Consultant for Developing the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy for Southern Africa, 2026-30

OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Field Office

Duty Station: Harare

Job Family: Management/Audit/Oversight

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 1 to 6 months

Recruitment open to : Internal and external candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Duty Station Time) : 31-AUG-2025

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

INTRODUCTION

UNESCO strives toward promoting sustainable development, democracy and peace globally through work in thematic priority areas of education, culture, social and human sciences, natural sciences and communication and information. Other specific priorities that UNESCO pursues in Africa include youth, gender equality and the African continent.
The UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (hereafter, Regional Office), based in Harare, Zimbabwe, serves nine countries: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Regional Office acts as a key liaison with regional bodies such as Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and plays a central role in supporting Member States to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2063 of the African Union, the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030, and COMESA’s Mediation Strategy 2023-2030 and ACTESA Strategic Plan 2020–2030.

BACKGROUND OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The UNESCO Regional Support Strategy 2022-2025 for Southern Africa presents a framework for guiding the organization’s work across Southern Africa. It outlines strategic priorities and operational approaches that align with global and regional development agendas, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. The strategy is designed to support Member States in addressing pressing challenges while promoting peace, sustainability, and inclusive development.
The strategy presents a vision: a Southern African region where well-being, environmental sustainability, and fundamental rights and freedoms are upheld through equitable and inclusive action. The mission is to fulfill UNESCO’s mandate by empowering people through quality education, scientific advancement, cultural diversity, and access to information. This mission is pursued through strengthening institutions and policies, building capacities, setting standards, and fostering dialogue and trust.
The strategy identifies both sectoral and intersectoral priorities. Sectoral priorities include education, health and well-being, communication and information, natural sciences, social and human sciences, and culture. Intersectoral priorities cut across these areas and focus on gender equality, youth empowerment, disability inclusion, the ethics of artificial intelligence, disaster risk reduction, sustainable tourism, and open and distance learning. These priorities reflect the interconnected nature of development challenges and the need for integrated responses.
To guide implementation, the strategy is underpinned by key principles such as technological transformation, human rights-based development, multistakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and a commitment to innovation and inclusivity. These principles ensure that UNESCO’s interventions are forward-looking, inclusive, and responsive to the evolving needs of the region.
The strategy also emphasizes new and adaptive modes of delivery. These include community-based projects, the use of digital tools and platforms, and the establishment of partnerships with academia, the private sector, and other UN agencies. Co-creation with beneficiaries and donors is encouraged to ensure relevance and ownership of initiatives.
Monitoring and evaluation are seen as important to the strategy’s success. It includes biennial reviews, midterm and end-of-term evaluations, and alignment with UNESCO’s global results framework. At present, the strategy implementation is under review. Finding or the review are expected to feed into the new UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy 2026-2030.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Produce a Regional Strategy 2026-30 document that helps set a strategic direction; describe in detail and measurable terms the programmatic and performance outcomes and outputs, and include analysis and information on resources that the office could employ to achieve the regional strategic results.

SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The assignment to develop the Regional Operational Strategy 2025-2030 for Southern Africa encompasses the following scope:
1. Leadership and Institutional Oversight: The Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa holds overall accountability for ensuring the timely and effective preparation of the strategy. The Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP) and the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector (PAX) will provide strategic guidance and support, reflecting their oversight role and stake in UNESCO’s decentralized operations.
2. Strategic Continuity and Responsiveness: The new strategy must build on the foundations and lessons of the 2022-2025 Regional Support Strategy, maintaining continuity in vision – quality education, environmental sustainability, and fundamental rights through inclusive and equitable development action – while adapting to emerging regional and global development priorities.
3. Integrated Programme and Management Frameworks: The strategy should be supported by a robust and responsive management structure aligned with strategic priorities and operational approaches. This includes frameworks for institutional strengthening, capacity building, innovation, and programme delivery.
4. Cross-Cutting Systems and Enablers: The strategy must integrate a comprehensive set of enabling frameworks to ensure its effectiveness and sustainability. This includes a social and environmental sustainability framework to safeguard long-term impact and institutional resilience, as well as a risk management framework accompanied by a risk register that identifies potential risks and outlines mitigation strategies. Additionally, an integrated budget framework should be developed to map available resources and highlight funding gaps. A staffing strategy is also essential, ensuring that human resources are aligned with the strategy’s priorities and operational requirements.
5. Country-Specific Alignment: To ensure relevance and responsiveness at the national level, the strategy must include dedicated country-specific chapters for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, countries where UNESCO does not maintain a dedicated country office. These chapters should explicitly align with each country's National Development Strategies, ensuring that UNESCO’s regional priorities are effectively contextualized and contribute meaningfully to national development goals.
6. Strategic Alignment Frameworks: The strategy must demonstrate clear alignment with key global, continental, regional, and national frameworks. This includes UNESCO’s internal strategic documents (UNESCO’s Medium-Term Strategy (C/4) and Programme and Budget (C/5) documents), the Priority Africa Strategy and its flagships, and broader agendas such as the SDGs, Agenda 2063, and SADC’s RISDP. It should also align with international decade initiatives (e.g., Ocean, Water, Ecosystem Restoration, Indigenous Languages), UNESCO Country Strategies in Mozambique and Namibia, and the UNSDCFs across all nine Member States to ensure coherence and synergy with UN system efforts.
7. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning: Mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation, and learning must be embedded to ensure alignment with UNESCO’s global results framework and responsiveness to the evolving needs of Member States.

METHODOLOGICAL STEPS

To meet the scope and key components of the assignment for developing the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy 2025-2030 for Southern Africa, the following steps are recommended in the process:
1. Preparatory Phase:
• Establish a consultative team led by the UNESCO Regional Office Director, including Heads of Country Offices in Mozambique and Namibia, programme and operations staff from the Regional Office, and focal points from the Bureau of Strategic Planning (BSP), the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector (PAX), and Evaluation Section.
• Define roles and responsibilities for sector leads, country focal points, and support staff.
• Develop a detailed work plan and timeline for the strategy development process.

2. Desk Review and Situational Analysis:
• Conduct a comprehensive desk review of:
 The 2022-2025 strategy and its review findings
 National Development Strategies of Member States
 Relevant global, regional, and sectoral frameworks (e.g., UNESCO’s C/4 and C/5 and its Global Priority Africa, UN 2030 Agenda and SDGs, AU Agenda 2063, SADC-RISDP, COMESA’s strategies, international decade frameworks, etc.)
• Analyze emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities in the region.
• Map UNESCO’s priority domains of work, comparative advantage and lessons learned from past implementation.

3. Virtual Stakeholder Consultations:
• Organize consultative meetings and workshops with:
 UNESCO staff (ROSA and HQ)
 National Commissions
 UN agencies and development partners
 Civil society, youth, and marginalized groups
• Use online surveys and interviews to gather input on priorities, gaps, and expectations.

4. Strategy Design and Drafting:
• Develop a Theory of Change to guide the strategic logic.
• Define strategic priorities, sectoral and intersectoral focus areas.
• Integrate cross-cutting themes (e.g., gender, youth, disability, sustainability).
• Draft:
 Outcome and output statements
 Results-based framework (with indicators)
 Delivery and implementation framework
 Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework
 Risk management and sustainability frameworks
 Country-specific chapters
 Strategic alignment matrix
 Budget and staffing frameworks

5. Validation and Refinement:
• Share the draft strategy with internal and external stakeholders.
• Conduct a validation workshop to review and refine content.
• Incorporate feedback and finalize the strategy document.

6. Finalization and Endorsement:
• Prepare the final strategy document with annexes.
• Submit for internal quality assurance and endorsement by UNESCO leadership.
• Launch the strategy with an online visibility and stakeholder engagement plan.

OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

1. Inception Report
a. A detailed inception report outlining the methodology, work plan, timeline, and roles and responsibilities.
b. Includes a list of documents reviewed during the desk review phase.
c. Stakeholder Engagement Documentation
2. Transcripts and participant lists from all virtual consultations, including:
UNESCO Regional Office and HQ staff; Heads of Country Offices (Mozambique and Namibia); Secretaries National Commissions for UNESCO; UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams; Ministries across countries (Education, Culture, Heritage, Youth, ICT, Environment, Renewable Energy, etc.); Regional civil society organizations (CSOs); Regional bodies (e.g., SADC, COMESA); Online survey reports / summaries
3. Situational and Strategic Analysis Summary
a. A synthesis report of the desk review and situational analysis, including:
i. Trends, challenges, and opportunities
ii. Mapping of UNESCO’s comparative advantage
iii. Alignment with global, regional, and national frameworks
4. Draft Strategy Package
a. The draft UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy 2025–2030, including:
i. Executive summary
ii. Theory of Change
iii. Strategic priorities and focus areas
iv. Cross-cutting themes integration
v. Outcome and output statements
vi. Results-based framework (with indicators)
vii. Delivery and implementation framework
viii. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework
ix. Risk management and sustainability frameworks
x. Country-specific chapters
xi. Strategic alignment matrix
xii. Integrated budget and staffing frameworks
xiii. Validation Report
xiv. Report of the validation workshop, including:
xv. Summary of feedback received
xvi. List of participants
xvii. Agreed revisions and next steps
5. The final UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy 2025–2030 (max 20 pages), with annexes including the key components outlined in the next section.
6. A concise PowerPoint presentation (max 15 slides) summarizing the strategy for internal and external dissemination.

The Final Output: the Key Components and Structural Requirements of the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy for Southern Africa 2025-2030
Submit the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy for Southern Africa 2025-30 comprising of:
1. an executive summary;
2. a theory of change;
3. an analysis of context and specific needs as drawn from the context;
4. thematic and sectoral or intersectoral focus areas based on the organization’s mandate and comparative advantage;
5. integration of cross-cutting and transversal issues such as gender equality, human rights, youth empowerment, sustainability, and inclusion;
6. outcome and output descriptions;
7. comprehensive results-based matrices with outcomes, outputs, indicators;
8. delivery and implementation framework;
9. monitoring, evaluation and learning framework;
10. social and environmental sustainability framework for ensuring long-term sustainability of results and institutional capacity;
11. risk management framework and a risk register with potential risks and mitigation strategies;
12. country-specific chapters to explicitly align with the National Development Strategies where UNESCO does not have a country office (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe);
13. strategic alignment frameworks to clearly indicate how the Regional Strategy aligns with:
a. UNESCO’s global frameworks (C/4 and C/5 documents),
b. UNESCO’s Operational Strategy for Priority Africa 2022-29 and its Flagships,
c. Intersectoral collaboration and partnerships that reflect both regional and national stakeholder priorities,
d. The SDGs and the UN 2030 Agenda,
e. International Decade action frameworks, specifically for the:
i. Ocean Decade (2021-2030),
ii. Water Action Decade (2018-2028),
iii. Ecosystem Restoration Decade (2021-2030), and
iv. Indigenous Languages Decade (2022-2032),
f. African Union Agenda 2063,
g. SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030;
h. UNESCO Country Strategies (UCSs) in Mozambique and Namibia to support and complement, and
i. United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCFs) in each of the nine Member States to ground regional efforts in fostering synergy with other UN agencies at the country level;
j. An integrated budget framework indicating resource availability and gaps; and
k. A staffing strategy.

Review of the outputs or deliverables:
UNESCO will review the outputs / deliverables for quality, relevance and viability. The consultant is required to incorporate minimum 7 working days for reach review.

REVIEW OF THE OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES

UNESCO will review the outputs / deliverables for quality, relevance and viability. The consultant is required to incorporate minimum 7 working days for each review.

LANGUAGE

Mode of Consultations and Surveys:
Virtual / Online.

Data and Connectivity:
The UNESCO Regional shall provide the meeting connection links as needed when advised in advance.

Travel:
No travel is foreseen. For any local travel the consultant will be responsible.

Stationery, Utilities and Any Other Input for this Assignment:
These, including, secretarial assistance for methodological steps, shall be the consultant’s responsibility.

Duration:
Three months (Approximately 35 days over four months).

PAYMENT PLAN

A lump sum payment will be made to cover the full cost of the assignment in installments as below. It is to be noted that they payment may take up to 21 days from the date an invoice is received by UNESCO:
1) 1st Payment: Upon submission of the inception report and its three elements with a signed invoice (10%)
2) 2nd Payment: Upon submission of transcripts and participant lists from all virtual consultations (including UNESCO staff, Country Office Heads, National Commission Secretaries, UN Resident Coordinators, relevant ministries, regional CSOs and bodies such as SADC and COMESA); alongside online survey summaries and a synthesis report of the situational and strategic analysis covering trends, challenges, UNESCO’s comparative advantage, and alignment with key frameworks with a signed invoice (20%)
3) 3rd Payment: Upon delivery of the draft UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy 2025-2030 package (comprising an executive summary, a Theory of Change, defined strategic priorities and focus areas, and the integration of cross-cutting themes such as gender, youth, and sustainability; outcome and output statements, a results-based framework with indicators, and detailed frameworks for delivery, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), risk management and sustainability framework; country-specific chapters, a strategic alignment matrix, and integrated budget and staffing frameworks; a validation report summarizing feedback from the validation workshop, a list of participants, and agreed revisions and next steps) with a signed invoice (30%).
4) 4th and final Payment: Upon delivery of the validation report, the final version of the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy for Southern Africa 2025-2030 with all annexes and a PowerPoint presentation with a signed invoice (40%).

EXPECTED PROFILE OF THE CONSULTANT INCL. SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE:

• Advanced university degree in Development Studies, Business Administration, Management, in any technical field relevant to UNESCO’s areas of work, or related field.
• 15 years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels.
• Extensive policy-related research and programme management experience in the Pacific context.
• Versatility, judgment, maturity and the ability to work from home.
• Ability to cope with stressful and difficult conditions and political/cultural sensitivity and ability to work in a Pacific environment.
• Proven experience in implementing time-limited initiatives.
• Ability to express clearly and concisely ideas and concepts in written and oral form and to produce results-based documents in a timely manner;
• Ability to work independently and establish harmonious and effective working relationships both within and outside the organization;
• Excellent writing, research and analysis skills.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Apply online with the following sections in a single document: (1) an expression of interest indicating similar work done in the past, (2) Curriculum Vitae (3) three professional references where similar work has been delivered, (4) proposed work plan for this assignment, and (5) a lumpsum price offer.

Your application should be submitted:
Via e-mail to vacancies.harare@unesco.org with the email subject, Consultant for Developing the UNESCO Regional Operational Strategy for Southern Africa, 2026-30, no later than 31 August 2025, Midnight (CAT).

No modifications can be made to the application submitted. The evaluation of applications is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice.

UNESCO uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of applicants. Please note that only selected applicants will be further contacted.

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