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Position Announcement
1. Research
2. Programmatic
3. Networking/Advocacy
4. Liaison
Background:
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), founded in 1958, is an international, non-profit organization committed to meeting global challenges in health, education, and employment. EDC's Asia regional office based in Bangkok, Thailand was established three years ago with a focus on poverty alleviation, health and HIV/AIDS projects. Our portfolio includes working with private sectors on prevention project in the Asia region including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Taiwan and India. EDC is committed to working in partnerships with local NGO's, government organizations, and multi lateral organizations during the development and implementation phase of projects to jointly implement projects, transfer knowledge, learn from and build capacity at the local, country, and regional levels.
One of EDC’s projects in Thailand is ensuring sustainable education for migrant children and youth. EDC is currently working with 26 schools in Phang Nga and Ranong and with the surrounding local communities and their leaders; engaging employers; advocating to government partners; and collaborating with concerned civil society bodies to develop systems and institutions that facilitate access for and then retention of Burmese and Mon children in Thai government schools.
Scope of Work:
1. Research: manage research/intelligence gathering, including the following:
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Defining the existing migrant-mainstreaming model:
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Household income/expenditure and its prioritization, and what bearing it has on parental choice of whether to send children to school (disaggregated by gender) based on the costs of school (from direct to indirect – keeping in mind that school can serve a direct benefit (day-care) as well as a direct shortfall (forfeited labor time))
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School role and what role charismatic teachers; amount of resources; absorption capacity; etc. all have to play in whether children are sent to school, whether schools are willing to absorb them, and how many children the schools feel they can take; what role teachers play in community outreach to find; etc.
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Geographical access to school and the role it plays in decisions on education (i.e. controlling for transportation costs)
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Community relations and what role it plays
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A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be necessary for all these approaches.
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Comparing the model to other places, and recommendations for scale-up
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How does this relate to the way things are functioning in other schools which provide education for ethnic minority/migrant children in Thailand?
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What are some of the better practices that can be integrated?
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Where could this model be implemented effectively?
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School-to-Work Transition: Given that children in the EDC project are all young, consultant will explore the benefit of education for older children in other situations, and attempt to estimate the benefit that the marginal extra year of education has on potential income for Burmese in Thailand.
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The consultant will identify what families identify as the ‘optimal’ amount of education given the life opportunities they see afforded in Thailand (given the social, economic, cultural, and political limitations that Burmese will almost inevitably face)
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Much of this will be literature review and/or contacting other researchers. Direct field research may be out-of-scope.
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Other aspects that need to be incorporated and documented
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Child Friendly Schools (CFS): Information on UNICEF’s CFS program that is relevant to our program and how our set of trainings fit into the overall CFS approach needs to be illustrated and clearly outlined.
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Child Protection information: Research will focus on comparative evidence that shows that integrating migrant children into national schools serves a child protection and family-unit perseverance role as well. In this case, if they do not attend Thai school, Burmese children often get sent back to live in Burma with extended relatives.
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Thai Illegal Alien Law (Ministry of Labour)
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Thai EFA Law (Ministry of Education)
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Merge these into project doc so they can be referenced easily
2. Programmatic:
3. Networking/Advocacy:
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Work with migration forums and partners (Save, IOM, UNICEF, G-HRE) etc.
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Expand EDC network by meeting more civil society representatives and referring them to critical team members as well as working with them directly as appropriate
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Engage government partners at local and national level, especially Ministry of Education officials
4. Liaison: Work with project manager in the Phang Nga field office, and with Thailand project coordinator in the Bangkok office. Also involve others (Regional Project Director, Director of Operations, Headquarter Staff) when necessary
Duty stations: 160-180 hrs per month, 75% in Phang-Nga office and 25% in Bangkok office
Term of Employment: 5 months from August – December 2008
Qualifications:
Required
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At least undergraduate degree in education, public policy, migration or other social science fields
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Ability to analyze and assess data and statistics
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Ability to conduct independent research (including collection of raw data; analysis of existing data; knowledge of SPSS or other statistical analysis tools a plus)
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Ability to produce in-depth research reports of high quality
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At least 3-5 years of experience in research and M&E
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Experience in conducting training on M&E
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In-depth understanding of Thai education policy and/or migration issues in Thailand
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Good understanding of Southern Thailand, particularly Phang-Nga and Ranong
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Fluent in Thai
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Ability to communicate in English
Desirable
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Experience working with migrant communities
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Ability to network with civil society representatives and government officials at local and national levels, especially Ministry of Education officials
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Experience of conducting research for international NGOs
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Ability to speak Burmese, Mon and/or Southern Thai dialect
How to Apply:
Please send a cover letter and recent CV to Ms. Pudthila Srisontisuk, Team Assistant at pudthilas@edc.org
Deadline for Application: 31 July 2008
Contact
209/1 K Tower B, 11th Floor, Unit 2
Sukhumvit 21 Road (Asoke), Klongtoey-Nua
Bangkok 10110
Tel: +66(0) 2664 2533
Fax: +66 (0)2664 2539
Website: www.edcasia.hhd.org
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