Connected Education: Digital Inclusion & Pedagogical Lead, UNOPS IICA-2, Copenhagen

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a UNOPS Individual Contractor full-time position of Connected Education: Digital Inclusion & Pedagogical Lead within the Education Section in the Division of Resilience and Solutions, Copenhagen Headquarters, Denmark.

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

• Title: Connected Education: Digital Inclusion & Pedagogical Lead
• Duty Station: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Duration: 01 January to 31 December 2022
• Contract Type: UNOPS IICA, Level 2
• Closing date: 15 October 2021
• Start date: 01 January 2022

Organisational context

Education is an integral part of protection for persons of concern to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 50 percent of whom are children below 18 years of age. The Education Section in UNHCR’s Division of Resilience and Solutions (DRS) provides operational support, policy direction, and strategic guidance to field operations. The provision and expansion of access to quality education for refugees is among the protection priorities for UNHCR.

UNHCR seeks to increase and enhance access to equitable quality education through leveraging innovative programming, with specific initiatives focused on addressing gaps in secondary education through a variety of approaches, including targeted programmatic and advocacy support through the Secondary Education and Youth Initiative, building a broad evidence base for the success factors for transition from primary to secondary education and retention, convening an inter-agency Secondary Education Working Group to document and share good practices, as well as maximizing the use of connected education.

UNHCR seeks to increase and enhance access through leveraging technological and pedagogical advances, including expanding Connected Education programming. The goal of Connected Education is to utilize innovative approaches to expand and enhance quality education and increase digital literacy for displaced communities and those that host them. Working with national government – Ministries of Education and ICT and local mobile network operators, Connected Education focuses on establishing new connections between people, knowledge and novel perspectives. It achieves this by exploring a range of techniques including utilizing innovative pedagogical approaches, community-led design methods, diverse convening platforms, and, leveraging context-appropriate technological advances.

Duties and responsibilities

This position is designed to provide technical guidance on the design and implementation of Connected Education programmes with a particular focus on digital inclusion, life-skills development, and guiding the successful integration of technology into the broader classroom. This will include responding to Country and Bureau requests for support with designing Connected Education programmes based on a situational/problem analysis, and in alignment with UNHCR’s Global Education Strategy, SDG4, and with national standards, plans and priorities. It will include providing technical advice on the design of Connected Education (or EdTech) initiatives; advocating and supporting the use of co-design techniques; advising on context-appropriate digital inclusion and skill development approaches, and providing a lens for capacity development, content, and sustainability considerations. The role will place a particular emphasis on broadening programmes to not just focus on teaching about technology, but integrating technology to enhance learning of other subjects, in addition to building life skills and digital literacy, including but not limited to: information, data, and media literacy; digital skills & creation (including programming); digital safety; communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills. This role will also play a major role in designing and supporting the implementation of the Instant Network School expansion programme, along with the Kolibri Fly, and Future Ready donor-supported programmes. Beyond the design of initial programmes, this role will serve to provide on- going technical support throughout the implementation of programmes, helping to track progress and build evidence of programme gains. The role will require frequent travel, and will be supported by the Global Connected Education Officer, a Technical Design Lead, and a Tertiary Connected Education lead.

Tasks include:

Designing & Setup of Connected Education

• Remain abreast of Education-technology trends and innovations within the Education humanitarian and development space, and align Connected Education services accordingly.
• Develop working relationship with the larger regional Education teams on collaboration areas and resource sharing and scope opportunities for expansion of national EdTech programmes, and/or good practices to scale to refugee-hosting communities (upon request).
• Support the country teams to develop working relationship with Ministry and government contacts to ensure alignment with national digital priorities and stay ahead of national trends in the education sector.
• Provide programmatic and operational support to problem analysis and identifying and evaluating potential Connected Education solutions and options for country and regional teams.
• Advise country teams on how best to align initiatives to support national/regional EdTech priorities and plans.
• Advocate and support the use of user-centered design methodologies in the development of EdTech initiatives.
• With support from the Technical Design Lead, provide guidance to regional/country teams on connectivity, hardware and infrastructure considerations & options to inform the design of effective Connected Education programmes.
• Advise teams on training modalities; leveraging national and regional training bodies and approaches where possible.
• Advise the regional/country teams on pedagogical, content, and sustainability considerations and options to assist in informing effective Connected Education programmes.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance on opportunities to effectively integrate digital literacy and life-skills programming into Connected Education initiatives.
• Support the design of robust Theory of Change to inform each programme, along with a Monitoring and Evaluation framework (with linkages to global/regional/national KPIs) and learning agenda.

Implementation Support

• In collaboration with the Management & Analytics Lead, monitor programme progress and results, advising of pivots of shifts required in the programme design.
• Support country and field teams with implementation, ensuring accordance with project plans, quality standards, and milestones; in collaboration with the Management & Analytics Lead.
• Develop processes, tools and guidelines to support effective implementation at the country level.
• Intervene with recommendations (as needed) in order to adhere to quality standards, regional/national targets, or donor requirements.
• Support the Global Connected Education Officer in the design of staff and partner capacity building, based on analysis of trends and needs at the regional, country and field level.

Building evidence

• In collaboration with the Management & Analytics Lead, document programme progress and impact and report on good practices that support operational goals and broader national education strategies.
• Support effective reporting to donors and UNHCR management on programme progress, with a particularly emphasis on documenting programmatic recommendations and lessons learnt.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls

(Clear description of measurable outputs, milestones, key performance indicators and/or reporting requirements which will enable performance monitoring)

• Support is provided to 2 Regional Bureaus and 3 Countries to align Connected Education initiatives to support national/regional EdTech standards, priorities and plans;
• At least 2 co-design workshops are conducted to support the INS designs in Mozambique and Egypt;
• Training plans are developed, and trainings are conducted in collaboration with local authorities and training institutions to support Connected Education investments in 3 countries;
• 20 INS centers are established in support of national digital priorities;
• Technical support is provided to develop sustainability plans for the Kolibri Fly programme in Jordan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda;
• Remote support and guidance is provided on how to support continuous learning opportunities (building from the experience of COVID).

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

a. Education

• University degree in Education or a related field. At least 8 years of experience in progressively responsible functions in education (6 years with Advanced University degree)

b. Work Experience

• A background in educational technology;
• A background in education and significant knowledge of EdTech and digital inclusion;
• 7 years of proven experience with EdTech programming;
• At least 3 years of providing support to geographically distant programmes and being able to manage support requests virtually as well as in person;
• Demonstrated experience and skills in designing effective programmes;
• Experience working in harsh environments;
• Experience with refugee, IDP and/or vulnerable populations;
• Some experience in working with internet connectivity or in a telecommunications setting is desirable.

c. Key Competencies

• Fluency in English;
• Knowledge of French, Arabic and/or Portuguese will be an added asset;
• Excellent team work and problem-solving skills;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills across a variety of print and digital media;
• Exceptional abilities in multi-tasking effectively, managing own workload and balance competing priorities, reporting lines and deadlines;
• Must have excellent problem-solving skills. He/she must be able to adeptly and quickly solve problems as they come up;
• Solid writing skills and an understanding of project management cycle and programme management in complex emergencies;
• Advanced interpersonal skills: he/she must be able to relate well with others, dictate responsibilities, offer support and constructive feedback;
• Strong organizational and interpersonal communication skills.

Location

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

Conditions

The UNOPS Individual Contractor contract is for one year from 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Working 100% (full-time)