National Consultant for the Evaluation of pilot adult literacy and life skills programme. - Rangamati with frequent visits to 3 hill districts of CHT

Rangamati with frequent visits to 3 hill districts of CHT, BANGLADESH Duration of Initial Contract :Assignment will be for 36 days over a period of 6 weeks.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), located in the south-eastern corner with an area of one-tenth of the size Bangladesh (approx. 5,100 square miles) and with a population of about 1.5 million people, is one of the most diverse regions of the country in terms of geography, ethnicity, culture and tradition of the peoples. The region remained largely outside the mainstream of development assistance for more than 25 years due an insurgency, which ended with the signing of the CHT Accord in December 1997.

Access to basic education is a fundamental right of every citizen but often large section of the population denied of such right. Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (Literacy Assessment Survey 2008) indicates that adult literacy rate in Bangladesh is 48.8 percent (15+ age group) and 54% of household heads in CHT do not have any education (socio-economic baseline survey of UNDP 2009). Bangladesh is constitutionally obligated (article 17 of the constitution of Bangladesh) to secure the right to education of its citizen and is fully committed to achieving the Education For All (EFA) goals by providing quality basic education for all. Besides constitutional obligation, present Government has committed to eradicate illiteracy by the year 2014 through their election manifesto and accordingly enacted National Education Policy (2010) to ensure basic education for all citizen.

UNDP and UNESCO under the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF) has initiated a collaboration on piloting a adult literacy program in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The pilot program is being implemented through the three Hill Districts Councils (HDC). CHTDF its education component has been working with the HDCs to support operation of the total 300 schools, among them 235 community run schools towards strengthening basic education especially primary education in CHT since 2008. Over the years working with the community, the project experienced a significant number of School Management Committee (SMC), Mothers’ Group (MG) and Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA) members are illiterate and are willing to go through a basic literacy course to contribute more and be active in performing their roles. Hence, the project considered responding to the needs of the respective members involved in school affairs and accordingly planned a pilot initiative on adult literacy.

UNESCO and BNFE is engaged in providing technical support in the implementation of pilot adult literacy program in three hill districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts linking the current UNESCO’s initiatives on systematizing the Non Formal Education (NFE) in the country through the Capacity Building for Education For All (CapEFA) project, particularly strengthening local networks to support community level learning centers.

The pilot has been started with 859 adults including 503 female in 30 centers from three hill districts (10 in each district-under Bandarban- Rowangchari-3, Thanchi-3, Ruma-2, Alikadam-2, under Khagrachari- Laxmichari-3, Matiranga-3, Panchari-2, Mohalchari-2, Under Rangamati-Rajasthali-3, Bilaichari-3, Jurachari-2, Baghaichari-2) to provide literacy and life skill to the learners through customization of the BNFE materials as per culture, tradition and lifestyle of the region keeping its content and the learning objective intact. The program has two phases comprising a six months basic literacy course followed by a Post Literacy and Continuing Education. The later however, would focus on livelihood skills including enhancement of local networking for better planning and management of community development activities.

As per the plan of the pilot initiative, a baseline survey was conducted in 2013 by HDC with support from LNGOs to document the pre-project situation of household level literacy and their socio-economic related factors impacting their life. Based on the field study analysis of the compound factors that impact upon the existing situation as well as needs and interest of the community towards their development has been accomplished and presented in this report

Findings of pilot adult literacy and life skills programmewill determine the scaling-up of the pilot and developing local learning network to meet the different learning needs of people in a sustainable manner. The continued UN and GOB collaboration in promoting literacy status in the CHT however, would pave the way to set up future priorities and designing the required interventions in this regard.

Objective of the Assignment/Service: The objectives of the evaluation are to:

Assess the results and achievements of the Adult Literacy Programme (learners’ attainment of Literacy, numeracy and functional aspects)

Examine behavioral changes taken place among learners individual life, family and community

Document the steps followed in mobilizing the learners and learners involvement in other ongoing development activities

Assess the quality of facilitators who conducted the course including CMC members role

Recommend the effective learning methodology andnext steps to take for continuing and expanding of adult literacy linking with the local government and UISC ( NFE delivery framework may be used)

Assessment/evaluation of the pilot initiative will be done to assess how effectively HDCs have managed and implemented adult literacy and life skills programme and its correlation towards other social development activities as well as the learners’ achievements in line with the expected outputs prior to achieve the stated objectives of the project. Assessment would also capture the challenges faced and encountered and learning for future programming. Therefore the consultant shall:

Prepare a framework for the assessment/evaluation process considering project objectives, expected outputs and outcomes and share it with UNDP and UNESCO;Develop sample and data collection methods to conduct evaluation in three districts considering minimum 3-4 centres in each district and not more than 2 centres in each upazila;Use secondary data available and collect primary data as per needs. UNDP, UNESCO, HDC and BNFE will provide assistance in collecting data;Collect statistically validated representative sample/data from the learners, facilitators, CMC members and supervisors participated in the programme (to validate data been collected);Based on collected information make a brief presentation of the findings and share it with the actors in 3 piloted districts of CHT;Relevance of the programme and implementation tools and materials with the context of CHT has to be captured by the consultant in the whole process of the assessment and reporting;Community development as well as local learning networking process linking with UISC, local government, to promote lifelong learning mechanism to meet the divers need of individual learners may be advised.The responsibility of justifying the finding and recommendations is the evaluator’s responsibility.

In order to measure the progress, achievement, and constraints towards the intended results, the evaluation shall use the following criteria.

Relevance–whether the project’s activities are inline with local and national needs and development prioritiesEffectiveness-the extent to which progress towards the project’s overall objective and outputs have been achieved or how likely it is to be achieved over the remaining implementation period.Efficiency– the extent to which best-value for money has been obtained (results delivered versus resource expended) including the efficiency of various systems.Results and Outcome– the positive and negative, and foreseen and unforeseen changes and effects driven by the project interventions. Results include director project outputs, short-to medium term outcome, and longer term impact including national benefits, replication effects and other local effects.Sustainability– The likely ability of theproject interventions to continue to deliver benefits for an extended period of time after completion.

The detail of the evaluation methodological approach and relevant tools are to be determined by the contracted consultancy in consultation with CHTDF, UNESCO and BNFE. However the data collection techniques may include;

Desk review and content analysis of key project documents including Baseline Survey and annual progress reports.Review the register books at Adult literacy centre and collect the required information.Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with groups of Adult Learners, SMC, MG, PTA and teachers.Key informant interviews with MoCHTA personnel and selected staff of CHT Regional Council, HDCs, UNDP, EU and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME).Field based observations and data collection from theAdult literacy centres,Expected Outputs and Deliverables:The following deliverables will be produced under this consultancy; Inception report: The inception report will detail the consultants’ understanding of what is to be evaluated and what objectives of the evaluation need to be met. This report should include the evaluation design, proposed sources of data, data collection procedures, stakeholders to be met and an evaluation timetable. The report should be shared and agreed with CHTDF, HDCs, UNESCO and BNFE within 7 days of commencement of the consultancy.Evaluation draft report: A draft evaluation report will be submitted to CHTDF, HDCs, UNESCO and BNFE for feedback and commentsPresentation of the findings of evaluation to the CHTDF, HDCs, UNESCO and BNFEand other relevant stakeholdersFinal evaluation report: A hard and soft copy of final report will be submitted to the UNDP-CHTDF covering a minimum of i) Executive Summary (Brief description of the project, context and purpose of the review and main conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned), ii) Introduction (Project background, Purpose of the review, Key issues addressed, the outputs of the review and how will they be used, Methodology and Structure of the review), iii) The main findings: project relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact of project activities, viability/potentiality of scaling up the piloting results with recommendations, iv)   The challenges and project response (how the challenges are addressed by HDCs and project), v) Recommendations and lessons and vi) ConclusionsAll the relevant documents (ToR, itinerary, list of documents reviewed, list of stakeholders met, tools used and summary of results/ tables) will be included as annexure. Inception report with detail work plan accepted by CHTDF-UNDP

Timeline- Within 1st week of contract commencement

Final report accepted by CHTDF-UNDPTimeline- After 6th week, end of the contract
Payment-80 % of total The evaluation is scheduled to take place over the months of April to May2014.The whole assignment may span over a total period of some six weeks, with fieldwork/interviews within the country/CHT expected to take up to four weeks.
During the evaluation consultant will be based at CHTDF office Rangamati and s/he has to visit adult literacy centers located at above mentioned upazila under 3 hill districts.
CHTDF will provide a letter of introduction and facilitate access to relevant offices, including security clearance for travel within the CHT (if/as applicable), for the consultant hired to carry out the evaluation.CHTDF will provide temporary desk spaces, if required, for the consultant.Vehicle support for work related travel within the CHT which will be provided by the project.Support in organizing workshops/meeting/FGDs as per work plan. All deliverables mentioned in the TOR should be developed and submitted by consultant to CHTDF UNDP on time.The consultant should have her/his own laptop/computer.Cost of conducting FGD/meeting/workshops in relation to this contract as well as interpreter’s assistance, if any, will be borne by the consultant. Excellent English communication skills and demonstrated ability in preparing good quality reports for international organizations (donors, UN agencies, INGOs.Displaying cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.Willingness and ability to travel to the CHT area, including to certain remote areas.Post-graduate degree preferably in Education, Social Sciences or relevant field At least 10 years relevant working experience.Experience in evaluation and impact assessment, including results-based monitoring and evaluation techniques.Experience in adult literacy.Working experience with UN agencies particularly for project assessment/evaluation is an advantage. CHT experience is an advantage 

Proposal should be submitted at ebidbox-chtdf.bd@undp.org no later than 17th April 2014.

Proposal submitted to any other email address or location or submitted in hard copy shall not be accepted

Please refer to the IC Notice (including TOR,) General Terms & Conditions (Annex ll) and the submission template (Annex lll) available in the following location for details evaluation criteria and proposal submission procedure. Incomplete proposals shall not be considered for evaluation.

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=15273
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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