OVERVIEW

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: remote

 

Classification of duty station: 

Standard Duration of Assignment: 

Job Family: Education

Type of contract : Non Staff

Duration of contract : From 7 to 11 months

Recruitment open to : External candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 27-JAN-2026

 

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

 

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

 

Background 

Published every three to four years, the Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALEs) take stock of adult learning and education (ALE) progress on national, regional and global level, identifies challenges and provides actionable recommendations for policymakers, practitioners and researchers and other relevant ALE stakeholders. These reports are expected to present evidence to inform policies, advocate for increasing funding for ALE, promote quality provision and inclusive participation, and share good practice.

The sixth the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE 6) will monitor the progress in implementing the Marrakech Framework for Action (MFA, 2022)—the outcome document of CONFINTEA VII—as well as the Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education (RALE, 2015). As a core follow-up mechanism of CONFINTEA VII, GRALE 6 contributes directly to tracking Member States’ commitments and identifying emerging priorities for the international ALE community. On behalf of UNESCO, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is mandated to serve as the Secretariat to prepare and publish GRALE 6 in 2027.

Following the structure of previous GRALE editions, GRALE 6 will consist of two main sections: a Monitoring section and a Thematic section. The Monitoring section will be based on the survey data administered across UNESCO Member States coordinated by the officially nominated national focal points. Furthermore, it will provide a structured, system-level analysis of global and regional ALE trends, including governance, provision, participation, quality, financing, and emerging issues. To date, UIL has launched data collection from the Member States through an online survey and will finalize the data collection process in February 2026.

In this regard, UIL is announcing an open call for technical proposals from interested institutions and research teams to support the data analysis and drafting of the Monitoring section.

Under the overall leadership of the UIL Director, the direct supervision of the Team Leader and the management of GRALE 6 Cluster Lead, the main consultant and his/her consultancy team will implement the tasks outlined below.

Long Description

Purpose of the assignment

The consultancy team will be responsible for drafting the Monitoring section of GRALE 6, including developing the methodological and analytical frameworks, analyzing and interpreting the quantitative and qualitative survey data, producing the data visualizations, and formulating clear, policy-oriented findings, with the text totaling approximately 30,000 words. This includes integrating nationally defined information in a responsible and transparent manner and generating meaningful insights for policymakers, researchers, ALE practitioners, and other stakeholders.

As the data collection is ongoing and will be finalized in February 2026, UIL will provide preliminary data extracts and rolling updates as they become available to ensure that the consultancy team can initiate preliminary methodological and analytical frameworks.

To give prospective bidders an indication of the structure and type of data collected in previous cycles, the publicly available GRALE 5 survey dataset can be consulted at https://data.humdata.org/dataset/grale-5-dataset.

Assignments

1. Development of the Methodological and Analytical framework

• Develop a methodological framework that guides a coherent analysis of diverse, nationally defined data, including guidance on how comparability may be approached where appropriate. This framework should also outline relevant principles for ensuring data completeness and transparent reporting.
• Propose a relevant analytical framework with justification.
• Provide an outline that explains how quantitative and qualitative data will be integrated in a mixed-methods analytical approach, with one or two brief analytical examples demonstrating how the framewor