Organisational context

ChildFund in Laos (CFL) 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 23 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 the capital of Vientiane, as well as Huaphanh and Xiengkhouang Province, some of the country’s poorest regions with significantly high unexploded ordnance contamination.

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.

Background

CFL, in partnership with Ministry of Education and Sport Services (MoES) have been working hard for a decade to improve the education accessibility and quality for Lao students and its community, especially in Huaphanh Province. Currently, ChildFund Laos receives the financial supports from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) through ChildFund Korea to further support the Government of Laos (GoL) to achieve its vision as stated in the 2030 vison statement that “All Lao population equally and equitably have access to quality education”.

The 3-year KOICA funded project called “Gender and Language Education for Ethnic Students’ Empowerment (GLEESE)” started in April 2021 and will end by December 2023 The project goal aims for all girls and boys in Sopbao and Xamneua district, Huaphanh provice to complete equitable lower secondary education. The project has targeted 10 schools and implemented partially in 30 villages of Xamneua and Sopbao districts, Huaphanh province at the Lower Secondary Education, in the field of gender, infrastructure improvement/renovation, and teaching-learning outcome improvement. The project will work very closely with MoES at the central level and with provincial and district education at the ground levels with the technical supports from local Non-Profit Association in term of project impact and sustainability.

Outcome 2 of the project intends to engage government partners on gender related issues, in relation to education. As such, under Activity 2.4.1, the project is to collect high-quality information on gender to be shared with government partners from national, provincial and district levels. Implementation Management Committee (IMC) that are formed for the project, where key government partners will meet every six months with ChildFund representatives for presentations on progress towards project objectives and discussions on steps moving forward. In addition to IMC meetings, ChildFund staff will have separate meetings on an annual basis to discuss project learnings, especially on gender and education, with key government partners on the national level, including representatives from the MoES and the Women’s Union. These meetings will focus on understanding how learnings from ChildFund project work can be integrated into government activities and action plans in order to help achieve the goals set out in national strategies on gender and education.

In order to collect high-quality information to be shared with government partners, CFL will engage in research on a gender-related topic identified during activity implementation as a key factor in girls’ education. This research will be led by a consultant, and supported by youth involved in project activities, specifically gender sensitisation clubs. Results will be written into a formal report and shared alongside project data at both IMC meetings and separate meetings to share learning with National-level government partners.

3. Purpose & Objectives

The purpose of this assignment is to develop a gender analysis of the factors or barriers affecting access and retention of girls in lower secondary school education in Sopbao and Xamneua districts of Huaphanh province based primarily on secondary data and research. This assignment is primarily desk-based, with a potential short visit to Huaphanh province to conduct a limited number of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The assignment involves liaising with the Education Program Manager to finalise the report and PowerPoint presentation in a professional and timely manner. Findings and recommendations will be shared with government partners at the project IMC meeting in January 2023, to support their understanding, planning and development of gender equitable education services.

The specific objectives of the gender analysis are:

Identify gaps and barriers to accessing and completing lower secondary school education for girls, with specific focus on girls from different ethnic minority communities and including girls with disabilities.
Provide evidence to support the rationale for a focus on gender equitable interventions as part of education services.
Provide recommendations to the government education authorities on how to improve access and retention of girls in lower secondary school education in Huaphanh province.

4. Scope of Gender Analysis

The Consultant is expected to:

Conduct a desk review of relevant literature, project documents and reports from CFL, government (including secondary data from MoES and Xamneua and Sopbao Districk Education and Sport Bureau “DESBs”) and other sources, including relevant research done on ethnic communities present in the project districts.
Conduct an online interview with the GLEESE project team, and a limited number of in-person FGDs with different groups in the project area to fill in some of the key information gaps for the gender assessment.
Prepare a gender analysis report of no more than 10 pages excluding annexes, plus a one-page summary, a draft of which will be submitted to CFL for review prior to finalization as per the agreed schedule. The report can be prepared in Lao or English, which will be negotiated at the time of contracting. This report should be contextualized and culturally grounded when talking about the specific barriers which girls from different ethnic communities face to achieving an education. The report should also clearly mention any key gaps in knowledge related to the below gender analysis framework and questions, which require information gathering via FGD and suggest suitable FGD questions.
Produce an accompanying brief PowerPoint presentation in Lao highlighting the key findings and recommendations in the gender analysis.

The Consultant must be available for distance and face-to-face meetings, as necessary. The consultant must also be prepared to travel up to Huaphanh province.

Gender Analysis Framework

The following domains will be used to analyse information about gender equality and how it affects access and retention in lower secondary school for girls in all their diversity (especially ethnicity and disability) in the project districts:

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES: How gender roles and responsibilities in the household and community affect adolescent girls’ education, including the time and place where studies and other school activities can occur.
ACCESS TO RESOURCES & ASSETS: How gender relations and other social norms affect access to resources, in particular money, knowledge, education and information.
SOCIAL NORMS, BELIEFS & ATTITUDES: Draws from cultural belief systems or norms about age, gender, and disability, and how this might facilitate or hinder access to education for adolescent girls.
VOICE, AGENCY & DECISION-MAKING: The norms that influence the capacity of girls to voice issues impacting their education, their ability to actively participate in education-related activities and make decisions regarding their education.
INSTITUTIONS, LAWS, & POLICIES: Policies and rules governing education facilities and educational activities, including approaches which may hinder access or discriminate against girls.

Suggested Research Questions

The following research questions are a suggested guide for the gender analysis, but will be finalised with inputs from the consultant:

What is the current status of girls’ access to and retention in lower secondary education in the targeted districts? Does their access and retention differ depending on ethnicity or disability or other factors?
What are the barriers hindering access and retention in lower secondary education for different girls?
What are some of the factors which facilitate or improve access and retention?
What interventions have been tried in the past to facilitate access and retention of girls in lower secondary education? What gaps still remain? How are GLEESE project interventions addressing some key gender barriers?
What are some key interventions that together form the ‘enabling environment’ needed to ensure that girls are equally accessing and completing lower secondary education alongside their male counterparts?
Methodology
- The consultant, after reviewing the secondary data and in consultation with CFL team including the Education Program Manager and Senior MEL Coordinator, and the ChildFund Australia Education and GEDSI Advisors, is expected to develop an outline of the gender analysis report.
- CFL will provide relevant project documents and data available with the team related to the gender analysis. The consultant is expected to do their own research to collect any other relevant data or research, including ethnographic research related to the ethnic communities in the project areas, to ensure a culturally-informed gender analysis.
- Following the drafting of the report based on the secondary data analysis, the consultant should identify key gaps in data or information about barriers to girls’ education. Based on these gaps, the consultant will have an initial online interview with the ChildFund project team and Government Laison and Partnership to obtain additional information for the gender analysis. Once this is completed, the consultant will develop some guiding questions for a limited number of FGDs in the community.
- Once the FGDs are completed and the information added into the gender analysis report, the draft report will be shared to CFL team and ChildFund Australia Advisors for review, and based on their inputs the report will be finalised. The consultant should then prepare a brief PowerPoint presentation summarising the key findings and recommendations/ implications for education service delivery.

Report:

The report and relevant working documents should be written in Lao or English, and provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word and PDF).
The final report is limited to 10 pages excluding annexes, in addition to which should be a maximum 1-page summary of key findings and recommendations.
Sources for all data or information cited should be included in the report.
Report format:
- Executive summary of the main findings and recommendations
- Introduction, indicating methodology
- Gender analysis
- Conclusion and recommendations.

PowerPoint:

The PowerPoint must be written in Lao, and should present the key findings and recommendations in a way that would be suitable for discussion with government education stakeholders at district, provincial and national level.

6. Deliverable and Indicative Timetable

Note: this is subject for negotiation with the Consultant

Indicative dates Outputs and Activities Number of Days

Week 3 of Nov 2022 - Consultant recruitment

Negotiation and signing the contract

Week 4 of Nov 2022 - Outline of gender analysis brief provided to CFL and 1

Sydney Technical Advisors, based on initial review of

secondary data

Week 1 of Dec 2022 - Gender analysis report drafted based on secondary data 5

from project, project districts and provincial data, and

available research

Week 2 of Dec 2022 - Online interview with ChildFund GLEESE project team to try 2

to fill in information gaps.

- Remaining key gaps in data/information identified and shared

to CFL and Sydney Advisors, along with proposed FGD questions.

Week 3 of Dec 2022 - Travel to Huaphanh province to conduct FGDs 4

Week 1 of Jan 2023 - Based on additional information from FGDs, revision of 2

gender analysis report and submission of draft report to

CFL and Sydney Advisors

Week 2 of Jan 2022 - Revision of report based on feedback provided by CFL and 2

Sydney Advisors

- Preparation of PowerPoint presentation on key findings and

recommendations

Week 3 of Jan 2023 - Provision of final gender analysis report and PowerPoint

presentation to CFL

Total number of working days 16 days

7. Management and Reporting Arrangements

The Consultant will report directly to Education Program Manager, while keeping the Senior MEL Coordinator and the Head of Program copied to the communication chain. The report can be written in Lao or English and must be provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word), while the PowerPoint must be written in Lao.

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 also have in place an Australian Federal Policy Criminal Background Check and Working with Children Check.

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. 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.

12. 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

Essential Qualifications and Experience:

University degree in Gender, Development, Social Sciences, or related disciplines.
Demonstrated experience in conducting gender analyses preferably in the education sector.
Minimum 5 years’ experience working on gender, community development and social inclusion projects in Lao PDR.
Demonstrated experience working in a multi-cultural environment with high-level cross-cultural skills and understanding especially with ethnic minorities.
Excellent written communication skills in Lao and/or English.
Fluent in both Lao and English to be able to read in both languages.

Application Information:

Applications can be made by email to Bamboo HR (linked will be identified when the announcement is launched); all other applications will be rejected. In addition, ChildFund will ONLY accept applications that include a CV, a cover letter describing their suitability based on the above required qualifications and experiences and a brief concept note of this project baseline survey that address the criteria above including financial proposal of expected payment that specifies a total lump sum amount.

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. The candidates will also be requested to submit examples of their previous consultancy reports.

ChildFund in Laos will not return any applications and 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 encourages people from all backgrounds, abilities, and identities to apply for any vacancies. ChlidFund in Laos 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.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD ONLY CONTAIN A CURRENT CV, A COVER LETTER IN ENGLISH ADDRESSING THE CRITERIA OUTLINED FOR THE POST AND OTHER REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY 20th November 2022.