The Roma Education Fund (REF) is looking for an Early Childhood Development Consultant to create a parental training package within the project intervention in the Western Balkans and Turkey. This is a short-term consultancy engagement in the frames of the REF’s project “Increased education opportunities for Roma students and Roma youth in Western Balkans and Turkey”, funded by the European Union. The Consultant will develop a training package for Roma parents, which aims to advance skills and knowledge of parents on child care including resilience building, nutrition, social and emotional well-being, and parental responsiveness.
Accordingly, it is expected that the Consultant prepares the training package for parents as well as to deliver a Training of Trainers to selected REF staff members. The training modules will be used in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey in different Roma communities and social context, so the modules will need to be easily adaptable to local context, values and socially and culturally different communities.
Project background
The project “Increased education opportunities for Roma students and Roma Youth in Western Balkans and Turkey” is aiming to contribute to an improved social cohesion through increased education attainment and improved employability of marginalized Roma populations, as well as to foster cross-country and regional dialogue and knowledge transfer. The actions of the project strive to:
- Promote equal participation in quality education for Roma children and youth at all educational levels (pre-school, primary, secondary, university and vocational), and to improve educational outcomes (including preventing school drop-out) with a special focus on reducing the wide gap between male and female education levels;
- Improve Roma youth employability, with a particular focus on gender-sensitive measures in employability, and smooth transition between end of studies and employment market;
- Promote desegregation and systemic durable change for Roma in the education sector by producing a change of attitude towards Roma and Roma communities; by strengthening the capacities of relevant central and local institutions through regional exchange of experiences; and by using Roma role models as actors of change.
The primary target group of the project will be up to 4,700 disadvantaged Roma children and their parents in the seven target countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey (project’s countries).
Project’s Activities are:
- Expanding access to quality Early Childhood Education/ECD services;
- Expanding access to quality primary school education;
- Increasing performance and employability of Roma secondary school students;
- Increasing access and participation of Roma students in tertiary education and transition to labor market;
- Contributing to policy development and regional knowledge exchange and communication.
Responsibilities and Tasks of the ECD consultant:
- To collect and review already existing training modules developed as part of REF support ECD projects;
- Execute need assessment of REF grantees working in the field of ECD and already operating parental programs;
- Based on the need assessment and guidance of REF to prepare suitable training package for Roma parents to be used in the frame of the “Increased education opportunities for Roma students and Roma youth in Western Balkans and Turkey” project;
- Deliver a one day of Training of Trainers to REF project staff including international and national staff members;
- If needed, to ensure mentoring in person and online to trainers on how to adjust and prioritize the modules in different contexts
- Assist during the roll-out of the resource package as needed, in person and/or online;
- Review and reevaluation of modules after implementation.
Required Education and Experience
- Postgraduate university degree in Education, Pedagogy or other relevant Social Sciences, preferably with a specialization in early childhood education and care;
- Previous experience in preparing training packages on Early Childhood Development and delivering Training of Trainers;
- Working experience with Roma communities and understating the educational challenges of Roma.
Skills required
- In-depth knowledge and understanding of the social context in the project’s countries,
- Familiarity with educational programs and methodologies in the specific area of intervention i.e. early childhood education;
- Ability to communicate ideas in a manner conducive to their practical application;
- Excellent organizational, analytical, communication and interpersonal skills;
- Fluency in written and spoken English, knowledge of Romanes other languages spoken in the Western Balkans or Turkey will be an advantage.
Planned duration of the engagement: 20 consultancy days
Timeline: September 2018
Application Process
A complete application includes:
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Statement of interest, that should include:
- Your academic / education in the field of early childhood education;
- Any previous experience in conducting training for trainers and designing early childhood education frameworks into project interventions;
- Your previous experience working with Roma communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) or other relevant stakeholders;
- Brief methodology clearly describing Consultant’s understanding of the assignment and challenges (max. 2 pages);
- Financial offer expressed as consultancy fee per number of anticipated working days in EUR. In case of traveling for the purposes of the assignment, REF will cover eligible travel and accommodation costs.
Application must be made in English and must be submitted at the latest by 16th of September 2018 to the following address:
recruitment@romaeducationfund.org
Please include in the subject line “Early Childhood Development Consultant”.
Individuals identifying themselves as Roma, Roma Education Fund scholarship recipients, and fulfilling the above-mentioned profile and requirements are particularly encouraged to apply. Qualified female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
