Cowater International
KEY INFORMATION
Job Title: Gender Consultant
Assignment: Evaluate and advise gender integration process through Scaling-Up Teacher Professional Development- Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA)
Position/ Contract Type: Short Term Consultancy
Duration of Initial Contract: Up to 25 days, starting ASAP
Language Required: Arabic and English
1. SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT
Launched in December 2021 and implemented by Cowater International, the Middle East Support Services Project (ME-FSSP) will primarily support the development and humanitarian objectives of Canada’s Middle East Strategy by providing administrative, financial, procurement, and logistical services in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and the region.
The Middle East Field Support Services (ME-FSS) will also support the regional development programming for the Government of Canada through the provision of technical specialists in gender equality, governance and human rights, and environment and climate action
2. BACKGROUND
Canada is a lead donor in the education sector in Jordan, providing support to the Ministry of Education (MoE) over five years to help the education system in Jordan cope with the influx of Syrian refugees. Canada’s contribution is helping to provide universal access to a strengthened education system, benefitting the over 1.4 million children (half of whom are girls), who are enrolled in public education and helping ensure that the poorest, most vulnerable, and marginalized girls and boys, including refugees, have access to education. QRTA’s Scaling Up Teacher Professional Development in Jordan project complements Canada’s budget support, addressing the critical need to improve the quality of public education by upgrading the teaching skills of teachers. The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent school closures and lockdowns had a significant impact on the education system.
QRTA responded by adapting its professional development activities for delivery online and by training teachers how to teach remotely. While this transition was challenging, QRTA and MoE now recognize that blended learning systems can help them reach students and teachers who might otherwise be missed. During the extension, the project would complete the training cycles delayed by COVID-19, expand to reach additional teachers who still urgently need support, and further develop the online delivery of QR The project includes (5) major activities that are closely aligned with the Ministry of Education (MoE) priorities and directions. These activities include:
· Expanding the School Networks for Instructional Improvement
· Expanding the Advanced Instructional Leadership Professional Diploma (AILPD)
· Expanding the Innovation in Education program
· Expanding the Online Teacher Education Professional Diploma
· Conducting an Impact Evaluation for the AILPD
Project’s Gender Equality Strategy
The education sector in Jordan is the largest employer of women. Female teachers represent the majority of the teaching cadre (67%) even though tertiary and secondary schools are sex-segregated. Primary schools are largely taught by female teachers and are mixed. Despite their high representation in the teaching workforce, women continue to be less represented in leadership and senior positions in the Ministry of Education. QRTA will commit to advancing the gender equality in its programs, conduct sessions to raise teacher’s awareness of the learning needs of boys and girls to help them plan better to enhance the learning environment for boys and girls. QRTA will seek a balanced participation of male and female teachers and will employ gender-sensitive practices to increase female and male access to QRTA programs and project activities. For example, it will schedule training activities in consultation with participants, plan childcare support for female teachers, and increase the online components in the program. Male teachers’ participation in professional development activities to date has been relatively low. During the extension, the project would renew efforts to attract male teachers and encourage their active engagement in the training programs, in close coordination and consultation with the MoE. Strategies that have shown good results in increasing male participation include planning more outreach activities to male schools, sharing success stories and testimonials that demonstrate the impact of programs on student learning and on professional development of participants, collecting participants’ feedback on a regular basis and following up on dropouts to address issues that might hinder participation.
3. OBJECTIVE
The Gender Equality consultant will work with and advise QRTA team on strategies to enhance gender integration within project activities to ensure that the project strategies and activities are aligned with the project’s Theory of Change, Logic Model, Performance Measurement Framework as well as the gender integration strategy. The consultant will advise and guide interventions that improve gender awareness-raising through QRTA team, programs, and project beneficiaries through two different phases.
The first phase will focus on raising awareness with QRTA program approaches, and the second phase will focus on integrating gender in the different training programs. This will help QRTA’s trainers in delivering training that raise gender awareness among QRTA beneficiaries; in specific helping teachers in the field on how to account for the learning needs of boys and girls in instruction. Also, to increase school leader awareness of gender-based behavioral issues among students
4. SCOPE OF WORK
· Assess the gender needs of the project team and identify opportunities and ways to effectively address gaps and enhance capacities to meet project commitment and pave the way for stronger gender integration in QRTA operations.
· Work closely with the academic team to develop gender equality training material that focuses on strengthening the knowledge of gender perspective, promoting awareness of gender bias, and in encouraging gender-responsive action, attitudes, and values in the education sector.
· Conduct the gender equality training for QRTA staff and identify potential trainers to join the training of trainers’ course.
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