RFP#LRPS-2022-9177797: Technical Assistance to Bangladesh Shishu Academy to develop a Costed Action Plan
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT
Title of the assignment
Technical Assistance to Bangladesh Shishu Academy to develop a Costed Action Plan
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to support Bangladesh Shishu Academy to facilitate data collection from the 19 Ministries and divisions to roll out the CAP matrix and finalization of the tool.
Location
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Estimated Duration
August 2022-December 2022
Reporting to Technical Supervisor of this assignment
Education Section
1. Background
Over the past decade, major strides have been made in policy and programmatic development in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) in Bangladesh. Significant steps, which have been influenced directly and indirectly by the wide-ranging activities, carried out under the umbrella of Early Childhood Development Project (ECDP) which was a joint Programme cycle 2001-2005 of Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and UNICEF. To build on the success of the ELCDP, a new project - the Early Learning for Child Development Project (ELCDP) was developed and implemented during 2006 - 2010 period. This project has been extended in different phases and ended in December 2021. UNICEF is currently in the process of developing a position paper based on which a new project will be undertaken in May 2022. However, until a new project has been undertaken, a Rolling Workplan is under implementation to continue the efforts from ELCDP.
Under the ELCDP, a Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy was adopted and approved by the cabinet in 2013. The policy encourages all stakeholders including “government agencies and non-government actors including NGOs, community organizations and the private sector” under the leadership of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), to be engaged in a coordinated and comprehensive national effort to meet the developmental needs of young children. Based on this policy an Operational and Implementation Plan was developed and approved in 2016 by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs. National ECCD Coordination Committee with representatives from 15 Ministries, Government Agencies and Representative of Civil Society Organizations was formed by Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in January 2017 for coordination of Comprehensive ECCD Policy. National ECCD Technical Committee including different subject specialists has been formed by MoWCA in May 2018 for Implementation of Comprehensive ECCD Policy.
In the Comprehensive ECCD Policy 15 ministries, now in 19 ministries/divisions have been identified to address the holistic need of early years of a child in a multi-sectoral approach. These ministries have different agenda, activities, plan and allocated resources for the wellbeing of young children. Therefore, it has been realized that the government should have a long term, multi-sectoral, integrated and holistic plan and resources for implementation of the Comprehensive ECCD Policy and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 4.2. In this connection, a demand has been created to develop a Costed Action Plan (CAP) for the implementation of the operational plan of the Comprehensive ECCD Policy.
Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN) also has been providing technical support to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs through this project. Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN) was requested by Bangladesh Shishu Academy to develop a guideline for costed action plan under ELCD Project (3rd Phase). BEN Executive Board formed a technical working group to develop the costed action plan. The working group has identified thematic areas and areas of investment by reviewing a number of documents including Sustainable Development Goals, Comprehensive Early Childhood Care Development Policy 2013, 7th Five Years Plan of the government, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Ministries’ priorities. It has been updated now with indicators from 8th Five Year Plan. The team has taken into account of the government financial coding system, which is based on ibas++ budget, and accounting system while developing the outline of the CAP matrix. Finally, the team has come up with a comprehensive matrix of the CAP that gives a clear picture about intervention and age wise status of investment, gaps, additional investment requirement and investment plan for the next two years from the bottom level to the top level of the government structure. The team, in addition, has also developed a matrix including list of activities as per Policy for Coordination Ministry (MoWCA) with cost for 5 years. The technical working group has developed the CAP through a series of group meeting and individual work.
The CAP tool has been reviewed by the technical committee in 2021 and orientation of the focal desk officials have also been conducted in different rounds. Additionally, in November 2021 batchwise daylong orientation of focal persons from 15 ministries and directorates under the ministries was conducted by the ELCDP of BSA.
2. Objectives, Purpose and Expected Results
The purpose of this assignment is to support Bangladesh Shishu Academy to facilitate data collection from the 19 Ministries and divisions to roll out the CAP matrix and finalization of the tool.
Specific Objectives:
The specific objectives of this consultation include the following:
Assess progress status of CAP initiated by BSA/MoWCA under 3rd phase of ELCDP and collect information from 15 Ministries and divisions/directorate under them to complete the unfinished work planned to be carried out by them.
- To assess whether each of the ECCD intervention across the 19 ministries produces the expected outcomes, particularly looking at equity, quality, etc.
- Review tools/matrix developed for CAP under 3rd Phase of ELCDP and document implementation modalities to identify what works and what does not (bottlenecks and barriers) and make recommendations for improvement/modification of these tools/matrix and modalities.
- Assess roles and responsibilities of the National ECCD Coordination Committee and National ECCD Technical Committee for carrying out CAP.
- To understand the key bottlenecks and barriers for implementation of the costed plan.
- Review tools/matrix developed for CAP under 3rd Phase of ELCDP and document implementation modalities to identify what works and what does not (bottlenecks and barriers) and make recommendations for improvement/modification of these tools/matrix and modalities
To develop recommendations for ECCD costed action plan based on the comprehensive desk review, including a framework for institutionalizing ECCD.
Expected Results:
The expected results are a completed package and matrix of the costed action plan tool based on a consultative process to collect data and evidence that will enable the government of Bangladesh to generate evidence and reports on the ECCD status of Bangladesh to track and the comprehensive ECCD implementation, report on the SDG indicators and targets and align with the Government priorities and vision of the 85YP. It is anticipated that matrix of the costed action plan will create a solid basis for stronger engagement in the ECCD sector.
3. Description of Assignment
Description of Assignment
Under this assignment, the contracting agency/institution is expected to undertake the following task:
- Discussion with BSA and UNICEF team for development of the inception report detailing out methodology with time bound action plan for review of exiting materials, process data collection and consultation with key stakeholders, and preparation of the final report.
- Review available materials (CAP guideline, tools, matrix, ToR of ECD focal desks, ToR of the ECCD Coordination and Technical Committee, Orientation guideline of ECD focal persons from 15 ministries and divisions under them) and document findings
- Review progress status of CAP initiated by BSA/MoWCA under 3rd phase of ELCDP and collect data from ECD focal desk of 15 Ministries and divisions as required in the CAP matrix.
- Cleaning data and populating the CAP matrix
- Update the Matrix and if necessary, with some modification to adapt with the available govt. data from the Ministries and prepare draft
completed package and matrix of the costed action plan tool including following: -
- Refining of data collection tools
- (Re-) training of data collectors
- Data collection and documents/data review
- Data analysis
- Presentation to implementation team
- Presentation to CAP matrix
- Organize a stakeholder consultation for review and feedback on draft package
- Develop repackaged costed action plan guideline including tools/matrix.
Scope:
The overall scope of work is for the contracting agency/institution is to support MoWCA/Bangladesh Shishu Academy for modification of the existing CAP guideline including tools and matrix to facilitate the collection and compilation of data from the 15 Ministries and Divisions to roll out the CAP as part of their mainstream program. The timeframe for this assignment is from July to December 2022. The contracting agency/institution will be reportable to BSA and carry out this assignment as an activity under the rolling work plan signed between MoWCA and UNICEF.
4. Deliverables
1. Inception report, detailing out methodology with time bound action plan for review of exiting materials, process data collection and consultation with key stakeholders, and preparation of the final report.
2. Final repackaged costed action plan including tools and matrix.
5. Reporting requirements
All communication will come from the winning agency to a focal point.
within UNICEF. Regular progress updates will be expected every week, given the time constraints, with
proactive communication in between, as needed.
The final report should follow this structure and be no more than 40 pages, excluding the Annexure:
- Table of contents, list of annexes/figures/tables, etc.
- List of Acronyms
- Executive Summary (2 – 3 pages)
- Introduction & Background
- Methodology, including Limitations and Ethical Considerations
- Findings (with key findings called out)
- Conclusions & Discussion
- Recommendations
- Annexure (IRB approval letter, data collection tools, etc.)
6. Payment Schedule
The following payment schedule will be followed:
- 30% of total fee upon submission and approval of the inception report
- 40% of total fee on submission and approval of draft final report
- 30% of total fee on submission and approval of final report and policy brief, all raw and analysed data, and all final data collection tools
7. Qualification requirement of the company/institution/organization
The interested agency should have the following qualifications:
- Proven leadership and/or track record in the field of Early Childhood Development and child
protection-related areas of work including the most marginalized children
- 10+ years of experience in conducting quantitative and qualitative studies or research (team lead and expert member overseeing specific portion of the study), with proven expertise in rigorous data analysis techniques and report writing
- Vast experience working with young children, particularly conducting research or studies
- Strong understanding and use of the child- and human-rights based approach to programming and M&E
- Experience conducting research or evaluation in Bangladesh
- Prior experience with the UN programming environment is desirable although not mandatory.
- Work experience with UNICEF will be considered an asset.
7a. Qualification requirement of the team (optional)
The technical proposal with the team & related experience & qualifications should include the specific professional individual(s) and/or team(s) for the assignment including required experience, skills and qualifications; if applicable:
o Number of requested experts per category (e.g., team leader, supervisor...etc.)
o Profile required (education, experience, category of each expert and working language(s) etc)