Call for Proposals: Teacher payment in emergency contexts: Country briefing

Background 

Education International (EI) is the Global Union Federation that brings together organisations of teachers and other education employees from across the world. Through our 383 member organisations, we represent more than 32 million teachers and education support personnel in 178 countries and territories.  Education International is the organised collective voice of the teaching profession.

EI’s Go Public: Fund Education campaign urges governments globally to increase investment in education and the education workforce. As part of the campaign, and in line with the recommendations formulated by the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession, EI is calling for teachers working in emergency settings to receive sufficient, regular and timely salary payments. 

The Panel recognised that the persistent and increasing teacher shortages are exacerbated by the enormous hardships faced by teachers working in crisis contexts and emphasized the need to guarantee that teachers working in crisis contexts receive their salaries on time and in full (recommendation 12). It also called on the international community to support teachers in crisis through the creation of a new funding instrument to be used to pay teachers’ salaries during times of emergency (recommendation 54).

Teachers are crucial to quality education. If we are to guarantee children’s right to quality education in crisis contexts, we must ensure that teachers are properly remunerated.

Yet too often, teachers working in emergency settings receive inadequate salaries, are paid late, or are not paid in full.  This unacceptable situation occurs for a variety of reasons, depending on the specific context. There may be logistical issues due to ineffective banking systems or ineffective teacher management and payroll systems. Education financing may be restricted where governments do not see education as a priority or trust in government capacity is low and public funds limited.  Often already existing challenges with teacher salary payment systems are further exacerbated by crisis. 

The multiple intersecting challenges that cause teachers to go unpaid and/or underpaid in crisis contexts deserve careful consideration if we are to find suitable solutions.

In South Sudan, the National Teachers Union South Sudan reported to Education International that not only are teacher salaries extremely low, but teachers have also been working without pay for many months. 

Therefore, Education International is commissioning a brief that explains and unpacks the context, issues and potential solutions to address teacher salary payment problems in South Sudan.

Approach and methodology 

EI is commissioning a researcher/group of researchers to develop the brief. It is preferable for the researcher (or at least one of the researchers applying as part of a group) to be based in South Sudan.

The brief should include:

• An overview of the context 
• Identification of the key challenges faced by teachers in relation to salary payments
• Identification of the key factors hindering regular, timely and sufficient teacher payments 
• Recent data/facts in relation to teacher payments
• Personal stories/testimonies from teachers 
• Recommended interventions to support teacher payment 
• Costing of the recommended interventions. 

The brief should be informed both by desk-based research and interviews/focus group discussions conducted with key informants such as:

• Teachers and union leaders from EI affiliate, National Teachers Union South Sudan (NTUSS)
• Government representatives
• International agencies involved in supporting education  (such as UNICEF, UNHCR, Education Cannot Wait, or the World Bank.) 
• Relevant NGOs working in the field.  

Education International can support the researcher/research group by introducing them to some of these key stakeholders. 

Outputs: 

• A briefing document of up to 10 pages outlining the challenges and recommended solutions in relation to payment of teacher salaries 
• A blog post about the research findings for dissemination on the EI website; 
• A presentation of the research findings to EI member organisations, leadership and/or partners at a time and location to be determined (travel and accommodation costs – if any - to be borne by EI). It is likely that the researcher will be invited to present the findings during an online webinar. 

 Timeline 

Budget 

2500 EUR fully inclusive of all costs. Please include a detailed budget in your proposal. Education International will bear the costs related to copyediting, translation, layout and the launch of the research report.   

Terms of the Contract 

The planned research period is a total of up to five months, during which the contractor will liaise with an EI contact person on the progress of the research. The research will remain confidential to EI and the contractor until its publication.  

Schedule of Payments  

• 50% on exchange of a signed contract 
• 50% on receipt of the final report