Region Education Strategic Framework

Save the Children

Consultant Terms of Reference

Region Education Strategic Framework

– West and Central Africa

Background and context

Save the Children’s Education Global Initiative is supporting Save the Children’s West and Central Africa (WCA) Region in the development of a regional education strategic framework. Save the Children’s mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. This mission commits us to a

“full spectrum approach” ranging from humanitarian work to sustainable development. Save the Children’s Theory of Change is the model which we use to achieve our mission.

Save the Children’s education priorities (Breakthrough) are to ensure that all children can read by the time they leave primary school, and that all children caught up in humanitarian crises have access to a quality education.

Underpinning these priorities, Save the Children’s Education Strategy 2010 to 2015 covers five strategic objectives:

All children have

1.  All children have access to a good quality basic education – especially those who are excluded and marginalised or living in conflict-affected fragile states

2.  Children and youth at risk of, or affected by, emergencies have access to quality education as a fundamental part of all humanitarian responses

3.  An increased number of young children have access to quality early childhood care and development programmes that ensure their rights to survival, health and education

4.  To empower vulnerable youth in rural and urban areas through education and training to become active economic, social and political citizens

5.  To secure global and national policy change so that all children benefit from their right to a good quality education

Education in West and Central Africa

The significant global progress towards achieving MDG 2 - to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling - has now slowed. In 2011, there were still 57 million children out-of-school, meaning that universal primary education will not be achieved by 2015. Half of these children live in conflict-affected countries. The Education for All 2013 Global Monitoring Report in particular cites sub-Saharan Africa which, despite a small reduction in the number of out of school children between 2010 and 2011, currently has the same out-of-school numbers as in 2007. The region now accounts for half of the world’s total out of school children. Four of the ten countries with the highest out-of-school populations (Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali) fall within Save the Children’s WCA Region. Furthermore, the 2013 Global Monitoring Report also indicates that the Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to have more than one million children out of school. In addition:

·  WCA has the highest percentage of out-of-school primary school-age children, with less than 60% enrolled[1];

·  WCA also has the largest gender gap in primary schooling of any region in the world, with a gender parity index of 0.86 and seven of the bottom ten countries in gender parity[2];

·  just 32% of girls and 44% of boys ages 10-24 are enrolled in secondary school, and just 5.5% of girls and 9.5% of boys are enrolled in tertiary education[3];

·  the continent of Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 297 million people aged 10-24, 50% of whom live in WCA, for nearly 150 million young people[4].

In addition to an unacceptably high number of children who are still out of school in WCA, there are millions of children who are in school but are not learning basic skills. While region-wide figures on learning outcomes are not currently available as many countries in the region have not conducted large-scale, systematic assessments of learning outcomes, figures from specific countries provide insight into literacy learning in WCA:

·  in the DRC, in grades 2 and 4, students are unable to identify all of the letters of the alphabet with automaticity and students in grade 4 are able to read just six of 50 familiar words;[5]

·  in Senegal, 90% of students ages 9-11 and 70% ages 12-14 are unable to read at basic minimum level; [6]

·  in Liberia, 44.6% of grades 2 and 3 students are unable to read a single familiar word.[7]

Furthermore:

·  in sub-Saharan Africa pupil/teacher ratios have worsened between 1999 and 2010[8];

·  of the 165 countries with data, there are 26 in which the pupil/teacher ratio was above 40:1 in 2010 and 22 of these are in sub-Saharan Africa[9];

·  of the 5.4 million primary school teachers required to achieve primary education globally, 2 million of these are needed in sub-Saharan Africa[10].

WCA remains one of the regions most affected by both conflict and disasters. As at December 2013, 12 of the 13 WCA countries where Save the Children works are affected by conflict or disaster.[11]Furthermore, the humanitarian crises faced by countries in WCA often have a strong sub-regional component. For example:

·  Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Senegal are all affected by the Sahelian cycle of recurrent food insecurity and malnutrition crises, exacerbated by and, in turn, contributing to very weak basic social services. Further, large populations across the Sahel are affected by floods, epidemics and the impact of conflict and insecurity;

·  Populations, including refugees fleeing conflict, cross borders between countries both within and outside the region on an ongoing basis. Children are frequently trafficked across these borders, usually for farm work but also for other forms of potentially more degrading and hazardous work.

Save the Children’s education work in West and Central Africa

Save the Children works directly in 13 countries in West and Central Africa, and in two additional countries via local partners:

1.  Burkina Faso*
2.  Central Africa Republic
3.  Chad (Merlin)
4.  Cote d'Ivoire*
5.  Democratic Republic of Congo*
6.  Ghana (via local partners)
7.  Liberia*
8.  Guinea / 9.  Mali*
10.  Mauritania*
11.  Niger
12.  Nigeria*
13.  Sénégal
14.  Sierra Leone*
15.  Togo (via local partners)

In eight of these countries Save the Children runs education programmes (see countries marked with an asterisk). In 2014 it is the intention to start education programmes in the Central African Republic and Niger.

Requirements brief

In order for Save the Children to make a significant contribution to addressing the enormous challenges in education in WCA, there is a pressing need to develop a regional education strategic framework for the coming years. This strategic framework will provide:

a.  a coherent direction to education programming in the region by aligning countries behind 3-5 overarching strategic priorities; and

b.  a compelling rationale for increased investment in education in the Region.

Key components

The final strategy will need to include the following key components:

1.  a description of the educational context and trends across the region, including pre-primary, primary, and post-primary, formal and non-formal education and access and learning outcome levels. This must include a focus on gender;

2.  a clear statement of the current status of Save the Children’s education programmes in the region, including sub-themes, reach, quality, funding, rural and urban;

3.  a master logical framework analysis which sets out the activities, resources and indicators required to achieve the stated strategic objectives (this component should be adaptable by country programmes), including:

·  identifying key countries, clusters of countries, or thematic areas where a targeted investment could lead to impact at scale;

·  identifying opportunities for integrated programming where targeted investment could lead to impact at scale for multiple programmatic sectors;

·  identifying key partnerships which should be built or strengthened.

4.  a statement of what investment is needed where to achieve stated objectives;

5.  an analysis of current funding and potential funding for education programmes in the region;

6.  a set of indicators against which Save the Children can track achievement of the strategy including: reach, access, quality, learning outcomes, funding targets, etc.

The strategy should take into account the need to:

a)  work within the framework of Save the Children’s Education Strategy and post-2015 planning processes;

b)  ensure that the WCA region is contributing significantly to the achievement of the Education Breakthrough;

c)  ensure that all country offices are well positioned to respond to humanitarian risks in terms of both emergency programming and cluster leadership;

d)  increase the capacity of country offices to undertake national-level advocacy in order to bring about identified policy change;

e)  feed into the development of Country Strategy Papers planned for 2016;

f)  align Save the Children’s approach with those of government and global trends.

Audience and Stakeholders

The primary audiences of the WCA region education strategy are:

a.  Save the Children Members; the document and communications materials produced must inspire Members to fundraise for education in WCA and facilitate their fundraising work;

b.  Save the Children country offices in WCA region and specifically country directors and senior education staff and their teams. The document and communications materials produced must provide guidance to country offices in developing new education strategies and programmes.

The final document will:

·  be no more than 15 pages long;

·  include an executive summary of no more than two pages;

·  be published in French and English;

·  include a cover note from Save the Children’s WCA Regional Director;

·  be supported by other communications tools as needed;

·  conform to Save the Children’s branding requirements.

Profile of the Consultant

The following qualifications are required for the successful candidate:

·  minimum of Master’s degree in international education or related field

·  proven experience of delivering high-quality written work in English

·  proven ability to work with a broad range of stakeholders and to meet client needs

·  able to work without close supervision and ensure that agreed deadlines are met

·  deep familiarity with the challenges facing education in WCA including both humanitarian and development contexts

·  Familiarity with current trends in education in WCA, including government priorities and global trends

·  Experience of developing education programme strategies

·  Experience of planning, delivering, and evaluating education programming in development and humanitarian contexts.

·  Experience providing written context analysis and evaluation of a wide spectrum of factors and their contribution to progress (or lack thereof) against a specific goal

·  extensive proposal and report writing experience

·  proficiency in written and spoken French

·  experience of successful collaboration with colleagues who are in other countries

·  experience of facilitating meetings and ensuring that the objectives of the meeting are met

·  understanding and knowledge of Save the Children and its programming and strategic frameworks would be an advantage

Location: Flexible. Will require Skype/teleconferences with Save the Children in West and Central Africa and London, UK. one visit to the West & Central Africa region for a 2-3 day meeting.

Application Process

Please apply in English using your CV and covering letter as a single document, including your salary expectations for this role. Please include:

·  an outline of your proposed approach;

·  a quote of the number of days believed to be required for this work;

·  daily rate expectations;

·  examples of relevant pieces of written work.

Interviews will be held on 3, 6 and 7 March 2014.

4

[1] UNICEF West and Central Africa, Achieving universal primary education and eliminating gender disparity in education, (www.unicef.org/wcaro/overview_1898.html), [January 10, 2014]

[2] UNGEI, The Gap Report, (www.ungei.org/gap/reportWafrica.html), [January 10, 2014]

[3] Population Reference Bureau, The World’s Youth: 2013 Data Sheet, (www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2013/

youth-datasheet-2013.aspx), [February 2, 2014]

[4] ibid

[5] PAQUED: Democratic Republic of Congo Early Grades Reading (EGRA) Baseline Report, RTI International for USAID/DRC. Kinshasa, 2011

[6] Baromètre de la qualité des aprentissages des enfants au Sénégal: Principaux Résultats, Jangandoo. Dakar, Sénégal. 2013.

[7] EGRA Plus: Liberia Data Analytic Report: Liberia Baseline Assessment, RTI International for USAID/Liberia, Monrovia, 2009

[8] EFA, Global Monitoring Report 2012, Education for All, Youth and Skills – Putting education to work, UNESCO, 2012,

(p 122)

[9] Ibid., p 123

[10] Ibid.p 123)

[11] Reliefweb, (http://reliefweb.int/), [December 20, 2013].