| Terms of ReferenceAssessment and facilitation project planning and proposal writing for BMZProject Title: Addressing the Covid-19 Learning Gaps 2Country: IndiaProject area: Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Baksa and Nalbari – AssamProject Timeframe: 01.06.2024 till 31.12.2027Donor agencies: Childaid Network, Germany and German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ)1. Background and rationale of the projectThe “Addressing COVID-19 Learning Gap Project” was initiated in November 2021 with the aim to mitigate the learning loss of rural government school-going children in Assam caused by the prolonged school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is implemented in 725 government-run schools including lower primary, upper primary, high schools and higher secondary schools in 7 poorest districts of Assam namely Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta and Kamrup. The primary stakeholders of the project are the children and teachers of the schools, while the secondary and tertiary stakeholders comprise the parents, School Management Committees, Mothers Groups, community volunteer groups and the Block, District, State level line departments and officials. The project interventions aimed at achieving four primary objectives – 1) Improving literacy and numeracy skills of 80,000 children of Grade 3 to Grade 8 of lower primary and upper primary sections through accelerated learning support, 2) supporting 20,000 students from secondary and higher secondary schools with STEM, life skills and Career guidance support, 3) build the capacities of 3000 school teachers to deliver distance education and 4) Strengthening community involvement for improving the overall quality of school education at the community level. The project also engages with the key stakeholders at the community, school, cluster, block, district and state levels for the fulfilment of the education rights of children and compliance of the Right to Education Act, NEP -2020 in the schools.The key enablers that contributed to the success of the current phase of the ACLG project.Worksheets, self-learning/practice materials, and activities accelerated the students’ learning outcomes.Activity-based learning sessions developed the communication skill of the students.Introducing STEM and Math as fun learning sessions reduced math and science phobia among students.Imparting life skills education and social-emotional learning environment helped students with mental health well-being.Students-oriented events like summer camps, math and language mela developed the confidence, and peer learning skills of the students.Adopting and Implementation of teaching-learning materials by school teachers helped to conduct regular classroom sessions more effectively.Developing a cadre of motivated local village education volunteers from diverse backgrounds (college-going students, retired school teachers, peers, educated/semi-educated young women and mothers) and building their capacities on simple activity-based teaching methods, organising child-friendly activities and helping in learning sessions is an effective strategy to continue alternate learning and mitigate school alienation of students.Some of the gaps and learnings during the past years (2022 and 2023) were:Teachers focus on completing the textbook, without recognising the mismatch between the academic standards of the textbook and student learning levels.Need for effective teacher professional development programmes.Need for child-friendly classrooms in the school.Ownership of communities, school management committees, and mother groups.Need for proper infrastructure for implementing ICT activities.More training for volunteers neededAddressing COVID-19 Learning Gap Project was implemented in 19 educational blocks of the project districts and it covers 10% of the schools of the education blocks. The project was able to make a strong partnership with schools, communities of the project areas, CRCCs, block, district, and state education authorities. The project has increased its impact by incorporating innovative teaching-learning resources in the learning sessions, bridging the learning loss of children within a limited time. On seeing this impact, the district education authorities suggested expanding the ACLG project interventions in other schools of the blocks too.The new phase of the project could expand its operations to other schools of the entire education block by strengthening the education service delivery system in partnership with district education authorities. The project can increase its reach by dissemination of resources of the ACLG project. The project plans to work closely with District, Block and Cluster Resource groups by providing capacity building, handholding and resource support to teachers that can help in delivering educational content to students for reducing learning gaps. This would also help to create sustainable measures for leveraging learning resources.The new intervention will be split in two different approaches – an intensive approach and a non-intensive approach.The intensive approach will cover the following:1. Enhancing Capability of Teachers through demonstration and follow-upsEducation Facilitators are nested in the cluster and intervene in strengthening the cluster.EFs demonstrate using innovative practices of teaching to teachers once per weekEFs takes follow-up to identify gaps and accordingly addresses gaps in the demonstration process2. Training and Resource Based Support to TeachersEducation Facilitator will provide resource-based support to the clustersEFs will also envisage in enhancing the inputs of teachers in developing innovative TLMsEnhancing the capacities of Teachers by providing trainings3. Strengthening forums and institutionsStrengthening forums such as Teachers Coordination committee for regular coordination Strengthening SMCs and MGsStrengthening Community Learning Hub School in every clusterThe non-intensive approach will cover:1. LiasoningDistrict Coordinates liason with the district officials and establishes functional linkage with the districtsStrengthening capacities of teachers through the cluster resource group by intervening with Diets2. ForumsIntervening in forums such as District Academic Core Group and Block Academic Core Group for providing insights and planning 3. ResourcesDeveloping resources to be used by teachersExposures to Community Learning Hub2. Objective of the Study and EvaluationThe external feasibility study is to be conducted in order to gain a sound basis for developing the detailed project concept and identifying project prerequisites, opportunities and risks through market analysis, target group analysis and stakeholder analysis.In addition, an external evaluation of the currently running project in Assam is to be conducted in order to benefit from the learnings of the project. Also, potential shortcomings in terms of sustainability and potential solutions are to be identified.On the basis of the research findings and the evaluation of the current project. The qualitative study should review the planned project in terms of the OECD/DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.3. Study resultsThe qualitative study has to comprise three main components:Mid-term evaluation of current projectAssessments for the new projectConsolidating findings in BMZ Feasibility study3.1. Mid-term evaluation of the current project3.1.1. Scope of the evaluationThe qualitative evaluation needs to involve interviews with all stakeholders including insiders and external partners, teachers, community leaders, parents, mothers’ groups, SMC and government officials.The results need to comprise qualitative and some quantitative data on strengths and weaknesses examining how the project outputs have contributed to the achievement of the overall project objectives as described in the relevant documents.Therefore, the project needs to be assessed regarding the following areas:Success of the project regarding the set goals (according to the defined indicators)Capacities of the local implementing partnersProject management and cooperationSustainability of the projectConvergence with government agencies and programsReview of resource materials developedGive examples for successes. Describe problems. Get different inputs. i.e. How is the quality of the resource materials developed? What do they need to upscale successfully? What suggestions regarding advocacy can be given? How well is the partner organisation and staff capacitated? What changes would the project stakeholders suggest? What was missing?3.1.2. Recommendations for next project phaseThe evaluation needs to comprise recommendations and learnings for developing the new project proposal. In particular recommendations towards successful local as well as district and state wise lobbying should be given. Further capacity building needs of stakeholders and partners should be identified.3.2. Detailed assessment for the new project in the project areasThis qualitative study should be based on detailed stakeholder analysis and data collection. The qualitative data assessment and collection of qualitative data can be done with the help of the existing project team. The assessment should further include the following aspects:Assessment of project areasHow homogeneous or heterogeneous is the target group in terms of gender, caste, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, etc?Identify School Management Committee (SMC), Mother groups, Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC), Village Level Child Protection Committee (VLCPC), Panchayats, Frontline workers (ASHA, Anganwadi, Police, etc) of the government at the community level.What are challenges regarding availability of government services and geographical/cultural challenges in the field of education?What is the target group’s potential especially regarding understanding and taking action with regard to addressing education in their own communities? How can their potential be strengthened?Prevalence of cultural practices and traditions of tribal communities to design project activities reg. traditional knowledge.Education in the project areasSituation of the schoolsAll areas have functioning schools? How many schools (LP, ME), how many students, how many teachers.No. of school dropoutsteacher:student ratioinfrastructure and equipment of schoolsQuality of schoolsGunotsav rating,training of teachershow many children in private schoolsassessment of learning levelswhat is the feedback of parents, communities regarding quality of schools, what do they regard as main challengesSMC functioning, rate level of activity of the SMCsSTEMSTEM knowledge of boys and girls in ME schoolsSTEM knowledge of (science) teachersSTEM stakeholders in the areaEducation of parentsMothers/ fathersWhich challenges do the schools face regarding second language acquisition (do the children speak the language of instruction and if not, how do teachers and school deal with it)Government systems in placeHow responsive is the government toward changes in their education system? How willing are they to cooperate with the project?How willing are the teachers to implement new methods of learning and how open are they to impart in their regular classes?How involved are the CRCCs in the schools?Child rights in project areasWhat are the main child rights issues in the project areas focussing on protection, domestic violence, child labour, child marriage, trafficking, participation, children with disabilities and beyond?What current local response structures & services on village, district and state level are in place to address these needs? How well do they work?Determine the important actors (family, society, state, media etc) and factors that play significant role in increasing the vulnerabilities of children in Assam.Analysis of the Project Team’s CapacitiesIdentify further capacity building needs and new positions required for successful project implementation.Target group analysisThe main target group of the project are the children and local communities in the 4 project areas in Assam. What are the specific needs of the target group with regard to education? How can these needs be addressed?How has covid 19 and lockdown affected children’s rights in general and violence against children specifically?Stakeholder AnalysisAll potential government and civil society stakeholders in the district and in the project regions shall be identified and evaluated regarding their current strengths, weaknesses and activities towards education and their potential role as stakeholders, supporters and/or beneficiaries of the project.3.3. BMZ Feasibility studyBased on the findings of the assessment and analysis of the planned project approach, the consultant is supposed to write a detailed feasibility study according to BMZ standards (detailed instructions seeAnnex 1) with the following content:1. Purpose, objectives and use of the feasibility study2. Methodology3. Initial situation and problem analysis at macro, meso, micro level4. Local project executing agency in the partner country5. Target groups and other actors (at micro, meso and macro level)6. Evaluation of the planned project according to OECD DAC criteria7. Recommendations4. ProcessPhase 1: Desk Study and InceptionA kick-off meeting (online or hybrid) between Childaid Network, implementing partner and the contracted consultants will clarify all open issues related to this assignment. The consultant will be provided with all the relevant project data and project context related documents to get familiarized with the currently running project, the planned project objectives and activities. The work plan developed at the end of this phase will finalize the methodology, data collection tools and site visit schedule.Phase 2: Evaluation of current project & Assessment data collection for new projectThe field mission will start with a briefing by Aide et Action in their head office in Guwahati followed by a multi-day trip to the project areas in Assam (only the ones that are also covered in the new phase) to gather information and data from the communities, CSOs, teachers, parents, local government representatives etc.The field assessment in the project areas will be done within the same visit with another short briefing by implementing partner to discuss which additional information and data from the target group, community stakeholders and the local government representatives needs to be collected. Accommodation and travelling can be facilitated by implementing partner.Following the field mission, the collected data is to be analysed and the official evaluation and assessment to be written and submitted to Aide et Action and Childaid Network, who will comment.A feedback workshop with presentation on preliminary findings, recommendations for the detailed planning of the next phase and discussion with the implementing partners. Childaid Network will have to formally approve the evaluation and assessment.Phase 4: Data Analysis and ReportingAnalyzing the collected data and preparing the assessment report and annexes. Developing suggestions for the 4-year BMZ project.Phase 5: Summarizing all findings in feasibility studyOnce the final detailed proposal with detailed Logframe has been presented to the consultants, the detailed feasibility study according to the BMZ guidelines (see point IV) in the new project areas should be conducted. Together with the Presenting the findings and final draft report to the contracting organizations (online or hybrid); commenting of draft by Childaid Network; joint meeting (online or hybrid) to validate feasibility results; inclusion of feedback, where appropriate, and submission of final report; approval of report by Childaid Network.3.4. Facilitation of development of 3,5-year project proposalThe implementing partner shall be facilitated by the consultant to design the project in detail. After the assessments a 2-3 day planning workshop with AEA and CAN team members should be facilitated. On the basis of the findings the team should have developed the Logframe, timeplan, budget, staff plan, monitoring plan. Logframe and budget needs to be sent to CAN Germany for approval. (4 expert days)Then the detailed proposal writing (approx. 30 pages) should start. Here the project team will need considerable support. All activities should be defined in detail (who, when, how, with which resources (budget)). The problem description needs fair detail about the region, the education situation and there should be a problem justification of all activities or set of activities. The target group needs to be defined quantitatively and qualitatively.The consultant will steer the proposal writing process, keep an overview, record all decisions taken by the team and ensures that the full ownership of the proposal remains with the team. A sustainability strategy needs to be developed for each project component and a risk analysis facilitated and documented. (10 days)5. ApplicationOn the basis of the proposed time schedule outlined in chapter 7 of these Terms of Reference, the consultant/s will prepare an offer including:Methodological and project cycle management expertiseExperience conducting studies of a similar typeApproach on conducting the study (methodology)TimetableA budget including number of days/ hours and costs for each of the 3 study results:Mid-term evaluation of current projectDetailed assessment for the new projectBMZ Feasibility studyCVs with referencesExample of previous similar work / reports if available6. Expert Profile of the Consultants / Evaluation TeamMinimum requirements:Ideally an expert regarding education, quantitative data analysis, feasibility studies and project planning and design facilitationHigh caliber knowledge and experience on education and education system in India and specifically AssamHigh caliber knowledge on project planning and implementation of education projects in IndiaDistinct knowledge of the local context regarding education system, child rights and government systemsIdeally well networked in the intended project regionsPrevious experience with feasibility studies or project evaluations in the field of education, ideally for BMZ projectsProfessional level knowledge of English and at least one person with professional level knowledge of Assamese and ideally KarbiExperience in project planning and facilitation of planning processes for large scale international donor projectsThe consultancy team is to be independent and impartial with no liabilities to any other organization or government entity regarding this evaluation.7. Tentative TimetableApplications to be submitted by December 13th, 2023Selection till December 15th, 2023Kick off Meeting by December 18th, 2023Submission of work plan, methodology and preliminary budget- date be discussed at the Kick off MeetingWorkshop on evaluations findings on January 20th, 2024Evaluation report by January 25th 2024Field visit new project areas for assessment and feasibility study in February (by then, the final proposal should be ready)Assessment report by 30th of FebruaryDeadline feasibility study report by 30th February 20248. Management of the Feasibility Study + EvaluationA contract will be concluded between the consultants and Childaid Network. The latter will be responsible for payment according to the invoices in three installments. The applying organization/consultant may further delegate individual tasks to others within the scope of the agreed budget. The implementing partner will facilitate the study on the ground and provide the necessary background and documents to carry out the study.Complete applications should be submitted via Email by December 13th, 2023 toCynthia DittmarHead of Project CooperationChildaid NetworkCynthia.dittmar@childaid.netcc toCarolin SchorgeProject CoordinationChildaid NetworkCarolin.schorge@childaid.net |
Apply by: 13 Dec 2023