Life Skills, Curriculum and Adolescent Development Specialist – Uganda

Aninver Development Partners SL (www.aninver.com) is looking for a Life Skills, Curriculum and Adolescent Development Specialist for a governance, private sector consultancy assignment financed by UNICEF in Uganda.

Aninver Development Partners is seeking an expert Life Skills, Curriculum and Adolescent Development Specialist for an upcoming independent assessment in Uganda supported by UNICEF. The assignment focuses on evaluating the implementation quality, fidelity, emerging outcomes, and institutionalization-readiness of the national Life Skills Programme across diverse learning environments, including urban, rural, and refugee-hosting contexts.

The successful candidate will play a critical technical role in examining how psychosocial competencies, socio-emotional learning, and life skills curricula are delivered and experienced by educators and learners. This consultancy offers an opportunity to generate actionable evidence that will shape national education policy, teacher training frameworks, and future scale-up strategies within the governance and social sectors.

Aninver is preparing a proposal for this assignment. The selected expert will be part of the proposed team; the engagement is conditional on the contract being awarded to Aninver. The full Terms of Reference for the position are shared with shortlisted candidates.

Objectives of the assignment

• Evaluate the quality of programme implementation and fidelity to the Life Skills Toolkit across targeted learning environments.
• Examine stakeholder experiences, capacity, readiness, and perceptions among teachers, school leaders, and district officials.
• Identify and document emerging learner outcomes related to psychosocial well-being, resilience, and life skills acquisition.
• Assess the institutional, financial, and operational readiness of the national education system for phased curriculum expansion.
• Generate actionable, evidence-based recommendations to inform policy decisions and future scale-up strategies.

Scope of work

• Conduct a comprehensive desk review of programme documents, curricula, monitoring reports, and previous evaluations.
• Finalize the assessment framework, methodology, data collection tools, and sampling strategy in coordination with key stakeholders.
• Coordinate multi-site quantitative surveys and qualitative fieldwork involving schools, teachers, and learners across diverse districts.
• Conduct Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions with learners, teachers, school management committees, and government officials.
• Ensure strict adherence to child safeguarding principles, ethical guidelines, and protocols for research involving children and adolescents.
• Analyze quantitative survey datasets and synthesize qualitative transcripts to identify recurring themes and operational bottlenecks.
• Organize stakeholder validation workshops to present preliminary findings and incorporate feedback from national partners.
• Draft and finalize comprehensive assessment reports detailing strategic recommendations for institutionalization.

Your role as Life Skills, Curriculum and Adolescent Development Specialist

• Provide technical expertise on life skills, socio-emotional learning, competency-based education, and psychosocial competencies throughout the assessment.
• Contribute to the design of assessment tools, questionnaires, and qualitative protocols related to curriculum implementation and teacher training.
• Support the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data concerning classroom utilization of the Life Skills Toolkit and emerging learner outcomes.
• Evaluate current teacher training methodologies, pedagogical practices, and school-level support systems for life skills education.
• Assess curriculum institutionalization pathways and identify systemic barriers or enablers to sustainable scale-up.
• Collaborate closely with the multidisciplinary team, UNICEF, and national education authorities to ensure technical rigor and contextual relevance.
• Contribute to stakeholder validation workshops and support the drafting of final assessment and policy recommendation reports.

Requirements

• Education: Advanced degree in education, psychology, adolescent development, curriculum studies or a related field
• At least 5 years of experience in life skills, socio-emotional learning, competency-based education, psychosocial competencies, teacher training, and curriculum implementation

Desirable

• Previous professional experience working on education sector assessments or evaluations in Uganda or the East Africa region.
• Familiarity with UNICEF programming, child safeguarding standards, and mixed-methods research approaches in diverse implementation settings.

An experienced Life Skills, Curriculum and Adolescent Development Specialist with a strong background in socio-emotional learning, teacher training, and education system evaluations in developing contexts.

Assignment details

• Location: Uganda
• Financed by: UNICEF
• Sector: Governance, private sector
• Estimated duration: 3 months
• Contract: individual consultancy (conditional on award)

About Aninver Development Partners

Aninver is an international development consulting firm headquartered in Spain. It supports governments, development banks, UN agencies and bilateral donors with feasibility studies, technical assistance, evaluations and capacity building across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Asia-Pacific, working with a network of international and national experts.

Why apply

• Join a multidisciplinary team on a UNICEF-financed project in Uganda.
• Individual consultancy: flexible, output-based engagement with an experienced proposal team.
• Your CV stays in Aninver's expert network for future assignments that match your profile.

How to apply

Sign in (or create a free account) and upload your CV in English. Add your LinkedIn profile, indicative daily rate and availability to speed up the assessment. Aninver will contact the shortlisted candidates.

Frequently asked questions

Is the position confirmed? The engagement depends on the contract being awarded to Aninver. Shortlisted experts are included in the proposal with their consent.

Can I apply if I am not based in the country? Yes, unless the requirements say otherwise; relevant regional experience is an asset.

What happens with my CV? It is used to assess your fit for this and future positions and is not shared with third parties without your consent.