DEADLINE EXTENDED: August 16, 2019
Roma Education Fund (REF) is looking for individuals or legal entities to create a mentoring program for Roma students in primary and secondary school. This is a short-term consultancy engagement in the frames of the REF’s project “Increased education opportunities for Roma students and Roma youth in Western Balkans and Turkey”, funded by European Union.
The main objective of the assignment is to decrease the early school leaving from primary and secondary schools and to support the social integration of Roma students in mainstream education. Accordingly, the selected consultants shall develop mentoring modules for school mentors and in cooperation with implementing partner organizations (IPOs) and deliver a Regional Training for Trainers. The modules will be applied and used in the different countries and school contexts; therefore, it shall be adoptable to local context and needs of students.
Project background
The project “Increased education opportunities for Roma students and Roma youth in Western Balkans and Turkey” is aiming to reduce the Roma/non-Roma gap in participation to and completion of quality education, to improve Roma students’ transition between education and employment and promote durable systemic change and de-segregation within education systems in the Western Balkans and Turkey. The actions of the project strive to:
- Promote equal participation in quality education for Roma children and youth at all educational levels (pre-school, primary, secondary, university and vocational), and to improve educational outcomes (including preventing school drop-out) with a special focus on reducing the wide gap between male and female education levels;
- Improve Roma youth employability, with a particular focus on gender-sensitive measures in employability, and smooth transition between end of studies and employment market;
- Promote desegregation and systemic durable change for Roma in the education sector by producing a change of attitude towards Roma and Roma communities; by strengthening the capacities of relevant central and local institutions through regional exchange of experiences; and by using Roma role models as actors of change.
The primary target group of the project are up to 4,700 disadvantaged Roma children and youngsters and their parents in the seven target countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[1], North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey (project’s countries).
Project’s Activities are:
- Expanding access to quality Early Childhood Education/ECD services;
- Expanding access to quality primary school education
- Increasing performance and employability of Roma secondary school students;
- Increasing access and participation of Roma students in tertiary education and transition to labor market;
- Contributing to policy development and regional knowledge exchange and communication.
Description of Responsibilities and Tasks
The Consultant under direct supervision of the project manager and in close collaboration with the two project officers is expected to undertake the following tasks:
- Gather information from implementing partner organizations and REF country facilitators in Central and Eastern Europe;
- Execute need assessment of mentors and grantees with the information above mentioned;
- Prepare suitable module package for school mentors to support the successful education of Roma students in the Western Balkans and Turkey;
- Prepare a training program for Regional training of trainers;
- Deliver two (2) days of Regional Training of Trainers for project staff and grantees including advice on how to prioritize the modules in case not all will be used or/and added;
- Mentoring the training’s participants in person/online after the training or for adapting the modules;
- Provide an assistance during the roll-out of the resource package as needed, in person and/or online;
- Review and re-evaluation of modules after implementation.
Required Experience
- The candidate has worked successfully on at least three assignments in the fields related to this call;
- Extended experience in preparing training packages and delivering of trainings for teachers, mentors, social workers.
- Working experience with Roma communities and understanding the educational challenges of Roma children, especially in the field of early childhood education and care.
Skills required
- In-depth knowledge and understanding of the social context in the project’s countries;
- Familiarity with educational programs and methodologies aimed to decrease early school leaving;
- Ability to communicate ideas in a manner conducive to their practical application;
- Excellent organizational, analytical, communication and interpersonal skills;
- Fluency in written and spoken English, other languages spoken in the target countries;
Planned duration of the engagement: 20 days of engagement in total.
Timeline: August – October 2019
Application Process
Please send your application to the following email address recruitment@romaeducationfund.org and indicate in the subject line – training for mentors.
List of documents to be submitted:
- Description of your experiences/organization;
- Proposed methodology and timetable including the main milestones;
- CVs of the proposed consultants
- Activity based financial offer, which shall contain the gross amount of the fee per day, in EUR. In case of traveling for the purposes of the assignment, REF will cover eligible travel and accommodation costs.
Application must be made in English language and must be submitted at the latest by July 25, 2019.
Deadline Extended: August 16, 2019 – candidates who submitted their applications previously do not need to re-apply.
Individuals identifying themselves as Roma, Roma Education Fund scholarship recipients, and fulfilling the above-mentioned profile and requirements are particularly encouraged to apply. Qualified female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.
[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence
