the field of education planning technical cooperation projects, in particular in the area of crisis-sensitive planning, of which preferably seven years acquired in the Pacific.

Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of the issues surrounding education in the context of developing and/or emerging countries, in particular of those related to educational planning and management in the Pacific.
• Confirmed understanding of contemporary developments in the global education arena and of effective strategies for improving educational planning and management, in particular in crisis-affected contexts.
• Ability to design, manage and implement development programmes/projects with considerable autonomy, related to climate change and education.
• Proven competencies to advise Member States on questions related to the role of education in preventing crisis and mitigating its effects.
• Ability to design, implement and lead training programmes and capacity development workshops.
• Ability to work with and lead multicultural teams.
• Ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Excellent ability to build and sustain effective partnerships inside and outside of the Organization.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
• Excellent IT skills, including knowledge of MS software (Word, Excel etc.)

Language requirement

• Excellent knowledge of English.

Submissions of Proposals

UNESCO invites individual consultants to submit:

1. Technical Proposal – including workplan, methodology, and demonstration of experience.
2. Financial Proposal – indicating estimated costs for all tasks.
3. Curriculum Vitae (CV) of the consultant.

Please submit your application through SuccessFactors (this platform). Only if you are unable to attach requirements in the system, please inform us at apia@unesco.org .

Queries of a technical nature about these TORS may be directed to: apia@unesco.org.

BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

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