Consultant – School Assessment
Mercy Corps
Job Type
Full Time
Location
Somalia
Description :
Organization: Mercy Corps
Country: Somalia
Closing date: 17 May 2017
Overview
Mercy Corps is seeking a consultant to conduct an assessment of 57 secondary schools at 55 schools across Somalia and Somaliland using a tool modified by Mercy Corps.
Somali Youth Leadership Initiative (SYLI)
SYLI is a 5-year USAID-funded education and youth program with the goal of increased education and civic participation opportunities for Somali youth to reduce instability in target areas. The program, which is in its final stages, is being implemented by Mercy Corps, an INGO with operations across Somalia. To achieve the program goals, the program has a series of integrated activities that will work toward three Intermediate Results:
- Fair and equitable basic education services (primary, secondary and non-formal education) improved for at least 45,489 Somali youth, community members, and education officials through classroom construction and rehabilitation, teacher training, capacity building of education officials and improved community engagement in education issues.
- At least 12,700 youth have improved literacy, numeracy and life skills through provision of non-formal education (NFE) and training of NFE teachers.
- 50,000 youth empowered to participate and contribute positively and productively to society through strengthening of youth groups and safe spaces for youth dialogue and support for youth-led advocacy efforts and community improvement projects
The assignment
The engaged evaluator will be required to conduct an assessment at a list of schools provided by Mercy Corps, and will have two weeks to conduct field work, and one week to clean and code data, write a field report, and provide data sets to Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps requires that all data collection be done with electronic tools – either mobile phones or tablets – that are provided by the engaged evaluator.
Overview of School Assessment
Intermediate result one included the construction and rehabilitation of 61 schools across Somalia – 17 schools in Puntland, 21 schools in South Central, and 23 schools in Somaliland. In partnership with the respective ministries of education, Mercy Corps successfully improved the facilities at the schools and improved educational access for students in those communities.
A key indicator of the program is for schools to be considered as conducive learning environments, meaning that each school should provide an environment that is suited for learning. Mercy Corps has adapted the USAID Safe Schools Assessment Tool to better reflect the Somali Context and the realities on the ground. The revised tool – the Conducive Learning Environment Assessment Tool – looks at three core principles:
- Supported education programs provide a conducive physical environment for learners
- Supported education programs provide a conducive social environment for learners
- Supported education programs provide a conducive pedagogical environment for all learners
Each core principle has sub-categories to examine finer details of the physical, social, and pedagogical elements that ensure a conducive learning environment for Somali students. The tool has a series of questionnaires to collect the opinions of students, teachers, administrators, and community education committee members, to examine the adherence to the outlined core principles. Additionally the tool includes several facilities checklists. The combined results of these documents feeds into the ultimate scoring of a school to determine whether or not it qualifies as a conducive learning environment. The engaged consultant will implement the tool and collect and code the data, but ultimate scoring of the schools will lie with Mercy Corps.
Objectives:
- Implement the Conducive Learning Environment Assessment Tool at accessible SYLI-supported schools
- Encode and summarize data for each school
- Provide feedback on the implementation of the tool – challenges and lessons learned
Methodology:
- Administer surveys – Mercy Corps has developed a survey that will be used to assess each school’s adherence to the tool’s standards. Surveys will be administered to students, teachers, administrators, and community education committee members.
- Administer facilities checklists – At each target school, administer the facilities checklist. This checklist examines the physical environment of the school.
- Encode survey results – Encode and compile survey and facilities checklist results into Excel files to be used for analysis and scoring by Mercy Corps.
- Document challenges and lessons learned – The field team will also document challenges using the tool and will provide lessons learned in the implementation of the tool.
Deliverables:
- Administer the survey to students, teachers, administrators, and community education committee members at 57 target schools in Somaliland and Puntland
- Combine survey days at overlapping schools with the impact assessment
- Administer facilities and documents checklists at each school
- Encode and compile data
- Provide cleaned and summarized data set
- Provide documentation of challenges and lessons learned
Scope of work:
The consultant will work the Mercy Corps M&E Specialist and local field staff to undertake the following actions:
- Visit the 57 target secondary schools to administer the school assessment tool and impact assessment.
- Provide regular field updates to Mercy Corps M&E Specialist concerning the progress of field data collection
- Code the surveys and facilities checklists
- Provide documentation of challenges and lessons learned in a field report
Time frame
The timeframe for consultancy to undertake the school assessment across Somalia
No
Key activities
Duration
1
Tool review between Mercy Corps staff and consultant (impact assessment and school assessment)
1 days
2
Field work for 57 schools in South Central, Somaliland, and Puntland
14 days
3
Compilation and coding of data, cleaning of dataset and documentation of lessons learned in a field report
7 days
4
Submission of draft report for comments from Mercy Corps team
2 days
5
Final report incorporating Mercy Corps comments and feedback
2 days
6
Total
26 days
Management and supervision of the exercise
Mercy Corps will provide overall oversight of the exercise, between the SYLI Chief of Party and the M&E Specialist, and the consultant. The consultant will work with Mercy Corps to determine the field schedule in Somalia and Somaliland in order to conduct the school assessment. Mercy Corps has close working relationships with the zonal Ministries of Education, and will facilitate the field work at the schools. Mercy Corps field staff will not be traveling to the field with the consultant.
Key Deliverables
- Conduct the conducive learning environment assessment
- Provide cleaned and coded dataset of the conducive learning environment assessment
- Provide written field report outlining the implementation and lessons learned
Terms and conditions
- Mercy Corps will provide a list of schools to be sampled and appropriate coordination with the respective Ministries of Education
- The consultants shall assume responsibility for all tax obligations and liability resulting from this work. Further, the consultant shall lay no claim whatsoever upon Mercy Corps regarding immunity to legal action, or legal representation for contravention of existing legislation during the execution of this work. Mercy Corps shall not be held liable for any health or security risks incurred by the consultant during the execution of this contract or thereafter.
- Mercy Corps will own the intellectual property rights to all materials submitted by the consultant under the contract. Mercy Corps will be free to reproduce the materials at will and to grant reproduction rights. The rights to reproduce the reports will fall to Mercy Corps.
Consultant qualifications
- Able to provide male and female staff to administer surveys and focus group discussions
- Office/sub-offices in Hargeisa, Garowe, and Mogadishu/Kismayo
- Ability to conduct field work in Somaliland, Puntland, and South Central Somalia
- Previous experience conducting surveys
- Data coding and cleaning experience
- Be in possession of mobile data collection tools to administer surveys and survey tools
Required Expertise
The selected consultant is expected to have strong expertise in undertaking evaluations and surveys in complex environments, and must have experience working in Somalia. The ability to engage with youth through surveying and focus group discussions is also required. The consultant will primarily be working with youth, teachers, and school administrators, and must be comfortable across those groups in both rural and urban environments.
Successful applicants will have:
- Demonstrated experience conducting and managing all aspects of complex program evaluation
- Demonstrated understanding of education programming, capacity building and civic engagement
- Advanced academic qualification in education, governance, public administration, or another relevant discipline.
- Familiarity with the Somalia context and educational system
- Previous experience conducting surveys/assessments in Somalia
- Excellent analytical, research, writing and concise and compelling communication skills; Strong visual presentation skills preferred.
- Language skills: Professional capacity in English
How to apply :
To apply, go here:: http://app.jobvite.com/m?3DutyiwV
Application Process
Interested candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience are invited to submit their Expression of interest (EoI) as soon as possible with a deadline of May 17, 2017. The EoI should include:
- CV (s) with details of qualifications, experience
- Technical proposal which must cover: overall concept and approach, methodology and data collection techniques including ensuring data quality, data coding and data entry process, and field operational plan
- The foreseen work plan and time frame for the days worked
- Financial proposal with justification and explanation of any costs included
Mercy Corps will examine all EOIs to ensure that they contain no amendments to the terms or any other irregularities and/or errors. To assist in the examination and selection process, Mercy Corps may, at its discretion, assemble and establish a Review Committee. Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria:
Technical Evaluation: The applications will first be evaluated on technical merits. The technical evaluation assesses the capacity of the applicant, based on its submitted technical documents, specifications, performance history, and references submitted. For this purpose, certificates and additional references may be requested and subsequently examined.
Financial/Cost Evaluation: The financial/cost evaluation is based on the cost of products and services presented in the application. The evaluation is intended to assess and confirm that applicants provide good value to Mercy Corps for the cost of all goods and/or services offered.Other Evaluations: After ranking applications and applicants according to technical and financial criteria, Mercy Corps may take into account other variables, including, but not limited to record of past performance, integrity, and social responsibility.