Save the Children in Yemen is looking for eligible candidates for the position of

Out of School Children (OOSC) Study in Yemen - Yemen Country Office

Position Objectives:

Over six years of conflict and severe economic decline are leading to what is described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The situation has been aggravated by COVID-19 pandemic which has highly affected the education sector.
According to Yemen Education Cluster, approximately 8.1 million school-age girls and boys need Education in Emergencies (EiE) assistance across Yemen. These include 1.65 million internally displaced children, 1.5 million children with a disability and minority groups who face challenges in accessing education. A total of 2,507 schools are reported destroyed, damaged and/or utilized for non-educational purposes. Conflict and continued disruption of schooling across the country and the fragmentation of the education systems have had a profound impact on the learning and overall cognitive and emotional development of nearly all the 10.1 million school-age boys and girls in Yemen. The situation has been aggravated by COVID-19, as schools were temporarily closed for months in 2020 and 2021 affecting the learning of nearly 5.8 million students, many of whom are at risk of not returning to school due to the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, especially girls. Another 2.05 million school-age girls and boys are out of school. Girls are affected more and anecdotal evidence confirms that families prioritise boys’ education over girls due to safety concerns, a lack of female teachers and gender-sensitive WASH facilities, and distance to the nearest school. These issues are driving higher drop-out rates among girls, which increases the risk of child marriage and domestic violence.

Description of Services

Save the Children and Adult Literacy and Education Agency (ALEA) are planning to jointly conduct a study on out of school children (OOSC) in Yemen in 2021 to learn more about:

• the main reasons why children are out of school in Yemen;
• how the conflict has affected access and size of OOSC; and 
• what works best to reintegrate them in education. 

For this purpose, Save the Children is looking at hiring a consultant who will lead the study in close coordination with the ALEA. Specifically, the consultant will be in charge of the following actions:

• organize a workshop to agree on the tools and the data collection process
• organize a training for the MoE enumerators on data collection tool and methodology, and child safeguarding in coordination with Save the Children
• support and monitor the data collection process in coordination with MoE and GEO supervisors
• analyse the data and draft a report outlining the following disaggregated by sex and area:
  • the number of OOSC in these governorates;
  • the main barriers to accessing both formal and NFE, triangulating with past and ongoing data collection;
  • (re)-enrolment best practices identified; and
  • teachers, children, and community members’ perspectives on the impact of conflict on both previous points, and types of support needed, alternative program types/modalities, aiming to increase enrolment and retention in formal and NFE opportunities to better inform humanitarian education programming.
• adjust the draft report based on Save the Children feedback
• organize a validation workshop with relevant stakeholders, and
• finalize the report considering the feedback received by SC, ALEA and actors attending the workshop.

The report will then be presented by Save the Children and ALEA to the Yemen Education Cluster and Development Partners Group.

Summary of Key Deliverables and Timeline

Location 
The Consultant will be based at ALEA and/or Save the Children Country office in Sana’a, Yemen. 

Duration of the contract: 2 months

Reporting 
The consultant will report directly to Save the Children Education Technical Advisor and head of ALEA. 
Weekly check-in will be organized between the consultant, Save the Children Education TA/Specialist, and ALEA focal point.

Qualifications 

• BA/BS or higher in education or related field. 
• Familiarity with the Yemen context and previous experience working in Yemen. 
• Fluency in both Arabic and English 
• Minimum of 5 years professional experience in education research, including extensive experience in emergency and conflict-affected settings. 
• Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis skills 
• Previous experience on researches on OOSC or other topics in the education sector
• Experience on ALP and/or other NFE for out of school children

The Organization
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.  

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday 
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated 

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued. 
We are looking for both men and women from Yemen with enthusiasm and commitment to improve the protection and promotion of the rights of all children and to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Save the Children International seeks to always be a child safe organization through fulfilling its obligations to the community and through programme implementation carried out by the organization for safeguarding children and to improve the living standards of the child.”