Afghanistan: Consultant for Assessing children in and out of an ECCD program

Organization Profile

Save the Children is an international independent non-governmental, non- profit, organization founded in 1919. We work in over 120 countries worldwide. We are the world’s leading independent organization for Children. Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.
Save the Children has been working in Afghanistan since 1976. Our way of working close to people and on their own terms has enabled us to deliver lasting change to tens of thousands of children in the country. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child is the basis of our work.
We are helping children get a better education, we make it possible for more boys and girls to attend school, we help children protect themselves and influence their own conditions. We work with families, communities, teachers and health workers in homes, schools, clinics and hospitals to promote hygiene and basic health in order to save lives of children and mothers.

Purpose:Produce report based on overall IDELA sample collected by Save the Children.

Objective Enable Save the Children to utilise findings from the assessment to inform other research and policy processes regarding ECCD in Afghanistan.

Chronological summary of activities:

• Briefing with Save the Children team


• Data review and analysis


• Report writing and submission


• Revise report based on feedback from Save the Children


• Submit final report


• Debriefing with Save the Children/presenting of findings to team**
  Deliverables** De-brief call, final report

Rationale:

Afghanistan is a country with very limited opportunities for young children to enrol in and participate in school readiness programs. The government is currently not offering or serving children in pre-primary schooling programs. Save the Children is working towards assisting the Ministry of Education (MoE) develop a policy, create a model, and support the roll out of a child centred, research based, whole child approach to pre-primary programming.

Save the Children Afghanistan has recently embarked on a large data collection with children aged 3.5-6.5, both enrolled and not enrolled in an Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program. Approximately 2,600 pre-primary aged children in four Afghan provinces were assessed using the International Developmental Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) tool and we are looking for an experienced researcher to analyse the data and write a report of findings.

This report will enable Save the Children to determine the extent to which participation in an ECCD class improves a child’s knowledge and skills base compared to children who do not participate, in the context of Afghanistan. This knowledge will contribute to the ongoing engagement being undertaken by Save the Children around ECCD in Afghanistan.

Work Plan

The approach to analysis will be determined following discussions between the expert and the project team prior to the commencement of the report analysis and writing.

The work will be conducted in 2 phases:

I.Analysis and reporting: (10 days)

ü Save the Children will provide the raw data from the assessments to the expert

ü The expert will analyse the results and place them in context

ü A draft report will be submitted to Save the Children, which will provide its feedback to the consultant within two weeks.

II.Debriefing and submission of report (2 Day)

ü A final report shall be submitted electronically in English, within one week upon receipt of the Save the Children comments on the draft report.

ü At an agreed time, a de-brief call will take place for the expert to explain the overall results and respond to any questions about the analysis

5.Report

The results of the analysis will be consolidated in a report in English. The report format should not be longer than60 pages (excluding annexes) and should include:

Findings of the IDELA assessments conducted by Save the Children

· Comparison between beneficiary and control group

· Analysis of children’s improvement through participating in an ECCD class, if any

· Geographic comparisons within Afghanistan

· The contextualisation of these results, including internationally if appropriate

Skills required

The selected expert should have a solid experience in projects related to Save the Children’s IDELA assessment tool, and good knowledge of South/Central Asia and the context of early childhood care and development in such environments. Knowledge of English is required. PhD or enrolled in PhD program and specifically at least 5 years work related work experience.

Timetable

The assessment will total 12 days of input with no need to travel to Afghanistan. All raw data will be shared with the expert and the analysis and report can be written from home base.

Payment

Payment will be made in lump sum after successful submission of report.

Ownership of data

All data collected during the assessment will be the property of the Save the Children. The expert must therefore treat findings in a confidential manner and require advance written approval from the Save the Children for sharing any information with third parties, in whichever form.

Skills and Behaviours: SCI Values in Practice:

Accountability:
• Ensure that the position holder work to the best of his/her ability and demonstrate high levels of commitment to SC Afghanistan in order to ensure the objectives of role and the country programme are met.
Ambition:
• Ensure the effective and efficient use of all Save the Children resources in order to keep costs low and ensure safety in the workplace
Collaboration:
• Comply with the requirements of Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding Policy to ensure maximum protection for children.
Creativity:
 Lead, manage and motivate a team, ensuring that they have clear objectives and receive meaningful feedback on their performance.
Integrity:
 Other duties as directed.
(Obviously this needs to only include duties that could be reasonably expected to be carried out by someone with the skills, experience and seniority associated with the job in question).

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities set out above are not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to carry out additional duties from time to time which are reasonable in relation to their level of skills and experience.

In the event of a significant humanitarian emergency, the post-holder will be expected to work outside their normal job description; vary their working hours; and occasionally work from a different location should the need arise.

Equal Opportunities

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Health &Safety and Security

The post holder is required to carry out their duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures and our Global Security policy and procedures.

Compliance policies: Child Safeguarding and Code of Conduct; Anti-Bribery and Fraud

The post holder is required to comply with these key policies, and other organisational policies and procedures, at all times.