Consultancy : Development of Childcare Standards, Kenya

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Global Schools Forum (GSF) is a collaborative community of non-state organisations working to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged children in low and middle-income countries. Our vision is that all children can realise their potential through safe access to quality education.
Since our establishment in 2017, we’ve grown our community to 183+ community members spanning 70+ countries from India, to Uganda to Brazil, collectively running or supporting over 1.39m schools and centres and providing education to well over 139million children.

JOB SUMMARY

Person Specification  .10+ years’ experience supporting policy, standards or regulatory development, ideally in early childhood development, childcare or social services.  .Strong understanding of Kenya’s political economy and devolved governance, and experience working with national and county stakeholders.  .Knowledge of ECD and childcare regulatory frameworks, including relevant legislation, policies and global frameworks. Proven facilitation and consensus-building skills, with experience managing diverse stakeholder groups and leading participatory processes.  .Ability to deliver high-quality written outputs, including standards, policy briefs, workshop documentation and strategic guidance.  .Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate technical content into accessible language.  .Advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., public policy, governance, development, education, economics or social sciences).  .Honesty and transparency – you share information and updates in a clear and transparent way, when things are going to plan and when they aren’t.  .Intentionally inclusive – You are committed to understanding, respecting and collaborating with colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels.  .Passion and motivation - You’ll be passionate about education and making a difference, with a strong work ethic and willingness to get stuck in. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Standards Development Process -Conduct a desk review of existing global, regional and Kenya’s children’s policies, regulatory frameworks, childcare guidelines, sector reports, and relevant county and national documents.  -Benchmark Kenya’s current practices against regional and global models, including standards from comparable contexts, ensuring appropriateness for different childcare modalities (home-based, centre-based, employer-supported, community-based, etc.).  -Define and/or validate a shared quality and safety conceptual model to underpin the standards, including dimensions of safety, caregiving, learning, child protection, health and nutrition, physical environment, and staffing.  -Identify strengths, gaps and risks within the current childcare landscape, using evidence from policy review, market scans, and stakeholder consultations.  -Prioritise areas for standard development based on child safety, feasibility, sustainability, and policy alignment.  -Draft childcare standards, including:  .Clear definitions of terminologies       .Quality and safety indicators  .Structural and process requirements  .Operational expectations for different childcare models  .Quality assurance mechanisms, including monitoring, feedback and improvement pathways.  .Refine drafts iteratively, incorporating inputs from the Technical Working Group, government stakeholders, and consultations with providers and parents.    Stakeholder Engagement  -Design and facilitate TWG drafting workshops, including planning agendas, preparing materials, and leading sessions.  -Engage with a range of stakeholders, including county and national government departments, civil society organisations, childcare -providers, sector experts, and parents/caregivers.  -Participate in focus group discussions with key stakeholders, including providers and families to ground the standards in lived experience, operational realities, and resource constraints.  -Synthesise and integrate feedback into the evolving standards, ensuring clarity, usability and contextual relevance.  -Lead validation workshops to discuss and finalise the draft standards, supporting consensus-building and endorsement by key actors.  -Document all engagement processes, including attendance, key insights, and decisions made.    Strategic Advisory Support  -Develop a practical implementation and sensitisation strategy, outlining how the standards will be socialised, communicated, and embedded at national, county and provider levels.  -Identify key champions and influencers at national and county levels who can support advocacy, endorsement, and rollout.  -Ensure alignment with ongoing reform initiatives, including ECD policy, child protection frameworks, and devolved governance processes.  -Recommend accountability and enforcement mechanisms, aligned with government systems and realistic for different provider types.  -Provide advisory inputs on pathways for sustainability, including resourcing, training, monitoring, and potential accreditation or support systems.    The consultant will produce the following key outputs:  .Quality conceptual model and gap assessment: A review of Kenya’s existing regulations, standards, policies and guidelines, benchmarking against regional and global models, and identification of gaps, recommendations of priority areas requiring standardisation.  .Stakeholder engagement outputs: Documentation from workshops and consultations, including agendas, meeting notes, reports, and synthesis of feedback incorporated into the standards.  .Draft childcare standards: A full draft of standards with definitions, indicators, operational expectations, quality assurance mechanisms and pathways for continuous improvements and sustainability.  .Strategic advisory package: A concise strategy (up to five pages) outlining stakeholder engagement, government development agenda, champions, and recommendations for endorsement and adoption.  .Sensitisation and implementation workplan: A six-month workplan co-developed with the technical working group detailing activities for socialization and communication of standards, training and capacity building for providers and implementers, timelines, roles, resource considerations and approaches for dissemination and early implementation.  .Final standards document:  Final version of the childcare standards (long and abridged versions), including supporting guidance, annexes and tools, submitted in approved formats after validation, ready for endorsement and dissemination.  

REQUIRED SKILLS

Stakeholder communication, Key performance indicators, Project management, Quality management, Industry standards

REQUIRED EDUCATION

Post-graduate education