Terms of Reference

Baseline Study – USAID Somalia’s Accelerated Education Activity

Summary

Through the present Terms of Reference/TOR, CARE Somalia seeks to procure consultancy services to conduct a baseline study for the USAID Somalia’s Accelerated Education Activity (AEA). The baseline study will enable the use of a quasi-experimental evaluation at the subsequent evaluation round.1 The subsequent evaluation study will be contracted directly by USAID Somalia. The baseline study will use a complexity-aware, gender-responsive, inclusive, and conflict-sensitive approach for tool design, data collection protocols, and data analysis.

The selected consultancy firm will be responsive for data collection and analysis/ reporting services, working in close collaboration with USAID Somalia, CARE, and USAID Somalia’s Evaluation, Learning and Monitoring Initiative (ELMI)2 to design tools, data collection protocols, and the analysis framework for this study. This ToR outlines the purpose, methodology, requirements, timeline, and deliverables for the baseline study consultancy, anticipated to take place in October-January 2024.

Background

The USAID Somalia’s Accelerated Education Activity (AEA) is a $30M, five- year initiative (2024-2029) designed to assist the Federal Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) to strengthen and expand the provision of accelerated basic education (ABE) and non-formal education (NFE) in country and facilitate the transition of ABE and NFE graduates into further education and livelihoods.

The USAID Somalia’s AEA will support the MoECHE’s priority objective of expanding access to basic education while also enhancing equity and completion rates. The 2022-2026 Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) identifies the enhanced access to ABE as one of the key approaches to achieve this priority objective, seeking to expand ABE enrolment to 250,000 students by 2026, out of whom 50% female.3 To do so, the ESSP highlights the need to expand platforms for ABE delivery; strengthen the quality of ABE provision, achieving 72% completion by 2026; and provide appropriate teaching and learning materials to ABE classes.4 The ESSP also prioritizes the need to expand the provision of Adult Education (NFE), reaching 75,000 students by 2026, thus requiring the development of associated teaching and learning materials and teacher training.5 The USAID Somalia’s AEA will contribute to these priorities by enabling 67,072 out-of-school children and youth to enroll or remain in ABE/ NFE, equipping them with the foundational skills necessary to transition into further education and/or livelihood opportunities. Additionally, AEA will support the MoECHE and Federal Member States Ministries of Education (FMS MOEs) to consolidate and expand the provision of ABE and NFE, strengthening regulatory systems and quality assurance processes.

The USAID Somalia’s AEA will target areas where an estimated 1.9M children and youth ages 10-19 are in need of ABE, and nearly 300,000 youth in need of Adult Education/ NFE services.6 Those include the Banadir Regional Administration (BRA) and Hirshabelle, Jubaland, and South West states of Somalia.

Theory of Change

The Theory of Change (ToC) for the USAID Somalia AEA considers that:

If there is increased equitable access to safe, free, relevant, accelerated basic education and non-formal education programs (Intermediate Result/IR 1);

If there are improved learning outcomes in foundational skills areas (literacy, numeracy and social-emotional learning) and other key skills as appropriate (IR 2);

If there is increased community engagement and local ownership of ABE and NFE programming (IR 3); and

If there is strengthened capacity of government at local and federal levels to oversee the provision of quality public education (IR 4), then

There will be a greater number and a more equitable distribution of out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) with the foundational skills necessary to transition to further learning and/or social and economic opportunities within their communities (expected outcome). This outcome will ultimately contribute to the achievement of USAID Somalia’s Development Objective/ DO 2, strengthening the social capital of marginalized groups and the human capital of women, thus enabling marginalized Somalis to more effectively withstand shocks and stresses.

Bidders should meet the following criteria:

•       Key personnel with expertise and demonstrated experience in advanced quantitative analysis, use of mixed methods, and education evaluation.

•       Demonstrated ability to collect quality data in South Somalia, including in rural and urban areas.

•       Previous experience in conducting donor-funded evaluations of similar scope and size.

Bidding process

External evaluators interested in submitting a bid should submit technical and financial proposals. The technical proposal should include, at a minimum:

-An outline of the proposed methodology.

-Risk analysis

-Approach to incorporating gender and inclusion in the baseline data collection and analysis.

-Key qualifications and past experience.

-Samples of work of similar scope and complexity, conducted in Somalia or in similar contexts.

-References.

-CVs of key personnel. The replacement of key personnel will require prior approval from CARE.

-  The financial proposal should include all the costs related to the baseline including but not limited to personnel costs, travel related costs (flight and vehicle) for all the participants involved, payments to the enumerators/research assistants, training of the enumerators/research assistants etc

-  Consultants are required to provide their certificate of registration from the countries they are applying from.

-  Questions about TOR should be sent to [email protected] not later than October 19, 2024.

The technical and financial proposals are due no later than October 24, 2024, through the email below

[email protected]