Call for Proposal: Teacher Professional Development At UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

I. Background:

Under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Education Sector Programme Implementation Grant (ESPIG), UNESCO has secured funding to implement activities towards the attainment of the undermentioned three (3) outcome areas.

• Outcome 1: Ensuring safe and equitable access to learning for children and youth in Myanmar;
• Outcome 2: Ensuring quality teaching and learning for children and youth in Myanmar by strengthening the capacities of education staff and fostering context-responsive, equity-focused learning resources and modalities adapted to the evolving situation; and
• Outcome 3: Ensuring systems strengthening, management, coordination, and monitoring.

UNESCO, through the Education Sector Programme Implementation Grant (ESPIG) project, continues this effort addressing the needs for both pre-and in-service teacher education under ESPIG Outcome Area 2: Ensuring quality teaching and learning for children and youths in Myanmar by strengthening the capacities of education staff and fostering context-responsive, equity-focused learning resources and modalities adapted to the evolving situation. Given the current context, UNESCO Yangon is initiating a training program designed for 300 community/volunteer teachers in various states and regions, aiming to enhance their capacity in teaching and professional development through the utilization of Myanmar Teacher Platform and hybrid methods. To initiate this, UNESCO Yangon Office is actively seeking collaboration with organizations boasting a proven track record in community/volunteer teacher professional development, coupled with expertise in delivering contextualized curriculum in Myanmar context.

II. Work assignment:

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok (hereinafter called UNESCO), the direct supervision of the Head of UNESCO Project Office in Yangon and in close collaboration with project officer, the contractor shall perform the following tasks:

1. Comprehensive Consultations to Prioritize teacher’s skills development topics:
2. Develop a survey questionnaire to gather information from different states/regions;
3. Implement a selection process to ensure a diverse and motivated group;
4. Conduct consultations with at least 60 community/volunteer teachers from selected group;
5. Use data from assessments to prioritize at least three teacher’s training topics based on feasibility and impact;
6. Training and disseminate trainings to targeted community/volunteer teachers using Myanmar Teacher Platform and in-person training:
   1. Devise a comprehensive plan for training and recruit participants through various channels;
   2. Establish selection criteria based on age, background, and skill development needs;
   3. Engage a selected group of 50 community/volunteer teachers in each training batch, and facilitate the training for 6 batches in total;
   4. Prepare training materials that should include but not be limited to literacy and numeracy;
   5. Revise training materials based on feedback and results from training;
   6. Collect feedback from participants and utilize the data to develop an action plan for teacher’s training for community/volunteer teachers;
   7. Prepare training report for each batch in standard English. The training report shall contain:

• Summary
• Activities progress (detailed activities and outputs)
• Challenges and solutions
• Next steps (maximum 5 A4 pages, excluding annexes) Annexes (Findings from need assessment, training and dissemination plan, lists of community/volunteer teachers as well as feedback from the training participants)

h. Prepare Final Report in standard English. The Final Report shall contain:

• Project overview (achievement and challenges)
• Stakeholder engagement (feedback and collaboration)
• Project activities (detailed activities and outputs)
• Resource utilization (budget efficiency and expenditure)
• Conclusion
• Recommendation (maximum 10 A4 pages, excluding references and annexes) Annexes (updated list of teachers and stakeholders)

III. Deliverables and Timelines:

The contractor shall submit the following deliverables (submission dates provisional):

1. Inception report of consultation discussion in standard English by 12th July 2024, containing;
2. Introduction (Project overview, objectives)
3. Training Design (Training needs analysis and approaches)
4. Implementation Plan (Timeline for implementing training programme and targeted community/volunteer teachers)
5. Risk assessment (Potential risk and justification)
6. Conclusion
7. Request for the approval (maximum 5 A4 pages, excluding annexes) Annexes (Need assessment questionnaire)
8. Batch 1 and 2 Training report (2.g) in standard English by 26th August 2024;
9. Batch 3 and 4 Training report (2.g) in standard English by 27th September 2024;
10. Batch 5 and 6 Training report (2.g) in standard English by 31st October 2024; and
11. Final Report (2.h) in standard English by 22nd November 2024.

IV. Qualification/experience requirements

The Organization/ Institution:

Required Qualifications:

• Must be international/national organizations with operations already established in Myanmar;
• At least 3 years of relevant experience in teacher empowerment and professional development;
• Must have demonstrated expertise on course development and training delivery to community/volunteer teachers. This expertise must be demonstrated with at least one reference/ supporting example from similar projects previously implemented;
• Must have demonstrated subject matter expertise on community/volunteer teachers professional development; and
• A good understanding of the context and learning needs of the community/volunteer teachers.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Organizations that have a history of implementing innovative and effective educational approaches, such as technology-based learning or non-traditional teaching methods; and
• Experience in working in conflict-affected or remote areas of Myanmar, where access to education may be particularly challenging.

Project Lead:

Required Qualifications:

• Degree in the field of education, development, social sciences or related field;
• At least five years of experience in the field of education development and/or education in emergency;
• Knowledge and experience in relevant technical areas such as literacy and numeracy training for teachers;
• Ability to conduct the ongoing monitoring and evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the interventions;
• Ability to provide regular progress reports detailing activities, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned; and

Demonstrated previous experience in the design and delivery of interventions for community/volunteer teachers mobilization and capacity-building among socially marginalized groups.

How to apply

V. How to Apply

Interested organizations/firms are invited to submit in writing to the UNESCO Antenna Office in Yangon:

1. Technical Proposal clearly referencing “Teacher Professional Development” indicating 1) qualifications and experiences that make suitable for this project, 2) the methodology/approaches and workplan to be adopted to carry out the project, 3) detailed CVs of the team for the project and 4) at least two referee or relevant examples that demonstrate your experience carrying out similar initiatives; and
2. Financial Proposal indicating all project expenses related to the maximum 6-month implementation period.

UNESCO places great emphasis on ensuring that the objectives of the work assignment, as described in the Terms of Reference, are met. Accordingly, in evaluating the applications for the assignment, attention will focus first and foremost on the technical elements. From those proposals deemed suitable in terms of the criteria in the Terms of Reference, UNESCO shall select the proposal that offers the Organization best value for money.

Your application should reach yangon@unesco.org by email no later than 17:00 Hours (Yangon time) on 9 June 2024.

In line with UNESCO’s overall gender mainstreaming strategy, the incumbent is expected to integrate a gender perspective in all activities and apply gender analysis and mainstreaming concepts whenever feasible.

Only short-listed organizations will be contacted.