Terms of Reference for developing EMIS system and training curriculum for MOE staff on tracking attendance and retention

Project Name:

Educate Your Children II (Waxbar Carrurtaada II) Project

Location(s) of the action:

Puntland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Banaadir, Jubaland and South-West States of Somalia

Organization:

CARE International, Somalia

Duration

27 Days

Start date

as soon

Project Background

CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. Its programs go beyond meeting basic needs at the onset of an emergency to helping affected communities recover and rebuild their lives long after the crisis ends. CARE works in partnership with the government, international NGOs, civil society, community leaders and local authorities in order to bring effective and lasting change to the most vulnerable communities.

Operating in Somalia since 1981, CARE has an extensive track record in implementing successful education programs focusing on increasing access, improving learning outcomes and boosting completion rates for the most marginalized groups of the population, with a particular focus on girls’ education. CARE commits to support the development of the education system in Somalia, contributing to building inclusive, efficient, and effective systems that support the most marginalized to access school and succeed in their education.

With generous funding from Educate A Child, a program of Education Above All Foundation, CARE in a consortium with WARDI and GREDO is implementing Waxbar Carurtaada II (Educate your Children II/ EYC II) project which aims to address obstacles to educational access for out of school children affected by instability, displacement, social exclusion, and poverty in Somalia. The project targets to enrol 80,600[1] out of school children from across six regions/ states (Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland, South West, Puntland and Banaadir) of Somalia. Waxbar Carurtaada II Project will strengthen local governance structures and community support around school safety and inclusive and gender-sensitive education, increasing enrolment rates among marginalized groups, including girls and the extremely poor. Through ABE, the project will provide viable options for learners unable to access education or to attend regularly because of seasonal and out-migration, domestic demands, and income-generating activities. The project will work closely with Federal member states MOEs across the six region/states and other education stakeholders to achieve its objective.

The overall project goal/objective is to ensure that 80,600 out-of-school children affected by instability, displacement, social exclusion, and poverty in Somalia have increased opportunities to enroll and complete a quality primary education. The project aims to achieve this goal/objective through the following strategies and interventions:

a) Outcome 1: 70,600 vulnerable OOSC in Banaadir, Puntland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South-West states of Somalia are enrolled and retained in formal primary education

b) Outcome 2: 10,000 overaged OOSC children in Banaadir, Puntland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South-West states of Somalia are enrolled and retained in alternative basic education

c) Outcome 3: Enhanced quality of education for grade-appropriate learning outcomes

d) Outcome 4: Community Education Committees and MOE staff are strengthened in capacity to improve the management of schools and ABE Centers

Rationale for the assignment

In the context of Somalia, the gross primary enrolment rate is estimated to be as low as 24% at Federal level (2021 JRES). Furthermore, the central Education Management Information System (EMIS) data does not fully capture the actual numbers of out-of-school children or wastage of system resources due to dropout. The current EMIS collects data on enrolment. Within-grade drop out is not tracked; neither is transition from one grade to another or between levels. The system is not also tracking what happens to the ones that leave school (nor flag the ones who are at risk of dropping out).

The EYC II project targets 57,600 among the hardest to reach OOSC in 24 districts across Puntland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland, Banadir and South-West states of Somalia. An additional 23,000 OOSC will be reached through the Global Partnership for Education-funded Education Sector Program Implementation Grant (ESPIG). The EYC II project, in consultation with the FMS MoEs, representatives of the communities and school heads, has developed a set of criteria for the identification of the target beneficiaries from which over 25,000 out of school children were identified and enrolled in Accelerated Basic Education (ABE) and formal education in 2021, as part of its first cohort.

The project will leverage the work done by GPE-funded ESPIG and the FCDO-funded AGES projects on the EMIS and will aim to further improve the system without duplication and replacement of the existing processes already in place.

Overall Objective of the assignment

The main objective of this assignment is:

a) Review the existing EMIS procedures for tracking attendance and retention.

b) To create online/offline data collection tools for the Ministries of Education at Federal and member state levels on attendance and retention tracking.

c) To develop a common understanding on the definition of OOSC and outline existing gaps in recordkeeping at school level, informing system-level actions to improve OOSC tracking.

Specific objectives of the assignment

The specific objectives of this assignment are:

· To identify school-level gaps in tracking attendance and retention and underlying causes of those

· To develop a system for tracking attendance and retention, responsive to gaps at school and EMIS-level

· To develop a training curriculum for MOE staff to track attendance and retention. The curriculum will have a particular focus on ensuring that tracking processes capture data on re-enrolment, attendance, retention, transition and completion of complete cycles for marginalized children, such as former OOSC.

· To train FMS MoE staff on the roll-out of the of the tracking system across all the states

· Review the supervision checklist used by REOs, DEOs and QAS to ensure methods of assessing educational delivery at the level of the teacher, the class, the school, and the region are standardized.

CARE’s Role and Responsibility

The role of CARE with regard to this assignment will include but not be limited to**:**

· Review proposed methodologies, tools, plans, and reports produced by the consultant and advise where necessary.

· Coordinate meetings, discussions, or consultations with MOECHE regarding the assignment including the selection of the workshop participants and other support as may be appropriate.

· Make available relevant project documentation to support this assignment (e.g. EYC own oosc enrolment monitoring system/database).

Scope of Work

1. Review of school-level recordkeeping processes for attendance and retention, and identification of underlying causes of gaps in recordkeeping.
2. Review of the EMIS – the consultant will conduct a review of the current EMIS procedures in tracking attendance, retention, and transition and identify gaps.
3. From the findings of the EMIS review, develop a system for tracking attendance, retention and transition and link with the EMIS
4. Develop online/offline data collection tools to feed into the EMIS system for tracking attendance, retention, and transition
5. Revise the supervision checklist to include details of the new EMIS system to ensure all information on education service delivery is fully captured
6. Develop a training curriculum on the new system and train 25 MoE staff from all FMS MoEs (5 from each of the FMS MoEs)

Deliverables

The main deliverables for this assignment are as follows:

· Inception report (EMIS Review/ School Recordkeeping Review report): providing details of the existing EMIS procedures for tracking attendance, retention, and transition.

· Development of data collection tools (questionnaires etc)

· Development of electronic system (e-tools, linkage with existing system) for data collection

· Training of MoE staff who then cascade the training to selected system end users at school level.

· Pilot of the data collection tools and use of the e-tools/ software**

· Presentations of deliverables as an integral part of the submission process. **

· Training curriculum for MOE staff on the new system**

· Revised supervision checklist**

· The final report on the data collection and the training of MoEs**

Duration of the Consultancy

The consultancy shall be executed within a maximum of 20 days, commencing after signing the contract. The proposal should include a detailed schedule. The following should be used as a guide.

S/n

Activities

No of Days

1

Review of the EMIS/ school-level recordkeeping systems and related literature

3

2

Development of data collection tools

3

3

Development of data collection software (online /offline system) as part of the existing EMIS

4

4

Presentation to MOECHE -review of functionality of the tools/software applications

1

5

Data collection- pilot

5

6

Development of the training curriculum

6

6

Training of MOE Staff

5

Total number of days

27

Professional Skills and Qualifications

Qualifications:

1. Graduate degree on science /telecommunication engineering, IT or equivalent, or demonstrated experience of successful development of similar software systems in case of an undergraduate degree.
2. Previous experience of setting up EMIS systems and/or systems to track student attendance and retention in Somalia or similar contexts..
3. Experience of successful design, development and support of electronic data collection and related software during the last five years.
4. The consultant/Firm must have at least one relevant, successfully implemented example of a software developed for EMIS or an example of a similar platform developed to track attendance / retention.
5. Knowledge of the education system in the country and ongoing EMIS initiatives across the regions

Language:**

The consultant has the appropriate Federal Member States knowledge /experience and language proficiency in Somali and English languages required for this assignment.**

Report requirements: all reports should be submitted in electronic form and should be submitted in English. The tools should be submitted in English and in Somali
Application Procedure

The interested qualified candidates are requested to submit the following:

§ Technical proposal showing how the consultant intends to carry out the assignment.

§ Financial proposal.

§ Qualifications

§ Relevant experience related to the assignment including samples and references of most recent similar work done.

Applications should be submitted to: som.consultant@care.org