UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting proposals from individual National consultants for the provision of technical assistance for 2017 Education Sector Performance Review

The goal of this consultancy is to provide technical support required by MoPSE to conduct an ESPR that covers the second year of the ESSP. The objective is to contribute to the ESPR by carrying out analytical work that will inform a comprehensive review of sectoral and sub-sectoral performance in 2017

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1. Background

In 2015 Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) started preparing its Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) for the period 2016-2020.  The preparation of the ESSP encompassed several related activities, a broad range of partners who are active in the education sector taking part in the process. Among these stakeholders were other sector ministries, parastatals, development partners, donors and civil society organisations. The plan development process started with an analysis of the education sector, followed by the stakeholder consultations to capture diverse views on the goals and priorities for the sector, the programmes to be implemented and strategies to be employed in the pursuit of these goals, as well as the timeframes for the achievement of the targets set for each year. The goals and priorities in the ESSP were aligned with the national blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (ZIMASSET), and took into account developments in the wider context, among them the curricular reforms that were underway, the shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and others. The preparation of the new sector plan was completed in 2016, and the final draft of the ESSP was initially presented to MoPSE’s senior management who endorsed it. It was subsequently presented to the Education Coordination Group (ECG) who also approved it, and implementation of the ESSP began in the same year. This year (2017) therefore marks the second year of implementation.

As part of the School Improvement Grants (SIG) programme that was initially piloted in 2013 and scaled up nationally in 2014, every school was required to prepare a School Development Plan (SDP) that served as an investment framework not only for SIG, but for any other funds that flowed into the school. To the extent possible, SDPs took into account the local needs and priorities of the respective schools, but also broadly reflected the goals and priorities articulated in the Medium Term Strategic Plan 2011-2015, which was the predecessor to the ESSP 2016-2020.

An important milestone in the development of ESSP was the drafting, in 2016, of the National Operational Plan (NOP) and 72 District Operational Plans (DOPs), all of which were directly premised on the goals and priorities contained in the ESSP.  In 2017, schools and districts updated their SDPs and DOPs respectively. In addition to this, all the ten education provinces prepared their Provincial Operational Plans (POPs). This marked the completion of the plan matrix that covered all levels of the system, i.e. the school, district, province and the national levels.

2.  Introduction

One specific feature of all the ESSP is the performance assessment framework (PAF) that forms the basis for a systematic and objective assessment of progress made against the targets set. This PAF focuses on the results that the ESSP set out to achieve, and presents the indicators to be used to measure progress against the plan, together with baselines and targets for each year. In order to ensure that assessment of progress is systematic, regular and sufficiently informed, MoPSE has, beginning 2014, conducted annual education sector performance reviews (ESPRs). So far, three ESPRs have been conducted (for 2014, 2015 and 2016) and the one for 2017 to be conducted in 2018 will be the fourth.

Each ESPR conducted provided insights and lessons that have been built into subsequent ESPRs, and MoPSE is committed to further enhance the quality of the ESPRs. The ESPR process will involve the collection, analysis and presentation of relevant data from a variety of sources to make assessments of progress against key areas of sector performance. The main sources of such data will be Education Management Information System (EMIS) and Teacher Development information System (TDIS) data, information from any research studies, evaluation or assessments made, information generated by MoPSE and its partners through routine and special monitoring, supervision and inspection visits (including joint monitoring visits), meetings and workshops held on specific issues relating to the sector, and other credible documentation generated by independent players in the sector.  All the data generated will be consolidated into a set of reports that will be presented for discussion at a 2-day ESPR workshop to be held in the second week of December. The exact format of this workshop will be agreed upon by MoPSE and its stakeholders. A final report that incorporates all these inputs, including the discussions held at the ESPR workshop, will then be compiled for dissemination. The ESPR report will not only document the sector’s strengths and weaknesses, but will also propose areas where improvements or changes should be made to ensure enhanced sector performance.

While the focus of this activity will be at the national level, it is linked to other review processes taking place at the district and provincial levels. The consultant will be expected to review a sample of the review reports produced by provinces and districts in order to gather information that might shed light on progress and experiences at these decentralized levels. The results of the district and provincial level reviews are expected to feed into the national ESPR.

The annual 2017 education sector review will give MoPSE and its partners an opportunity to objectively look at the sector’s performance, with a focus on achievements against the goals and targets set out in the ESSP.  The sector review also helps with informed decision making to agree on the re-allocation of resources in critical areas as well as in policy direction for the next year. The 2017 ESPR will specifically look at:

• The current legal and policy framework guiding the sector, with a focus on the extent to which it has facilitated or hindered the achievement of the sector’s goals and objectives in 2017;
• Progress against annual planned targets (access, equity, quality, management and improvement in coordination of aid alignment), Programme Based Budgeting cycle for 2017 and the results-based monitoring supposed to be in the End of Year Review and Planning Programme;
• Best practices and lessons learnt so far from the implementation of various components of the sector plan and how these can be applied to enhance the sector’s future performance;
• Sharing information on the government and development partners’ tentative commitments for the next year’s annual plan (ESSP and its National Operational Plan); and
• Sharing information on experiences of the sector at subnational levels (school, cluster, district and provincial levels).

MoPSE requires technical support in planning and executing the sector performance review for 2017. It is for this reason a national consultant is being recruited to provide this support. This consultancy will involve working with MoPSE Head Office, key stakeholders, development partners, relevant sector ministries, departments and parastatals, selected Provincial Education Directors and District Education Officers (DSI’s) and their staff members who are a part of the implementation process of the ESSP and the development, implementation and review of the accompanying POPs and DOPs.

3.  Objective

The goal of this consultancy is to provide technical support required by MoPSE to conduct an ESPR that covers the second year of the ESSP. The objective is to contribute to the ESPR by carrying out analytical work that will inform a comprehensive review of sectoral and sub-sectoral performance in 2017. The consultant will be expected to:

• Review the current legal and policy framework guiding the sector, with a focus on the extent to which it has facilitated or hindered the achievement of the sector’s goals and objectives in 2017
• Critically assess progress against annual planned targets (access, equity, quality, management and improvement in coordination of aid alignment), Programme Based Budgeting cycle for 2017 and the result based monitoring supposed to be in the End of Year Review and Planning Programme;
• Best practices and lessons learnt so far from the implementation of various components of the sector plan and how these can be applied to enhance the sector’s future performance;
• Sharing information on the government and development partners’ tentative commitments for the next year’s annual plan (ESSP and its National Operational Plan); and
• Documenting information on the experiences of the sector at subnational levels (school, cluster, district and provincial levels).
• On the basis of the findings and the deliberations at the ESPR workshop, generate a set of recommendations and proposals for future action.

4.  Scope of Work

The consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:

• Review and understand the ESSP document (and the accompanying NOP and sample of POPs and  DOPs) and the strategic issues and priorities identified in it that require programmatic attention, with focus on access, quality, equity and management/coordination issues at national, provincial and district levels;

• Review a variety of documents on the sector (legal documents, sector policies or policy guidelines, sector plans and strategic documents, programme planning documents, periodic reports on programme activities (including donor reports), routine statistical reports, evaluation reports, annual budgets (government and other) and statements of expenditure;
• Review programs by analysing national level data (both quantitative and qualitative), and to understand the status of the system at the subnational (provincial and district) levels which are responsible for monitoring and supervising policy implementation, and the school level where education programmes are implemented. To do this, the consultant must identify, extract and analyse key education information with a focus on national EMIS and TDIS data, research studies, evaluations and assessments, relevant programme implementation reports, workshop reports, minutes of relevant meetings, field monitoring, supervision and inspection reports, and selected provincial as well as district level data;
• Support the different MoPSE Departments to prepare inputs for the review against relevant aspects of the NOP’s;
• Consolidate evidence emerging from the reviews by different departments and different players (including development partners and CSOs) at different levels and draw links among them, taking into account success stories, best practices, challenges and bottlenecks;
• Support MoPSE in facilitating and documenting the ESPR process at the January 2018, including presentation of key finding in order to stimulate debate or dialogue on specific areas of the sector’s performance;
• Review key goals and objectives in the current plan period of 2016-2020 (with focus on 2017 and, where relevant, 2016). Refer to the ESSP and OP targets and establish how far the Ministry has gone towards meeting its targets, its core indicators, supplementary indicators, and in tracking the performance against key programme targets (e.g. EDF, GPE etc.) such as equity, efficiency and learning;
• Prepare a final ESPR report for 2017 that meets the standards expected by MoPSE and its partners. This report should reflect an accurate assessment of the data and other documentation (including reports) reviewed or analysed. It must consolidate the substance of all presentations made and summarize discussions held at the workshop, including any other written submissions made. The report must accurately capture the recommendations or proposals and decisions made at the ESPR workshop and present them in the form of an aide memoir that will guide future action.

The review will cover results achieved through the implementation of programmes over the period January 2017 to December 2017, but will also take into account key findings and observations made by the sector analysis of 2015. While MoPSE is organised into main departments, this review will not restrict itself to the results achieved by each of the departments. Rather, it recognises that system performance and results achieved are outcomes of the collective effort of the various departments as they contribute towards the achievement of common goals. The review will take into account the internal linkages among the various components within MoPSE as well (through departmental MIPAs and DIPAs) and the linkages the education system has with the external environment or context within which it operates.

5.  Methodology

The general approach to the assignment involves a combination of methods for meeting the deliverables of this assignment, some of which are presented below. The consultant is encouraged to propose other innovative approaches that go beyond the suggestions below:

Desk review: To understand the context, review, challenges and opportunities in the Zimbabwe education sector, the consultant is expected to review the current Education Sector Plan (2016-2020), the Education Sector Analysis and previous Education Sector Performance Review Reports, EDF and GPE programme documents, amongst others. The consultant will also review literature (EMIS and TDIS data and reports, assessment and evaluation reports, monitoring and supervision reports by MoPSE and partners, etc. and including reports that may not be of an exclusively educational nature, e.g. MICS and PICES).

Interviews: Key informant interviews with key stake holders like relevant government ministries, development partners, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, ECOZI, relevant parastatals such as ZIMSEC, NAC, NLDS and relevant NGOs who are active in the sector. These can be in the form of structured and semi-structured interviews to get detailed inputs and perspectives from key informants and stakeholders.

The information collected and analysed should contribute to a participatory, informed and productive education sector performance review workshop in January 2018.

6.  Major Tasks, Deliverables & Timeframe

• Review minutes of relevant meetings e.g. Education Coordination Group (ECG), EDF Steering Committee;
• Review observations made in selected reports by various players following field visits undertaken during the period;
• Analyse district and national reviews of Operational Plans
• Document and review feedback from players at the consultative meeting held for this purpose; and
• On the basis of the review of these documents, prepare a report that summarises the key findings and observations with a focus on key achievements, lessons learnt, constraints noted and a set of recommendations regarding future priorities and areas that need strengthening in future
• Support the MoPSE teams in the preparation of and delivery of presentations at the ESR meeting in January 2018 and facilitate a sector dialogue at the review meeting.
• Present a final Education Sector Review Report which incorporates the activities and deliverables listed above and which includes lessons learnt, best practices, recommendations and way forward for the next stage/year of the ESSP.

The consultant will be expected to successfully complete the following key tasks, shown in the table below. Payment will be made upon submission, to the satisfaction of UNICEF, of the deliverable(s) associated with the tasks:

7.         Timeframe

The consultancy will begin upon the signing of the contract, which is scheduled to be on or before 5 January 2018 and end on 04 March 2018.

8.         Consultancy Requirements

The consultant will have the following qualifications and experience:

 Qualifications and Work Experience

• An Advanced University Degree in Education, Social Sciences or Development Studies
• Sound knowledge of the planning and policy making processes in the public sector or government
• A minimum of five (5) years experience working in a development context
• Ability to engage and work with a variety of stakeholders (government, development partners, civil society)
• Good communication and facilitation skills, with fluency in spoken and written English. Knowledge of Shona and/or Ndebele is an added advantage.
• Good oral and written communication skills in English, with good report writing skills
• At least five years’ experience in education sector in Southern African context
• Analytical, with good computer and data analysis skills
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to support multi-disciplinary teams in a multi- cultural environment
• Familiarity with the Zimbabwean education context

Application Procedure

If interested and available, please submit your application letter, CV, Technical and an all-inclusive financial proposal detailing professional fees and other miscellaneous expenses

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply.