Learning Measurement Coordinator (UNOPS International Ind. Contractor)

Organisational context

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full time (100%) UNOPS position attached to UNHCR’s headquarters-based Education Section in Copenhagen, Denmark. Education is an integral part of protection for persons of concern to UNHCR, fifty percent of whom are children and youth. The Division of Resilience and Solutions (DRS), in close collaboration with the Regional Bureaus, is working on an integrated and holistic approach to support operations in implementing the policies and guidelines on education, especially in terms of solutions where education plays a large role in an individual’s ability to plan for their own future, and to contribute to society as whole.

Like all students around the world, refugee children and youth should have access to quality learning opportunities. Whilst significant inroads have been made into access to education, there is an urgent need to focus on quality. Globally more than half of all ten-year olds cannot read and understand a simple story[1]: for refugees who are already less likely to be in schools, the percentage is likely to be much higher.

Understanding learning outcomes is essential to providing remedial or catch up education, and both advocating for and practically supporting refugee children to enter the right grade, with the right support, in their host country.

Learning assessments are essential to improve learning outcomes. A recent report[2] showed that the majority of learning assessments do not gather data on refugee or IDP status and many learning assessments do not construct a sample to ensure inclusion of refugees and IDPs.

The position

There are three main challenges of which this project will concentrate on the second two:

1. Measuring achievement by and for teachers to improve practice;

2. Inclusion of refugees’ learning outcomes in national EMIS: This is an area with significant data gaps, which in turn creates challenges in being able to meet the needs of refugees. For the increasing number of refugee students who study in national schools, national education management information systems (EMIS) do not disaggregate enrolment data by international protection status. Little is therefore known about the basic status of students which necessarily creates the basis of understanding their learning. Disaggregation by international protection status is not only a technical issue related to EMIS, it is also a protection concern. In some contexts disaggregation can lead to discrimination, stigmatisation in the classroom or even life-threatening risk and must therefore be handled with the utmost care to assess and mitigate the protection risk, in line with UNHCR’s Data Protection Policy. In countries where refugees do not have access to national schools, a parallel system has to be put in place using the home country curriculum. In such a situation, organising learning assessments has proved very problematic for a number of protection and logistical issues, leading to the absence of assessment and therefore no certification of learning.

3. Globally available data and the inclusion of refugees into global debates on quality: At the global level, the reporting on refugee education is currently limited to estimates and analysis of trends of enrolment, based on data collected in a limited number of countries, with no information on the status of refugee learning. UNHCR has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to develop regular and sustainable international reporting on refugee education and is engaged in a partnership with UNICEF to strengthen national data systems to ensure refugee children are no longer invisible but are counted and can be included in plans and budgets. The three UN organisations are committed to the collection of quality refugee education data for inclusion into the overall reporting on SDG4, particularly on SDG4.5.[3]

By ensuring inclusion of refugee students into national learning assessments, national Ministries of Education, UNHCR and education partners will be able to monitor progress and apply necessary mitigating measures to enhance the quality of education. Thanks to the project, existing data on learning outcomes will be collected, analysed, related challenges identified, and solutions proposed through technical expertise, awareness raising and advocacy.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of the HQ-based Education Officer (Data & Statistics) and in collaboration with the Senior Education Officer (Data & Evidence) and the Chief of the Education Section, working in close cooperation with Data/Information Management, Data Protection and M&E colleagues in country operations and their respective Regional Bureaus, the Learning Measurement Coordinator will have the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Coordination of activities carried out under the project, ensuring that key project milestones are met.:

a. Management of the consultancy firm which will be recruited to conduct case studies in 3 different refugee contexts researched as part of this project (a country where refugee inclusion is being implemented, a country where refugees are not included in the national education system, a country where refugee students are included into national learning assessments).

b. Review of the inclusion of refugee students in international learning assessments.

c. Collaboration with UNICEF to compile lessons learned of the use of multi-stream data management systems to collect refugee education data.

d. Collaboration with UIS to develop a publication on SDG4 reporting on vulnerable groups.

1. In close collaboration with relevant staff in the Education Section and in accordance with UNHCR’s rules and procedures, support to the selection and recruitment of the consultancy firm.

2. Remote or in-country support to advocacy efforts at regional and country levels for inclusion of refugees into learning assessments.

3. Coordination and organisation of consultations, webinars and workshops (in person or remote) with Regional Bureaus, country operations and project partners.

4. Expansion of the evidence base on holistic learning (encompassing both academic and socio-emotional learning) outcomes for refugee children and youth.

5. Knowledge and learning dissemination within the Education Section and network of Regional Education colleagues.

6. Preparation of donor reports and provision of regular updates to the Education Section on project implementation.

The incumbent will be expected to travel to project implementation sites in order to participate in workshops and project support activities.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls

Working in close collaboration with Regional Bureaus, country operations, other divisions (Global Data Service and Division of International Protection) and the consultancy firm commissioned for this project, the Learning Measurement Coordinator will produce the following deliverables over the course of the project:

1. Technical input and guidance for the formulation of a detailed inception report jointly developed with the consultancy firm to plan and coordinate activities across the 3 countries selected for the case studies.

2. A partnership agreement with UIS to analyse access and learning data and produce a UIS publication on SDG4 reporting on vulnerable groups.

3. A protocol for safe refugee education data management to support data disaggregation by international protection status in national EMIS.**

4. A compilation of good practices to include refugee students into national and international learning assessments.**

5. A review of complementary streams used to collect refugee education data as part of the Blueprint for Joint Action partnership with UNICEF.**

6. An expanded evidence base on holistic learning in various refugee contexts.**

7. A strategic results framework to support the implementation of Refugee Education 2030.**

8. Strategic, timely and evidence-based donor reporting.**

[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/learning-poverty

[2] Quality and Equitable Learning Outcome (QELO) workstream of the INEE Policy Working Group, https://inee.org/resources/academic-learning-measurement-and-assessment-tools-education-emergencies-identifying

[3] By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required*

a. Education

Undergraduate degree in education, social sciences or related field plus minimum 6 years of professional experience in programme or project management or applied research. Graduate degree (equivalent of a Master’s) plus 5 years or Doctorate degree (equivalent of a PhD) plus 4 years of previous relevant work experience may also be accepted.

b. Work Experience

• A minimum of six (6) years of professional experience at the national and international levels in quality education programme development, management, coordination, M&E and advocacy, out of which 2 years in the field.

• Significant experience in developing academic, social and emotional skills and competencies, and understanding of how psychosocial support (PSS), and social-emotional learning (SEL) contribute to education.

• Understanding of national and international learning assessments.

• Experience with data analysis in developmental or humanitarian contexts and understanding of different data collection methodologies.

• Strong database management skills including experience with the development of, and support to, Education Management Information Systems (EMIS).

• Experience working with refugee children and youth.

• Demonstrated ability in communicating, leading and coordinating activities with multiple stakeholders.

• Demonstrated organisational skills: the ability to work independently with minimum supervision and productively, in multiple countries, in a fast-paced environment.

c. Key Competencies

• English language, knowledge of French will be an added asset.

• Advanced interpersonal skills: s/he must be able to relate well with others, dictate responsibilities, offer support and constructive feedback.

• Strong organizational and communication skills.

• Exceptional abilities in multi-tasking effectively, managing own workload and balance competing priorities, reporting lines and deadlines.

• Must have excellent problem-solving skills: s/he must be able to adeptly and quickly solve problems as they come up.

• Solid writing and reporting skills.

Location

The successful candidate will be working at Copenhagen Headquarters, Denmark.

Conditions

The UNOPS Individual Contractor contract is until 31 December 2021 with a starting date as soon as possible.

Working 100% (full-time)

*