UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY
FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST
UNRWA
CONSULTANCY - TERMS OF REFERENCE
Consultant, Child Pedagogy Expert
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 28,000 staff. **
Background to the UNRWA Educational Programme
UNRWA operates 702 schools in its five fields of operation where it provides free basic education for around 540,000 Palestine refugee children from grade 1 to grade 12 depending on the field.
Since its establishment, and consistent with UN practice in refugee situations globally, UNRWA uses the curriculum of the host country. This ensures Palestine refugees can integrate into host secondary and tertiary educational systems and more broadly participate in the social and economic life of the host country. As an independent UN Agency providing humanitarian and development assistance, UNRWA has no mandate to alter any host government curriculum or textbooks, which are a matter of national sovereignty. Nevertheless, UNRWA regularly reviews all newly issued textbooks by hosts and is committed to ensuring that what is being taught in UNRWA schools adheres to UN values and principles. This robust system of review of host countries’ textbooks is instrumental to ensure that UNRWA can continue with its policy of zero tolerance to all forms of racism and discrimination.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing importance of remote learning, UNRWA has developed certain materials in order to support the learning of half a million Palestine refugee children. The criteria that must be taken into consideration during UNRWA review of textbooks – namely, age-appropriateness; gender; and compatibility with UN values including the humanitarian principles – are also applied to these materials. As of February 2021, all remote learning materials are created at the field level, then subject to a first review at the same, field-level, a second review by the Headquarters Department of Education team and a third review by the Executive Office Neutrality team in order to ensure compliance with humanitarian principles.
Background to the Humanitarian Principles
Endorsed by UN General Assembly resolutions 46/182 and 58/114, the Humanitarian Principles guide the work of all actors working in the humanitarian sphere. As an Agency with a humanitarian mandate – namely, to assist and protect Palestine refugees – these principles have been enshrined in UNRWA’s Regulatory Framework.
The Humanitarian Principles are understood as the following:
§ Humanity: Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to protect life and health and ensure respect for human beings.
§ Neutrality: Humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
§ Impartiality: Humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress, and making no distinctions on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political opinions.
§ Independence: Humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is being implemented.
As UNRWA re-evaluates its educational approach in response to increasing use of remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result continues to disseminate more Agency-produced material, UNRWA is seeking to employ a qualified senior Expert on Child Pedagogy concerning education in conflict in order to provide expert opinion during the review of UNRWA educational materials across its five fields of operation.
Scope of work
§ The HQ Department of Education and Neutrality team in the Executive Office will continue to review all educational materials. Following this, the Expert on Child Pedagogy will advise on the suitability of relevant specific materials in the Agency’s five fields of operation, namely, the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
§ Work will be undertaken at an ad-hoc and weekly basis to ensure that materials are approved in time for the beginning of the scholastic week.
§ This will form the backbone of a larger discussion which will analyze, amongst other points: (i) how to achieve a level of consistency in the educational approach between each field; (ii) assessing current criteria applied to educational materials; (iii) drawing up guidelines which will ensure age-appropriateness is ensured for each age group; (iv) informing on how children living through conflict can express their lived experience in a safe and dignified way through educational materials.
§ These points will be advised upon through: commentary left on ‘senior review material’ documents; notes for file pertaining to specific issues; revisions of existing guidelines and criteria; advising upon talking points; and ‘expert opinions’ provided on areas where no guidance currently exists.
Minimum Qualifications and Experience
The consultant should have qualifications and experiences in the following areas:
§ Advance degree from an accredited educational institution in child pedagogy;
§ At least 10 years’ of extensive research, ideally in child pedagogy during conflict;
§ Excellent command of written and spoken English;
Desirable qualifications:
§ Doctoral-level degree from an accredited educational institution in child pedagogy
§ Background in child psychology, child development, or related field.
§ Familiarity with the Agency’s five fields of operation and/or the Middle East at large;
§ Arabic-language skills;
§ Experience in providing consulting services and/or research with a UN Agency.
Conditions of Service
§ The research shall be conducted between 17 October 2021 and 31 December 2021.
§ The budget for the research is expected to be $24,000. Installments will be made upon delivery of completed parts and subject to confirmation of research satisfactory to the agency.
§ It is highly probable that the evaluation will need to be conducted in full on a remote basis.
§ The bulk of the work will need to be done between October 2021 and 31 January 2021.
Application process
Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form demonstrating clearly the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements via consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy “**Consultant, Child Pedagogy Expert**” in the subject line of the message. The deadline for the submission of applications is 9 October 2021. **
How to apply:
Application process
Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form demonstrating clearly the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements via consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy “**Consultant, Child Pedagogy Expert**” in the subject line of the message. The deadline for the submission of applications is 9 October 2021. **