ToR: Undertaking capacity gaps assessments of partner Schools of Together for Sustainable Future (T4SF) project

Description of programme locations

SOS CVE, Hawassa Programme is the fourth oldest programme location under SOS CVE Ethiopia which was established in 1985 due to the drought that occurred in the midst of 1980 in the southern part of the country. We take action for children as an independent non-governmental social development organization. Currently, twelve projects are being implemented by the programme location (PL), categorized under three major programs: alternative childcare, family strengthening and disability inclusion programs. These projects include standard project (FLC, OAC, FFC, SGH, and SIL), from FCSP ARADA Phase II, ECoS-CaR Phase IV, SHECAN, SHASHE Phase II, Grow Equal, WACHAMO, and the Together for Sustainable Future (T4SF) project in Aletawondo, Yirgalem, and Yabello towns. Additional initiatives include advancing the rights of children and young people with disabilities in Hawassa and Hosaena city administrations.

Rationale and overall objectives to undertake capacity gap assessments of partner Schools

SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia, with funding from the UZHF foundation through SOS Children’s Villages Switzerland is implementing project named Togher for Sustainable Future (T4SF).  The school gap assessment identifies critical deficiencies in access, quality, safety, infrastructure, teaching and learning, and inclusion within schools. The findings provide an evidence base to prioritize needs, inform project design, allocate resources effectively, and ensure that FS interventions address the most significant barriers to equitable and quality education.

Objectives of the gap assessments of partner Schools

Overall Objective:

The overall objective school capacity gap assessment is to assess and identify key gaps and priority needs in schools found in Yirgalem, Aletawondo and Yabello towns to inform the planning, design, and implementation.

Specific Objectives:

• Assess the availability and capacity of teachers, school management structures, adequacy of school infrastructure and learning facilities.
• Identify gaps in teaching and learning materials, equipment, and educational resources.
• Evaluate access to safe, inclusive, and child-friendly learning environments.
• Identify barriers affecting student access, attendance, retention, and learning outcomes, particularly for vulnerable groups.
• Generate evidence-based recommendations to guide project planning, resource allocation, and targeted interventions. responsive, and market-relevant skills training in Schools.

Project outcomes and outputs:

The overall objective or goal of the project is “Contribute to improved quality of life and gender equity of vulnerable communities in Sidama and Oromia through strengthened care and protection, education, health, and community systems.”

The summary of project outcomes and outputs are listed as follows:

Outcome 1. Targeted schools in Sidama and Oromia provide inclusive, quality, and sustainable education through improved teaching, leadership, infrastructure, community participation, and institutional collaboration.

Output 1.1. Students from partner schools’ benefit from well-equipped, safe and inclusive learning environments.

Output 1.2.  Teachers and school administrators from 9 schools demonstrate improved capacity in teaching and school management.

Output 1.3. Schools manage their resources more sustainably and independently

Output 1.4. Local communities actively participate in school development through inclusive planning, resource mobilization, and support programmes.

Outcome 2. Targeted health facilities in Sidama and Oromia deliver quality, inclusive, and sustainable healthcare services, with focus on women and children, through improved infrastructure, governance, community outreach, and institutional collaboration.

Output 2.1. Community-based health services, including nutrition, WASH, and outreach programmes, are expanded.

Output 2.2. Families are mentally and emotionally stable

Outcome 3: Families, and local communities, with a particular focus on women and youth, improve their socio-economic resilience through strengthen financial inclusion, livelihood skills and community-based savings structures.

Output 3.1. Target families, with a particular focus on women and youth, have increased access to financial services.

Output 3.2. Skills training & entrepreneurship for women & youth

Output 3.3. Improved awareness of gender equality and inclusion

Outcome 4. Strengthen organizational structures for sustainable local development.

Output 4.1. Strengthened CBOs

Output 4.2. Strengthened government structures

Outcome 5: Children and young people are cared and protected

Output 5.1. Children and young people are capacitated to protect themselves from abuse and violence

Output 5.2. Children and young people are engaged in decisions that affect their development

Output 5.3. Caregivers have improved parental knowledge, skills and the capacity to care and protect their children and young people

Major evaluation/ research questions

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Education Access and Quality

• What is the current level of access to inclusive and protective education services for children in the target areas?
• What are the school enrollment, attendance, and dropout rates among children in the target communities?
• What barriers prevent children from accessing or completing education?
• What is the availability of educational resources (learning materials, infrastructure, support services) in the schools?

Teacher Capacity and School Environment

• What is the capacity of teachers to deliver inclusive, protective, and quality education?
• What training or professional support do teachers currently receive?
• How supportive and safe are the school environments for children, including vulnerable groups

Governance and Institutional Capacity

• What is the current structural and governance capacity of partner schools?
• What do the school management structures, infrastructure and learning facilities look like?

The commissioned consultant should further list relevant, tailored and possible school capacity gap assessment questions for both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. He/she is expected to refer to the project document in detail and the log frame in addition to developing assessment questions, and data collection tools. SOS CVE Ethiopia will share the project document, log frame/result framework for winner consultancy firm.

Scope of Work

Together for Sustainable Future (T4SF) project is a four years (2026 to 2029) project designed to improve the quality of life for vulnerable children and communities in Ethiopia’s Sidama (Yirgalem, Aletawondo districts) and Oromia (Yabello district) regions. The project’s goal is to ensure children and young people grow up in a caring and protective environment by 2029 in the two regions.

This project is a collaborative effort led by SOS CVE and the Apostolic Vicariate of Hawassa (AVHa). It leverages strong partnerships with local and international organizations, including Helvatas and Mother and Child Specialty Centers in Sidama, MCS and the SCORE-CARITAS funded project in Oromia. By pooling expertise and resources, the project will amplify its impact, ensuring a synergistic and efficient response to the needs of the target communities.

Geographically, the assessment will focus on selected partner schools located in the Yirgalem and Aletawondo towns in Sidama, and Yabelo town of Oromia regional states.

The direct and indirect program participants are summarized in the following table.

Methodology and approach for conducting the schools gap assessment

The consultant is expected to develop relevant and standard quantitative and qualitative methodologies that can generate the highest quality and most credible evidence. The commissioned consultant should use a mixed method approaches (quantitative and qualitative methods) to answer the school capacity gap assessment questions. As far as possible, the consultant should disaggregate data by sex, age, disability, geographic location while collecting and analysing data. The consultant should also clearly explain which questions will be answered using which methods. Data collection methods proposed by the consultant should be linked to the specific target group question(s) or school gaps. In addition to collecting primary data, the consultant should refer relevant school capacity gap data, research findings on school capacity gaps in Yirgalem, Aletawondo and Yabelo district. Moreover, the consultant is expected to explain the design and process of data collection tools, data collection plans and data analysis instrument. The consultant is also expected to use tools including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats) analysis, and Solution Trees (to identify major physical, material, social and human capitals available.

The Consultant should also ensure qualitative methods (such as focus group discussion (FGD), key informant interview (KII) and group discussion) participants are representative of the project’s target groups and key stakeholders. SOS CVE will share the project document, log frame, and the performance measurement framework (Ethiopia) for winner consultancy firm.

Sample

The Commissioned consultant is expected to use appropriate sampling techniques and set acceptable sample size for both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Based on the project objectives, results, and school capacity gap equations and the Edu the project result framework, the consultant should produce best sampling methods and ensure representativeness of the sampled households or respondents, and the sampling frame is from targets of the project.

Work plan and expected deliverables:

Work plan

The assessment task is expected to be finalized within 40 consecutive days after the contractual agreement is signed.

The consultant is expected to develop her/his detailed work plan based on the following table.

Responsibility of the consultant:

1. • The awarded consultant shall show feasible logistical arrangements for the assignment as part of the technical proposal
   • Refer the project document, result framework and indicators and develop baseline study questions and detailed tools for both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
   • Recruit and train data collectors/ enumerators
   • Covers transport and per diem costs for data collectors
   • Develop inception report with data collection tools, data collection plans and present for SOS CVE team and data collection plans
   • Compiled draft and final school capacity gap assessment report based on scheduled time

Note that SOS CVE programme location-level staff will be available to help organize the interviews including contacting SOSCVE staff, key government staff and linking to community duty bearers and national authorities. SOSCVE team will facilitate while the consultant collects data from prgramme participants, partner schools and key government stakeholders.

Deliverables:

The commissioned external consultant must deliver the gap assessments of partner schools within 30 days of the contract signing. The consultant is expected to analyze the findings by programme intervention sites in each schools found in three towns, Yirgalem, Aletawondo & Yabello. Based on the work plan, SOS Children’s Villages of Hawassa programme MEAL coordinator and three MEAL Officers of T4SF Projects, the national office MEAL and T4SF project coordinators will follow up the whole process. The following deliverables are expected out of the assessment:

• • An inception report of 8 pages on assessment design, methodology, sampling frame, sampling technique, sample size, assessment tools and work plan
  • Draft assessment report with recommendations provided by experts in the schools sector
  • Summary of current policies, regulation and initiatives at national and regional levels on schools
  • The consultant is expected to present both the draft and final findings of the assessment.
  • Validation Workshop Presentation
  • Final Report (with executive summary, findings, and recommendations)
  • Raw data, which has been cleaned (both qualitative and quantitative, including original field notes for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and recorded audio material), should be submitted with the report. SOS CVE will have sole ownership of all final data, and any findings shall only be shared or reproduced with the permission of SOS Children’s Village Ethiopia.

Report criteria

Thef reporting criteria for T4SF project School gap assessment shall be in line with the SOS Children’s Villages RBM document and reporting template.

Child Safeguarding and ethical issues:

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to ensuring that all research, evaluation, and data collection processes (i.e., evidence-generating activities) undertaken by SOS Children’s Villages and its partners are ethical and respect child safeguarding policy and procedure.

The consultant must respect the rights, dignity and protection of children and other vulnerable population groups and should ensure special protection for children and other vulnerable groups during any data-generating activities to minimize any potential risks. Any research, evaluation and data collection SOS Children’s Villages is directly carried out or is involved in as a partner.

Ethical practices need to be ensured in the following circumstances:

• Any research, assessment, baseline, midterm or final evaluations and data collection SOS Children’s Villages has commissioned for ethical oversight of these processes.
• Any research, evaluation and data collection carried out by researchers/consultants on SOS Children’s Villages programmes and participants.

Hence, relevant project coordinator, MEAL Officers and location MEAL coordinator will ensure that any researchers, evaluators and data collectors should receive awareness training on, sign and adhere to SOS Children’s Villages core policies:

Obtaining consent from research participants is central to the research relationship and signals respect for the research participant’s dignity, their capability to express their views and their right to have these heard in matters that affect them. Informed consent is an explicit agreement which requires participants to be informed about and understand the research/assessment. This must be given voluntarily and be renegotiable, so that participants may withdraw at any stage of the research process.

Logistical arrangements:

The awarded consultant shall show feasible logistical arrangements for the assignment as part of the technical proposal. National or location-level or project staff (SOSCV) will be available to help organize the interviews including contacting SOSCV, announcing and local preparation of assessment, and linking to community duty bearers and national authorities if required.

Duration of the contract and terms of payment:

Payment will be made only upon SOS Children’s Villages’ acceptance of the work performed in accordance with the above-described deliverables. Financial proposals should include proposed stage payments. Payment will be affected by bank transfer in the currency of birr.

Funding and Payment:

The consultant will be paid by SOS Children’s Villages as follows:

• 30% on the submission and approval of the inception report.
• 30% on completion of the draft report.
• 40% on completion of the final report.

Duration of contract: the contract is effective from the moment it was signed until the acceptance of work by the SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia procurement team

Notice of delay:

Shall the successful bidder encounter a delay in the performance of the contract which may be excusable under unavoidable circumstances; the contractor shall notify SOS Children’s Villages in writing about the causes of any such delays within one (1) week from the beginning of the delay.

After receipt of the Contractor’s notice of delay, SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia shall analyze the facts and extent of the delay and extend the time for performance when in its judgment the facts justify such an extension.

 Copyright and other proprietary rights:

SOS Children’s Villages shall be entitled to all intellectual property and other proprietary rights including, but not limited to, copyrights, and trademarks, with regard to products, processes, inventions, ideas, know-how, or documents and other materials which the Contractor has developed for SOS Children’s Villages under the Contract and which bear a direct relation to or are produced or prepared or collected in consequence of, or during the course of, the performance of the Contract. The Contractor acknowledges and agrees that such products, documents, and other materials constitute works made for hire for SOS Children’s Villages.

All materials: interviews, reports, recommendations, and all other data compiled by or received by the Contractor under the Contract shall be the property of SOS Children’s Villages and shall be treated as confidential and shall be delivered only to SOS Children’s Villages authorized officials on completion of work under the Contract. The external consultant is obliged to hand over all raw data collected during the assessment to SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia.

 Termination:

The termination of the service agreement for the assignment will be in accordance with the contractual agreement to be included at the formal agreement’s actual signing.

Qualification of the researcher / research team:

• The applicant consultant shall have PHD degree (at least the team leader) in relevant fields of study such education, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, development studies, Economics, Project Management, Monitoring & Evaluation and other related fields per the required assignment
• At least 5 years’ work experience in international NGOs & proven competency in assessments, monitoring, and evaluation, including baseline assessments or organizational/program evaluation (baseline, midterm, and final evaluations). The incumbent shall attach at least one sample baseline or final evaluation report produced by the candidate on a similar topic.
• In-depth knowledge of government schools’ systems in Ethiopia
• At least 5 years’ work experience in international NGOs & proven competency in assessments, monitoring, and evaluation, including assessments or organizational/program evaluation (school gap assessment, baseline, midterm, and final evaluations). The incumbent shall attach at least one sample assessment report on related researches/assessments.
• Have proven experience in schools, skills development, institutional capacity assessments, or education sector reviews.
• A good understanding of child/youth rights/safeguarding & other issues affecting vulnerable children in the Ethiopian context.
• Demonstrated knowledge and practical experience in schools gap assessments.
• Prior experience conducting capacity gap assessments, organizational analyses, or institutional strengthening assignments for education or training institutions, preferably on Schools.
• Strong experience on national and regional schools’ policies, strategies, and frameworks.
• Strong skills in coordination, good facilitation, organizational, and interpersonal skills
• Strong skills in coordinating teamwork
• Analytical and conceptual skills on market and livelihood assessment
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Ability to transfer complex concepts and ideas into practical and simple language.
• Experience in organizing research processes with SOS Children’s Villages or similar child focused organizations.
• Experience and credibility in providing market and livelihood assessments for external communication and organizational purposes.
• Legally registered firms with renewed license, VAT registration and TIN number