Relief International – Jordan Hiring for Inclusion and Diversity Needs Assessment Consultant at Amman, Jordan Full Time

Position Title:  Inclusion and Diversity Needs Assessment Consultant

Location:             Jordan

Duration:            10 days’ worth level of effort

Reports to:       Interim Program Director 

Based:                 In Country based

 

1. BACKGROUND

RI has been operating in Jordan since 2004 with established offices in Amman and Za’atari and Azraq
camps, implementing critical interventions in education, youth programming and WASH. In addition,
RI has a presence within 18 schools in the host communities throughout four governorates: Amman,
Zarqa, Irbid and Mafraq. Within each camp location, RI operates six educations centres since 2013 in
Districts 3, 5 and 8 in Za’atari and since 2014 in Villages 2, 5, and 6 in Azraq. RI’s programs have
reached over 17,000 students since 2013 (51% females and 49% males).

 

Historically, RI has been one of the few agencies covering the entire spectrum of education
programming in these two camps, bridging the needs between basic, secondary, and tertiary
education to facilitate retention and return to formal schooling. RI has also provided capacity building
support to over 1,000 teachers and facilitators in Jordan through direct training, in-classroom
observation and coaching, and mentoring sessions over the past eight years. RI’s education expertise
in Jordan included curricula development; teachers’ professional development; development and
delivery of training packages; coaching programs design and implementation of inclusive education;
teacher performance tracking; and capacity building of school principals and other personnel. In
addition, all RI’s education programming is gender-responsive and incorporates the needs of children
with disabilities and other vulnerable school-aged children.

 

 

SUMMARY INFORMATION

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MULTI SECTOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT

1. Broad Objective

Provide strong, evidence-based information on the status of inclusion and diversity in the education facilities and communities supported by RI to strengthen the design and development of RI education strategy and future projects.

 

 

1. Specific Objectives

 

1. To map existing services, programs and opportunities available to ensure CwD, children from marginalised communities and vulnerable children have equal access and opportunities to learn regardless of their gender, abilities, disabilities, social-economic status, health, and psychosocial needs.
2. Identify barriers in existing provisions for inclusive education, and to make recommendations for future project interventions in coordination with MoE in RI’s program locations.
3. Assess the retention and dropout rates of CwD in comparison to their peers with no disabilities and assess the levels of support available to CwD to ensure retention.
4. Identify the knowledge, attitudes and practices of stakeholders, especially parents, teachers, peers, government officials and policy makers towards CwDs access to formal education in mainstream schools.

 

2. GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE

RI Jordan’s supported education facilities including 18 schools in the host communities throughout four governorates: Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and Mafraq, in addition to the ( 6 camps schools in Za’atri & Azraq clustered around RI centers.

 

3. SCOPE OF THE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Scope of Work

Main deliverables:

• Desk study and review of existing assessment studies, minutes of meetings and guidance documents of relevant clusters and other relevant literature (5%).
• Inception meetings and on-going consultation, data verification with key RI staff (5%). This will be to  discuss assessment questionnaires and qualitative data collection, sampling methodology.
• Analyse and review the primary data collected at the community and institutional level (15%).
• Analyse and review the primary quantitative and qualitative data and information collected at HH and KII and submit a draft report and share it with RI for comments (20%)
• Draft a high-quality Report detailing the findings in a concise and clear readable format 50%
• Conduct a validation debriefing session with RI Program and Senior Management team (5%).

 

4. SAMPLING METHODOLOGY

The RI Multi-sectorial Needs Assessment will use a simple random sampling approach in the targeted population for each district. A multi-stage, cluster sampling approach will be employed, and a random sample will draw based on the recorded number of total population household in the assessed districts with a 95% level of confidence and a 5% margin of error.

 

RI will request nominations for qualified data enumerators from the authorities from each of the targeted districts and train the enumerators who will be responsible for data collection at the household (HH) level and community level in the selected sample within the catchment areas using a standardized data collection form.  The specific number of HH surveys to be conducted will be calculated using the online survey calculator below with the confidence level at 90% and a 5% margin of error. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/epiinfo/.

V.Qualitative Component

The HH interviews will be administered using tablets and the Kobo Toolbox electronic data platform that provides data security via access controls and storage on a remote server, in addition to quality control features such as field restrictions and automated skip patterns. Interviews will be conducted in-person by trained enumerators, who will enter data electronically on tablets during the interviews. RI is responsible for recruitment and training of data collection enumerators in addition to the presence of female enumerators if the person interviewed is a woman. The questionnaire will be designed for relatively brief interview duration (ideally between 30 to 40 minutes) to safeguard quality and prevent respondent’s fatigue. Qualitative Component

In addition to quantitative data, the assessment team will conduct qualitative data collection, consisting of focus group discussions (FDGs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) with officials from the MoE, school Principals, teachers, officials from the Ministry of Youth and Social development, PTAs, key Donors, the UN. FGDs will consist of 8-12 participants; a group somewhat smaller than a standard FGD size to comply more safely with COVID-19 physical distancing, in addition one KII interview should be conducted at each district.

1. Key Informant Interviews

KIIs will be conducted following the online survey to verify and enhance the data collected. These will include:

• 4 interviews with Gov authorities (MoE, schools)
• 8 interviews with organisations specialised in inclusion and diversity in the education (Including HCD, UNESCO, GIZ, UNHCR, UNICEF, Plan International, HI, Mercy Corps, Education sector working group, protection sector working group, Queen Rania Teacher Academy “QRTA”, and Queen Rania Foundation “QRF”).
  2. Focus Group Discussions

12 FGD’s will be conducted (six Male, six Females) as below:

• Four with youth (four in host community, two in camps).
• Four with caregivers (four in host community, two in camps).
• Four with school staff (principals, teachers, and counsellors).

VI.DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORT WRITING

 

RI will use (kobo toolbox to collect quality data and conduct data analysis for the needs assessment, ensuring adequate descriptive analysis, cross tabulation and thematic analysis for the different data that will be collected. Reference will be made to secondary data collected specific to inclusion and diversity in education.

The Consultant will take the lead role in the drafting of the report findings in close coordination with RI Program Managers, Education Project Manager and MEAL Manager.

 

 

 

2. Research Study Deliverables

The ultimate deliverable of this consultancy will be an in-depth, report, as per the defined assessment objectives. For the purpose of managing the research process, the following interim deliverables are expected from the consultant:

• Draft assessment report presenting the findings for comments.
• Presentation of assessment findings and a PowerPoint presentation for RI program staff and Senior Management
• Final report in English incorporating comments from RI. The report should include the following the following sections as minimum requirements:
  • Executive Summary
  • Research methodology
  • Profile for each of the target governorates and districts
  • Recommendations
  • Annexes: ToR, workplan, tools, bibliography, maps.

The final assessment report will be reviewed for quality and final payment will be made upon submission of a satisfactory report. RI Jordan has sole ownership of all the final data and any findings shall not be reproduced or shared without the expresses written permission of RI.

 

3. Assessment Timeframe

The assessment is expected to commence on the 1^st of March and be completed by the 15^th of April 2023 with a total of 10 working days inclusive of desk reviews, inception meeting, complete report writing and present findings and recommendations. A draft report detailing the findings of the assessment outlined above should be presented by the 31^st of March 2023.

PROPOSED TIMELINES

Activity	Time
	March week 1	March week 2	March week 3	March week 4	April week 1	April week 2
Recruitment and Training of enumerators and logistical preparations	XXXXXXX	XXXXXXX
Data collection, clean up and tabulation		XXXXXXX	XXXXXXX
Data analysis and interpretation				XXXXXXX	XXXXXXX
Report Writing and submission					XXXXXXX	XXXXXXX

 

4. Relief International Responsibilities

RI will be responsible for the selection and training of enumerators, primary data collection, data translation, data cleaning, tabulation and sharing with the Technical Advisors and Consultant.

 

5. Research Consultant

The consultant will be responsible for the verification and integrity of the data, analysis, interpretation, consolidation and report writing. In addition, the Consultant will be responsible for all other responsibilities stipulated in other sections of this proposal.

 

1. Consultant Profile

The Consultant is expected to meet the following criteria in order to be eligible for this work:

 

• Advanced University degree (Master Level minimum) in on education, social sciences or other relevant fields.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience, with at least 3 years demonstrated experience in consulting on inclusive education, special education or another related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant practical experience in assessment, designing educational materials and conducting training
• Excellent understanding of the national legislative framework and institutional arrangements for children with disabilities and developmental difficulties.
• Strong analytical and logical thinking skills.
• Ability to communicate with various stakeholders and synthesize different.
• opinions.
• Strong presentation skills.
• excellent level of spoken and written English
• Excellent analytical skills and writing skills.
• Independent and self-starter

 

6. Expressions of Interest (EOI):

RI invites individuals with the experience and skills described above to submit their application with a detailed technical and financial proposal, including the following components:

1. Technical Personnel Capacity Statement

• A detailed workplan for the consultancy duration period of 10 working days.
• A cover letter of no more than two pages introducing the consultant and how the skills and competencies described above are met, with concrete examples that demonstrate an understanding of the ToRs and methodology requirements. Please also use this cover letter to indicate the consultants’ availability for the proposed period.
• A CV demonstrating relevant experience to the project, including three referees (with phone number and email address)
• Two examples of reports from previous needs assessments.

2. Financial Proposal

• Consultant’s daily rate in USD for 10 working days

EVALUATION AND AWARD OF CONSULTANCY RI will evaluate the proposals and award the contract based on technical soundness and financial feasibility. RI reserves the right to accept or reject any proposals received. APPLICATION PROCEDURES        Proposals and other supporting documents can submit via email to:[email protected]

 

NOTE : Due to the urgency to fill these positions CVs/applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.