Consultant for Education Impact Assessment - Iran

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Education Programming Impact Evaluation, Iran

Period: October – December 2017

1. BACKGROUND

    

   The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the education, shelter, food security, livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene sectors. NRC aims to provide high quality and innovative technical solutions to daily challenges of life in displacement that also offer protection. In Iran, NRC aims to help Afghan refugees cope with the struggles of living in long-term displacement. NRC’s programmes support Afghan refugees as they seek to improve their living conditions, and help to guarantee their access to basic services, and reinforce their coping strategies. Additionally, NRC supports UNHCR’s Regional Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) and advocates for better co-ordination in the humanitarian response. NRC has offices located in Tehran and Kerman, and undertakes further activities in the provinces of Semnan, Qom and Alborz.

    

2. NRC’S INTEGRATED EDUCATION PROGRAMMING IN IRAN

    

   NRC is implementing ECHO-funded education projects in Iran, which have the aim of ensuring that Afghan children have access to safe and quality education, in line with the Supreme Leader’s May 2015 decree.

    

   In 2017, NRC is working closely with the Literacy Movement Organisation (LMO), an Iranian governmental organisation, to deliver basic literacy and numeracy training to 7,000 out-of-school Afghan girls and boys in Kerman and Qom Provinces. This will give the children the opportunity to sit Primary Grade 3 tests in September and enter into the Iranian education system. Parents of these children are offered courses to improve their literacy and numeracy and their parenting approaches, all of which are conducive to creating a supporting learning environment in Afghan homes.

    

   In line with its integrated approach to programming, NRC is rehabilitating 195 classrooms, 20 water points, 80 latrines, providing 6,000 hygiene kits to children, and training 90 school hygiene focal points so children are trained on how to use the hygiene kits. NRC is also offering education officials training in Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) principles and standards. Finally, NRC is offering families of vulnerable pupils legal support and cash to help them exercise their rights.

    

3. OBJECTIVES AND KEY ACTIVITES

    

   NRC aims to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of its ECHO-funded education programmes in late 2017. This evaluation will identify key findings and lessons learned from the education programming, with the aim that these are reflected within NRC’s 2018-2020 education programming strategy. The education impact evaluation seeks to answer three key questions:

    

4. TIMELINE AND DELIVERABLES

    

   The start of the project will depend upon the Iranian Government’s approval of the Consultant. It is hoped that the evaluation will start no later than the 1^st October 2017.

    

   The Consultant is expected to deliver the following documents:

    

   • An Inception Report in English, with a Farsi summary, no later than 1 month after the start of the consultancy, summarising the literature review, the data review, the knowledge gaps, the methodologies and tools to fill the gaps (tools in English and Farsi);
   • A Fieldwork Report in English, with a Farsi summary, 2 months after the start of the project, summarising the fieldwork conducted, challenges, key findings, etc;
   • An Education Evaluation Report, no more than 20 pages (excluding annexes), with a Farsi summary, 3 months after the start of the project, with the evaluation findings and recommendations;
   • An Education Evaluation PowerPoint slide pack, of no more than 20 slides, in English and Farsi, with the evaluation findings and recommendations.

      

      

5. SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

    

   The Consultant will be responsible for:

    

   • Developing a detailed timeline, resource plan, and budget for the impact evaluation;
   • Managing the impact evaluation according to these project management tools;
   • Liaising extensively with other INGO’s education programme teams to learn about other education programmes;
   • Developing detailed research questions, methodologies and quantitative and qualitative research tools in order to answer the research questions;
   • Liaising extensively with education programme experts to shape these research questions, tools, and methodologies, in line with the Iran context and best practice;
   • Conducting literature reviews, data reviews, primary data gathering, and data analysis as required by the methodology;
   • Drafting deliverables in Farsi and English (see above);
   • Delivering PowerPoint presentations in Farsi and English to present key findings;
   • Keeping key coordination mechanisms and stakeholders, such as the education working groups and the relevant Iranian Government counterparts, well informed on the progress and results of the impact evaluation.

      

6. QUALIFICATIONS

    

   The Consultant must have these general professional competencies:

    

   • 3 years of experience managing research assessments or evaluations in humanitarian, recovery or development contexts;
   • 3 years of experience working with INGOs, UN Agencies, consulting firms, or research agencies.

      

     The Consultant must have these specific skills, knowledge and experiences:

      

   • Experience working with typical impact evaluation components (logframes, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, sampling, quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches, etc.);
   • Experience using humanitarian and development M&E frameworks and standards within impact evaluations (OECD DAC, SPHERE, INEE, etc.);
   • Experience managing projects using Gantt charts, resource plans, and budget trackers;
   • Experience working on education programmes;
   • Advanced level in all common MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint);
   • Fluent spoken and written English and Farsi;
   • Experience working in refugee contexts is a plus;
   • Experience working in Iran is a plus.

      

      

7. BUDGET AND PAYMENT TERMS

    

   Bids shall include budgets in USD that are based on the terms of reference above. The agreed sum shall include all fees and costs (including international flights, per diems, hotels, transportation around Tehran, taxes, and insurance) incurred in conducting the consultancy tasks, assuming the Consultant is based full-time for the duration in Tehran, Iran. The Consultant is responsible for paying any social security insurance or taxes required by the Iranian Government for work performed in Iran.

    

   The budget should not include costs related to provincial fieldwork (such as internal flights, hotels or local transportation), as the extent of the provincial fieldwork required is not yet known. NRC has a sufficient budget for conducting fieldwork.

    

   NRC commits to providing desk space for the Consultant to work in its office in Tehran, so office space does not need to be budgeted for.

    

   The lump sum will be paid in four instalments:

    

   • 20% upon acceptance by NRC of the Inception Report;
   • 20% upon acceptance by NRC of the Fieldwork Report;
   • 20% upon acceptance by NRC of the Draft Report;
   • 40% upon acceptance by NRC of the Final Report and PowerPoint presentations.

      

8. APPLICATION PROCESS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Has NRC’s education programming in 2017 met its intended objectives?
• Has NRC’s integrated approach to education programming increased the impact and sustainability of the programming, and in what ways?
• How can NRC improve its education programming in 2018 and beyond?

   

  The impact evaluation will be an iterative process. These three key questions are not set in stone at this stage, and could be adapted as more information is uncovered.

   

  The education evaluation will be conducted by an external Consultant. The Consultant will be employed by NRC, and will spend a majority of the time in Tehran, with trips to the provinces to gather data if required. The Consultant will be required to work closely with the NRC Iran M&E Unit, which is conducting its own monitoring and evaluation of the education programming.

   

  The Consultant will be responsible for all aspects of delivering the impact evaluation, including:

   

  • Reviewing project documentation (education strategy, needs assessments, M&E reports);
  • Conducting a review of any available data (student attainment);
  • Further developing the key research questions and sub-questions;
  • Identifying knowledge gaps;
  • Developing methodologies and tools to fill any knowledge gaps;
  • Delivering an Inception Report;
  • Conducting fieldwork, if necessary;
  • Analysing fieldwork data;
  • Drafting reports, in English and Farsi;
  • Delivering a presentation/workshop on the findings, in English and Farsi.

     

    The Consultant will have access to NRC’s M&E technical resources and data, NRC’s fieldwork resources (e.g., programme or M&E officers who can help collect data), and access to NRC Iran’s Education Specialist who can provide technical inputs to the fieldwork methodology, analysis and deliverables.

     

This bid is open to individual consultants, groups of individual consultants, or consulting firms.

Bids must include the following:

• Cover letter: stating the Consultant’s skills, experiences and references to show suitability for the consultancy (max 2 pages; letters over this limit will invalidate the bid);
• Provisional evaluation methodology, work plan, timeline and budget (max 2 pages; methodologies over this limit will invalidate the bid);
• CV of proposed Consultant(s) showing clearly similar assignments/research carried out (max 4 pages; CVs over this limit will invalidate the bid);
• Writing samples showing qualitative and quantitative analysis (max 4 pages for all samples; no sensitive or confidential information; samples over this limit will invalidate the bid).

Please be notified that the interested applicants first need to apply through webcruiter before the deadline (31/08/2017)and then submit their complete bids by one of the following terms:

1- Submit completed bids in hard copy to the NRC Iran Logistics Department by close of day on 31/08/2017. NRC, Building 26, Narenjestan 6, off Pasdaran, Tehran, Iran. +98 2122046143.

2- Email their completed bids in soft copy to ir.vacancy@nrc.no by close of day 31/08/2017.