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National mathematics consultant to support Moldova Social Innovation Lab (MiLab) in organising the EduSoft Hackathon .

Vacancy Number: Pr15/01077

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	21 Aug 2015, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	31 Aug 2015, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	26 Aug 2015
Reference to the project:	Moldova Social Innovation Hub
Expected Duration of Assignment:	up to 15 working days during August – October 2015
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted by by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than August 21, 2015. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: cristina.lisii@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

UNDP Moldova, through MiLab - joint project with the E – Government Center, has supported national counterparts in embarking on several innovative projects that seek to apply new approaches to engage with citizens and enable people to contribute stronger to the country’s development. Some previous examples include: gaming for youth employment; applying behavioral insights for TB treatment; Modern School Open Challenge, etc.

MiLab acts as a multilateral platform serving to engage actors from different sectors (public, private, non-profit, etc.) to seek and experiment with innovative approaches to the society’s problems. Its work is structured around three interlinked components, i.e. public services redesign, applying people’s solutions, and mainstreaming social innovations. The public participation component includes creating the channels or outlets for engagement, setting the rules, specifying the issues that would engage people to participate in solving them. Also screening the horizon, and subsequently connecting social innovation initiatives with government and private sector counterparts that could enable the implementation of those initiatives.

Under this component falls the EduSoft hackathon initiative, which aims to involve university students in developing applications for a more effective and motivating study of mathematics in school.

According to the Ministry of Education, in 2014 only 50.74% of high school students have passed the baccalaureate in mathematics. At the same time, during the past three years the Ministry has advanced in computerizing the science classrooms in about 100 schools with the support of private sector partners such as Intel, Microsoft, StarNet, Soros, and others. However, the production of educational software aligned with Moldovan curricula is still lagging behind. The implementation of localized and engaging IT applications for the study of mathematics could be a solution to increase both the quality of education as well as the students’ performance.

EduSoft is planned as a month-long contest that will take place between September and October 2015. University students from IT specialties, but not limited to, will form teams with school teachers of mathematics and with the assistance of experienced mentors will develop educational apps.

Scope of work

 The national consultant is expected to provide support to MiLab in organising the EduSoft hackathon through:

• Ensuring the development of hackathon instruction and scoping materials in collaboration with the Hackathon coordinator
• Creating a team of mathematics teachers that will assist the students’ teams in development of educational applications

 For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

I. Education:

• University degree in Mathematics, Information Technology or related areas. Additional training and certification in IT or alternative educational tools is an asset.

II. Years of experience:

• At least five (5) years of experience is required in teaching gymnasium and high school students the mathematics subject.
• Proven experience in developing educational software or applications is a strong advantage.
• Working experience using IT, multimedia applications and educational hardware such as smart boards is an advantage.
• Previous experience in development assistance or related work for a donor organization, governmental institutions, NGO/think-tank or private sector / business consulting firm is a strong advantage.

III. Competencies:

• Fluency in both oral and written Romanian and Russian is a must; knowledge of English is an asset.
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language is an asset.

 IV. Personal qualities:

• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting  differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills;
• Responsibility;
• Flexibility.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications: 

1. Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for this position;
2. Financial proposal: in (USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days).
3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and the contact details of at least 3 reference persons;

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee, taxes, travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.