Consultant at Creative Associates International - LEARN to Read Project - 4 Openings

Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges. Its experts focus on building inclusive educational systems, transitioning communities from conflict to peace, developing sustainable economic growth, engaging youth, promoting transparent elections and more. Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant to Conduct a Midline Assessment of State Educational Institutions in Bauchi, Sokoto, and Adamawa States using the Institutional Capacity Assessment (ICA) Tool and Key Informant Interview (KII)

Locations: Abuja, Adamawa, Bauchi & Sokoto
Employment Type: Contract
LoE: Maximum 30 Days
Period of Performance: 25th November 2024 to 17th January 2025

Background

• Creative Associates International is a fast-growing, social impact company that specializes in the areas of education, economic growth, democratic transitions, and stabilization in post-conflict environments.
• Based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this global development organization has a field presence in more than 25 countries and a strong client portfolio that includes the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department. Since its founding in 1977 by four enterprising women,
• Creative has earned a solid reputation among its clients and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.
• Creative Associates International has been working in Nigeria for more than a decade to support education programs in Nigeria.

Program Description

• Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and in close partnership with federal partners and select Nigeria States (designated as legacy [Bauchi and Sokoto], launching and technical assistance), the five-year Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) project will support sustainable improvements in reading outcomes for first and second-grade pupils.
• The goal of LEARN is to strengthen and scale early grade reading (EGR) best practices by ensuring that standards-based, context-appropriate assessment, materials, training, and administrative supports needed to improve literacy skills for P1-2 pupils are embedded within the federal policy, funding, and monitoring frameworks, and state and local authorities have the implementation protocols, capacity, and resources to carry out and sustain standards-based, data-driven EGR reform.
• The project objective is to instil ownership in and build the capacity of school-community, local, state, and federal systems to establish a base for adequate, consistent data-driven funding, monitoring, and performance that increase the equity, inclusion, and well-being necessary to achieve sustained EGR gains.
• LEARN will therefore be building on lessons learned from prior Nigeria reading programs to introduce a flexible, cost-efficient EGR intervention model that can be tailored to state contexts.

Introduction

• The project supported the Bauchi, Sokoto and Adamawa States in conducting ICA, a tool to measure the capacity of the educational MDAs in implementing early-grade reading intervention concerning the mandates of the MDAs. The baseline was conducted in 54 institutions in the three states, thecapacity development plan was designed, and the Organizational Performance Index (OPI) was used as a metric for performance.
• In this context, LERN to Read in collaboration with the state will be supporting the midline ICA of the 54 institutions in Bauchi, Sokoto, and Adamawa States. This is to assess the level of capacity improvement after two years of strengthening the education system to implement early-grade reading intervention. The approach of the assessment will be consistent with the baseline ICA for opportunities for trend analysis, documenting changes, and comparison.

Justification

• There is a need to measure the impact of the intervention on the basic education systems in the intervening states. Therefore, the conduct of the baseline assessment to establish baseline information, and subsequent assessment in the midline and the endline. The findings in the baseline inform the direction of the project support and a Capacity Development Plan (CDP) that guides the funding directions in the state.
• The purpose of this consultancy is for an ICA expert to lead the midline institutional assessment in the three states. Findings from the ICA will also reveal institutional changes, by comparing the results and findings from the baseline, midline, and end-line assessment results.

Objectives

• To support the review of the ICA manual as a job aid and for sustainability by the state technical officers.
• To train key State Education Agencies (SUBEB, SAME, LGEAs, and Ministry of Education) on the administration of the Institutional Capacity Assessment instruments.
• To lead the conduct of midline ICA for Bauchi, Sokoto, and Adamawa State Education Agencies using the ICA instruments and coordinate the activities of other consultants.
• To provide technical assistance for the development of the midline ICA reports for Bauchi, Sokoto, and Adamawa, and compare the baseline and midline ICA findings.
• To lead the development of the Capacity Building and Implementation plans to address the gaps identified during the assessment.

Specific Tasks of the Consultant

• Train the state’s team on the ICA tool with supporting evidence.
• Develop an ICA protocol manual.
• Provides day-to-day leadership to the technical team on the ICA process.
• Collate, harmonise and summarise the state’s assessment reports.
• Provides leadership in the facilitation of stakeholder meetings.
• Provide leadership during the validation and debriefing process.
• Provide and submit a composite ICA process and final report (baseline and midline comparison)

Scope of Work / Specific Tasks
The broad scope of this activity will include:

• Coordinate the training of key State Ministry of Education, SUBEB, SAME, and LGEA staff on the use of the ICA instruments.
• Providing state education agencies with technical advice on self-co-ordination of ICA processes and results.
• Coordinate with the technical team of the project to identify capacity-building needs and work with the State MDAs to develop Institutional Capacity Building Plans.
• Develop a progressive real-time report of the assessments following the approved format and framework.
• Submits all manuscripts and audio recordings used during the assessment.

Deliverables (and when)
The major outputs of this assignment are:

• Coordinate and compile the list of trained MOE, SUBEB, SAME, and LGEA staff and selected key stakeholders in the states during the ICA.
• The midline ICA scores and recorded transcription for the focus states.
• A lucid and detailed Institutional Capacity Building Plan for the focus states.
• Develop a concise process report on this assignment.
• Develop and submit the final ICA reports, showing the comparison of the base and midline findings for the focus states in an approved format.

Working and Reporting:

• The consultants will work closely with theSenior Policy Reform and Planning Advisor
• The consultants (lead) will be engaged for a maximum of thirty days for both fieldwork and the initial assessment report. He is responsible for leading the ICA field teams.

Skills Required

• Advanced degree in policy and management, social sciences, or related field.
• At least 15 years of experience in strategic planning, program and institutional development, technical needs assessment, and technical support planning.
• Demonstrate capacity to identify and solve problems of coordination of multiple stakeholders for Basic Education and EGR responses.
• Previous experience working on similar or related assignments.
• Excellent communication in oral and written English with strong report-writing skills.
• Good past performance references from reputable organizations.

Skills and expertise required for the Consultant:

• The consultant with support from the field team consultants, will conduct the assessments, analyze results and write individual state reports.

Application Closing Date
27th November, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Application packages to: [email protected] using the title as the subject of the mail.