United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is Currently Recruiting

1. Summary

UNESCO seeks the services of implementing partners to support the training of teachers in effective delivery of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) at school level and implementation of community engagement activities to increase support for CSE and SRHR services under the five-year project entitled, Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (O3) in the following provinces: Lusaka, Eastern, Southern, Central and North-Western.

2. Background

In March 2019, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) approved a UNESCO proposal for a project entitled Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (O3 Zambia). The O3 project seeks to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRHR), gender, and education outcomes for adolescents and young people in Zambia through sustained reductions in new HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, early and unintended pregnancy, and gender-based violence.

The project was conceptualized in alignment with the country’s thematic focus on creating a resilient, diversified economy for sustained advanced growth and social-economic development as articulated in the 7th National Development Plan (2017-2021). In this regard, the project will seek to contribute towards Zambia’s vision of “A prosperous middle-income nation by 2030”. Actions for this project are also consistent with the following national commitments: (i) National HIV and AIDS Strategic Framework 2017-2021; (ii) National Adolescent Health Strategy (2017-2021); (iii) National Health Strategic Plan (2017-2021); and (iv) United Nations Partnership Framework (2016-2021).

3. Project objectives

There are five objectives designed to contribute to the effective strengthening of sexuality education programmes:

1. To increase adolescent boys’ and girls’ access to good quality CSE programmes that integrate content on HIV, GBV, prevention of EUP and child marriage.
2. To create safer, healthier, and inclusive school and community environments that are free from GBV, bullying, and discrimination.
3. To support the prevention and management of EUPs.
4. To secure and sustain community support for CSE and SRHR services and promote greater engagement of men and boys.
5. To expand knowledge and evidence base on CSE for planning and implementation.

The project aims to reach 100% of grades 5-12 learners in primary and secondary schools by 2023 through strengthened life skills-based HIV and sexuality education curricula. Specifically, the project aims to reach at least 2 million learners in grades 5-12; 90,000 in-service teachers; 15,000 Pre-service teachers and 9,600 head teachers. The project is also expected to reach 4,250,000 people (parents, guardians, religious leaders, young people out of school) through mass and social media platforms.

4. Training of In-service Teachers ineffective delivery of CSE

Through the O3 Zambia programme, UNESCO is supporting the delivery of CSE that aims to equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that will empower them to realize their health, well-being and dignity. It aims to develop respectful relationships; consider how their choices affect their own wellbeing and that of others, and understand and ensure the protection of their rights throughout their lives. Through the O3 Zambia programme, UNESCO is working to ensure that the CSE delivered is gender-transformative, through addressing unequal or harmful gender norms, and preparing children to face gender-based violence both inside and outside of schools.

UNESCO recognizes that school settings provide an important opportunity to reach large numbers of young people with sexuality education before they become sexually active, as well as offer an appropriate structure within which to do so systematically over time. Teachers remain central to the process given their critical role in effective delivery of sexuality education with the right knowledge, skills and comfort levels. Adequate preparation of teachers ensures delivery of accurate and age-appropriate CSE information to learners. This information guides the learners through adolescence and enables them to make responsible decisions that impact their current and future sexual and reproductive health and overall well-being. The central role of teachers in delivering good quality CSE is well-recognised, as are the challenges associated with ensuring that teachers are properly trained and supported to undertake the task. Teacher training is a key priority for the Zambia O3 Programme.

UNESCO implemented an offline face to face teacher training program as well as an online training on CSE since 2014 in partnership with UNFPA. A cascade model of In-service teacher training in effective delivery of CSE was implemented in order to maximize reach. Evidence from the evaluation of the phase 1 CSE project indicates that the quality of delivery among some teachers that received training at the lower levels of the cascade model is low. Due to the different layers involved, teachers trained at the lower levels of the cascade often ended up not receiving high-quality training which impacted on their ability to effectively teach and deliver quality CSE. These teachers were less prepared to deliver CSE lessons and reported low comfort levels to deliver CSE lessons at classroom level. Teachers that received training at higher levels of the cascade are well-versed in CSE, more receptive to the idea of teaching CSE, and more adequately prepared to teach it. Recognizing the challenge associated with the cascade model, the O3 Zambia program will use the model of teacher training colleges as CSE training hubs to facilitate in-service CSE teacher training using college lecturers and CSOs as trainers and targeting selected teachers from schools as direct recipients of the five day CSE training using the process oriented approach (POA). The capacity-building for in-service teachers in effective delivery of CSE at school level will be provided in the five O3 Zambia focus provinces namely Lusaka, Central, Southern, Eastern and North-Western provinces.

Technical support will be provided to popularise a standard teacher training package that includes a component of values clarification, gender equality, gender based violence and prevention of early and unintended pregnancy. This package will be used for pre- and in-service teacher training. UNESCO and the Ministry of General Education will work closely with selected implementing partners to support teacher training at the college and school levels, using the standard teacher-training package.

To ensure that the breadth and depth of content is covered, attention will be paid to guarantee that the CSE delivered is gender transformative, through addressing unequal or harmful gender norms, questioning gender stereotypes, and preparing children to face gender-based violence both inside and outside of schools. To do this, UNESCO will make use of gender sensitive tools and capacity building resources from the Connect with Respect tool, teachers’ guides or lesson plans. Teachers and those who train them need to understand how gender interacts with HIV, EUP and other sexual and reproductive health issues and to apply a gender transformative approach to classroom methods.

Through the O3 Zambia project, a coaching and mentoring strategy will be implemented to provide on-going supervision and mentorship to teachers through systematic professional support focusing on the achievement of teaching skills, strategies, and techniques for CSE delivery through development of innovative teaching and learning approaches that stimulate learner-centred delivery of CSE. The coaching and mentoring strategy will ensure the development of the necessary values and attitudes without which the delivery of good quality CSE has been previously hampered.

In addition to teacher training on CSE, UNESCO is working to ensure that linkages between schools and health services are strengthened so that learners are able to access the sexual and reproductive health services they need. Further to this, UNESCO is implementing a campaign on early and unintended pregnancy which was launched in 2019 and engagement of parents on CSE. These are supportive activities which are aimed at reinforcing implementation of CSE in the classroom.

5. Scope of Work

Each implementing partner will be expected to support activities in one (1) province only. The implementing partners are expected to support the training of teachers in effective delivery of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) at the teacher education colleges hubs and at school level in each of the five focus provinces namely Lusaka, Eastern, Southern, Central and North-Western provinces. The Implementing partners are further expected to support implementation of community engagement activities to increase support for CSE and SRHR services under the five-year project entitled, Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future (O3). Specifically, the implementing partners will implement the following activities in each of the five focus provinces:

1. Support the Ministry of General Education in training teachers and head teachers to effectively deliver CSE lessons at classroom level. The first level of support will be at the teacher training college hub in a respective province where 5 teachers per school from selected districts will undergo the 5 day CSE training. The second level will be supporting the 5 teachers trained at the College hub to train teachers at the school level.
2. Implement community EUP prevention and management activities including the engagement of communities (including men and boys) to reduce stigma around EUP using different modalities including mass media
3. Implement activities that promote parent-child communication and parental involvement on the provision of CSE and access to SRHR services including supporting the roll out of the parent and child communication manual
4. Implement activities to strengthen linkages between schools and health services providers
5. Recruit and host an Associate program officer who will be stationed at the teacher education hub to directly support the coordination of the CSE teacher training programs at the teacher education college

6. Number of Teachers to be trained and community members to be reached per province
Province Teacher Training College # of Teachers Trained at the college Hub Teachers Trained per College # of In-service Teachers trained at school level per province from May to December 2020 # of Community members reached from April to December 2020
Lusaka ZAMISE 200 200 200 600 3 000 1, 000, 000
Eastern Chipata 200 200 200 600 1 500 500, 000
Southern David Livingstone 200 200 200 600 3 000 500, 000
Central Malcom Moffat 200 200 200 600 2 000 300, 000
North-Western Solwezi 200 200 200 600 1 000 300, 000
Total 3, 000 10, 500 2, 600, 000

7. Deliverables

The deliverables of the partnership will be as follows;

1. Quarterly reports on in-service teachers and head teachers trained in effective delivery of CSE at the college hub and school level. The reports must include the number and list of teachers trained disaggregated by gender
2. Quarterly reports on community EUP prevention and management activities implemented. The report must indicate the number of people reached disaggregated by gender
3. Quarterly reports on activities implemented to promote parent child communication including the number of people reached disaggregated by gender
4. Quarterly reports on activities implemented to strengthen the linkage to services. The report must highlight the number of young people linked to services disaggregated by gender
5. Associate Program officer recruited and stationed at the college hub for 12 months

Duration

No. Description of Activity Deliverable Timeframe

1. Kick off meeting and review of project documents Inception report March 2020
2. Support the Ministry of General Education in training in-service teachers and head teachers to effectively deliver CSE lessons at classroom level. 4 quarterly reports incorporating activities 2-5. June 2020,

September 2020

December 2020

March 2021

3. Implement activities to strengthen linkages between schools and health services providers
4. Implement community EUP prevention and management activities
5. Implement activities that promote parent-child communication and parental involvement on the provision of CSE and access to SRHR
6. Recruit and host an Associate program officer Associate Program officer recruited March 2020

8. Qualifications and Requirements

Expertise of the firm

• The implementing partners are expected to have the following qualifications and skills;
• Mandatory for the organisation to demonstrate a minimum of five years’ experience in implementing programs in the education and health sectors
• Mandatory for the organisation to demonstrate experience in implementing CSE and SRHR programs in Zambia, supported by a minimum of two references.
• Demonstrated experience with training in the education sector, supported by at least two references.
• Proven experience in report writing, supported by at least 2 references
• Experience working with UNESCO or other UN agencies is desirable

Personnel – individual candidates designated to undertake the assignment

• Mandatory for the Technical Lead for the firm/organisation to have a degree in social sciences, or public health, with minimum experience of 5 years in the implementation of education and health programs
• Mandatory for at least one team member to demonstrate expertise in implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education and SRHR programs, supported by two references
• Mandatory for at least one team member to demonstrate expertise in project/program monitoring & evaluation, supported by two references

Reporting

The contract will be managed by the UNESCO Zambia office.

9. Evaluation of Proposals

Interested CSOs are requested to submit a Technical and Financial proposal. The Technical proposal will be evaluated on the basis of responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

Technical Proposal

The technical proposal should be no more than 25 pages and will be assessed on the following:

Expertise of Firm

• The organization’s experience and expertise that will be of benefit to the proposed assignment

Work plan and Approach

• Approach to task that demonstrates to what degree the organization understands the requirements as set out in TOR.
• to what extent does the proposal elaborate and address the key tasks and deliverables as per the TOR, based on offer’s interpretation and understanding
• Feasible approach and methods, appropriate for fulfilling the overall objectives of the consultancy
• Overall clarity – Is the presentation clear and is the sequence of activities and planning logical, realistic and promise efficient / on time submission of deliverables?
• does the proposal include a realistic work plan with specific treatment of key deliverables and priorities, and also clear repartition of tasks amongst team members?

The organization is expected to submit one (1) work sample, which is related to the consultancy. The quality of the sample will be assessed to determine capacity of organization to support requirements set out in this terms of reference (TOR).

Submission of Proposals

The offer, comprising of technical proposal and financial proposal should reach the following email address no later than 03 March, 2020 at 17:00 hours Central Africa Time (CAT)

[email protected]

Submissions that do not meet the above mandatory requirements will not be reviewed.