UNESCO Kabul Office supports education sector development in Afghanistan through a broad portfolio covering sector planning and coordination, research and evidence generation, monitoring and evaluation, education data and information systems, capacity development, and technical support to education programmes and sector-wide processes, contributing to UNESCO Afghanistan's Country Strategic Objective 4. Within this framework UNESCO is implementing the GPE System Capacity Grant (SCG) to strengthen education sector planning, monitoring, coordination, evidence generation, data systems and institutional capacities, including the annual Education Situation Report, a Gender Preparedness and Recovery Plan, Integrated Education Dashboards, analytical work on the impact and costs of restrictions on girls' secondary and higher education, and an NGO capacity development plan.
Type of contract: Consultant Contract. Level 2 - Middle. Hiring Unit: Education Sector (ED). Duty Station: Kabul; work location: Remote. Duration: 8 months. Open to external candidates.
Under the overall guidance of the Head of Office and direct supervision of the Head of the Education Unit, and in close collaboration with the national project officer, the consultant will: provide technical review of GPE SCG activities and progress against workplans; support implementation, monitoring and operationalization of the AESSP and related sector planning; contribute to education sector analysis, scenario-based planning and programme prioritization; lead development of the gender preparedness and recovery plan; lead the design and finalization of the 2026 Education Situation Report and the analytical work on the impact and costs of restrictions on girls' secondary and higher education; review research methodologies, ToRs and data-collection instruments and quality-assure research products; support monitoring, evaluation and learning arrangements, field monitoring missions and documentation of lessons learned; guide systematic collection, validation and analysis of education data; quality-assure and lead beta testing and roll-out of the integrated education sector dashboards with ESJP members; support GPE SCG periodic reporting, project closure and handover documentation and a concept note for the next project cycle; finalize the capacity-development plan and provide technical inputs to training workshops and ToTs; and participate in technical meetings and coordinate inputs with UNESCO colleagues and education partners.
Required: advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in education, international development, public policy, economics, social sciences, development studies, monitoring and evaluation, statistics or a related field; at least five years of progressively responsible experience in education sector planning, programme implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation, education data or capacity development; experience with MEL frameworks, results frameworks and data-collection systems; quantitative and qualitative research experience; education data quality assurance, analysis, reporting and visualization; technical report writing; capacity-development design; previous professional experience in the Afghanistan education sector; and experience with multi-stakeholder education programmes involving UN agencies, development partners and NGOs. Desirable: experience in fragile, conflict-affected or emergency contexts; GPE-funded or comparable donor-funded system-strengthening programmes; education coordination mechanisms in Afghanistan; mixed-methods research. Excellent written and spoken English required.
Deliverables include monthly technical progress reports; beta-tested Integrated Education Dashboards by 30 Sept 2026; dashboard roll-out and the finalized 2026 Afghanistan Education Situation Report by 31 Oct 2026; NGO capacity development plan by 30 Nov 2026; draft report on restrictions on girls' education and draft gender response and recovery plan by 31 Dec 2026; finalized report by 28 Feb 2027; finalized gender plan by 31 March 2027; and a concept note for the upcoming GPE SCG cycle by 30 April 2027.
Closing date: 29/08/2026
HOW TO APPLY:
All candidates must complete an on-line application by the deadline (Application deadline, Midnight UTC-4: 29/08/2026) via the UNESCO careers portal. Interested individual consultants must submit: (1) an up-to-date CV; (2) a technical proposal setting out technical approach, methodology and work plan (no more than 5 pages); and (3) a financial proposal in USD, with estimates based on the expected deliverables and quoted in US dollars. UNESCO covers Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) and travel expenses in line with relevant UNESCO rules and regulations, so these need not be included in the proposal.
https://careers.unesco.org/talentcommunity/apply/1369996357/?locale=en_GB