National consultant to provide technical support to MoES in enhancing Tajik curriculum for grades 6,7,8, Dushanbe, Tajikistan (open only for Tajik nationals)

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 

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, advocacy, and operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations. The country developed a COMPACT Partnership document whereby the MoES and all development partners engaged in national education reform agreed to focus on implementation of CBE reform for improved learning outcomes. The document identifies a number of key areas related to CBE which require “transformational change” to allow for its successful implementation. These include Curriculum, Teacher preparation and professional development, learning assessment and efficiency of education management (EMIS, evidence-based decision-making).   Therefore, the second phase of the IsDB/GPE project will built on to address one of the key challenges that has prevented CBE reform from being effectively implemented is the fact that as reform efforts up to this point have been largely project-based, the national institutions’ structures and practices have not changed, preventing full national ownership and institutionalization of the reform, and promoting its high dependency on development partners. Therefore, COMPACT suggests analyzing and reforming the education institutions to accommodate CBE reform and allow for CBE practices to be embedded at every level of the system, replacing the old practices, rather than creating new ones in parallel to those in existence, which does not lead to sustainable reform. The second phase of the IsDB/GPE project will focus on three key aspects of the CBE reform namely 1) reforming and upgrading the current curriculum system based on CBE teachings 2), improving teacher preparation and professional development systems, and 3), integrating a larger system of national learning assessment. The three components will be constructively aligned with each other in their vision, implementation approaches to demonstrate a thorough process of an education reform from MoES to classroom and from classroom fed back into policy decisions.

How can you make a difference? 

Following the completed first phase of UNICEF technical support in standard, curriculum and TLM revision, the consultant is expected to further support development and expansion on the comprehensive capacity building programme, while supporting in delivering a series of workshops for curriculum and textbooks writers on the principles of CBE for Tajik Language. This includes ensuring consistency of teaching and learning materials (including textbooks) with the curriculum and basic principles of development of inclusive, age-appropriate materials. At the same time, the consultant will be responsible for ensuring that the data collected through the endline study by UNICEF duly informs the revision of standards and development of Tajik Language materials in the longer perspective.
Under direct supervision by Education Specialist and the national Working Group at the MoES the National consultant is expected to perform and accomplish the following tasks:
To achieve the objectives of this assignment, the following key interventions are required:
Revision and testing of Tajik Language, standard, curriculum, TLMs and learning assessment mainstreamed through close linkages with other key components of the project for a more consistent and comprehensive modelling of CBE reform. Enhancing the quality of learning resources (TLMs) and improving student performance is long term effort for the MOEs. As planned by the project any developed TLM for Tajik Language it should go through testing it at pilot schools to ensure the relevancy and impact of resources.

• National consultant for Tajik Language will support the process of revision, piloting and upgrading of Tajik Language, standard, curriculum, learning assessment practices and TLMs for grade 6,7 and 8.

• National consultant for Tajik Language should provide recommendations for contextualization of Tajik Language textbooks to ensure that they are aligned with the revised CBE curriculum standards, are age appropriate, have clear measurable competency-based outcomes for learners, as well as are gender and disability sensitive.

• National consultant will support the process of building the capacity of the MoES affiliated agencies, curriculum, and textbook writers in development of CBE based materials through series of workshops, regular consultative meetings, and remote support to teams with practical assignments and reviews.

• National consultant together with international consultant provide guidance and day to day coordination to national experts identified by UNICEF and Ministry of Education and Science in the completion of the deliverables.

• Review of teachers and mentors feedback on new TLMs. This might require development of new tools to assess the level of learners’ proficiency of Tajik Language or providing concrete suggestions on mainstreaming Tajik Language competency assessment across other areas of endline, such as use of textbooks and in-classroom support system.

•  Provide guidance and day to day coordination to Tajik Language working group identified by UNICEF and Ministry of Education and Science in the completion of the deliverables.

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

The full TOR with work assignment and deliverables is at the following link.  ToR_National consultant for Tajik.docx

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Profile (CV).
2. Technical proposal describing approach/methodology to achieve the tasks of The ToR, workplan with
concrete timeframes.
3. At least 2 papers / concept notes previously developed by the candidate or when candidate provided
substantial inputs to the documents.
4. Financial proposal in TJS-all inclusive, indicting fee per day and cost of the travel as per Annex 3 at the following link 

5. Applications without technical and financial proposals will not be considered.

Applications must be received in the system by 27 April 2025 on UNICEF website.

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

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.

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.