TOR for Documenting Best Experiences of Improving the Quality of Basic Education
Contents
1. Background
Save the Children Ethiopia has been running the “improving the quality of Basic Education and child wellbeing project in the Amhara and SPNNR project for nearly four years. During this period it has a number of project activities under the following expected outcomes that have contributed to the cognitive, skills and attitudinal development of first cycle primary school children. Besides it has also greatly contributed to the significant growth made on the net enrollment ratio and decreasing educational wastage at school level. Save the children would like to document and share the observed best experiences and practices it has in improving the quality of basic education and child wellbeing in the two project areas.
· Outcome one: An increased number of SC project related schools have improved learning environments in South Omo and Amhara Region, as measured by QLE
· Outcome two: Increased capacity of children, staff and communities to cope with Disaster Risks and impacts of climate change
· Outcome three: Increased number of Children in early grades of primary in Amhara Region and South Omo Zone improved their reading skills in the language of
· Outcome four: Increased number of disadvantaged and excluded children in SC target areas in South Omo zone and Amhara Region have increased accessed to and regularly attended primary school
The effort it has made to improve the reading skills of children is believed to have brought significant changes. The reading assessments made every year show great improvement. This has been possible by training teachers on how to teach reading and developing relevant guides for teachers; opening reading camps in villages, reading centers at school level, reading corners, availing different reading materials, and etc. Parallel to this, it has been promoting the need for improving the quality of school learning environment. It has taken a number of measures based on the four guiding principles of QLE. With regard to ensuring the emotional and psychological well- being children, school code of conduct has been developed, printed and distributed to the intervention schools. Based on the school code of conduct training workshops have been organized for school directors, supervisors and woreda education officials. Child reporting structures have been formed. Similarly efforts have been made to keep the physical well-being of school children. Separate toilet have been constructed, water services provided and sanitary pads, soaps, first aids kits provided. Child centered teaching has been exercised. This has made children active participants in the teaching learning process. Community participation in school plans implementation and monitoring has also been enhanced.
Model classes for effective class organization have been promoted. It has become a common experience to see media rich classrooms. Teachers, engagement in preparing and using teaching aids has significantly increased. Though not at the expected level, the number of teachers conducting action research for identifying factors affecting children school attendance and achievement and taking remedial actions is quite considerable. In this regard, teachers lack role models from woreda education offices and REB. Those engaged in teacher development and curriculum experts need to be role models and the instigators of teachers. Nevertheless, and there is still good work which needs to be documented and shared to all interested groups. Thus, to document experiences observed in the areas mentioned above this brief TOR.
2. Objectives of the documentation:
Document best experiences and achievements made in terms of:
· Improving the reading skills of first cycle primary school children (experiences in reading camps, reading spaces, reading centers, and reading competition, etc.). What was supplied and used in each case.
· Enhancing the quality of learning environment in schools (construction of toilets, water points, ramps, distribution of desks and shelves, distribution and use of sanitary pads first aids kits, plants, herders kit, HEW support, etc.
· Promoting model classroom organization and management (colleges support to teachers, creating media rich environment, practicing active learning, etc.
· Promoting action research (training and practice of action research, action research symposium
· Enhancing community participation (effects of discussion on importance of education, girls enrollment, children with disabilities, OVC, etc.
· Capacity development initiatives (training of teachers, directors, supervisors, REB staff, college instructors, etc.
· Enrollment of out of school children (marginalized children, Children with disabilities, house to house student registration, dropout, absenteeism, etc.
3. Scope
The documentation work will be done in sampled schools in South Omo and Amhara region.
The task includes specifically:
· Preparing a documentation outline.
· Reviewing and available documents for enriching the documentation work.
· The field work should not take more than 15 days all together.
· Save the Children will avail only field vehicles once the consultant reaches to field offices?
4. Deliverables - The consultant is expected:
· To present his concept paper for education staff of SC at head office before entering contract agreement.
· Study available report such as QLE and Reading assessment reports.
· Develop a strategy for collecting the document work
· Validate the draft documentation work in the presence of Save Children staff
· Prepare camera ready documentation work.
· Submit the final camera ready documentation work.
5. Technical and financial proposal
5.1 Technical Proposal should describe:
· Background and experience of the consultants/firm and or individuals’ skills and professional mix of the team proposed to carry out the service.
· Adequacy and technical quality of the proposal for meeting the TOR, proposed scope and focus.
5.2 Financial proposal should describe
· The total financial requirement of the consultant to carry out the consultancy work.
· Break down of the cost proposed as set forth in the TOR, the technical proposal of the consultant and the schedule of activities.
6. Methodology
The documentation will be done in purposively sampled schools. The consultant will prepare framework that includes what will be documented and how the documentation work will be done.. The sample size of the schools on which the documentation work will done will be five schools in In the Amhara Region and three schools in South Omo. All schools will be best performing schools in different woredas approved by field office education officers
7. Required expertise and qualification
· 7-8 years direct related consultancy experience in one or more professional disciplines with a Master’s degree, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience in languages education, statistics or Social work, with sound knowledge in basic education and literacy skills development of children.
· Theoretical base in subject area, with ability to translate theory into practice.
· Excellent understanding and experience in basic education program and child protection.
· Adequate experience and evidence of documentation work.
· High quality writing and reporting skills and proven records in different similar works.
8. Information quality assurance
Information and pictures quality assurance will be done by SC field staff N MEAL team. Thematic review will be made on the work done. It has to be noted the document has to be of high quality that will be shared to the wider education community and the donor.
9. Duration of the work
The duration of the assignment shall not take more than 30 working days including travel, field work, document preparation and submission of the final work. The consultant should indicate a breakdown of timeframe showing the detail work plan and expected dates for each phase of the assessment undertaking.
No. | Activities | Due period | Remark |
1. | Inception report submission and review | 3 days | Including weekends |
2. | Documentation framework | 2 days | ‘’ ‘’ ‘’ |
3. | Field work | 10 days | ‘’ ‘’ ‘’ |
4. | Data organization | 5 days |
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5. | Document preparation | 10 days | ‘’ ‘’ ‘’ |
6. | Document validation | 1 days | ‘’ ‘’ ‘’ |
7. | Document Finalization | 1 days | ‘’ ‘’ ‘’ |
8. | Document submission | 1 days |
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10. Terms and conditions
· Logistics:
ü The consultant will be responsible for using his own vehicle to travel up to field office level
ü Save the Children will provide vehicle for the field work.
ü The consultant will be responsible to cover per-diem for its team members but SCI will provide vehicles for transportation and periderm for its staff during the school visit.
· Professional fee: the consultant has to reflect professional and per-diem rate in the financial proposal
· Tax and insurance: SC will deduct 2% tax based on TIN or 30% withholding tax
· The consultant should respect and comply with the Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding policy.
· Contract: a contract agreement will be signed between the consultant and SC immediately after the selection process and the contract assignment will be effective from the date the agreement is signed.
11. Role and responsibilities
11.1 The consultant will:
· Submit covering letter which express consultant interest to carry out the work, technical and financial proposal with clear statement of the proposed methodologies.
· Lead consultations process, with all informants of the documentation and responsible for validity of the information
· Collect data as per the framework agreed
· Have a briefing meeting with the project staff before the start of the field exercise
· Undertake other activities stated in the scope of the work and this ToR.
· Produce the expected document specifying the data for each intervention areas (Amhara and south Omo).
· Review and incorporate feedback received from SC and donor
· Responsible for the tasks specified and for making sure quality of work is done in the agreed timeframe and meeting the required standard.
· Adhere to the SC’s Child Safe Guarding Policy and Code of Conduct. The consultant shall sign the SC’s code of conduct
· Following the field work an overall review workshop will be held to consolidate inputs, recommendations
· Upon completion of the overall review workshop, document will be produced with specific action points, and make recommendations for adjustments. The document will be shared with all partners and the donor.
11.2 Save the Children will:
· Ensure involvement of government stakeholders (woreda officials, directors supervisor, teachers students and PTSA members) as a members of the documentation team and also informants;
· Provide the necessary reference documents for the consultant (e.g. Assessment reports)
· Provide transportation service from field office to school level.
· Support in facilitating consultation meetings with the relevant bureaus and offices;
· Ensure contacts in areas of the study
· Review the draft documentation work and provide feedback to the consultant on time;
· Facilitate other works as per the specified activity plan/ToR;
· Effect payments of the service as per the contract agreement and on accomplishment of the task according to the service agreement.
12. Documentation outline
The documentation report incorporating the feedback from SC Ethiopia will be submitted in both soft and hard copies in 7 days after receiving comments from Save the Children and partners. The content and structure of the final should meet the requirements as stated in the TOR and should include the following:
· Cover page
· Title page
· Table of contents
· Acronyms/Abbreviations
· List of Tables
· List of figures
· Executive summary
· Introduction/Background
· Description of documentation tools and methodology used
· Key findings, including best practices, challenges and way forward.
· Conclusions and recommendations
13. Evaluation Criteria of the consultancy proposals
The consultant/s prepares and submits two types of proposals, the technical and financial proposals. The technical proposal takes the lion share of the score allotted to the proposal which is 60% and 40% of the score goes to the financial proposal. The technical proposal will be evaluated using the following criteria.
s/n | Selection criteria | Points | Remark |
1 | Team composition | 12% |
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1.1 | 7-8 years direct related consultancy experience in one or more professional disciplines with a Master’s degree, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience. Theoretical base in subject area, with ability to translate theory into practice. | 12 |
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2 | Understanding the TOR | 8% |
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2.1 | Clear presentation of the tasks indicated in the TOR within the proposal | 8 |
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3 | DESIGN OF the Reading Assessment | 25% |
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3.1 | Comprehensiveness of technical proposal | 10 |
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3.2 | Data collection procedures, organization and presentation suggested by the consultancy firm | 15 |
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4 | Assessment Plan | 15% |
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4.1 | Plan of data collection | 6 |
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4.2 | Fairness in the distribution of activities against the time allotted for the evaluation | 5 |
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4.3 | Total Number of days suggested to conduct the task | 4 |
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| Total | 60% |
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14. Terms of payment
Once the consultant selected, the following terms of payment will apply: -
· 7-8 years direct related consultancy experience in one or more professional disciplines with a Master’s degree, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience in languages education, statistics or Social work, with sound knowledge in basic education and literacy skills development of children.
· Theoretical base in subject area, with ability to translate theory into practice.
· Excellent understanding and experience in basic education program and child protection.
· Adequate experience and evidence of documentation work.
· High quality writing and reporting skills and proven records in different similar works.