Country: Somalia
Closing date: 19 Apr 2016
Education has always featured strongly in the SOS Children’s Village programme. Historically, SOS education facilities were built wherever SOS Children’s Villages were constructed. Sometimes there were simply no services available and in other cases available services were perceived to be either of inadequate quality. SOS Children’s Village Programmes have since grown in geographical scope, beyond the borders of the work with SOS families, reaching additional children in more communities, particularly through family strengthening. As a result, it is no longer possible to effectively address the education needs of all of the children participating in our programmes through direct service provision by SOS education facilities alone. Along with the adoption of the rights based approach as a guiding principle in SOS Children’s Villages’ work the scope of continuing to run education facilities seems unsuitable and unsustainable in the long run. It has become clear that we have to increase our impact by working in partnership with duty bearers and other stakeholders building on the existing initiatives, systems, resources and capacities of the communities where we work. At the same time, access to quality education services can be promoted by building capacities of local stakeholders and duty bearers and advocating for positive changes in national policies and local practices for the benefit of the children in our target group. The federation has identified the need to transform the way we work, for us to stay relevant and focused on what we consider our mandate and what it does best. With this principle in mind the top leadership structures have endorsed that processes of change and consolidation should be conducted. Most recently, an urgent ‘call for accelerated programme changes’ by the leadership structures of the Federation has been propagated.
These imperative programme changes are essential to ensure that the mandate and core work of the organisation is sustained, strengthened and further developed in a sustainable way. We must ensure that our work remains relevant, efficient, cost effective, founded on the human rights based approach and with a strong impact on the situation of children who have either lost parental care or are at risk of losing it.
For appropriate decisions to be taken regarding which direction / model a facility should take going forward, some form of assessment per facility within the location it operates is considered imperative. The envisaged assessments of the Education Facilities within Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAF) regions are therefore to be undertaken to ensure that appropriate decisions are adequately motivated and internalised by the relevant stakeholders.
- Purpose – reasons and goals for the assessment(s) Around the world we are building the future and embracing new ways of working together with governments, other partners and children. We must ensure our work remains relevant, cost effective and with a sustained strong impact on the situation of children who have either lost their parents or at risk of losing them.
At present, some of our SOS education facilities are supporting children (and/or their care-givers) participating in the programme to access quality education through direct provision. In this way, they are seen to be supporting the ‘core’ of our work. However, in other contexts our facilities do not reach the intended target group – children who have lost parental care or in risk of losing it, nor children participating in our programmes, whether in Family Based Care (FBC) or Family Strengthening Programs (FSP).
The purpose pf this assessment is to assess whether existing SOS education facilities are still able to make a significant contribution to the ‘core’ of our work, now or in the foreseeable future, and which would be better to ‘let go’. Where facilities are contributing to our and we are ‘best placed’ to operate them, we may choose to continue to do so, if it is done in a cost effective way. Where they are not, other stakeholders who are better-placed to offer such services to the community should assume this responsibility while we let go of our facility. In this way, we can focus on the ‘core’ of our work and use our available resources to maximise the impact on our target group.
The facilities to be assessed under this assessment are SOS Kindergartens, SOS Primary and Secondary Schools.
The Education Facilities within the SOS Somaliland National Association go through this assessment and appropriate decisions going forward are taken. The SOS education facility is therefore assessed, in terms of:
i. Identifying who is ‘best placed’ to provide the services that the facility is delivering, whether government, SOS Children’s Villages or another stakeholder. ii. Whether it is sufficiently reaching our target group (including participants of FBC and FSP), through direct provision of quality services and through capacity-building with other service providers. iii. Whether it is both efficiently and effectively producing the desired objective of delivering accessible, quality education for the wider community in a sustainable way. iv. Whether it is rooted in best development practises i.e. the rights based approach, avoidance of duplication and sensitivity towards local suppliers’ competitiveness.
Objectives The overall objective of the assessment is: To collect and analyse information that will enable mandated stakeholders (NA, PSA and GSC) to confidently decide on the way forward with the particular education facility. • Specific objective 1: To evaluate the access and appropriateness of the education intervention delivered in the local community of our target group. • Specific objective 2: To assess the relevance of the education SOS Villages provides to our target group. • Specific objective 3: To assess whether SOS Children’s Villages are the best placed to run the given facility. Based on the outcomes of specific objective 1 and 2 the assessment should - in dialogue with the involved stakeholders (NA, PSA and GSC) – • Specific objective 4: Outline a strategy and action / milestone plan for alignment or closure/hand-over of facility
That responsibly exits the facilities where SOS Children’s Villages is not best placed to run the facility, whilst ensuring that accessibility to relevant services for our beneficiaries is assured. OR
Where SOS Children’s Villages are “best placed” to continue running the facility; i. a revision of services and a clear strategy to make them relevant and effective for our target group is detailed ii. along with a clear strategy and road map for duty bearers is drafted to assume responsibility for the relevant services, ensuring high level of operational efficiency during this period.
Scope The scope details the different aspects that should be taken into consideration as part of the assessment. Objective 1: To assess the appropriateness of the education intervention delivered by SOS Children’s Villages. 1.1 Assess educational needs of our target group Mapping and identification of how many children belong to our target group within the local community • Mapping of how many children in our target group are deprived of access to a relevant education in the community where we work. • Mapping of gaps in quality and access to education facilities in the community. • Mapping of the children in different vulnerability status / care settings in the local community. • Identification of how many children belong to the target group within the local community. 1.2 Mapping of stakeholders Mapping and assessment of quality and relevance of educational opportunities in the local community to the target group • Mapping of the stakeholders with the type of organization, their key activities, geographical scope, and target group. • Mapping and assessment of the availability of education facilities and opportunities in the vicinity provided by local duty bearers and private operators. • Assessment of national education policies, standards and plans for improvement of public or private education opportunities in the area. • Mapping and assessment of partnerships with duty bearers, private operators and local and international NGOs Specific objective 2: To assess the relevance of the education SOS Villages provides to our target group. 2.1 Assess inputs of the SOS education facility Collection of available data regarding the SOS facility • Identify number of children from our target group provided education (incl. ratio of the overall school population) • Determine price per child in our education facility, incl. “hidden” costs from internal purchases of service from FBC and FSP. • Clarify the ratio of subsidies and local income vs. distribution of target group and non-target group – i.e. determine whether we are paying for the education of children not in our target group. • Assess gender distribution among target group and non-target group. 2.2 Assess the quality of the SOS education facility Assess quality of the education facility Number of students per teacher Qualifications of teachers Learning materials and facilities Specific objective 3: To assess whether SOS Children’s Villages are the best placed to run the given facility. 3.1 Assess 'best placed' Based on the collected data the consultant evaluate whether SOS Children’s Villages are best placed to keep providing education to our target group. Specific objective 4: Outline a strategy and action / milestone plan for alignment or closure/hand-over of facility 4.1 Provide recommendation Provide a recommendation regarding the 5-year outcome of the SOS education facility Give a recommendation regarding the 1-3 year outcome of the facility, and give the main action points to reach this 1-3 year outcome
Envisaged Methodology 4.1. Survey Participants i) Regional and local authorities dealing with Education services and/or interventions ii) Significant non-governmental organisations that provide direct essential education services or capacity building for local duty bearers or directly to the children from the target group, iii) SOS Children’s Villages team/staff who’s programmes and beneficiaries are directly and/or indirectly receiving services from the existing education facility to map out the likely effect / impact when the facility alignment / closure is decided upon. 4.2. Method i) A desk research to review the existing education situation and analysis in the country ii) Interviews, focus group discussions with national and local authorities dealing with target group. iii) Interviews, focus groups discussions with representatives of significant role players / non-governmental organisations that provide (and/or are likely to provide) direct essential education services or capacity strengthening for the target group. iv) Interviews or focus groups with beneficiaries and families from the target group (where found critical) v) Review of effectiveness based on analyses of financial status, budgets – analysis of real costs, price per service, and ability of the beneficiaries (including target group members) to pay for the services being rendered. vi) Review of cost implications (savings & additional costs) vii) Analysis using the report template that has been provided by SOS Children’s Villages
Qualifications • Minimum of Masters in Education Planning & Management with at least 2 years in consultancy work within education programming, • Previous experience of Somaliland / Somalia. Previous knowledge of the work of SOS Children’s Villages will be an added advantage, • Experience in education institution evaluations and reporting.
The Assessment Team / person/s carrying out the study should have adequate capacity to understand, interpret, and narrate • The education situation of people within our target group (children and their caregivers) • The education sector landscape within and around the areas our care programmes are operational • The effect of legislation, governmental programmes, policies, and strategies that would have a bearing on the decisions relating to this facility. b. Duration of Assignment / Time: This section presents the exact time frame of the assessment assignment, from the very beginning until the very end of the assessment. The assessment study will be conducted during the period between April / May 2016, for a maximum period of 10 days excluding travels.
- Deliverables, timing and Completion c. Instruction a. Deliverables are aligned with the goals and objectives as defined within the scope of the project.
b. The deadline and conditions of the assessment completion are clearly defined under section 6.1., and should be included in this section.
c. The assessment team / consultant should set the timeframes to achieve the various deliverables as defined within the scope schedule.
d. Assessment tools for data collection have already been done – Information should be uploaded on the Tool on the Team-site in accordance with the defined deliverables’ schedule as in c. above. e. Draft report – presented to the Manager for Education Assessments f. Final report (to be shared with all the key stakeholders) by the Manager for Education Assessments d. Reporting Structure a. The consultants will report to the Manager for Education Assessments, b. The consultants will be supported on request by the Host MA Assessments Coordinator in terms of logistics, information, linkages etc.
How to apply:
Applications should be a 2 pager on how you plan to conduct the assessments as well as include a financial proposal (budget)
The applications will be received and reviewed on a rolling basis until we find the right candidates. The applications should be sent to to (procurement@sossomalia.org) with the following documents: CVs of all involved consultants (maximum 3 pages per CV – with references)
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further inquiry and details.
