National Consultant on Development and Piloting of ECD Parenting Support Training Package for Primary Health Care Services and Pre-Primary Education Facilities

The consultant will design and pilot an integrated parenting support training package for primary health care and pre-primary education facilities in Turkmenistan. The role involves developing training materials, delivering Training of Trainers, piloting sessions, refining the package, and preparing recommendations for scale-up within the national health system.

Responsibilities

• Review relevant UNICEF ECD, parenting, and child development guidances and assess the existing parenting support model within primary health care and selected preschool education services.
• Design a comprehensive five group-based parenting sessions’ training package for PHC providers and pre-primary education facilities, including facilitation guide, parent education modules, practical tools, and monitoring instruments in Turkmen and Russian languages.
• Deliver a Training of Trainers (ToT) for approximately 25 national and subnational health professionals and 15 methodologists from pre-primary education facilities using participatory adult learning methodologies.
• Test the parenting support sessions through selected PHC and pre-school facilities and refine the training package based on feedback and lessons learned.
• Develop supportive supervision and monitoring tools to ensure quality implementation and measure participant engagement and learning.
• Prepare a final facilitation package in Turkmen and Russian languages, implementation and scale-up plan, and recommendations for institutionalizing the programme within the national health system.

Requirements

• Education in public health, medicine, psychology, education, social work, social sciences, early childhood development, or another relevant field.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in early childhood development (ECD), parenting programmes, maternal and child health, health promotion, social and behaviour change (SBC), education, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience in designing competency-based training packages, facilitation guides, curricula, and learning materials for adult learners.
• Proven experience delivering Training of Trainers (ToT) and facilitating participatory training for health professionals, educators, or other frontline service providers.
• Experience developing monitoring and evaluation tools, documenting lessons learned, and incorporating feedback into programme improvement.
• Experience working with government institutions and multi-sectoral partners; previous collaboration with UN agencies or other international organizations is an asset.
• Strong knowledge of early childhood development, positive parenting, responsive caregiving, child health, and adult learning methodologies.
• Excellent analytical, writing, facilitation, and communication skills.
• Ability to produce high-quality technical documents and training materials within tight deadlines.
• Understanding of ethical principles related to working with children and families.
• Fluency in Turkmen and Russian (spoken and written) is required.
• Working knowledge of English is an asset.

Skills

• Early Childhood Development
• Parenting Programmes
• Maternal and Child Health
• Health Promotion
• Social and Behavior Change
• Competency-based training
• Facilitation Guides Development
• Curricula Development
• Adult Learning Methodologies
• Training of Trainers Delivery
• Participatory Training Methods
• Monitoring and Evaluation Tools
• Programme Quality Improvement
• Government Collaboration
• Multi-Sectoral Partnership
• Technical Writing
• Training Material Development
• Ethical Principles in Child Work

Languages

Turkmen, Russian, English