International Early Childhood Education (ECE) Consultant (Home Based)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Education

Early childhood education (ECE) is more than ever a priority, given its impact on the development of individuals and societies. Investing in ECE, and providing equitable access to quality services and interventions, is the most efficient and cost-effective investment a country can make to improve children’s learning and development. Moreover, research tends to show that the return on investment in quality ECE is all the greater if the investment is made early in a child’s life, and if it focuses on the most disadvantaged children with a goal of equity. Research, particularly in the field of neuroscience, has shown that children who benefit from adequate cognitive stimulation, healthy and safe socio-emotional environments, and a diet adapted to their physiological needs, are better prepared for further schooling, stay in school longer, and show better academic results and quality learning.

Ethiopia has an Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) Policy framework (2022/23) that emphasizes the importance of integrated and holistic child development. This framework advocates for three years of early childhood education for children aged 4 to 6+ years. In contrast, the new Education proclamation (1368/2017) allows for two years of pre-primary schooling for children aged 5 and 6 years old. To support the implementation of this policy, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has developed curriculum materials for both two-year and three-year programs, providing Regional Education Bureaus (REBs) with options to tailor and contextualize their ECE initiatives.

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PURPOSE

With funding from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) System Transformation of Education (STEP) for Girls and Learning, the consultant will lead the design and development of a package of interventions that will strengthen pre-primary education in Ethiopia. This technical assistance will review existing ECE curricula, training manuals and other relevant Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) in Ethiopia and other contexts including regional and global best practices. Use findings to develop and pilot a minimum package of pre-primary play-based Resource Kit and teacher training package that is practical, affordable, context appropriate and that promotes play based learning and school readiness for children aged 4-6. The consultant will build the capacity of a cadre of national and regional trainers to train and support pre-primary teachers in targeted schools. Further, this assignment will develop and pilot tools to monitor and report the impact of these investments and generate evidence for programme design, adaptation and scale-up.

METHODOLOGY AND TECHNICAL APPROACH

Using a consultative process, the consultant will use qualitative methods to gather information and perspectives from appropriate documents (such as curricular materials, work plans, programme documents, reports, and publications), classroom observations and key informant interviews with selected stakeholders. This will include but not limited to desk review of documents, synthesis of national, regional and global best practices on play-based learning and school readiness especially in poorly resourced contexts and with limited pre-primary teacher capacity. Plan and facilitate review validation and training workshops at national and regional level are key approaches that will be used to deliver this piece of work.

The consultant will be expected to undertake the following pieces of work: See the details on the attached ToR here.

 ToR – Terms of Reference for individual Consultant ECE in STEP.pdf.

1. Assess Existing ECE Curricular and Provision (15 days August 2025):
2. Develop a Minimum ECE Resource Kit (25 days August –September 2025):

3. Pilot and Finalize ECE Resource Kit Including Graphic Design (20 days October/November 2025):
4. Develop a Play based ECE Teacher Training Package (35 days November/December 2025):

5. Pilot and Validate Training Package (15 days, Jan/February 2026):
6. Finalize Training Package Including Graphic Design: (10 days February/March 2026)):
7. Capacity Building of National & Regional National Trainers (20 days) April 2026 and beyond): On-going capacity building trainings over the life of the programme to strengthen capacity and ensure quality implementation at the school level.

Main Duties and Responsibilities (Consultancy Deliverables)

The consultant will be responsible for delivering on the 7 tasks outlined above and summarized below:

1. Minimum Pre-primary Resource Kit Developed: Lead the piloting, validation and finalization of the minimum package of pre-primary Resources, including developing a final list of resources, educator guide (including graphic design) and assessment tools
2. Pre-primary Teacher Training Package Developed: Develop a pre-primary teacher training package (including graphic design) and lead the planning, piloting and validation of this package.
3. Capacity of A Cader of National & Regional Trainers: Plan and facilitate a series of capacity building and reflection workshops comprising a maximum of 4 trainings over the life of the programme.
4. Consultancy Reports and Products

• Report 1: An assessment report with key findings and recommendations (Task #1)
• Report 2: A report documenting process, findings and recommendations related to the development, piloting, and validation of the Pre-primary Resource kit (Task#2 & #3). This should be accompanied by final word and PDF formats (graphically designed) of the list of pre-primary resources kits and specifications; activity guide and assessment tool (s).
• Report 3: A report documenting process, findings and recommendations related to the development, piloting, and validation of the Pre-primary Teachers Training Package (Task#4-#6) including final training package and tools (Graphically designed) and a clear training plan
• Report 4: A report with findings and recommendations on capacity building of trainers (Task #7)
• Report 5: A final consultancy report (Summary of key findings and recommendations Task #1-7).
• Other documents: As appropriate such as workshop agendas and presentations.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Child/developmental psychology, education, other relevant social science areas, or related field
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 8 [Eight] years of relevant professional experience in  ECE pre-service and in-service teacher education and development in academia or and in the field.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in ECCD programming in general and ECE learning, play based learning and ECE curriculum and materials development especially for under-resources context.
• Excellent traning and workshop facilitation skills especially for trainees with low competence, knowledge and skills in quality ECE delivery.
• Substantial practical experience in materials development and training manuals development Experience providing user-friendly content development services for humanitarian and development agencies, and resource poor areas in a culturally relevant manner, working experience with UN, particularly UNICEF desirable;
• Minimum 8 years proven experience in the development of comprehensive ECE resource kits and guidelines for use in humanitarian and development context
• Thorough understanding of global holistic and inclusive ECE best practices and emerging issues especially in resource poor contexts areas;
• At least 5 years’ experience in participatory methods of research, gathering, analysing and synthesizing the perspectives of various stakeholders and resource persons is required.
• Good knowledge of the ECD situation in Ethiopia, particularly regarding learning and play materials development, or and similar developing contexts
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Skills

• Excellent professional report writing skills.
• Ability to work in the multi-cultural team environment and to deliver under pressure/meet deadlines.
• Ability to work with partners on various levels.
• Both written and spoken fluency in English; .
• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages (MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Excel) and data analysis skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills are required.

Deadline: 23 Jul 2025 E. Africa Standard Time

 

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