Accessible Digital Textbook Project Consultant, LAC Regional Office

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 

All children can learn and should be given the opportunity to reach their full potential, but most children with disabilities are out of school and lack access to inclusive quality learning. SDG 4 guarantees universal access to inclusive and equitable quality education for all. To make SDG4 real for all children including children with disabilities, quality, inclusive education, accessible and affordable learning materials are required. An accessible digital textbook gives all learners, including those with disabilities, access to information in alternative accessible formats therefore ensuring better access to the learning process and enhanced educational outcomes in an inclusive school setting even in low resource contexts as demonstrated through pilots in Uganda, Kenya and other countries. Through specific features in digital formats, printed books have been made accessible to learners who are blind or have low vision, those who are deaf or hard of hearing, those who have intellectual or developmental disabilities or learning disabilities, or those who prefer to access information without visual input. By bringing together global and local writers, publishers, teachers, organizations of persons with disabilities (OPD), technology developers, MOE representatives and other stakeholders, the initiative ensures the development of the standards and guidelines needed to produce textbooks and learning materials in accessible digital formats and languages.

Though the exact number remains unknown and more recent data are not available, an estimated 93 to 150 million children under 18 years of age worldwide have disabilities (WHO, 2011). Children with disabilities remain one of the most marginalized and excluded groups and face multiple barriers and challenges related to accessing education. In Kenya, for example, estimates stress that 80 per cent of children with disabilities are out of school. In Uganda, only 9 per cent of children with disabilities are enrolled in primary school as opposed to 93.2 per cent for those without disabilities.

In addition, lack of access to quality education continues to be one of the largest challenges for children with disabilities. In accessible education facilities, inflexible curricula, the lack of assistive devices, stigma and discrimination, inaccessible learning materials and teachers who are not yet prepared to support diverse learning needs in the classroom can all serve as major barriers to the education of students with disabilities. The lack of these essential components can result in students not enrolling in schools, dropping out or remaining in school but not achieving their full developmental potential.

Accessible digital textbooks can help address the issue of accessible learning materials, which is one of many elements needed to promote an inclusive learning environment for students with disabilities. All students learn differently so giving access to digital textbooks using Universal Design for Learning principles can answer that need. The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to education fails to recognize the various learning styles that benefit different learners, including those with disabilities. As a result, teaching methods tend to address only one or two learning styles, often leaving the other students frustrated, less engaged and less motivated to learn. Providing differentiated learning, and/or providing instruction and materials that meet different learning styles, can help improve learning outcomes. 

The initiative has been world-wide piloted in 6 countries, including 3 in the LAC Region, and UNICEF technically and financially supported them at different levels.

LACRO together with the COs’ teams will continue to address the need to eliminate barriers and seek innovative tools for effectively include all types of learners in the education system. We have learned from the experiences undertaken by Paraguay, Uruguay and Nicaragua with this initiative, that ADTs could be powerful and positive tools to engages all learners through different experiences. The regional package of accessible activities will reach 350,000 children in grades 1-2 over the course of 3 years.  While the early stages of the initiative will continue to focus on the learning materials specific to the foundational years of education, including pre-school and the early grades of primary school, the goal is for all learning materials to be made available in accessible digital formats.

In this regard LACRO will accompany this global initiative with the following regional actions to ensure successful and sustainable outcomes:

• Create a regional repository with high-quality cataloging and multipurpose accessibility.
• Technical assistance and systematization to exchange of experiences.
• Additionally, to enhance the initiative, LACRO will bring in partnerships with writers, publishers, teachers, DPOs, technology developers, MOE representatives of the countries involved and other key stakeholders in education. This will constitute a regional network that not only will contribute to a compilation of learning materials, but it will also create a new synergy around the concept of education in diversity.
• LACRO will also enhance its communication strategy towards ADTs and its added value to develop a diversity inclusive culture. We want to continue raising awareness within and outside the organization and promote the alignment of the ADT across UNICEF innovations in Education.

For more information on UNICEF’s work, visit www.unicef.org/lac.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of the Assignment

Under the supervision of the LACRO Education Specialist [Inclusion], and work in close collaboration with colleagues and counterparts, the consultant will serve as the coordinator for the scaling of the “Accessible digital textbooks for all’’ in the Latin and Caribbean Region, including managing the pilots in Jamaica, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Specific Tasks:

Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:
• Under the guidance of the supervisor, the consultant will manage and implement the global UNICEF project focusing on the development and strengthening of the ADT in LACRO. This includes effective and timely communication and coordination of activities, meetings, and tasks with the UNICEF Inclusive Education Specialist and as well as with external actors (e.g. Daisy Consortium, technical task team, reviewers, implementing partners), hiring of consultant, website development staff and donors. This also includes tracking progress on the workplan, activities, budgets and expenses in coordination with UNICEF finance and UNICEF Education team in LACRO.
• Support 4 countries to implement or strengthen the ADT project with the MoE and stakeholders within a sustainable ecosystem. This includes supporting the country analysis and development of workplans, budgets, trainings, knowledge management systems, process, and technical support, following the guidance from the Emerging Lessons document developed at HQ level.
• Develop and manage a regional repository of accessible content in all local languages (sign language videos, image with image descriptions, UDL activity templates, tutorials, etc.)
• Explore on best digital and strategic approaches for scale up in the region.
• Establish and coordinate a technical task force on ADT in the region and establish strong partnerships with writers, publishers, teachers, DPOs, technology developers, MOE representatives of the countries involved and other key stakeholders in education.
• Prepare a proposal on how to promote the alignment of the ADT across UNICEF innovations (e.g. Learning Passport, GIGA) and other organizations.
• Manage and support translations of online resources and tools.
• Recommend how to prioritize accessible user features of the ADT for all digital platform and support its development with contractors;
• Collaborate with others in the UNICEF Education, Disability and Innovation team and across UNICEF sectors on development, scale up and utilization of ADT across relevant UNICEF programming.
• Documentation and reporting: produce high quality and comprehensive reports and presentations including donor reports.
• Visibility and Communications: Support the development of a communication strategy on the ADT, including external communication materials and articles (e.g. website content, blogs, handouts) about this project in coordination with COs and MoEs involved. Support UNICEF representation with external actors.

Workplace: This consultancy is remote, home-based.

Duration: This contract is expected to last 10 months, with an estimated start date of 1 July 2021.

How to apply:  Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter, Master’s Degree, and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

 

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

• Masters in Inclusive Education, Disability studies, Occupational therapy, technology and innovation in Education, Public Health or any related topics.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in disability and inclusion project management, and coordination, with experience in inclusive education and technology innovations.
• Training and facilitating experience required.
• Demonstrated capacity in writing skills and ability to support in advocacy and representation of an international organization with different stakeholders.
• Strong inter-agency collaboration and project management skills.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Proficiency in English and Spanish is required. Proficiency in Portuguese and/or French will be an asset. 

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract 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 and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors 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.