L’UNICEF recrute un Consultant international – Assistant technique pour soutenir le programme de construction de salles de classe, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
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, A Champion!
Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire, is facing a critical environmental issue. Every day, the city produces an alarming 288 tons of plastic waste, 90% of which pollutes low-income communities. The situation is dire as only 5% of plastic waste is recycled, and that too informally by women and youth at meager prices. The lack of recycling infrastructure in the country means that very little of this waste is transformed into other forms of plastic, compounding the problem further.
The urbanization of Abidjan is expected to worsen the problem of plastic waste, leading to more pollution and its associated environmental and health impacts on communities and children. To address this issue, in 2018, UNICEF partnered with Conceptos Plasticos, a Colombian social enterprise that specializes in plastic recycling. Together they launched a successful pilot program to convert plastic waste into bricks to build classrooms.
UNICEF recognized the need to support the program’s expansion and, therefore, helped to build a new plastic brick factory in 2019, the first of its kind in Africa. The factory aims to produce bricks locally and from the collection of the country’s waste. Thanks to this project, classrooms are being built to increase the capacity of children, either by reducing the number of children per classroom or bringing the offer closer to the most disadvantaged areas.
Access to quality education is essential for the future of children from low-income households. In addition to classrooms adapted for learning through sufficient space and large windows to let in light, the project also ensures that these classrooms are equipped with furniture for students and teachers. To strengthen the quality of teaching, actions are also planned, such as providing teaching materials and training for teachers.
The project’s innovation, the use of plastic bricks, is not only favorable to the fight against pollution, but it also presents an opportunity to raise environmental awareness among children. To this end, UNICEF developed educational materials to sensitize students to environmental issues, which were made available to beneficiary schools.
In summary, the collaboration between UNICEF and Conceptos Plasticos to convert plastic waste into bricks for building classrooms in Abidjan is a significant step towards addressing the plastic waste crisis in the city. The project not only helps to reduce pollution but also improves access to education for children from low-income households. Additionally, the program’s focus on raising environmental awareness among children highlights the importance of sustainable development for a better future.
After 5 years of implementation the country office organized a peer review to discuss the future of the project. Indeed, many challenges have been overcome resulting in useful lessons learned. It is important that the office put in place an exit strategy from the current modality which has shown its limitations. It is also important that the office explore other alternatives that will allow it to remain involved in environmental issues.
How can you make a difference?
The objective of the consultancy is to monitor, manage, coordinate, and support the scaling up of processes, documentation creation, and project monitoring for the education sector to ensure the greatest possible impact in line with the plastic brick school construction initiative.
A very important component is also the close communication with the many donors involved. It is therefore a multi-faceted profile that is sought with specific skills necessary for the successful execution of the missions.
The consultant will also work closely with different UNICEF sections (Education, WASH, Supply, Resource Mobilization and Operations) and other relevant public/private partners to develop and identify solutions to help implement internal cross-cutting processes that are part of the strategy to improve the quality of education in Côte d’Ivoire. Cross-functional work experience is also required.
Work Assignments Overview | Deliverables/Outputs | Delivery deadline |
Donor reports + donor visit + monthly coordination meeting + donor updates + donor visit + + participation to the draft of business model and a social impact assessment with the consulting firms Kerney and 180 degrees + Support the development of alternative modalities to see how to continue the engagement with recycled plastic bricks. | Annual planning1 + business model drafted2 + identify. possible new products to be purchased in recycled plastic + minutes of the Task force meetings3+ draft exit strategy and donor communication plan4. | Sept-23 |
Donor reports + donor visit + monthly coordination meeting + donor updates + communication tools + participation to the Task force CP on partnership + draft of exit strategy and communication with donors depending on scenario. | donors updates5 + 3 donor reports (UK + Belgium + Spanish natcom) + 5 Human Interested Stories + donor visit report6 + minutes of the Task force meetings. | Dec-23 |
Field visit + donor report + draft knowledge management report | 2 donor reports (NL natcom + Pool fund) + monitoring report + donors updates + 2 HIS | March-24 |
Field visit + donor report | 3 donor reports (NL + Eleva + Belgium) + agenda and donor visit report + 4 HIS + monitoring report + minutes of the Task force meetings | June-24 |
Donor report + donor updates+ Knowledge management | 1 donor report (Belgium) + donor updates + Knowledge management document7 | August-24 |
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- At least a bachelor’s degree in the field business/project management or any other related field.
- At least two (2) years of progressively responsible professional experience in Marketing, Communication, Partnerships, Donor relation, Reporting and Project management with a focus on construction programmes.
- Specific experience in donor relation, writing, and editing donor proposals.
- Specific experience in Education project management (access and quality) with a focus on construction
- Technical experience in engineering, or architecture.
- Specific experience in Education project management.
- Fluency in French and English is required.
- Work experience in Cote d’Ivoire will be an asset.
Application Forms:
- A detailed cv including three up to date references.
- A cover letter.
- A technical evaluation
- A financial Proposal including your fees and the cost of your plane ticket, as well as your per diems in the event of travel on a field mission.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.
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. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.
Remarks:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.
The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
Deadline: 31 Aug 2023 Greenwich Standard Time
