National Cash Specialist

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, and Anti-Retaliation.”

Scope of Work

Building on this work over the years, the IRC in Sierra Leone has developed a program framework, strategy and vision for 2016 – 2020. The country program has committed to ensuring that children, both in and out of school, have appropriate literacy, numeracy, social-emotional skills, and will work towards the reduction and elimination of barriers to ensure that girls are as equally skilled and safe as boys.

For the past seven years the IRC Sierra Leone has been able to provide vital opportunities for a group of 160 girls from disadvantaged backgrounds to access education. The support has also helped to mitigate the impact of Ebola on their educational attainment, thereby, transforming their lives. The funding for this program was provided by a private US-based foundation. IRC SL aims at building on this work to ensure the girls can continue their education past Junior Secondary School (JSS-level). The outcome of this project will also inform other programmatic work with adolescent girls carried out by IRC SL.

The support provided included the payment of school fees for the girls attending one Primary School, 13 Junior Secondary Schools, and eight Senior Secondary Schools. The IRC also provided school uniforms and teaching and learning material including textbooks. The majority of the girls the IRC has supported are now in the final years of JSS.

Upper secondary education and formal and informal vocational training present a different set of challenges for girls wanting to pursue their educational careers. While Primary and Junior Secondary Schools exist across the country, Senior Secondary Schools can only be found in larger towns and district capitals. If girls want to continue their schooling they thus often have to relocate into town – incurring additional costs. They are also at greater risk of sexual violence because they often live without their primary caregiver, and sometimes without adults. In addition, girls will often engage in informal labour that exposes them to different forms of abuse and often prevents them from attending school. Other educational pathways such as vocational training – both in formal and in informal settings – also involve additional costs for learners.

At the same time the education policy environment in Sierra Leone has changed. The Free Quality School Education Initiative by the Government of Sierra Leone is abolishing all school fees from approved Primary to Senior Secondary School level across the country. Additionally as part of the Free Quality Education Initiative the Ministry of Education has started distributing learning materials including exercise books and textbooks, in four core subject areas. While not all schools across the country are currently benefitting from this new policy, the financial burden for families is slowly decreasing. However, even in approved schools the learning material that was distributed proved not to be sufficient for the number of pupils. In all schools attended by the 160 girls, pupils have to share books and parents still have to purchase additional books and learning material to ensure their children can participate in class.

This change in both the policy environment and the needs of girls wanting to pursue their education past JSS level is thus a good moment for IRC SL to revisit the current approach and to explore the potential for cash grants for older girls wanting to pursue their education. Disparities in attendance between girls and boys start in lower Primary School and increase over the following years. For economic reasons families often have to make choice between their children and they tend to favour boys over girls. Targeted cash grants and support to cover the costs of education (both the official and the hidden costs) will ensure girls can continue their educational careers. The program would thus contribute to advancing gender equity and achieving higher completion rates for girls.

The consultancy will include the following specific services:

Provide feedback on draft guidelines for focus group meetings with adolescents girls to establish educational and financial needs, gaps, and barriers, and prepare interview guidelines for caregivers and stakeholders developed by international cash transfer specialist. The guidelines will include feedback protocols the national cash specialist will be using.

Conduct three focus group meetings with adolescent girls and at least eight interviews with caregivers/stakeholders (in Kenema and in Kono)

Write-up feedback and inputs from focus group meetings and interviews as per protocol developed in the guidelines

Level of Effort/Deliverables and Timing

The work will be conducted at the level of effort as follows:

To effectively deliver this engagement, the consultant should meet the following requirements:

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Education or related field
• Strong knowledge and technical experience in the areas of girls education and the use of cash transfers in programming
• Strong knowledge of learners’ experience and needs in low-resource contexts
• Strong communication and facilitation skills,
• Fluency in English and Krio – additional national language is of advantage
• Flexible to work as part of a remote team across time zones

Travel: IRC will cover travel costs in-country (transport in IRC vehicles and accommodation). The consultant will cover costs for food, insurances and other expenses.

Payment: Upon receipt and sign-off of all three deliverable