Background

Maldives has maintained a star track record within the region for ensuring quality education for everyone in the country. The country also boasts the highest percentage of literacy in the region and is making strides in providing free primary, secondary and higher education to satellite islands within the geographically separated and stretched country.

Despite the varying quality of education across the country especially within the urban and rural divide, the Maldivian education system has proven that it can produce highly skilled individuals. Students from all over the country often get listed under the world top achievers, attaining highest marks or distinctions from all subjects taken in Cambridge O Level exams, and EdExcel A Level exams. The education system is also under a significant amount of pressure. Students to teacher ratio is 9. However, this number jumps up to 13 in the capital city – a ratio that imposes a significant stress on teachers and the learning environment of students. In urban areas, and especially the schools within the capital suffer from administrative issues such as overcrowding, underfunding, turnover rates, and social problems such as bullying, harmful competition, and marginalization due to favouritism. There is a significant imbalance in the quality of education between the urban and rural communities in the Maldives due to the distribution of human and tangible resources.[1]

UNDP Maldives in its support to the Maldivian Government works closely with the Ministry of Education to improve the quality and access of the education provided in the schools. UNDP Maldives in collaboration with National Counter Terrorism Center has previously engaged with senior educators on detecting early signs of radicalization among the students. It was reiterated that a comprehensive guide designed specifically for educators on inter alia detecting early signs, disengagement methods, and referral pathways are required to make a meaningful and sustainable impact on the education system.

Considering the existing needs and developmental priorities, UNDP Maldives under its Integrated Governance Program is seeking the technical expertise of an international consultant to develop a comprehensive guideline for the education sector on PVE in the context of Maldivian education system.

[1] See “Enhancing the skills and performance of teachers” section in “Enhancing the Quality of Education in the Maldives: Challenges and Prospects” published by World Bank in 2012 accessible here: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/905361468279355462/pdf/679180NWP00PUB07903B0Report00No-510.pdf
See also Context and Challenges section of UNICEF Maldives’ Education program, accessible here: https://www.unicef.org/maldives/what-we-do/education

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of Ministry of Education, National Counter Terrorism Center, and UNDP Maldives, the consultant will develop a comprehensive resource package for education sector on preventing violent extremism among young adolescent students. The tasks to be undertaken by the consultant under the Terms of Reference include, but are not necessarily limited to the following;

Home based (34 days):

1. An inception report featuring a literature review on the prevalence and susceptibility of young adolescents to radicalization, policies and frameworks in place to protect students from falling to radical ideologies, global trends and preventive efforts.
2. Stakeholder consultations to identify existing capacities, standard operating procedures, referral pathways, vulnerabilities within the system, key actors and level of access in both spreading and preventing radical ideologies to understand the depth, features and materials that need to be developed as part of the resource package.
3. A comprehensive resource package developed based on the instructions of Ministry of Education, NCTC, other key stakeholders, and comments based on the inception report, including (and not limited to) an instruction manual(s), guidelines, supporting materials, suggested delivery methodology.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The consultant will work closely with the Ministry of Education and UNDP Maldives Focal point to deliver the following results:

Inception report: The inception report provides an insight to the existing gaps and challenges within the current education system. The report should feature a literature review on studies conducted on the vulnerabilities of children and youth to radical ideologies, global efforts and their outcomes on preventing the prevalence of violent extremism.

Resource package: Based on the comments and instructions provided by the Ministry of Education, UNDP Maldives and other relevant stakeholders acquired through stakeholder consultations, the consultant will submit a resource package tailored for educators. The resource package should feature functional components in defining and identifying violent extremism, how to manage classrooms  in the context of radical ideas, thoughts and violent extremist ideology, key messages to promote diversity and tolerance, alternative narratives for common radical and violent extremist rationale, disengagement and redirection methods, referral pathways for children who cannot be disengaged within the means of educators intervention. The resource package should also feature these materials in a distributable method (presentation slides, manuals, handbooks etc) and a guide for trainers on how to navigate and deliver these resources to the educators

The table below summarizes the main deliverables and estimated duration to complete the output.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will be accountable to the Programme Officer of the Democratic Governance Unit at UNDP Maldives, for each as stipulated in the proposal. Weekly meetings will be held with the Programme Manager and Programme Officer. A debriefing meeting will be organized with UNDP senior management at the end of assignment.

Duration of the work

This assignment will approximately take 5 weeks and is expected to start in September 2020. The consultant should come up with a clear timeline while submitting the proposal taking into consideration the estimated time durations for each deliverable as stipulated above.

Duty Station: Home-based

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies

• Knowledge about the UNDP programmes would be an advantage;
• Proven strong analytical abilities;
• Ability to work under pressure with several tasks and various deadlines;
• Ability to actively generate creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
• Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
• A pro-active approach to problem-solving;
• General IT Literacy

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A minimum of graduate degree in Education, Social Sciences, Peacebuilding, Counterterrorism/Extremism, or any other relevant field.

Experience

• A minimum of five years of professional experience in developing knowledge components or community resilience building

• Experience in working in P/CVE contexts, civic education, or governance will be an added advantage

• Experience in the region or in the country is an added advantage.

Language requirement

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required

Application process

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications.

• A letter indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy;
• Submission of an updated detailed Personal CV or P11 form which can be downloaded from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc
• Lump sum financial quotation, with a breakdown of daily consultancy fee, daily subsistence allowance and ticket fees as applicable – clearly indicate the breakdown of daily fee and number of days of work;
• Previous similar works undertaken by the consultant
• At least two references from recent previous jobs or three references contact details

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