About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines fordeveloping countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries

Consultancy: Consultancy for supporting Early Childhood Development data Assurance, Analyses and Global Reporting      

Duty Station: Programme Group, ECD Section  

Duration: 15 November 2025 – 15 May 2026   

Home/ Office Based: Remote

As the reference agency for Early Childhood Development (ECD), UNICEF works with governments, donors, and partners to elevate outcomes for young children and their families worldwide. Reaffirming its leadership in the field of ECD, UNICEF has designated ECD as an organizational priority in its upcoming Strategic Plan (2026–2029), contributing to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including directly to SDG 4.2. This prioritization is also informed by the release of UNICEF’s Vision for Early Childhood Development 2030 in 2023, which embraces ECD as an organizational outcome. It calls on UNICEF to leverage its multi-sectoral capacities, extensive on-the-ground presence, and deep field experience to promote holistic development of young children – from birth to school entry.

Aligned with UNICEF’s strategic positioning of ECD in the next Strategic Plan, the objective of this consultancy is to support the ECD Team in: (i) ensuring timely data quality assurance through internal monitoring mechanisms for UNICEF-supported and implemented ECD programmes globally in 2025; (ii) producing analytical quantitative and qualitative updates and visuals for annual and donor reporting; (iii) developing a consolidated summary report of global ECD results for the current Strategic Plan (SP) period; (iv) providing technical inputs to UNICEF progress and global reports (e.g., Global Annual Results Report GARR); and (v) extracting illustrative examples and case studies from country reports to supplement ECD 2025 result statements in reports with field stories.

More specifically, the consultant will be expected to support the ECD team with the following activities:

• Conduct a desk review of global ECD results to date, analyzing available data, reports patterns, etc. to inform the 2025 data quality assurance.
• Conduct a quality assurance review of all ECD-related SP indicators and data collected and reported by country offices. The consultant will be granted access to the internal monitoring system and all necessary sources to ensure timely and thorough quality assurance.
• Finalize the ECD-related indicators quality assurance review process, providing high-quality inputs and feedback to country and regional offices.
• Participate in coordination meetings and calls with sectoral focal points and the Group of Programme Division (GPD) results reporting team, as needed, to ensure regular progress updates, receive guidance, and facilitate collaboration with focal points and consultants from other sections on data review, finalization, and reporting.
• Update the ECD results spreadsheet by integrating 2025 data and validating existing entries from 2022–2025 to enhance accuracy, ensure consistency, and improve data visualization.
• Develop a consolidated summary report (5–8 pages) of ECD results for the SP period (2022–2025), integrating both qualitative and quantitative analyses.
• Provide technical inputs – both quantitative and qualitative – to ECD progress and global reports (e.g., GARR, EDAR, RAM, etc.)
• Review country office reports to identify and extract key highlights, illustrative examples, and case studies that supplement ECD result statements with field stories. These stories should showcase specific outcomes for young children. Access to RAM Annual Reports and other relevant sources will be provided to support this task.

 DELIVERABLES

1. Completion and finalization of all ECD-related SP indicators quality assurance
2. Revision of ECD results spreadsheet with data from 2022-2025
3. Consolidated summary report on ECD results for the SP (2022-2025)
4. Technical inputs on ECD to UNICEF’s progress and global reports
5. Compilation of illustrative examples and case studies of ECD programmes

The consultant will be supervised by the ECD Specialist: Cross-sectoral Results Management and Measurement for overall guidance and direction, while engaging with the entire ECD team across all Centers of Excellence, GPD and sector focal points, etc.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1.  Conduct a desk review of global ECD results to date, analyzing available data, reports patterns, etc. to inform the 2025 data quality assurance

-  ECD global results desk review  

December 10, 2025

2.  Complete the quality assurance review of the ECD-related SP indicators for 2025

-  Completion of review, with quality feedback to country and regional offices  

February 1, 2026

3.  Update the ECD results spreadsheet with 2025 data, ensuring overall quality, consistency, and visually appealing presentation across the four-year dataset (2022–2025).

-  Revised ECD result sheet  

March 1, 2026

4.  Draft a consolidated summary report of ECD results over the four-year period of the current SP (2022–2025).

-  First draft of the report 

March 20, 2026

5.  Revise and finalize the draft summary report by incorporating feedback received from the ECD team, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and reporting standards

-  Final draft of the report

April 15, 2026

6.  Provide technical inputs for ECD to UNICEF progress and global reports

-  Summary of initial technical inputs

May 5, 2026

7.  Extract illustrative example and case studies from RAM reports.

-  List of illustrative country examples

May 10, 2026

Qualifications

Education: 

Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Development, Human Development, Education, Psychology, Public Health, Social Policy, Public Administration, or other relevant disciplines and/or in relevant field is required

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• Minimum of eight years of technical experience with a proven track record in data and results management, as well as monitoring at both national and international levels.
• Demonstrated experience in cross-sectoral programming, results measurement, coordination, and reporting is required.
• Excellent report writing skills and experiences is required
• Knowledge in the field of ECD and/or early childhood education is required
• Demonstrated experience operating in humanitarian or emergency contexts is desired.
• Experience working with United Nations agencies and/or other international development organizations is desired.
• Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required, knowledge of another official UN language is an asset

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.