Consultant to Conduct Research and Develop Handbook on School Governance

TERMS OF REFERENCE CONSULTANT TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOP HANDBOOK ON SCHOOL GOVERNANCE Thematic Program: Access and Quality of Education I. INTRODUCTION Aide et Action International (AEA) is an international NGO, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. AEA International began its programs in 1981 and is now working in more than 20 countries across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia and China to support the development of sustainable education projects with our belief in the universal right to a quality education. In Vietnam, AEA has been working since 2003 in 6 provinces including Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Thai Nguyen, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau and Lao Cai. AEA’s activities focus on key interventions including: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) to basis education, Access and Quality of education, and Livelihood Education and Development. Under the theme Access & Quality of Education, the overall objective is to promote equitable and quality education for ethnic minority and other disadvantaged children in Vietnam through attaining following specific objectives:

To increase equal access to opportunities for learning and development of ethnic minority children;
To enhance voice and participation of children in education through responsive school governance.

The program target groups are disadvantaged children at general education including ethnic minority children and children from migrated families. One important objective of the project (SO2) is to increase engagement of children as well as duty bearers in making decisions relating to children’s education through improving the quality and effectiveness of school governance. In order to design strategic and sustainable interventions in order to develop an inclusive and participatory school governance system as well as provide stakeholders guidance on how to implement related initiatives, the program will conduct a research combined with developing a handbook on school governance. Therefore, the program calls for 01 consultant/ consultant team to conduct this mission. II. OBJECTIVE AND EXPECTED OUTPUT Consultant(s) is expected to deliver the following products: 1. Research report on school governance at general education which should cover the following contents:

Situation of school governance in Vietnam: Good practices and gaps of school governance in Vietnam including policies, practices, capacity and engagement of stakeholders in governance process;
Assessment of existing models of school governance in other countries that can be learnt from basing on analysis of their relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and possibility of application in the context of Vietnam;
Recommendations both in terms of project interventions and policies in general.

2. Policy brief on school governance to inform duty bearers about related policy process, strengths & gaps and potential pathways to positive and sustainable change 3. Handbook on school governance which should cover at least the contents as below: Basic concepts on school governance that project stakeholders need to understand and to avoid misconception; A desired model of effective school governance which promote participatory and rights- based approaches; Initiatives to improve school governance, particularly engagement of children and other duty bearers in school governance, such as Children Council, Children Forum, Dialogue, etc. The products should follow general requirement, including:

Be practical, applicable and easy to use for targeted audiences as mentioned above;
Use simple language that is understandable;
Where relevant, use pictures and diagrams to support and explain for written text.

III. SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant(s) will work closely with project staff and stakeholders to understand requirements and agree on specific work in order to produce a good product;
The consultant(s) will be provided related documents and support from project staffs during their work;
The consultant(s) will keep regular communication with project staff during their work;
Regarding necessary for and relevance with the development of handbook on school governance, the consultant(s) may propose additional contents and work, then search for agreement from AEA before conducting any activity.

VI. QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

Vietnamese citizen with graduate degree in social science, sociology, development studies or other relevant disciplines;
Excellent knowledge and experience in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research/surveys;
At least 5 years of continuous professional experience in development sector and/or education sector; experience with children in Vietnam is an asset;
Have experience in doing research and/or developing handbook/guideline particularly on basic education, school governance/governance, child rights and participation;
Proven experience and skills in working with local communities and authorities, especially in ethnic minority and difficult areas.

VII. TENTATIVE TIMEFRAME Activities Timeline:

Sign consultant contract and agree on implementation plan: January 2020
Develop tools, methodology and outlines January 2020 Field research in Hoa Binh and another province (to be decided later): February 2020
1st draft of research: April 2020
1st draft of policy brief: April 2020
1st draft of handbook: May 2020
Revised/final drafts after integrating comments and feedback from AEA and project stakeholders: June 2020

Note: Timeline may be changed upon actual work and agreement between consultant and AEA staffs. VIII. MANAGEMENT OF THE ASSIGNMENT The contract will be signed in accordance with AEA regulations and guidelines for the contracting of consultants. The assignment will be directly managed by project manager in the planning, developing and finalizing the tasks assigned. IX. APPLICATION Interested candidates are invited to send a complete application package in English to: info-vietnam@aide-et-action.org by 5PM on 31 January 2019, with the subject “Consultancy - Research and Handbook on school governance”, including.

(1) updated curriculum vitae;
(2) expression of interest of not more than 02 pages, outlining how the consultant(s) meets the selection criteria;
(3) a proposal for the mission including tentative time frame, methodologies, product outlines, personnel, and others;
(4) example(s) of recent similar work done by the consultant(s); and
(5) estimated budget proposal including consultancy fee, and other reimbursable costs

Please be informed that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for further discussion. (The recruitment process may end sooner if we find the suitable consultant to fill this position.)

Tags: AEAI