Job Description

National Consultant to Design and Develop a Simplified, Interactive Youth-Centric Entrepreneurship Module for Integration into the Village Health Worker (VHW) curriculum in Zimbabwe, 21 working days

Job no: 584799
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Harare
Level: Consultancy
Location: Zimbabwe
Categories: HIV/AIDS

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, Education

UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights. 

Supporting the Government’s vision of a prosperous  and  empowered upper-middle-income society, the country programme is aimed at contributing to sustainable socioeconomic development that provides all children, including adolescents, with opportunities to fulfil their potential, lead a healthy life, access quality learning and protection and meaningfully participate in society.

For more information about UNICEF Zimbabwe please click here

You can also access and explore all new UNICEF vacancies and create job alerts via the UNICEF Zimbabwe website link below:

https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/work-us

How can you make a difference?  

UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting applications for a National Consultant to Design and Develop a Simplified, Interactive Youth-Centric Entrepreneurship Module for Integration into the Village Health Worker (VHW) curriculum in Zimbabwe

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

To design and develop a youth-friendly, elementary-level entrepreneurship module that is interactive, contextually relevant, and easy to use by Community Health Workers (CHWs). The module will be integrated into the VHW curriculum to equip them with entrepreneurial and social innovation skills, thereby strengthening their resilience, livelihoods, and contribution to community health and development.

BACKGROUND:

UNICEF, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is implementing a Community Health Workforce Development Programme to strengthen primary healthcare systems across 13 African countries, including Zimbabwe. The initiative is part of the broader Young Africa Works strategy, which aims to create dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for 30 million young Africans (70% young women).

In Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) is leading the programme with a target of recruiting and training 11,000 Youth Community Health Workers (YCHWs), aged 18–35. These YCHWs will be trained and deployed to enhance primary health service delivery in underserved communities.

In order to promote an entrepreneurial mindset, enhance livelihood opportunities and promote sustainability of the CHW programme, there is a need to incorporate a simplified, practical, and interactive entrepreneurship module into the existing Village Health Worker (VHW) curriculum.

ASSIGNMENTS:

UNICEF is seeking consultancy services from a mid–senior level consultant with proven expertise in youth skills development, curriculum design, and entrepreneurship training. The consultant will support the Ministry of Health and Child and the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training in designing and developing a youth-friendly, elementary-level entrepreneurship module that is interactive, contextually relevant, and accessible for VHWs. The module will be integrated into the national VHW curriculum to equip Youth VHWs with entrepreneurial and social innovation skills, thereby strengthening their resilience, enhancing livelihood opportunities, and contributing to improved community health and development outcomes

The consultant will undertake the following tasks;

1. Inception phase

• Hold an introductory meeting with UNICEF, MoHCC, MoYEDVT,  and partners to clarify expectations.
• Develop an inception report outlining methodology, work plan, and draft outline of the module.
• Inception meeting for presentation of the report

2. Literature Review

• Review global, regional, and national good practices on youth-focused entrepreneurship training
• Mapping of existing entrepreneurship materials being used by the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Small to Medium Enterprises Development (MoWACSMED and other development partners in Zimbabwe that can be adapted.

3. Module Development

• Develop an interactive/participatory entrepreneurship module tailored for YVHWs (18+ years,
• Key topics to include in the module:
  • Introduction to entrepreneurship (basic concepts, mindset, opportunities).
  • Financial literacy (savings, budgeting, record keeping).
  • Social innovation and problem-solving
  • Basic marketing and customer relations.
  • Linkages to microfinance and youth-friendly support services.
• Use simplified language, case studies, storytelling, group exercises, role play, and visual aids.
• Develop a facilitator’s guide/notes and VHW module

4. Validation & Pretesting

• Present the draft module to the steering committee (UNICEF, MoHCC, MoYEDVT, MoWASMED)
• Facilitate a validation workshop to gather feedback on content relevance, accessibility, and user-friendliness.
• Lead pretesting of the module with selected village health workers
• Document inputs and refine the module accordingly.

5. Finalization

• Finalise the entrepreneurship module incorporating feedback from the validation meeting and pre-testing.
• Submit final versions of:
  • VHWs module (simplified, interactive).
  • Facilitator’s Note

Major tasks and deliverables:

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…  

Education:

• Advanced degree in Education, Social Sciences, Entrepreneurship, Business Development, or related field

Experience:

• At least 5 years of proven experience in curriculum design, training manual development, and youth entrepreneurship capacity building.
• Experience developing training materials for community-based audiences
• Familiarity with the Zimbabwean health and youth development context

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Proven expertise in curriculum design and development, particularly in simplified, interactive, and youth-friendly training modules for low-literacy or community-based audiences.
• Strong knowledge of entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and social innovation approaches relevant to young people in low-resource settings.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex concepts into accessible learning content using participatory and experiential learning methods.
• Experience working collaboratively with government counterparts, development partners, and community-level stakeholders to ensure alignment and ownership.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and writing skills, with the ability to produce high-quality outputs within tight timelines

Desirable:

• Familiarity with regional entrepreneurship, health systems and Community Health Worker programming in the region,

Language requirements:

• Written and spoken fluency in English is required and knowledge of the main local languages (Shona and Ndebele) is an added advantage

The detailed consultancy terms of reference is downloadable via this link   TOR National Consultant to Develop an Entrepreneurship Module for the VHW Curriculum in Zimbabwe v1.pdf

If interested and available to undertake the individual consultancy, please submit your application online and attach the required documents including the technical proposal and an all-inclusive financial proposal incorporating an approximate number of travel days for field (local) travel. 

Technical proposal: The Technical Proposal should articulate an understanding of the TOR and include the proposed Tasks/Milestones, Deliverables/Outputs, Timeline and level of effort by deliverable. The similar table provided in the TOR is indicative. Applicants may use the indicative table as a guide or deviate as per the proposed approach. The proposal should also cost-effectively propose the local travel proposed by the applicant to undertake the assignment.

Financial proposal: The Financial Proposal should include the costs (providing a daily rate as justification) for each task, including consultant fee, proposed travel costs and perdiem, communications costs and any other proposed cost.

For every Child, you demonstrate…  

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:   

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

Advertised: 08 Oct 2025 South Africa Standard Time
Deadline: 15 Oct 2025 South Africa Standard Time

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