Consultancy to conduct a study on the implementation of Integrated Programme for Out of School Adolescent (IPOSA) in Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, and Zanzibar - Tanzania

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For every child, education

UNICEF Tanzania education programme focuses on enhanced equitable and inclusive access to quality Basic Education and skills development opportunities for all children and adolescents in Tanzania. IPOSA is one of the key flagship skills programme for out of school adolescents: Flexible pathways help build the skills and competencies of vulnerable out-of-school adolescents (United Republic of Tanzania)

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF is seeking for a qualified international consultant to support the Ministry of Education Science and Technology; and the Institute of Adult Education in conducting a study on the implementation of IPOSA programme in Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe, Songwe, Kigoma, Tabora, Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam regions in Tanzania.

Scope of Work:

In the year 2015/2016, the Ministry of Education Science and Technology conducted a study on the out of school children in Tanzania, focusing on three areas: who are the out of school children, where they are, and what are they doing. The study reported a total of 3.5 million school-age children in Tanzania being out of school. Amongst them, 2 million were of primary school age children (7-13 years old) and 1.5 million secondary school age children (14-17 years old). The findings from the current Education Sector Analysis (ESA) (2021) shows that, while the enrolment at the primary education level has increased, there are still 3.2 million children who are left out of the system of which more than 2 million are of lower secondary school age and 1.2 million children never attended school. Moreover, only 44 per cent of the eligible secondary school age population are enrolled in lower-secondary education and only a third complete secondary education.

To respond to the education challenges of out of school adolescents, the Integrated Programme for Out of School Adolescents (IPOSA) was developed in 2018 by the MoEST through the Institute of Adult Education to provide a second chance education for the out of school adolescents aged 14-19 years old. The IPOSA programme was developed as part of the Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP) (2021/2026) and the National Inclusive Education Strategy (2022/2027), aiming at improving accessibility to education for adolescents who missed the basic education opportunities in the formal education system or dropped out. IPOSA aims at enabling youths and adolescents to acquire knowledge, skills and self- perspectives which would enable them to contribute fully to social and economic development.

The programme responds to the needs of out of school adolescents aged 14 to 19 years old who missed out the opportunity to continue with education in the formal education settings. These includes adolescents who never attended school, dropped out of primary or secondary school, and those who did not transit from primary to secondary education. IPOSA offers four key skill sets: vocational skills, entrepreneurship skills, life skills and literacy skills. The literacy skills are specific for out of school adolescents who never attended school and cannot read, write, or count. The programme duration is between 6 to 18 months. There are short courses which take a maximum of 6 months, e.g., beekeeping, soap making, batik making, candle making, food processing and poultry keeping. Other courses such as tailoring, carpentry, masonry, electricity installation, welding, plumbing, and mechanics are somehow longer and may take at least one year and a maxim of 18 months to complete. The IPOSA curriculum is based on the Philosophy of Education for Self-Reliance as explained in the Educational and Training Policy of 2014. Which focuses on preparing a child to become a self-reliant, self-employed, with self-perspective and self-empowered. The programme is implemented through existing primary schools and Post Primary Technical Centres (PPTC). The Institute of Adult Education has full responsibility of supervising the operations and day to day running of the programme at national level, while LGAs, and school head teachers have the responsibility of ensuring a day-to-day operation of the programme at school level. IPOSA is being implemented in 8 regions of Mbeya, Njombe, Iringa, Songwe, Kigoma, Tabora, Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam. In each region, there is a minimum of two district/town councils/municipal that are implementing IPOSA programme.

Need for a study

Over 22000 adolescent girls and boys were registered in IPOSA programme since its commencement in 2019, and it has been gaining ownership within the government and attracting several donors who are also interested in supporting the programme, however, there are no detailed information about the programme’s effectiveness and the level of progress it is making in reaching the unreached adolescents. For the progress to be evident, the study needs to gauge the information on the reach and relevance of the programme on adolescents that were part of it in comparison to the other adolescents who did not participate in the programme. Being a UNICEF supported programme, this study will provide a room for the organizational learning particular on return on investment and inform decision making. In its country programme for 2022/2025 UNCEF’s key priorities includes investment on skills development for adolescents and young people. Moreover, there is increase in government’ interest to expand the programme and scale it up nationally. Thus, the need to conduct a study which will inform Government, donors, UNICEF, and the community about the progress in its ability to impact employability skills to adolescents will be critical.

Objectives, Scope, Purpose & Expected Results

The proposed consultancy will study the IPOSA program by collecting data to assess its results against the objectives and provide evidence for future programming. The study will also assess IPOSA program alignment with other national policy developments like the new education policy and curriculum. This study will clarify IPOSA's position against the new government focus on skills development, analyze IPOSA's key development and components in relation to new global skill demands. This study should inform policymakers about key IPOSA components that need to be improved to meet Tanzania's out-of-school adolescents' learning needs.

To achieve this purpose, the objective of the study of the IPOSA programme is to determine whether this programme is making progress in addressing its key objectives on impacting employability and life skills for out of school adolescents and the reach of the programme over the course of its implementation. Moreover, the study should highlight the relevance, coverage in terms of populations reached (and unreached), specific actions and services rendered (or not rendered), effectiveness and efficiency of IPOSA centers to deliver the programmes focusing on specific questions/parameters to be shared during inception report.

Methodology

The overall study approach and data collection methods should provide information to adequately respond to the criteria specified above. This study should use participatory and mixed methods approaches to the extent this is possible, and will require actual field data collection, and information from the beneficiaries of the programme and stakeholders. It is expected that the consultant will visit the selected IPOSA centers and the communities to assess the spillover effect of the programme to the community. Thus, at least 80% of the information to be presented in the final report are expected to be based on primary data collection from the real beneficiaries of the programme and stakeholders. Data are expected to be collected from policy makers, analysts, implementers, beneficiaries, and from eligible adolescents that could not be reached. Thus, it is expected that data will be collected from the government officials at ministerial levels (MOEST, PORALG (President s Office Regional Administration and Local Government), non-governmental organization. Community members at ward and village levels as well as beneficiaries (teachers, IPOSA learners, IPOSA graduates/Alumnae, self- employed/business owners or groups and employed learners who went through IPOSA programme).

The design calls for inclusion of all the eight (8) regions that have been implementing IPOSA for the past four years i.e. regions of Iringa, Njombe, Mbeya, Songwe, Tabora, Kigoma, Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam, at a minimum. The consultant will be required to outline a representative sample consisting of the programme beneficiaries.

Under the guidance of UNICEF education team and IAE, the consultant is expected to carry out the following tasks:

• Attend pre-briefing meeting with UNICEF TCO, MOEST and IAE.

• Obtain necessary permissions or ethical clearances for the study from relevant authorities

• Work in close coordination with education team at MOEST, PORALG, IAE and Development Partners during the study.

• Deliver a detailed study report

• Ensuring quality, the consultant is required to adhere to the UN Norms and Standards for studies and engagement of the government

• Carry out consultative meetings and workshops with stakeholders

• Provided progress updates to those managing the study, including UNICEF, IAE, MOEST, and PORALG

• Take part in the process for verification of findings with key stakeholders

• Presentation of preliminary findings and recommendations to stakeholders

WORK ASSIGNMENT, DELIVERABLES, TIME FRAME AND PAYMENT

Work Assignments Overview

Deliverables/Outputs

Delivery deadline

Estimated Budget

Comprehensive inception report with detailed workplan and methodology

Inception report

September 1, 2023,

30%

Preliminary study finding

A draft of preliminary study finding

December 31, 2023,

30%

Submission of the IPOSA study after the stakeholders’ validations workshops

Final submission of the IPOSA study report

February 29, 2024

40%

PAYMENT SCHEDULE. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines

ASSESSMENT / SELECTION PROCESS AND METHODS Evaluations: The applicant should submit both technical and financial proposal which clearly stipulate how the work will be conducted. The Financial Proposal should include all costs of this assignment including fee, travel costs, accommodation as UNICEF will not pay any DSA.

Proposals will be both technically and financially evaluated. The technical part will carry a weight of 75%, in which the consultant will put clear his/her technical approach to ensure quality attainment of each deliverable and the consultancy in totality. The financial part will carry 25% showing the proposed budget breakdown of consultancy cost for each deliverable (fees, travels, and accommodation) and eventual total consultancy cost.

LOCATION, DURATION & LOGISTIC

The consultant will be based in Dar es salaam and deployed for duty travel to all the regions that are implementing the programme

The validity of the contract will be for 7 months. The consultant will be required to travel to Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, and Zanzibar.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Education, Social Studies, Economics, Innovation.
• An international consultant with proven experience in conducting similar assignments in Education or another related programme
• More than 10 years of progressive work experience/consultancies in the education sector especially learning for most vulnerable and excluded children with proved competencies/knowledge of education sector in general.
• Relevant experience in inter-disciplinary approaches in strategic communication, and development strategies, good knowledge of tools and resources to address issues of education for excluded children.
• High quality writing skills, with proved experience in writing similar reports or national documents.
• Strong analytical skills demonstrated in dealing with assessment and design of strategies/guidelines for complex education programmes; and
• Knowledge of local development and global advances in skills development for out of school adolescents
• Excellent written and spoken English is required

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations, or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.