Short-term International Consultancy

Education Expert to write blogs and to facilitate a webinar in the Leadership Network for Sustainable Development

Type: Consultancy (Short term)
Start date: 1st February 2017
Finish date: 28th February 2017
Number of working hours: 40 hours over a period of 4 weeks (work from home)

1. Background:

GESCI, the Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative, is a non-profit organisation founded by the United Nations ICT Taskforce. GESCI, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, provides strategic advice to relevant Ministries in developing countries on the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the context of inclusive Knowledge Societies. See www.gesci.org.

GESCI in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) and other partners developed the African Leadership in ICT (ALICT) capacity building programme which successfully graduated 497 participants across 16 African countries and from the AUC. Among the ALICT graduates, 160, i.e. 33%, are women leaders. The ALICT course presents a multi-stakeholder approach for capacity building and awareness raising of African leaders on the issues of the Knowledge Society, ICT, Education, Science & Technology and Innovation in support of the AUC Action Plan.

ALICT alumni form the core membership of the “Leadership Network for Sustainable Development” (LN4SD), a growing Community of Practice (CoP) that brings together public sector leaders and stakeholders working in knowledge society related sectors to harness the power of knowledge, skills, technologies and innovation to drive African social and economic transformation and achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development. The network connects public policy and decision makers, researchers and key actors, and is expected to facilitate and stimulate the collective leadership capacities for sustainable development of African and other developing regions through knowledge exchange, sharing learning, experiences and discussions on how to address common challenges to inform policy and decision making processes, support relevant research and empower potential leaders as to how to leverage knowledge society sectors (education, ICT and STI) for sustainable development, while addressing critical areas such as the environment and climate change, gender, youth skills and entrepreneurship, and social responsibility and accountability.

The LN4SD’s online platform (http://www.leadership4sd.org) was launched in Abidjan, June 8-9, 2016 to encourage networking, knowledge sharing and learning and the emergence of innovative and provoking perspectives in addressing knowledge sectors-related policy debate through discussion forums, webinars, blogs, etc. in order to achieve the required paradigm shifts and transformation required to reach development goals and targets through well-informed, distributed and innovative knowledge era leadership.

GESCI is seeking 5 acknowledged experts, who for the next five (5) months, February to June 2017, will (1) write well-informed research blogs and respond to comments following the publication of the blog on the Leadership Network for Sustainable Development’s online platform, and, (2) facilitate live webinars (each webinar: 20 min presentation and 40 min discussion) to be attended by members of the LN4SD.

The present TORs are intended for the recruitment of the first expert who will write the blog and facilitate the webinar for the month of February in line with the below theme and context. The blog and webinar have to address the challenges associated with the theme of the month.

Theme for February 2017: Qualified and well trained teachers are critical for building the educated and skilled workforce required to achieve a nation’s development goals and the SDGs.

Proposed sub-thematic areas:

  • Professionalization of teaching and improving teachers’ working conditions.
  • ICT in teacher development: Can it help train more and better teachers and how?

Context:

  • To achieve the 2030 education agenda goals, sub-Saharan African countries need more than 17 million additional teachers. In addition, in a third of the countries, a quarter of teachers are not trained.
  • Often, teachers have to work in highly challenging conditions both in rural and urban areas with very little, often no, pedagogical and administrative support.

Challenges:

  • In several African countries, pre- and in-service teacher-training system capacities cannot manage large flow of trainees and training provision models have not kept pace with developments in the field and new trends and approaches in pedagogy and technology.

  • The teaching profession does not attract enough suitable candidates.

2. Requirements for the consultant:

Highly Desired

  • Specialist in the Education sector and /or in in line with the theme mentioned above (teachers and teacher development).

  • Expert with deep, comprehensive understanding of the theme mentioned above and related solutions at conceptual and implementation level.

  • Vast experience publishing online research-backed blogs, articles and papers on teacher professional development and /or in line with the mentioned theme above.

  • Minimum five years’ track record of writing engaging research-backed blogs.

  • Minimum five years’ experience in facilitating engaging and interactive online vibrant group discussions.

Required

  • Minimum Master’s degree in Education or leadership and policy coherence themes.

  • Proven track record in designing and implementing project/programmes in relation to the theme mentioned above within the African the context.

  • Minimum five years’ experience in teacher development specifically in delivering teacher professional development courses/classes in Africa.

  • Expertise in articulating ideas/concepts simply, engagingly, clearly and in a focused manner

  • Substantial professional online presence.

3. Deliverables and timelines for delivery:

Deliverables Deadline
1. Propose the research-backed blog and webinar topics in line with the mentioned theme and validate them with GESCI LN4SD team. Week 1
2. Draft the research-backed blog as per agreed title and theme.
3. Share the draft research blog (write-up) with GESCI team for review and update according to feedback. Week 2
4. Publish the blog on the Leadership Network for Sustainable Development website End of week 2
5. Carry out webinar (presentation: 20 min and discussion: 40 min) Mid-week 

4. Duration:

The time frame for the consultancy assignment is as below:

  • Start date: 1st February 2017

  • Finish date: 28th February 2017

5. Consultancy Fee:

The consultancy fee will be Euro 2000. This amount is inclusive of 20% withholding tax in Kenya. This tax amount shall be deducted and paid to Kenya Revenue Authority and the certification shall be provided to consultants

6. Payment schedule:

  • 100% upon successful execution of the deliverables after the four weeks

7. Confidentiality and Copyright:

The consultant will be required to sign a confidentiality clause whereby information accessed through this activity can only be disclosed and shared with authorised members of the ALICT programme. GESCI will have ownership over any Intellectual Property developed for or derived from this consultancy engagement.

8. To apply:

Please submit by email under the heading "Education Expert: blogs and webinar for the Leadership Network for Sustainable Development" to GESCI procurement at procurement@gesci.org by 27/01/2017

The application should include:

  • A detailed CV
  • A cover letter specifying why you qualify for this contract
  • Links to published articles, online articles, webinars and blogs

Only consultants meeting the academic and experience requirements need to apply. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. For further information on the consultancy, you can contact Senthil Kumar, Programme Manager – ALICT at senthil.kumar@gesci.org