Consultant of GIGA initiative, individual contract, Home Based, Brazil

Background & Rationale

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020, Brazil rapidly became one of the most affected countries globally. Up until April 2021, around 13.5 million cases had been confirmed and 353,000 people had died of the disease, the second highest number of coronavirus-related deaths. Because of COVID-19, most schools have been closed since mid-March 2020. This had a strong impact on children and adolescents, affecting the learning, the mental health, the access to nutrition and the protection against violence. According to the PNAD Survey (National Household Sample Survey) on Covid-19, in October 2020, 3.8% (1,380,891) was the percentage of students aged 6 to 17 who were not attending school (face-to-face and/or distance learning) – which is higher than the national average for 2019 (2%). In addition to the students who were not attending school, other 4,125,429 claimed they were enrolled in school, but did not have access to school activities and were not on vacation. Thus, it is estimated that over 5.5 million children and adolescents were denied their right to education in Brazil in 2020.

The closing of schools and other social distancing measures increased the risk of children and adolescents suffering or witnessing violence at home, including sexual violence, and being subjected to child labour. Disengagement from studies can also increase the exposure of adolescents to violence in their communities. The closing of schools jeopardizes the contact between children that are victims of abuse and the adults – such as teachers – that can recognize the signs of violence and report the cases to the child protection system. All these experiences, added to the personal, family and community life conditions prior to the crisis, will also have an impact on the psychosocial health of children, adolescents, and their caregivers. In addition to the closing of schools, other services that directly assist children and adolescents were also impacted, including services that support victims of violence. Some of them interrupted face-to-face activities or had to reduce the workforce to protect high-risk employees.

These impacts were added to an already challenging scenario. Although Brazil has advanced in all education-related indicators in the last three decades, only 62.2% of Brazilian municipalities met the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) target, a proxy indicator of the quality of primary public education. The rate of students set back in the country is currently 9.2% but is 50% higher for some non-white groups.

Access to technology is an important starting point to overcome socio-digital inequalities, as it is the first level to combat digital exclusion. However, we must also face two other levels of digital exclusion: the conditions of technology use (NIC.br, 2018 apud. Hargittai, 2002; van Deursen & van Dijk, 2015b); and the difference in accessing social rights within the municipality (NIC.br, 2018).

Despite advances in access to technology, other socio-digital inequalities must be faced. To this end, it is essential to ensure that young people living in areas of high vulnerability use ICT (Information and Communications Technology) more efficiently to develop projects that positively impact their community.

For every child, innovate…

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF’s Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world’s children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

• Connecting youth communities (or more broadly — anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
• Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach — in a traditionally risk-averse field — to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.
• Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

The Office of Innovation specifically looks to form partnerships around frontier technologies (like drones and UAVs, blockchain, 21st century skills, urban technologies, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, or 3D-Printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion person needs – and to identify how they can grow and scale profitably and inclusively.  

How can you make a difference?  

According to the International Telecommunication Union – ITU, nearly 3.7 billion people remain unconnected from the internet, and by extension, unconnected to digital products and services that could dramatically improve their lives. Approximately 29% of 18-24 year-olds, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have digital access (~360m people) and thereby lack access to the same information, opportunity and choice as their more-connected peers. Unless things change, a big part of this rapidly growing group of young people is in danger of being left behind, excluded from the modern digital world.  

Giga is a joint initiative of UNICEF and United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to connect every school to the internet, and every young person to information, opportunity and choice.

According to the ITU, nearly 3.7 billion people remain unable to access the internet and disconnected from digital solutions that could dramatically improve their lives. This limits them from accessing the same information, opportunity and choice as their more-connected peers. Unless things change, a big part of this rapidly growing group of young people is in danger of being left behind – excluded from the modern digital world.

The key objective of Giga is to connect 2 million schools and approximately 500 million children and youth by the end of 2025 by: using a strong data infrastructure to identify unmet demand and monitor the quality of connectivity; developing sustainable financing models that will address current market failures in terms of infrastructure and pricing; and using suitable new technology to extend the reach.

Giga has 4 areas in which it can provide support:

• Map the location and connectivity status of all schools in the country, monitor the quality of connectivity in real-time and estimate the financial needs to bridge the digital divide in education.
• Develop structured and blended finance models to attract private and public investment to connect all schools in the country to the Internet.
• Advise on procurement processes for connectivity (i.e., aggregating demand for connectivity, launching a common bid, among others) to make the most efficient use of investments.
• Empower young people with Digital Public Goods, or open-source software solutions, that can support education, health, and the SDG agenda.

To accelerate the deployment of Giga in Brazil there is a need of a national coordinator who will provide technical operational and administrative support to UNICEF Brazil in implementing Giga initiative in Brazil.

Purpose

Under the direct supervision of the UNICEF Chief of Education, the consultant will provide technical support for UNICEF. The specific objective of this consultancy is to provide technical, operational and administrative support to UNICEF Brazil in implementing the Giga initiative in Brazil.  S/he will act as the focal point and project coordinator of Giga project in Brazil. S/he will interact with the different programmatic sections and local stakeholders (government actors, partner NGOs) in the country, and coordinate and execute the required activities to help complete the work under Giga in Brazil.

Expected results: (measurable results)

Result 1: Act as primary Giga focal point for coordination of work of relevant government counterparts, GIGA, International Telecommunication Union – ITU and UNICEF.

1. Manage the GIGA project at National level.
2. Support on engagement with Brazilian government partners to facilitate access and use of relevant Digital Public Goods (DPGs) for learning as requested by the government (data science for identifying learning gaps, applications for students and teachers, etc.).
3. Develop relationships with counterparts in relevant government bodies, and in the private sector and other corporates, to: create a pitch deck of what their plans, rollout strategy for connectivity, and financing flows; Identify opportunities; Connect with and cultivate potential partnerships opportunities.

Result 2: Support UNICEF’s implementation of pilots and testing of sustainable financing and community connectivity models.

1. Coordinate the activities related to the ‘mapping’ pillar of GIGA in the country.
2. Coordinate the processes to build the bids and the financial models for connectivity in the region.

Result 3: Development of a governance framework for the Giga initiative in the country.

1. Support integration of Brazilian’s connectivity monitoring platform and UNICEF’s GIGA initiative.
2. Support communication and branding of the Giga initiative based on the global strategy.
3. Support UNICEF Brazil to provide critical input in design for major GIGA events in 2020-2021 in close collaboration with GIGA Country Engagement team in New York.

 Result 4: Coordinate the activities related to the ‘Empower young people with Digital Public Goods’ pillar of Giga including activity on conducting Needs assessment in DPG;

1. Coordinate the activities related to the ‘Mapping’ pillar of Giga at country level.
2. Support for technology projects and hybrid education.
3. Evaluation of materials.
4. Preparation of technical documents

 Deliverables

 The services included in the contract will be delivered continuously, with the same intensity throughout the months. The results will be evaluated by the following deliverables[1]:

 TIMEFRAME

 Start date:   May/2021                        End date:  Abril/2022

 

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

•  Punctuality in meeting deadlines.
• Quality of the content produced.
• Timely provision of the deliverables.
• The monthly reports shall be subject to review and approval by UNICEF after delivery by the Individual Contractor. If needed, revisions and alterations may be requested by UNICEF related to quality and technical depth parameters. Only after final clearance from the UNICEF Brazil, will the payment be processed.
• Activity reports should be submitted with frequency lists of meetings and / or events, minutes of meetings with referrals agreed, photographic record with permission to use image according to UNICEF standard and life histories.
• If the product’s delivery date is at the weekend or on a public holiday, it must be delivered on the next following business day.
• UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines.

 

Key competences

3 Core Values: Diversity and Inclusion, Integrity, Commitment.

3 Core Competencies: Communication, Working with People, Drive for Results.

6 Functional Competencies:  Applying Technical Expertise, Analysing, Formulating Strategies & Concepts, Planning and Organizing, Relating and Networking, Coping with Pressure and Setbacks.

 

Technical background and experience required 

• University degree and master’s degree and/or PhD in Engineering, Technologie, Communication, or another relevant field.
• Minimum 7 years’ work experience at digital culture, hybrid education, e-learning, distance education, training processes and/or instructional design.
• Background and familiarity with digital and blended learning, connectivity, computer, and database literacy.
• Background and familiarity with international human rights, children’s rights, child protection and education policies are an asset.
• Fluency in Portuguese and English (verbal and written).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

General Conditions: Procedures and Logistics 

• UNICEF will provide all required core equipment and material for fulfilling his duty, including computer
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the consultant or individual Contractor
• Consultants / ICs will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.

Payment of Fee

• The payment will be based on submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Insurance and health coverage

• The contractor is fully responsible for arranging, at his or her own expenses, such life, health and other forms of insurance covering the term of the contract as he or she considers appropriate.
• The contractor is not eligible to participate in the life or health insurance schemes available to UNICEF and United Nations staff members.

 Restrictions

• Consultants and individual contractors may not receive training at the expense of UNICEF.  Notwithstanding, consultants and individual contracts must complete the applicable mandatory trainings. 
• In case of government officials, the contract cannot be issued without prior written clearance by the Government​, or unless on leave without pay.

 

UNICEF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.