Requisition ID: req12530

Job Title: Synthesis Paper Development-Consultancy

Sector: Education

Employment Category: Consultant

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: Yes

Location: IRC Global

Job Description

Background of the project:

UNICEF has reported that nearly 19 million children are displaced in their own countries due to conflict and violence. Of the countries hosting internally displaced people (IDPs) forced to flee by violence, the largest numbers reside in Syria, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, and Afghanistan, according to the IDMC. We know that in times of crisis, education can play a life-saving and life-sustaining role. Unfortunately, gathering disaggregated data on internal displacement remains a challenge. Lack of capacity and resources, insecurity, and discrimination are all significant barriers to education. Access to national education systems for internally displaced children is essential.

In 2019 UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. Formed in response to advocacy from UN Member States and civil society, the High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement’s goals include: a focus on finding solutions to internal displacement situations; highlighting ways to alleviate the impact on the displaced and host communities; increasing global attention/awareness and support for displaced persons; developing concrete recommendations for Member States, the UN system and other relevant stakeholders.

The panel will stop the consultation period in May and publish its final report for the Secretary General in September. The final report will identify bold, concrete and practical recommendations for Member States, the UN system and other relevant stakeholders.

The Advocacy Working Group (AWG) of INEE proposes to undertake a number of activities to contribute to the consultation process, including a survey of best practice and a series of roundtables held in the five INEE languages. The objectives of these are as follows:

To ensure that the High-Level Panel on IDPs final report (Sept 2021) includes education as a key theme with examples of best practices and policy (derived from the call for resources), as well as recommendations for donors, governments, and other stakeholders.

Use the opportunity of the High-Level Panel to shine a spotlight more generally with INEE members, donors and other stakeholders on the education needs and solutions for internally displaced children and youth, recognizing that refugee education has received more international attention in recent years.

This consultancy contributes to the overall development of this workstream by synthesizing the lessons learnt and positive practices that emerge from the activities proposed.

Scope of work:

The aim of this piece of work is to produce a synthesis paper that captures the outcomes, success stories and recommendations from a survey and call for resources and a series of five roundtables (in all five INEE languages) on education for children and youth who are internally displaced.

The consultant may be required to follow up directly with participants of the roundtables and survey.

The paper produced will contribute towards a high level event with panellists from the High Level Panel (HLP) and co-hosted by INEE, Save the Children, the Global Education Cluster and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

Deliverables:

• Review all results from the survey and follow up where appropriate with participants and/or other organizations working with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to identify the successful education policies and interventions for internally displaced children and youth.
• Attend as many (or listen to recordings) of the IDP roundtable events as possible (dependent on time and consultant/s language capacity) and follow-up where appropriate with participants for further information on successful education interventions for IDP children and youth.
• In collaboration with the Language Community Facilitators (LCFs) review and synthesize the outcomes, success stories and recommendations from the five language roundtables and the survey/call for resources.
• In consultation with the AWG, advocacy coordinator and other INEE Secretariat members, finalise an evidenced based synthesis paper with clear recommendations for the High Level Panel on Internal Displacement (max length 15 - 20 pages), that includes:

• Introduction to the need for quality education for IDP children and youth
• Outline of the process of collecting evidence for the recommendations (crowdsourcing and language roundtables)
• Summary of outcomes
• Examples of success stories (including photos and quotes where possible)
• Recommendations

Qualifications

Schedule:

Requirements:

• Advanced university degree (Masters or above) in international education, (humanitarian and/or development) or relevant field experience;
• A minimum of 7 years’ experience in education in emergencies or related field;
• Proven expertise in trends, policies and challenges related to internally displaced populations;
• Excellent writing skills, with the ability to synthesise complex ideas into user friendly formats; experience of writing advocacy or policy papers.
• Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to independently track and follow-up on various tasks;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to successfully manage consultation and feedback processes and interact with a variety of people.
• Fluent verbal and written English, with ability to work in other INEE core languages highly desirable.