Thailand: Consultancy – Documentation of the Results and Experience of Education Provision for Disadvantaged Children, Bangkok, Thailand

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Thailand is firmly established as a middle-income country. Economic growth over the last two decades has been impressive: poverty has fallen by around two-thirds since 1990, despite the 1997 economic crisis from which Thailand has fully recovered. This prosperity, combined with a growing awareness of and commitment to child rights, has resulted in successive governments investing in the wellbeing and future of children. These investments have brought hugh, often life-changing benefits to millions of children.

How can you make a difference?

The Education Section, UNICEF Thailand Country Office is seeking an individual consultant to provide technical support to document the results and experience of Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son. The documentation will be a record of the programme for communicating to stakeholders on the approach, lessons learned and results of the programme, contributing to the body of knowledge on small school management initiatives and approaches, and a document used to advocate for greater investments in disadvantaged communities.

Background:

Within the framework of the United National Partnership Framework with the Royal Thai Government, UNICEF has been working closely with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to support improvements in equitable access to quality education in Thailand. Mae Hong Son is one of the poorest province in Thailand. It is located in the North of Thailand, on the country’s western border. With its remote setting and surrounding mountains, Mae Hong Son is the hometown for many hilltribes, for example, Karen, Hmong, and Lahu.

When UNIECF began working in Mae Hong Son, a survey of school age population in the Province revealed that some children do not have access to education service because of the distance from schools. Despite the attempt to provide education in rural area through border patrol police schools and non-formal education centers, they could not cover the entire province. The Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son programme was, therefore, created to support access basic education for disadvantage children by establishing community learning centres which respond to the education needs of children who live far from schools or in mountainous areas where daily commute to schools is not feasible.

The programme also provided knowledge of Child Rights concept to teachers and administrators on the basis of supporting disadvantage children equitable access to education. The Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son programme is the cooperation between Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and UNICEF. Schools receive subsidies from the government for teacher salary and operational costs while UNICEF supports local contract teachers. In 2017, there are 26 remote classrooms in Mae Hong Son ESAO 1 and 14 remote classrooms in Mae Hong Son ESAO 2.

The geography of Mae Hong Son which is located in the mountainous area generates a natural barrier for commuting. Before the programme was developed children could take hours just to travel from their home to the nearest school. The ideal situation is to have a good quality schools in every village but that is not financially feasible. According to the World Bank report (Wanted: A quality education for all), Thailand’s small village schools are severely under-resourced. They do not have adequate number of teachers, therefore, student across all grades cannot be taught at the same time and teachers cover a much broader range of subjects than in a larger school. Small schools are also relatively under-resources.

However, these isolated schools in Mae Hong Son are needed to serve disadvantaged populations at the primary school level otherwise education access would be adversely affected. To reduce the operational costs of having many isolated schools, the Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son programme is, therefore, established in school networking format or so-called school satellites. In this setting, the headquarter of principal office is located at the district center whereas the classrooms are scattered in the distant villages in mountainous areas. This generates greater coverage for school-age population and security assurance for parents who do not want children to commute long distance from home.

The programme has achieved the following results:

• 26 remote classrooms in Mae Hong Son ESAO 1 and 14 remote classrooms in Mae Hong Son ESAO 2 established;

• Access to education for more than 1,000 disadvantaged children each year;

• Teacher assistants and administrative staff to lower the burden of teachers recruited;

• Interventions to help children overcome language barrier in schools and promote literacy such as hiring tribal teachers who speak local language and mobile library initiative.

The challenge for the sustainability of the programme is to ensure that the Ministry of Education and partners can take the learning from this programme and use it as a good practice to reach isolated population in the most cost-effective way. Furthermore, the lesson learnt would serve as a foundation for Mae Hong Son to develop a provincial plan and investment case that provides inclusive education for disadvantaged children in the province. For this to happen, a documentation of all aspects of the programme and its results will be required, which will contribute to the body of knowledge on the subject and act as a technical guide and communication tool for the sustainability of the approach.

Work Assignment:

Under the supervision of Education Officer, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

1. Review existing materials and documentation on the Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son programme;

2. Collate and select relevant international documentation and research which would be relevant for the development of documentation materials;

3. Identify and agree with supervisor on methodology and approach to documenting the programme and the content to be included;

4. Plan and conduct interviews and focus group discussions with selected informants and stakeholders involved in the programme;

5. Draft the documentation material;

6. Revise and edit the documentation based on feedback from UNICEF, OBEC and other stakeholder.

End Product(s):

The Consultant will prepare a monthly report on activities undertaken and completed against the deliverables.

1. Proposed methodology to develop documentation materials;

2. An initial outline of the documentation to be produced;

3. Reports of interviews and focus group discussions with informants;

4. First draft of the documentation materials;

5. Final draft of documentation materials.

This documentation should be 20-30 pages in length and will capture all aspects of the programme including: the situation and problems in education of Mae Hong Son; the context and origins of the programme; partners to the programme and the role they have played; programme design – philosophy and methodology of approach; capacity development of teachers, school heads and other stakeholders; engagement with local partners and private sector; equity and gender dimension to the programme; benefits of programme – to children (including details on how far the children have progressed in their education after leaving the satellite schools), parents, teachers and school principals; costs effectiveness of programme, lessons learned from implementation; recommendations for strengthening the Education Provision for Disadvantage Children in Mae Hong Son programme and scale up.

Estimated Duration of Contract: 40 working days

Official Travel: The consultant is expected to travel to Mae Hong Son where the programme has been implemented for information generation, data collection, monitoring, and interviews.

To qualify as a/an [champion or advocate] for every child you will have…

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV or P11, full contact information of minimum 2 references, availability, and daily professional fee in USD (for international consultant) and THB (for national consultant) by 9 May 2018.

FORM P11.doc

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Only short listed candidates will be notified.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=512603