National Consultant to Develop Technical Specification for an Online ECEC Quality Monitoring and Evaluation Platform, Sofia, Bulgaria CO/ Programme, Remote work Individual Consultant National Position Short term contract

Contract Duration: 10 Weeks

Working arrangement: Home based

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

UNICEF provides technical support to the Bulgarian government as part of the project “Improving the quality of early childhood education and care by strengthening governance, monitoring and evaluation”, funded by the European Commission through the Technical Support Instrument. The management of the project for Bulgaria is carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. The overall objective is to create a national system of indicators to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) as a tool to strengthen the quality of early childhood development services.

The National System of Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation (H&O) is the operational core of the National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Bulgaria. The system serves to measure, analyze and improve the quality of services for children from 0 to 7 years old in different types of institutions (nurseries, kindergartens, preschool groups in schools).

The purpose of the consultancy is to develop complete, detailed and technically sound specifications for building an online platform that will operationalize the system of indicators at institutional, municipal and national level.

The specifications should be sufficiently detailed to allow:

• development of terms of reference for an IT contractor

• development of a platform that meets the needs of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health, the Institute for Education, the Regional Education Departments, the Regional Health Inspectorates, the municipalities and ECEC institutions

• standardized and sustainable data collection, processing, analysis and visualization.

Scope of Work:

The consultant should develop a complete set of functional, technical, architectural and process specifications for the system.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  TMC0002110 External ToR.pdf

Minimum requirements:

Education: Bachelor’s degree in:

• Computer Science

• Software Engineering

• Information Technology

• Information Systems

• Computer Engineering

• Other relevant

Work Experience:

• Development of information systems in the public sector
• Technologies used for the development of the systems of the institutions concerned
• Working with information databases
• Monitoring and evaluation systems (M&E)
• Data Modeling and Business Processes
• Definition of terms of reference
• Working with large volumes of institutional data

Language Requirements: Fluency in Bulgarian and upper intermediate level of English is required.

Desirable: Previous experience with UNICEF will be considered an advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal  TMC0002110 Financial proposal.docx

Remarks: 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.