Tender Details

Country: Zimbabwe
Summary: Individual National Consultants for the Provision of Technical Assistance for 2017 Education Sector Performance Review
ZWT Ref No: 19140601
Deadline: 27 Dec 2017
Financier: United Nations Secretariat
Purchaser Ownership: -
Tender Value: Refer Document
Notice Type: Tender
Document Ref. No.:
Purchaser's Detail:

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN`S FUND
6 Fairbridge Avenue Belgravia Harare Tel: +263-703.881 / 731.840 / 703.941 / 799.232 Fax: +263-791.163
Email :harare@unicef.org
URL :http://www.unicef.org/

Description:
Request for proposals are invited for individual National consultants for the provision of technical assistance for 2017 Education Sector Performance Review. UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children`s rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world. · 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, program
Documents: