Kenya: CONSULTANCY FOR THE EQUITY IN EDUCATION FOR REFUGEE COMMUNITIES IN KENYA (EERCK) - RESULTS ASSESSMENT

Organization: Windle Trust Kenya

Country: Kenya

Closing date: 23 May 2016

BACKGROUND

Girls in the refugee communities face a lot of challenges in their schooling life: Early marriages, unplanned pregnancies, female genital mutilation, gender violence, poverty and separation from parents are some of the barriers that inhibit performance and retention in schools. These barriers to access to education affect girls especially in Primary 4 (P-4) – Primary 8 (P-8), which frequently leads to high dropout rates and poor performance in examinations. The poor education outcomes subsequently result in low transition rates among the affected girls. The same challenges are faced by the surrounding communities both in Turkana West and Dadaab districts.

Equity in Education for Refugee Communities in Kenya (EERCK) is a project funded by the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) through World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and implemented by Windle Trust Kenya (WTK). The project is currently finalizing its third year of implementation. EERCK project directly targets 1880 learners in Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee Camps and surrounding host communities. It also benefits a further 17000 pupils indirectly. EERCK has 3 main objectives which are to improve retention and performance of refugee girls in refugee camps, improve community support and involvement in girls’ education in Kakuma, Dadaab and surrounding host communities and lastly, to improve quality of education in targeted host community schools. These objectives are met through conducting remedial classes for 440 girls in Kakuma and 440 girls in Dadaab both in class 7 and 8 so as to help them improve in their performance and transit to higher levels of education. Remedial trainings are offered on Saturdays and during school holidays and there are various inputs in place so as to achieve the objectives. Some of these include hiring of teachers, provision of teaching and learning materials and provision of lunches among others. Hiring of community mobilizers is also done so as to mobilise and track drop outs and absentees and ensure they go back to school hence increase in retention. Remedial trainings are conducted in established centers across the refugee camps with girls drawn from the existing primary schools.

Community support is realised through participation of Parents’-Teachers’ Associations (PTAs), Board of Management (BoM) meetings with close coordination by head teachers, partner education agencies under the auspices of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Quality of education in the host community schools is improved through hiring of additional teachers so as to reduce teacher pupil ratios as well as improve curriculum implementation. Coordination in the host community is done through head teachers and the Government of Kenya through Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Parents, PTAs and BOM

The essence of this assignment is to establish the overall achievement and results of the project including an assessment of the following key indicators: Beneficiary parents understanding on the importance of girl child education and Behaviour change attributable as a result of increased understanding and; the perception of the participating girls in regard to the level of support they receive from the community towards their education.

SUMMARY

Project: Equity in Education in Refugee Communities in Kenya (EERCK)

Project Donor**:** Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (United States Department of State)

Consultant to carry out a study to determine:

1. Overall achievement and results of the project against its set indicators


2. Percentage of project beneficiaries who feel the community members are supporting Girl Child Education.


3. Percentage of parents of project beneficiaries’ with increased understanding of and concrete support for girls’ education in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps and surrounding communities

SCOPE OF WORK

Duration: 20 days (Between May – June 2016)

Location: Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee Camps and two surrounding host communities

Goal: Produce a report showing: the overall results and achievement of the project over the last three years of implementation including a focus on key indicators of: a) percentage of parents demonstrating an increased understanding of Girl Child Education; and b) the percentage of parents demonstrating behaviour change related to Girl Child Education; and percentage of girls who feel that the community members are supporting Girl Child Education

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

· Carry out data collection in select communities with targeted girls, community members and/or caregivers and parents.

· Carry out any relevant focus group discussions

· Analyse quantitative and qualitative information collected

· Outline and provide an overall assessment of project performance against set goals and objectives; and performance indicators as outlined in project documentation, including:

• percentage of parents’ increased understanding of girl child education


• percentage of parents that demonstrate behaviour change towards girls participating in the programme


• percentage of the girls who feel the community members are supporting girl child education

DELIVERABLES

• Inception Work plan outlining schedule of activities, questionnaires and data collection tools, finalized methodology


• Set of questionnaires and FGD guide (if relevant) – included in inception work plan


• Final high quality report with all relevant annexes, including raw data, transcripts, etc.

At the conclusion of the consulting assessment (within 20 days from contract date):

An evaluation report with two bound hard copies and an electronic version is expected. The report is to be prepared in English and will include:

• A report on the activities and missions carried out by the consultant


• The final methodology and sampling strategy used


• A list of any methodological limitations that may have impacted results


• Copies of the completed surveys and questionnaires


• Analysis of the findings of the study and questions (assessing overall results against set objectives including; percentages of parents of beneficiaries increased understanding and support for Girl Child Education and of beneficiaries perceptions of support from the community of Girl Child Education)


• Recommendations

QUALIFICATIONS

· A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in social sciences, monitoring and evaluation, education or any other related field; a masters degree or advanced qualification in a related area will be an added advantage

· A minimum of five years’ experience working with education, women empowerment projects or M&E and exposure to humanitarian or post-conflict contexts

· Experience of assessing achievements and documenting education projects in multi-sectoral and complex programming contexts

· Experience in capacity building, delivering trainings and/or conducting periodic project evaluations such as baselines, midlines and endline;

· A demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse teams in a multi-cultural and dynamic setting mainly most-at-risk populations like refugees;

· Extensive experience in carrying out mixed method studies, particularly qualitative research methods like FGDs, KIIs, or participants observation; and

· Able to analyze quantitative and qualitative data and prepare high quality reports in easy to understand formats for non technical audiences.

Desirable Assets

• Sensitive to cultural differences and used to working in harsh conditions


• Have hands-on experience, rather than just designing and managing projects

How to apply:

This position is open to Kenyan nationals only.

Interested and eligible candidates should submit a detailed Cover Letter, Curriculum Vitae, Technical and Financial Proposal to applications@windle.org with reference to EERCK Results Assessment Consultancy in the subject heading.

The deadline for applications is Monday 23^rd May 2016.

Windle Trust Kenya’s selection processes reflect our commitment to equal opportunity regardless of one’s gender, disability, religion or ethnic affiliation. We work in schools and are committed to safeguard children from abuse.