1. INTRODUCTION/pROJECT OVERVIEW:
The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has opened up to civic engagement and strengthening of democratic institutions, evidenced by the new Organization of Civil Society (CSO) law (Proclamation No. 1113/2019) which allows non-governmental organizations (NGOs/ CSOs) to work on governance issues, engage in advocacy, monitor policy implementation and hold duty bearers to account. Support through localization is needed to strengthen CSOs towards realizing children’s rights. In addition, CSOs have limited capacity to secure resources to continue funding education programs for the most vulnerable and hard to reach children, and often require the support of international NGOs or UN agencies.
There are noted self-identified gaps in capacities for selected refugee and IDP led organizations (RIDPLOs), including low capacity to cascade beneficiary perspectives, particularly those of girls and Learners With Disabilities ( LWDs), to INGOs, UN agencies and governments.
This project aims to enhance equitable and inclusive learning outcomes for refugee, IDP and host community children, particularly girls, adolescent girls and Learners With Disabilities ( LWDs) in Oromia (Bale) and Somali (Dollo Bay and Dollo Ado) regions of Ethiopia (1000). The project will support 11,573 refugee children (age 4-6 years) (g: 6,049, b: 5,458) including 66 LWDs (g: 20, b: 46) in Dollo Ado refugee camp and 15,766 IDP children (7-14 years) in primary schools (g: 10,983, b: 4,180) including 603 LWDs (g: 239, b: 364) in Dollo Bay and Bale supported directly by CSOs/CBOs. Bale of Oromia and Dollo Ado and Dollo Bay in Somali were selected due to a dearth of development actors in these locations and because of the prevalence of significant numbers of IDP and refugee children.
The overall objective of the project will be to promote equitable and inclusive learning outcomes for refugee, IDP and host community children, particularly girls and LWDs. This will be achieved by CSOs and CBOs working towards improving access for out-of-school children (OOSC) and supporting in-school children by providing inclusive education materials and supports, building the capacity of teachers and facilitators, and improving the delivery of quality education with community and Woreda education authorities. Brighter Outcomes will have interventions at the pre-primary level for refugees (Dollo Ado) and primary level for IDPs (Dollo Bay and Bale) extending over four years. To this end, the project is planning to conduct context analysis to inform any changes in the project design. Based on the findings of the analysis, Context & Rationale section of the PIP document will be re-designed and enhance evidenced based project implementation, as well as inform the design of the logic model, output & activity matrix, and key design strategies for the project (i.e. gender equality strategy, conflict-sensitivity strategy, etc.). The project will also submit the gender-responsive and conflict-sensitivity assessment as an annex to the PIP, which will include a) a conflict analysis; b) a conflict-sensitivity assessment which assesses how the project and conflict interact; and c) a conflict-sensitivity plan.
General objectives
The Context Analysis should provide up to date data, evidence, information and perspectives on the context on education, conflict and gender analysis +++ in the BOE project implementation regions, which may influence the project implementation and outcomes, including some general information about the context but also some deeper dive into some specific issues which the project will target.
Table 1: Specific objectives of the study:
Assessment | Objectives |
Conflict sensitivity assessment | · To deliver a child-centred conflict analysis (impact of the conflict) in Ethiopia context by looking at four conflict dimensions: Profile, cause, actors and dynamics. i.Profile: Type of conflict in project areas and analysis of how children are specifically impacted ii.Cause: Root causes and reasons contributing to prolonging the conflict (incl. analysis of micro levels of conflict if applicable) iii.Actors: Stakeholder analysis (incl. vulnerability and gender equality assessment) iv.Dynamics: Likely evolutions of conflict dynamics during implementation period of the project and lasting impact on children (incl. triggers for deterioration AND improvement)
· To conduct a conflict-sensitivity assessment (interaction between project and conflict) of the project to understand how the conflict dynamics affect boys & girls or are affected by the project: i.Current and potential impact of conflict dynamics on project implementation (incl. operational challenges, access, child safeguarding, safety and security considerations, partnerships, etc.) ii.Planned impact of the project on conflict dynamics in the short and long-term (incl. how the project respects or will respect the DNH principle, addresses or will address underlying causes and sustaining factors of conflict; supports or will support mitigation dynamics and social cohesion, contributes or will contribute to local mediation and conflict resolution mechanisms, etc.) iii.Possible unintended consequences of the project that might increase tensions and proposed mitigation measures (incl. consideration on acceptance by communities, children, local leadership, authorities and partners) iv.Sustainability of the project (incl. analysis of mid- to long-term consequences of programme in locations, e.g., environmental, capacity strengthening of local partners/communities, exit strategies, etc.)
· To develop conflict sensitivity action plan based on the findings and recommendations
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Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) | · To determine key intersectional gender barriers constraining access to pre-primary and primary education for refugee &/or IDP girls, boys and children with disabilities. · To identify the root causes for the existing intersectional gender barriers constraining access to pre-primary and primary education for refugee, IDP &/or host community girls, boys and children with disabilities.
· To assess the capacity & responsibility of CBOs to support mechanisms for responding to school-based gender violence.
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Education | · To examine key enrollment and drop-out trends for primary and pre-primary IDP/refugee girls and boys, and IDP/refugee children with disabilities (IDP Primary children ages 7-14 in Bale & Dollo Bay Refugee Pre-Primary children ages 4-6 in Dollo Ado ).
· To identify and analyze key education barriers for IDP/refugee girls and boys to access quality, gender-responsive and inclusive education · To understand the impact of the conflict dynamics on proposed education activities and how these activities can help either mitigate or exacerbate the conflict dynamics · To assess the current capacity of school environment to delivery quality, gender-responsive & inclusive education. · To determine the capacity of teachers to deliver gender responsive and disability inclusive lessons, in quality and safe learning space. · To assess the capacity & responsibility of CBOs to support delivery of gender-responsive & inclusive education · To recommend ways of addressing barriers to children’s education |
CBOs & CSOs | · To understand how CBOs & CSOs are structured/organized · To understand their programming activities related to refugee/IDP education · To understand top-level needs and areas of focus for capacity-strengthening |
Methods and approaches
The study will be conducted in the project implementation areas of both regions in selected sites by the end of October 2022. The study subjects will be IDP and refugee girls, boys, families (Women and men), PTAs, school principals, woreda education and women affairs offices and CBOs , as well as conducting observation of learning environments and analysis of enrolment and drop out trends.
Study design: This study will employ a mixed methods to draw empirical evidence that will be generated from quantitative (enrollment & drop-out trend, conflict profiles) and qualitative data (FGD with Children, parents, host community representatives and KII with school principals, teachers, CBOs,) in order to provide measurements for indicators. There will also be a complementary review of other secondary data sources, which include both internal and external resources (Project documents, national data, reports by different NGOs, academia, grey literature, etc.). The literature review help in understanding the context and triangulating the data.
Key secondary data sources of data which should be used and summarized include: EIE gender assessment 2021 and enrolment and drop out figures.
The study will be using child participatory study methods, child friendly interview tools, ensuring child safeguarding and disaggregation of data and analysis by location, gender, age, and movement pattern. Data collection from children and adults will be based on ethical data collection (safety, informed consent, etc.).
Sample size: a minimum of 2-3 focus group discussions with a maximum of 8-10 participants for each selected districts from Somali Dollo Bay and five refugee camps in Dollo Ado, and from Bale intervention (Lega Hidha, Rayitu, Dawe, Kachen, Sawena and Gura Dhamole). Regarding KII, a minimum of 4-5 key informants (KII) per selected sites will be included for this assessment. A total of 20-30 participants with high enrollment of girl’s/women participation will be considered in the FGDs. A total of 10 key informant will take part in the assessment from key education stakeholders in the two project regions.
The FGDs and KII data will be collected by experienced staff with fair male and female representation for each gender category and trained project staff who are familiar in local language and culture.
Table. 2: Distribution of FGDs and KIIs
Woreda | Target population | # FGDs | Male | Female | # KIIs | Male | Female |
Bale and Dolo Bay | IDP children ( a minimum of 8-10 girls and boys per FGD) | 2 FGD with girls and 1 FGD with Boys from Bale and 1 FGD with girls and 1 FGD with Boys from Dollo Bay | 16 | 24 |
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IDP parents/care givers of children ages 7-14 | 2 FGD with female and 1 FGD with male from Bale and 1 FGD with female and 1 FGD with male from Dollo Bay | 16 | 24 |
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IDP community leaders |
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| 5 from Bale and 4 from Dollo | 3 from Bale and 2 in Dollo | 2 from Bale and 2 from Dollo | |
Host community leaders |
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| 1 from Somali and 1 from Bale | 2 |
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Woreda level government leaders (Education and Women Affair Offices) |
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| 2 from Somali ( education + women office) and 2 from Dollo ( 1 from education and another from Women office) | 2 | 2 | |
IDP primary school principals |
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| 3 from Bale and 2 from Somali | 5 |
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Primary teachers |
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| 5 ( 3 teachers from Bale and 2 from Somali) | 2 | 3 | |
| PTAs | 5 from Bale and 2 from Somali | 20 from Bale and 8 from Dollo | 20 from Bale and 8 from Somali |
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| CSO |
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| 1 from Somali and 1 from Bale | 1 from Somali and 1 from Bale |
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Dollo Ado | IDP children | 2 FGD | 8 | 8 |
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Refugee parents/care givers ages 4-6 | 2 FGD | 8 | 8 |
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Pre-primary facilitators |
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| 5 |
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Pre-primary refugee – RRS |
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| 2 | 2 |
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PTSA | 3FGD from refugee camps | 8 | 16 |
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RCC |
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| 2 | 2 |
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CSO |
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| 1 | 1 |
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Woreda level government leaders (Education and Women Affair ) |
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| 2 | 1 | 1 | |
Total |
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Data analysis and quality management:
External consultant will carry out data analysis. This will include data cleaning, encoding, analysis and write up of the report, upon receiving data from Save the Children Country Office. There are data collected from two regions and consists of a) FGDs from children, caregivers, community leaders, RCC and PTSA ; b) KII from WEO, women and children affair office, CSO c) Conflict sensitivity, enrolment and drop out data from secondary sources. The data has to be organized in table format and has to be analysed using graphs. Gender-responsive conflict-sensitivity assessment, has to be analysed focusing on four dimensions, with data input from KIIs/FGDs, and secondary sources. The analysis should cover:
1- Conflict profile (desk review)
2- Actors (desk review)
3- Causes (FGDs/KIIs)
4- Dynamics (FGDs/KIIs)
5- Effects (FGDs/KIIs)
The consultant will share the preliminary report to respective advisors for education, gender, and conflict sensitivity to get their nputts and feedback to enrich the assessment report. After incorporating the advisor’s comments, the draft context analysis report will be shared with SCC technical team for additional inputs and enhancement.
Responsibilities of the consultant
• Administer data entry, analysis and interpretation
• Present data collection methodology, data collection process and findings of study for discussion and comment/feedback
• Produce quality reports
• Summarize and present findings of the assessment
• Revise and submit final quality report by incorporating inputs from SCI
Governance/administration and communication
· The consultant is administratively answerable to BOE project overall budget holder, and award focal person. Technically, answerable to Sr. Response technical manager and education, Gender, conflict sensitivity, and MEAL advisors.
· The contents of the consolidated report should follow the SCI standards outlined in the annex
· The final assessment report is the property of SCI through BOE project and the consultant has no legal rights for publication or claim for authorship.
Save the Children will:
· Recruit competent consultants based on merit and fair competitive manner
· Develop and facilitate the contract agreement with the selected consultant
· Review the draft report and provide feedback to the consultant on time;
· Arrange panel sessions for the consultant to present a draft report
· Facilitate other works as per the specified activity plan/ToR; and contract agreement
· Effect payments of the service as per the contract agreement and on the accomplishment of the task according to the service agreement.
Payment modalities
· All payments are based on a signed contract agreement signed-off between the two parties.
· All payments are effected in local currency (ETB) and through bank transfer to only legally registered firm accounts upon approval of the technical team approval of service completion notes.
· Payment is effected based on the agreement reached with a consultant.
§ The first payment (30%) of the total amount signed-off will be effected upon submission of the first draft consolidated report and approval of the technical and Health and Nutrition advisor for its acceptable SCI quality and standards assessment reports.
§ The final payment (70%) will be upon submission of member accepted the consolidated report with approved service completion notes by the overall budget holder.
· SCI has the right to withhold the payment if the consultant firm fails to meet the expected quality of the report by SCI and/or Save the Children Canada teams within the time frame set in the contract agreement.
Criteria for selection:
SCI uses the weighted scoring method to award the contract in a competitive and based on pre-set criteria with the participation of technical and MEAL advisors, and finance managers to evaluate and give scores for all potential bidders who fulfilled the first screening criteria.
The incumbent firm, which received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial score points specific to the required consultancy service will be contacted by a designated person from the SCI-SCC department.
Score points (100%):
· Technical criteria weight - 60% as per the annexed selection criteria of the proposal.
· Financial criteria weight - 40%.
As per the SCI standard, the only firm that scores a weighted average of 60% points minimum score of 45% for technical evaluation) and above will be considered
Duty Station or travel plan: The duty station is Addis Ababa
Duration of contract:
The contract is for the duration of 45 days from November 21, 2022 to December 31, 2022. Detail timeline will be outlined during the contract agreement.
Ethical considerations and Child Safe Guarding:
Ethical and safeguarding considerations will be taken into account during all stages of the research (including data collection, handling of data, and analysis), avoiding causing harm to children and their caretakers. Ensuring that children are protected in all activities undertaken or funded by Save the Children is fundamental. Participation of children, especially given the possible sensitivity of their migration status, will be based on Save the Children’s Child-Safeguarding Policy and standards. For research activities, this includes the submission and approval of an ethical protocol outlining the participation of children and their safeguarding (including minimum standards, such as consent and confidentiality).
The project field staff will secure written support letters from designated government offices. During the data collection, the survey team will administer the SCI CSG checklists for participation and consent for voluntary enrollment.
Annex A: Work plan with tentative timeline
No | Activities | Responsible | Deadline |
| FGD and KII tools finalized | CO + SCC | Done |
| Consultant hired | MEAL focal person | Done |
| Data collection done | Field staff | Nov. 21- 30 |
| Consultant recruitment | SCC | Dec-1-10,2022 |
| Data consolidated, cleaned, analyzed and report written | Consultant | Dec-14-18-2022 |
| Inputs provided to refine report produced by consultant | Consultant | Dec 19- 31, 2022 |
| Submission of final report as per the SCI standard template | Consultant | 5-January-2023 |
Annex-B:
SC suggests the following minimum reporting outline. However, the consultant can come up with his/her own outline.
· Cover page
· Table of Contents
· Acknowledgement
· Acronyms/Abbreviation
· Executive Summary (Maximum 2 1/2 pages)
· Background
· Methodology
· Data Analysis and Findings
· Discussion
· Conclusion and Recommendations
· References
Annex-C: Technical evaluation criteria
No. | Evaluation Criteria | Weight/Score |
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1 | Methodology | 30% |
1.1 | Evaluation design and approach | 5 |
1.1.1 | § Does the technical proposal clearly indicate the evaluation design to be employed? (one group, comparison group or control group pre and post-test) | 1 |
1.1.2 | § Does the technical proposal clearly indicate the evaluation approach to be employed? (Quantitative, qualitative or a mixed one?) | 2 |
1.1.3 | § Does it present the rationale behind the proposed evaluation design and approach? | 2 |
1.2 | Sampling | 7 |
1.2.1 | § Sample frame/ Study population clearly stated § Respondents/entities for data collection are clearly indicated | 1 |
1.2.2 | § Appropriate sample size determination employed | 2 |
1.2.3 | § Sampling techniques stated § Sampling procedures stated | 2 |
1.2.4 | § Sample distribution indicated | 2 |
1.3 | Data Collection | 8 |
1.3.1
| § Detail of tools to be employed stated § Data collection method stated (e.g. paper-based/ use of technology) § Administration of the tool (self-administered or through enumerators?) clearly indicated | 2 |
1.3.2 | § Approach: Does the technical proposal include participatory and child-friendly approaches? § Pre-testing of tools (as deemed necessary) indicated | 2 |
1.3.3 | § Recruitment of enumerators (educational background/experience/language skill etc.) stated § Proposed training to enumerators clearly indicated | 2 |
1.3.4 | § How data entry will be carried out properly stated | 2 |
1.4 | Data Quality and Ethical Assurance | 5 |
1.4.1 | § Supervision of the data collection process indicated § Quality assurance activities (in relation to data entry, data cleaning, transcription, etc.) adequately addressed | 3 |
1.4.2 | § Ethical procedures to be pursued in engaging respondents including child safeguarding stated § Assurance of confidentiality clearly indicated | 2 |
1.5 | Data Analysis and Presentation | 5 |
1.5.1 | § Data analysis techniques to be employed and appropriate software for the qualitative and quantitative analysis stated | 2 |
1.5.2 | § Presentation of data and discussion properly stated: ü Data interpretation ü Triangulation of data ü Use of visuals (graphs, tables, pie-charts, etc.) ü What else is proposed to flesh the evaluation report? | 2 |
1.5.3 | § Validation: Mechanisms of getting feedback to refine the report into its final shape stated | 1 |
2 | Capability and Experience | 20% |
2.1 | Capability | 10 |
2.2.1 | § Team Composition: ü The proposed evaluation team consisted of the required expertise or professional composition ü The proposed evaluation team has the required number of personnel including data collectors and supervisors. ü Roles and responsibilities of each team member indicated | 5 |
2.1.2 | § Qualification: ü The proposed lead consultant has the required educational background and/or training that will qualify him/her to lead the evaluation. ü The proposed team members have the required qualification/ training and evaluation skills to undertake the assignment. ü The technical proposal indicates the presence of the required data analysis skill among the team members. | 5 |
2.2 | Experience | 10 |
2.2.1 | § Lead Consultant Experience: ü Does the Lead Consultant has adequate experience in undertaking similar assignments? If yes, is did it attach evidence/credentials for this. ü The Lead consultant has experience in working with a similar target group for the current assignment. (Examples: children, youth, refugees, etc.) ü The Lead consultant has experience in the project target region/woredas. If yes, did it indicate or attach evidence for this? | 6 |
2.2.2 | § Team Experience: ü The proposed team members have experience in a similar assignment. | 4 |
3 | Work Plan | 10% |
3.1 | § The proposed duration of the assignment fit to what was indicated on the ToR. | 2 |
3.2 | § The technical proposal list activities at reasonable detail. § The proposed work plan presents activities in their logical sequence. | 5 |
3.3 | § The technical proposal assigns a reasonable duration for each activity. | 2 |
3.4 | § The technical proposal uses an appropriate presentation format to display the work plan. | 1 |
| Total score of the technical proposal | 60% |
| Note: 1. Financial proposal will be opened/considered for those bidders that scored the technical proposal above 45% (out of 60%). |
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| 2.Financial Proposal linking costs to the activities and outputs in the Terms of Reference Note: Among those technically responsive consulting firms the least price offered will score 40% and the others offer will be calculated proportionally with the price of the least offered. | 40% |
| 3.Total(Combined) scores, (technical plus financial) Note: The highest combined score will be the winner for the assignment. | 100% |
Required Qualifications have a minimum of first degree in education, psychology, demography, and other social sciences preferred), with proven experience in context or conflict analysis and social science research works
• Should have experience in the Ethiopian Education policy, strategy, and systems
• Should have comprehensive experience working with refugee and internally displaced communities and children.
• Previous Survey experience in the study regions (i.e. Somali, Oromia, and other Regions in Ethiopia)
• Must have qualitative and quantitative research analysis certificate is required and 2- certified professionals must lead the training level field-level coordination for at least the last two years.