Consultant for Scaling –Up Access to Basic Education in Lao PDR Phase II Baseline Survey

Terms of Reference****Consultant for Scaling –Up Access to Basic Education in Lao PDR (SABEL) Phase II Baseline Survey

1. Organisational context

ChildFund in Laos is the representative office of ChildFund Australia – an independent international development organisation that works to reduce poverty for children in developing communities.

ChildFund Australia is a member of the ChildFund Alliance – a global network of 12 organisations which assists almost 32 million children and their families in 70 countries. ChildFund Australia is a registered charity, a member of the Australian Council for International Development, and fully accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which manages the Australian Government’s overseas aid program.

ChildFund began working in Laos in 2010 and works in partnership to create community and systems change which enables vulnerable children and young people, in all their diversity, to assert and realise their rights. Projects are implemented in Houaphanh, Xieng Khouang, Phongsaly, Sayabouly, Luang Prabang, Khammouane, Savannakhet, Sekong Provinces and Vientiane capital.

With a focus on upholding child rights and improving access to quality education, ChildFund in Laos also prioritises projects which focus on child nutrition, sexual reproductive health and rights, media literacy, and job readiness.

1. Background

ChildFund in Laos, in partnership with Ministry of Education and Sports have been working hard for a decade to improve the education accessibility and quality for Lao students and communities, especially in Houaphanh province, working closely to address vulnerable children (children from ethnic minority background, girls, children with disability) barriers to education. ChildFund in Laos currently receives the financial supports from ChildFund Korea to implement a 3-year funded project called “Scaling-Up Access to Basic Education in Lao PDR (SABEL II)”. SABELL II is a second phase project following the recent completion of SABEL I in 2018-2021 with experienced positive achievements, particularly improving children’s reading outcomes in Lao language, improved hygiene practices among students and parents, increased parents knowledge over the importance of education for children with disabilities, upskilled VEDC’s understanding to develop Village Education Development Plans. This second phase project emphasizes on the improvement of student’s learning outcomes, school accessibility for vulnerable children in ethnic communities including girls and children with disabilities, and school environment improvement through community participations.

SABEL II project will be implemented in 30 target schools of Houameuang districts, Houaphanh province at the primary education level (Grade 1-5). 27 out of these schools were targeted by SABEL phase I. The project will work closely with District Education and Sports Bureau (DESB) and Provincial Education and Sports Services (PESS) and the Ministry of Education and Sports at the central level. The project will collaborate with INGOs and local Non-Profit Association (Meaying Houmjai Phattana Association) in relation to technical expertise and resource exchange.

The project includes 3 main outcomes and performance indicators as under:

Statements

Performance Indicators

Goal

Girls and boys who experience disadvantages in Houaphanh Province receive an improved quality of basic education and learning outcomes.

Outcome1

Learning outcomes of students  in grade 1-5 are improved through strengthened teacher capacity to effectively teach multi-grade classrooms.

% of teachers adopting multi-grade teaching practices.

Positive changes in teachers in terms of using teaching and learning materials that promote gender equality, inclusion of children with disability and children from ethnic minority group(s).

% of children who perform satisfactory and above in reading at grade 2 level

% of children who have confidence (self-‐assessed) in using Lao language in class

Outcome2

VEDC has strengthened knowledge, skills and practices of school governance and operations to ensure that schools are accessible for children with diverse abilities and ethnic minority children.

% Of schools developing, implementing and reviewing school development plans that promote inclusiveness in schools.

% VEDC demonstrating evidence of supporting school development plan.

Outcome3

Parents, caregivers and community members have improved knowledge, attitude and capacity on the importance of education and are contributing towards the improvement of school environment.

% Of parents/care givers, community members improved understanding on the importance of education.

Evidence of parents/ caregivers and community members in all target villages have increased level of investment (in-kind/ monetary) in the school development plan implementation.

# of schools renovated to improve accessibility for students with disability and ethnic students

3.    Purpose

This project requires an external, independent consultant. This survey will be completed at the beginning of the project to measure the status of all indicators, to gather information of the current status of stated components, which later progress will be measured. This will enable project indicators at outputs, outcomes and goal to be measured and tracked.

In order to ensure that the project addresses the relevant gaps, challenges and response to actual needs of the target population, the baseline assessment will gather the information and data to provide accurate figures and understanding on the present learning outcomes of Grade 1-5 primary school students, teacher capacity in teaching multi-grade classroom, the capacity level of VEDCs, parents, caregivers and community members to manage school access for  girls and children with diverse abilities and school environment improvement. The findings/results from the baseline survey standardizes project outcomes which will be used to assess the achievements at the end of the project. Given CFL’s focus on addressing barriers of vulnerable children in education, cross-cutting issues including gender, ethnicity and disability challenges should be highlighted in the baseline report.

The assignment involves consultation among CFL teams including Education Program Manager, Senior MEL Coordinator, Government Liaison and Partnership, Project Coordinator and Project Officers throughout the process of conducting project baseline survey and finalization. Technical advisory will also involve Education Advisor and MEL Advisor from ChildFund Australia, as well as inputs from ChildFund Korea as the donor for the project. The baseline survey requires an outlined implementing principles, tools, methodologies and reports. The consultant will also be responsible for liaising with SABEL II Project Coordinator and Officers to finalise implementation processes/guidelines and report in a professional and timely manner.

4.      Scope of Baseline Survey

The consultant will submit an Expression of Interest outlining appropriate quantitative and qualitative methodologies to be able to meet the purposes of the baseline survey. The final methodologies will be decided through a collaborative approach involving CFL and ChildFund Australia team consultations.

The Consultant is expected to:

1. To conduct a desk-review in order to gather and review relevant project documents and reports from CFL, government partners (including second data from the MoES and Huaphanh PESS and/or Houameuang DESB) and other sources.

2. Prepare a detailed inception report for submission to CFL for review and approval. This shall clearly describe proposed research methods in detail, data collection tools and formats, work plan to undertake the assignment etc. It is also expected that the inception report will include an operational definition (definition of each particular term), sampling method, data analysis / tabulation formula (indicating numerator and denominator),  intention of data source and how data will be disaggregated.

3. Focus on the three main outcomes and their performance indicators (as outlined above); develop appropriate methods and tools including Lao language reading tests for primary school students, guiding questions for Focus Group Discussions (FGD),  and Key Informant Interview (KII), as well as school observation-checklists in Lao and English. Cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, disability and social inclusion should be embedded in the tools developed.

4. Train enumerators on both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and -develop data collection guidelines for the enumerators.

5. Conduct field level data collection based on agreed assessment tools, maintain quality and accepted norms and standards, lead the data entry and analysis.

6. Organise an hour debriefing session for ChildFund team after the completion of fieldwork to provide an overview of the preliminary findings before start writing report.

7. Write a comprehensive draft baseline report on findings/results of the survey with input from the CFL team.

8. Present/share the findings of the baseline assessment to and with ChildFund and relevant stakeholders through a workshop.

9. Incorporate comments and suggestions forwarded and produce final report as per the agreed timetable.

10. Methodology

The baseline will need to adopt a mixed method, including both quantitative and qualitative components. The consultant, in consultation with ChildFund teams (ChildFund in Laos/ CFL, ChildFund Australia/ CFA, ChildFund Korea/ CFK) including the Education Program Manager of CFL, Senior MEL Coordinator of CFL, Project Coordinator and Education Advisor of CFA, MEL Advisor of CFA and M&E officer of CFK is expected to develop the appropriate methodology to collect data. The methodology and tools have to:·             Strongly support the active participatory approach and engagement from the project stakeholders including children, parents/caregivers, school principals and teachers, VEDCs, government partners at district to provincial levels (PESS and DESB) and CFL staff.

• Data collection methods should consist of SMART indicators and useful information and the consultant is expected to develop a clear guideline to assist the process.
• Both qualitative and quantitative data should be collected and reported and data sources clearly cited.
  • Coherently respond to the project outcomes and performance indicators.
  • Produce one case study with the referral to the amount of qualitative data collected.

Report:

• The report and relevant working documents must be written in English, provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word and PDF). The actual baseline survey report is limited to30pages excluding annexes. A maximum 3-page executive summary should be included as part of the report.
• Report format:

  • Table of contents.

  • List of Abbreviations.

  • Executive summary of the main findings including the major indicators of the project.

  • Introduction providing background information about the project and purposes of the baseline survey.

  • Baseline Findings for each Outcome and Performance Indicator

  • Learning and existing good practices identified.

  • Conclusions and Recommendations.

  • Annexes including all tools used (both English and Lao versions)

1. Deliverable and Indicative Timetable

Note: this is subject for negotiation with the Consultant

Indicative dates

Outputs and Activities

Number of Days

Week 3 Nov to Week 2 Dec 23

-        Consultant Recruitment.

-        Negotiation and signing the contract.

15/12/2023 = 1 days

-        Consultant briefing the Inception Report to CFL and CFA team.

27/12/2023 and 10/01/2024 = 5 days

§  Prepare and submit Inception Report

§  Work in collaboration with CFL and CFA team to develop baseline survey processes and Consensus agreement on the inception report, methods and tools

- Inception report reviewed and approved by ChildFund

By 30 Jan 2024 = 7 days

Enumerator Training:

-        Traveling to Houameuang district (1 day).

-        Enumerator training in Houameuang district (2 days).

-        Piloting tools in nearest target villages/schools and reflection (1 day).

Field data Collection in 10 schools:

-        5 working days (divide into 2 teams in target villages/schools).

-        Summary and reflection with project team (1 days).

-        Traveling to Vientiane Capital (1 day).

Week 1-2 of Feb 2024 = 4 days

Data analysis

Debriefing

Week 3-4 of Feb 2024 = 5 days

-        Report writing.

-        Submit the 1st Draft Report (English).

Week 1-2 of Mar 2024= 2 days

-        Incorporate feedback and finalize the report.

-        Submit the final report (English).

Total number of days

28 days

7.      Management and Reporting Arrangements

The Consultant will report directly to Education Program Manager, and keep Senior MEL Coordinator and the Head of Program copied to the communication chain. The Education Program Manager of CFL will coordinate the internal reviews among CFA and CFK colleagues. Consultant should expect that the internal review procedures to take 1-2 weeks between reports. The consultant will work closely with the Project Coordinator, project officers and the Government Liaison and Partnership.  All reports must be written in English and provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word).

8.      Confidentiality

All discussions and documents relating to this ToR will be treated as confidential by the parties.

9.      Child Safeguarding

The successful applicant will be required to comply with ChildFund Australia’s Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures and to sign a Code of Conduct. The consultant will undertake the services to a high standard; use his/her best endeavors to promote the best interests of ChildFund; protect the reputation of ChildFund and work in a manner consistent with the mission, vision and policies of ChildFund (see Child Safeguarding Policy/Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct PSEAH policy and Employee Code of Conduct). ChildFund Australia has a zero-tolerance policy to abuse, exploitation and harassment in all its forms.

10.  Counter-Terrorism

ChildFund Australia acknowledges its obligation under the Australian laws relating to counter-terrorism. In order to meet its obligation, the consultant’s name will be reviewed against Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and National Security Australia lists at the onset of any financial relationship.

11.  Conflict of Interest

The Consultant must declare any financial, personal, family (or close intimate relationship) interest in matters of official business which may impact on the work of ChildFund.

12.  Fraud and Corruption prevention and awareness

ChildFund Australia has a zero approach to fraud and corruption act. The successful consultant will be required to comply with ChildFund Australia’s fraud and corruption prevention and awareness Policy and act against any form of fraud or corruption and not offer, promise, give or accept any bribes.

13.  Insurance

The successful applicant will be required to have in place insurance arrangements appropriate to provision of the requirement in this TOR including (without limitation) travel insurance.

14.  Acknowledgment and Disclaimer

ChildFund, its Board and staff make no express or implied representation or warranty as to the currency, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this ToR.  Nothing in this ToR should be construed to give rise to any contractual obligations or rights, expressed or implied, by the issue of this ToR or the submission of Expression of Interest in response to it.  No contract would be created until a formal written contract is executed between ChildFund and a selected consultant.

Selection Criteria for Consultant

Core Competencies

• Commitment to ChildFund Australia’s values, vision and mission;
• Teamwork;
• Communication;
• Accountability and integrity; and
• Adaptability and flexibility.

Essential Qualification and Experience:

• Masters or University degree in Education, Development, Social Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, or related disciplines with strong experience in conducting similar research works in developing countries particularly in South East Asia.
• Relevant experience in development sector around INGOs’ work or relevant agency
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation, and conducting surveys utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methods including data collection techniques and analysis in education
• Strong experience in education, disability inclusion, gender and community development;
• Familiarity with child‐focused programming and excellent knowledge of education research interventions;
• Flexible and able to adapt to a multi-cultural environment and complex situations, with demonstrable high-level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills especially with ethnic minorities
• Familiarity with the development context of Lao PDR including relevant language skills;
• Good experience in collaboration and interaction with communities and government bodies from local to national level, especially the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) of Laos.
• Strong facilitation skills, particularly with children, youth and ethnic women;
• Self-driven, strong organizational and planning skills, with the ability to work independently or in a group, as well as under pressure
• Fluent in both Lao and English, and showing ability to communicate ethnic languages; Hmong, and Khmu would be an asset.

Submission Procedure:

Applications can be made by email to Bamboo HR (linked will be identified when the announcement is launched); all other applications will be rejected. Interested applicants should submit

1. CV of the lead consultant and their team (if any) and a cover letter
2. Technical proposal
3. Financial proposal

NOTE: The financial proposal should specify a total lump sum amount and a breakdown of a daily professional fee and communication costs etc. Applications without a financial proposal will be regarded as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

ChildFund in Laos does not require interested candidates to submit copies of certificates, ID cards or any other information.

ChildFund in Laos is an equal opportunity employer and has a strict child protection policy and background checks will be undertaken prior to any offer of employment.  All candidates should submit two professional referees including their current or most recent employer.

Please submit your application via https://teamchildfund.bamboohr.com/careers/442, before 4:30 pm of 30 November 2023.

ChildFund is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds, abilities, and identities to apply for any vacancies.