PROPOSAL WRITER - REGIONAL TEACHER PROGRAM FOR AFRICA (H / F)

Description de poste

The Regional teacher Programme for Africa aims at supporting continental, regional and national education stakeholders in the process of taking stock of what we know on effective teacher policies and practices, and in scanning the horizon for new initiatives that promote innovation, equity as well as digital and green transformation in teaching. It also aims at developing evidence based models and resources that can best support teachers’ learning and performance in changing environments. Building on national education and teacher reforms, it will promote regional integration and dialogue, and it will offer opportunities for cross-country collaboration, partnerships and peer learning amongst teaching stakeholders within the region and with Europe.

The programme will also help to identify or scale up innovative and effective solutions, promoting the use of digital technologies, to the following specific problems facing the teacher workforce in Africa:

1. Making teaching an attractive career;
2. Improving teachers’ status and working conditions;
3. Strengthening policies, teacher recruitment, deployment and retention;
4. Increasing gender balance in the teaching profession;
5. Ensuring teachers’ qualifications and professional development needs, notably green and digital competences; as well as Education for Sustainable Development;
6. Developing teacher support mechanisms at system and at school levels.

A specific focus is also given to the situation of teachers in conflict and emergency contexts, and how to better support them.

To achieve these goals, the programme will create a Regional Teacher Facility to be implemented and managed by a consortia of four EU Member States (Belgium, France, Finland and Germany). This is based on the fact that these EU Member States have solid and extensive experience and expertise in implementing regional and country actions in teacher policy, teacher education and quality of teaching in Africa. They have the ability to tap into a large pool of European public expertise that can be made available to support the Action, and to engage with European teacher education organisations for north-south partnerships.

This Teacher Facility will offer different modalities of support:

1. An innovation fund;
2. A demand-driven technical assistance component;
3. A specific line of funding for joint research.

Priority areas of the Teacher Facility will be on strengthening the teacher profession and teacher training capacity, as well as on improving the digital and green competences of teachers. The Regional Teacher Facility will be made available for national governments, in particular ministries of education, teacher organisations such as teacher unions, teacher training institutions, faculties or universities of Education and other relevant regional, national or local education stakeholders, including civil society organisations.

Support will be provided to these stakeholders so that they can develop and implement innovative and evidence based solutions to problems affecting the teaching profession; increase the quality and relevance of their activities; reinforce their networks of partners, and increase capacity to operate jointly at national and regional levels. Results will be re-usable, transferable, scalable and, where possible, be problem-based and multi-disciplinary. The use of digital technology and leveraging digital education is a priority given its power to go beyond borders and allowing for increased regional collaboration.

Through its combined activities, this Action will ensure the coherence and continued relevance of policy work and teacher professional development and it will contribute to the improvement of quality of teaching in Africa.

The objective of the assignment is to support the consortium and the European Union to draft / develop the above mentioned set of documents framing and outlining the programme as well as the organisational modalities for the consortium. The expert will be placed under the responsibility of the project manager at Expertise France headquarters and under the supervision of the head of the Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research division.

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following list is not exhaustive, the missions and activities listed are not limitative:

1. Coordinate the European Member State Agencies (Agence Française de Développement, Expertise France, GIZ, Enabel FinCeed) in the consultation / negotiation process to develop the programme;
2. Propose a detailed timeline for the works until the Contribution Agreement and the Partnership Agreement are signed;
3. Monitor the agreed timeline and main milestones;
4. Suggest and facilitate online and on-site workshops with the EUMS agencies to ensure programme development progress (with logistics handled by Expertise France and / or the EU) while meeting the deadlines;
5. Draft the meetings’ aide-mémoire and follow-up action plans;
6. Propose decision-making processes and support the EUMS in the negotiations;
7. Channel information between EUMS and liaise with INTPA each time it will be needed and keep INTPA up-to-date on the EUMS works;
8. Lead the development of the key contractual documents for the programme: the Description of Action (DoA), the budget, the logical framework and the planning as well as the Partnership Agreement to outline the Action and the organisational modalities;
9. Propose drafting processes and assist the consortium in deciding how to share responsibilities for drafting the set of documents;
10. Gather inputs from the consortium and the EU;
11. Take the lead on drafting the documents as necessary (depending on how responsibilities are shared among the consortium) to draft the documents;
12. Be proactive and provide inputs to the consortium for both the activities to be implemented and the consortium’s organisational modalities;
13. Ensure quality of the set of documents;
14. Ensure progress to meet deadlines.

WORKING METHODOLOGY

Under the supervision of the Project Manager (based in Paris), the expert will conduct the assignment according to the following approach:

1. Documentary analysis phase and exchanges with Expertise France to gain knowledge about the programme and the instruction / development process.
2. Consultation phase with the EUMS agencies to collect inputs on the activities they could implement and the role they could play in the programme.
3. Consultation / negotiation meetings with the EU partners and the EU. The expert will facilitate workshops to collect input, reconcile agency positions, support decision-making processes, and reach consensus to make progress on program development.
4. Development of the sets of documents. During this phase, the consultant will translate the consensus reached into the programme / contractual documents: DoA, budget, planning, logical framework and Partnership Agreement (activities, implementing modalities and distribution of roles and responsibilities of the partners in the institutional set-up). The consultant is expected to make recommendations and provide input on these matters.
5. Adaptation of the programme / contractual documents until they are validated with partners.

Flexibility / adaptability will be needed as all the above may occur and take place back and forth and in parallel. Expertise France will organize a meeting to start the expert's assignment in order to agree on the working methodology to be adopted (draft versions, modalities for monitoring the work, approval of deliverables). Regular follow-up meetings will be organized between Expertise France to observe progress and validate the orientations.

INDICATIVE NUMBER OF DAYS OF EXPERTISE AND TENTATIVE CALENDAR FOR THE ASSIGNMENT

Main tasks / activities

• Documentary / analysis phase: 1 day, February 2023
• Development of the programme / contractual documents: Description of Action, budget, logical framework, planning, Partnership Agreement, etc. to outline the Action, the implementing modalities and institutional set-up: 10 days, February-May 2023
• Consultation / negotiation meetings with EU and other member states agencies: 14 days
• Adaptation of the programme / contractual documents throughout the process until validation of final deliverables by Q2-2023: 10 days
• TOTAL: 35 days

The mission will take place on the basis of 35 days of expertise over a period from February 2023 to May / June 2023.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The expected deliverables consist in the French contribution to the following programme-documents:

• For the consultation / coordination meetings: agenda, minutes, power point presentations; February-May 2023
• Other necessary documents / notes to support the consortium in the consultation / negotiation and design process for the Programme: February-May 2023
• Description of Action of the Regional Teacher Training Programme; May 31st 2023
• Logical framework; May 31st 2023
• Budget; May 31st 2023
• Partnership Agreement between the consortium of EUMS agencies; May 31st 2023

General requirements:

• Master's degree or equivalent in education, international relations, project management / international cooperation or equivalent;
• At least 15 years of professional experience;
• Extensive experience in designing, drafting and implementing multi-partner development projects;
• Very good knowledge in the area of basic education, and ideally in teacher training issues;
• Very good knowledge of the diversity of contexts of education in Africa;
• Good knowledge of the EU funding instruments and instruction / development processes;
• Availability to participate in a few in-presence workshops in Brussels or Paris.

Technical competencies:

• Demonstrated skills in international project development, particularly with European / EU funds (minimum 10 years of professional experience);
• Ability to conduct a dialogue with public and international partners;
• Ability to build, maintain, coordinate and facilitate workshops;
• Ability to produce a diagnosis, design and propose a solution adapted to the context;
• Good contextual analysis skills.

Cross-cutting competencies:

• Ability to decipher and analyze the issues and objectives of an action;
• Organizational skills: sense of responsibility, autonomy, rigor and method;
• Ability to adapt and react to unforeseen situations;
• Excellent communication skills: sense of diplomacy and communication with public and international partners;
• Negotiation and decision-making skills;
• Ability to federate actors around common objectives;
• Excellent command of written and spoken English (writing, synthesis and analysis skills...);
• Excellent drafting skills in English;
• Fluency in French is an asset;
• Excellent command of computers and office automation tools.

Expertise France will provide the expert with all relevant documentation; The expert must have his / her own computer equipment; The mission will take place mostly remotely and will include a few meetings in Paris and or Brussels; Expenses related to the missions in Brussels (and Paris if needed) will be covered by Expertise France.