Request for Proposal (RFP) - RANA Implementation Assessment at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Posted by Future on Fri 28th Jan, 2022 - nigeriantenders.com

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) invites interested research agencies / consultant(s) to tender RFP documents for the following works:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) - RANA Implementation Assessment in Northern Nigeria

Preamble

The Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA) programme has been implemented in several states in the northern parts of Nigeria by the Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Commission and is funded by FCDO (formerly DFID) /UNICEF under the Girls Education Project Phase Three (GEP3).

The primary objective of the project is to improve reading and numeracy among girls and boys in the first three grades of primary education. To achieve its objective, the RANA program model was built upon a theory of change that recognized the need to improve the utility and availability of mother-tongue based reading and numeracy materials and exercises; provide high-quality professional development and mentoring opportunities for teachers; inform and increase the involvement of local communities in supporting early grade reading; and encourage governmental support for education policy reform. To address the need for mother tongue reading materials, the RANA programme which was implemented by FHi360, worked with a variety of relevant education agencies and professionals including, reading experts, Hausa language experts, mathematics specialists, writers, graphic artist, illustrators and translators on various material identification and adaptation workshops to produce instructional materials for use in RANA supported schools.

Early learning Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA) is based on global best practice. It employs a combination of intervention to support early learning in the school and community with the objective of improving children's reading skills. The basis of this approach is that early learning begins in the language of the home and community. RANA has been successfully implemented in five northern states of Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara.

RANA is intended to improve both literacy and numeracy in target schools. It placed the highest priority on reading, because it represents a foundational skill for success in all subject areas - and one that parents' value highly. The design of RANA has an inbuilt teacher effective instruction delivery component. RANA builds the capacity of teachers to implement effective instruction and conduct school-based assessments of student progress, using integrated teaching and learning materials. The approach’s materials and instructions support the development of literacy skills for reading and promote positive gender attitudes, while enhancing Literacy and numeracy skills. In addition, RANA engages communities in support of early grade reading and learning in mother tongue of host communities. Lessons from the pilot and expansion programme are now being used to accelerate learning results for children at scale.

As the government with the support of UNICEF seeks to institutionalize RANA as a methodology to improve and achieve better foundational literacy and numeracy skills, it is critical to carry out an assessment of RANA to better understand its impact on learning outcomes.

Purpose of the RANA Implementation Assessment

The assessment will review the implementation of the RANA interventions in Katsina and Zamfara states with the goal of providing evidence on the innovative strategy, its effectiveness, Value for Money, drivers factors of success in learning outcomes and lessons learnt with strategic recommendations for evidence-based advocacy and programming.

The specific objectives are:

To generate findings on the extent to which the programme has achieved its objective of improving literacy and numeracy skills for learners in P1 - 6.
To identify factors that enabled success or blocked success; what processes where built and how effective they were; what was the cost breakdown of the implementation; what elements of the intervention were critical and what were dispensable; what improvements could be made.
To offer practical recommendations for improvement of the model, cost-reduction, sustainability and scaling of RANA in Nigeria, in development and humanitarian contexts.

The primary end user of this research is the Universal Basic Education Commission, Federal Ministry of Education, the State Universal Basic Education Boards and State Ministry of Education to inform decisions on scale up that is efficient, effective and sustainable. The research will also serve as guidance for development partners that may support the scale-up.

Geographical Scope of the RANA Implementation Assessment

The geographic scope of the study is Katsina and Zamfara states. It will not cover all the LGAs that have implemented the RANA programme but will rather propose a statistically significant randomly selected sample size so that the results of the research are within a reasonable confidence limit.

Below are some criteria for selection of the implementation evaluation:

The research will only pick a few schools from the identified LGAs and will ensure that an equity dimension is applied by ensuring that schools in both rural and urban areas are selected.
Both under performing and good performing schools are expected to be selected.
Both male and female learners and teachers will be selected in the sample sizes.
The Consultancy firm will recruit and train a team of data collectors, who will undertake the data gathering and the spot check visits to the schools.

Proposal Requirements

The successful organization and individual team members must offer the following demonstrated experience, knowledge and competencies:

Minimum of master’s degree in a relevant field, with at least 5 years’ experience in conducting similar research for the proposed team leader, and most of the team members
Extensive (minimum 5 years) of organizational experience conducting similar process evaluations
Strong experience with both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and research techniques
Strong experience recruiting, training and supervising enumerators
Familiarity with the Nigerian and global education sectors and of the proposed foundational literacy and numeracy methodology (knowledge of the RANA methodology would be preferred)
Ability to work collaboratively with various stakeholders, with colleagues from the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB)
Ability to adhere to ethical guidelines as specified by UNICEF and the UBEC/SUBEB's in Nigeria
High level proficiency in standard computer software Microsoft word and Excel
Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and deliver quality reports, with recommendations
Excellent spoken and written English and Hausa, of publication standards
Familiarity with the UN and UNICEF programs.

Application Closing Date

3:30pm, 17th February, 2022.

Submission of Documents

Technical and financial proposal to be submitted online to: ngrsupply@unicef.org

Click Here (PDF) for a detailed description of the RFP.

Related Document: RFP (PDF).