- Organization: Dalberg Global Development Advisors
- Country: Tanzania
- City: Dar es Salaam
- Office: Dalberg Global Development Advisors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Job Title: Terms of Reference – Innovator
Business/Department: Dalberg Implement
Job Category: Implementation
Location: Dar Es Salaam, TZ
TZ (multi-location)
Closing Date: 29 Sep 2023
Job Description
Terms of Reference
Request for proposals for innovative solutions seeking to build capacity for lower primary school teachers through a proven evidence-informed pedagogy program
INITIATIVE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
Zanzibar has significantly invested in and improved access to universal basic education in the past four years. The government allocation in the education sector has increased by 33%, (USD 28.4 Mn, between 2018-2022). 81% of the budget is allocated to pre- and primary education (PPE) and secondary education. Most of the funds are directed to infrastructure development, particularly the construction of schools, which has significantly increased the enrollment of students. In 2019/20, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) was 112% and was above 100% across all dimensions (wealth quintile, gender, region, and areas).
Despite this commendable progress, there remain challenges to overcome as the country pivots to enhancing the quality of education to improve learning outcomes. Some of the challenges identified are inadequate teacher capacity, limited teaching and learning materials, and a noncomprehensive curriculum. These are exacerbated by the fact that entrepreneurs and the government often build education solutions in siloes, therefore, limiting scalability and impact.
Specifically on foundational skills, one major key bottleneck remains: Inadequate teacher training. Many graduates of Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) go into the workforce without being job ready. They often have no mastery of the basics i.e., modern pedagogy, basic English for teachers, content delivery, etc. This then translates into lower capacity to teach effectively. Additionally, despite the availability of Teachers Training Centers for in-service teacher training, teachers do not receive adequate professional development. Most professional development opportunities for teachers come in the form of one-off, in-person trainings which are often costly, project-based and without a clear follow-up strategy – limiting the impact. Additionally, there are no formal avenues for teachers to learn from one another.
To address this issue, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), has partnered with Dalberg and Hempel Foundation to set up Elimu-Soko Zanzibar – an initiative to serve as a stimulant and a clearinghouse for innovative solutions in the public education system. Through this initiative, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar is committed to co-designing innovative solutions with education entrepreneurs, enabling their success through effective policy and procurement procedures, and providing them with technical expertise and financing to scale. Additionally, this will enable entrepreneurs to align their priorities with those of the government, increasing chances of uptake and scaling.
For its inaugural project, Elimu-Soko Zanzibar will select, pilot, and support the scaling of an innovation that addresses the challenge of in-service teacher training. The initiative is seeking an innovator who has successfully implemented general and/or subject specific pedagogy programs in other developing countries, preferably in other African countries. The initiative will provide the innovator with a unique opportunity to not only co-design the piloting of innovations but to also accompany it every step of the way as it iterates on its solution. Elimu-Soko will offer financial support to conduct the pilot, technical support in pilot implementation, monitoring and evaluation of training and learning achievements, as well as policy support and access to government. To ensure alignment and ownership, the pilot will be co-designed between the Ministry of Education, the funder, and the innovators.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INITIATIVE
Elimu-Soko Zanzibar is looking for quality proposals for innovations that could improve foundational learning outcomes through improving teacher training (either pre- or in-service). Innovations must use a an evidence-informed pedagogical approach as a way to deliver teacher training. The innovations can be high-tech, low-tech, or non-tech.
For Elimu-Soko Zanzibar, success after the pilot will lead to:
- Improved training for approximately 250 primary teachers
- Improved access to quality education for approximately 20,000 primary students
- At least 0.2 standard deviation of impact on student outcomes, compared to: a baseline assessment, a control group comparison, and any national assessments (e.g., Tanzanian Early Grade Ready Assessment)
- Increased proficiency in teacher ability to facilitate engaging and content accurate lessons on a normed teacher observation rubric against a control group
- An innovation with product-market fit and ready to be scaled for adoption across the country.
- A proven model that can raise external funding – both government and philanthropic – on its own
- Improved capacity of the innovators on scaling up the effort using funds from another government facility
SCOPE OF THE INITIATIVE
The selected innovators will work with Elimu-Soko Zanzibar to co-design a 6-month pilot project for their proposed innovation, and work closely in administering the pilot. Key tasks will include:
- Co-design the pilot. The innovator, Elimu-Soko Zanzibar and the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) partner will co-design the pilot, creating evidence-based experiments, tailoring the results framework to their individual solutions, as well as identifying tools and systems to be used to carry out the pilot. They will also identify KPIs that will help track progress and quantify the impact of the innovation.
- Identify pilot geographies. In collaboration with MoEVT, the innovator will select pilot geographies where the innovation will be tested. The exact scope of the pilot will be determined once innovations have been selected but ideally, the pilot will be conducted in one or more districts of Zanzibar.
- Implement the pilot. The innovator will work with MoEVT, regional and district education officers, and headteachers among target geographies to implement the pilot, aligning on the day-to-day implementation of the innovation. Additionally, the innovator will work with these stakeholders to measure gains in learning outcomes.
- Conduct M&E. The innovator will lead the collection and analysis of data on an on-going basis to track changes in relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the innovation. The innovator will work closely with Ministry’s officer responsible for Education Management Information System. The innovator will receive on-going advice from the MEL partner to ensure this is done efficiently and correctly.
- Report progress. The innovator will work with the MEL partner to identify the frequency of reporting depending on the type of data and scale of the pilot. The innovator will be expected to regularly communicate progress with Elimu-Soko on time.
- Produce a pilot report. The innovator will support the MEL partner to produce a comprehensive report of the pilot. The report will include the following:
- Executive summary
- Introduction of the innovation
- Description of the approach to piloting including populations/geography selection
- Description of the evaluation methodology
- Key findings, including best practices and lessons learned.
- Conclusions and recommendations.
BUDGET OF THE PILOT
The budget of the pilot will be capped at USD 150,000, including all taxes and fees. Following the pilot, the government and other donors will make a decision on whether to scale up the pilot and allocate new funding for the scale-up process.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
Elimu-Soko Zanzibar is looking for quality proposals of solutions that address the above-mentioned challenge. Both National and International innovators, whether for-profit or not-for-profit are encouraged to submit their applications. However, the following minimum requirements should be satisfied: Innovators
- Innovators should have a deep understanding of the challenges in teacher training as well as the education sector in Zanzibar as a whole, the Zanzibar Education Situation Analysis (ESA) Zanzibar National Development Plan (ZADP) and the Zanzibar Education Transformation Report might be used as a source of information.
- Innovators should possess proven track record of at least 5 years of delivering teacher training through an evidence-informed pedagogical approach (which may include structured pedagogy and/or other approaches).
- Innovators should have the right capabilities (i.e., qualified team, enough boots on the ground, a ready technology for tech-enabled solutions, etc.) to execute on the pilot within the timeframe specified in these ToRs
- Innovators should be willing to collaborate with the public education system as well as local stakeholders (Teacher Centre Subject Advisors, Teacher Training College and State University of Zanzibar instructors, Quality Assurance Officers and MEWAKA/Community of Learning [COL] groups) to build their capacity and clearly articulate how they will do that.
Innovations
- Innovations should be deeply rooted in evidence research and be pedagogically sound.
- Innovations should be structured in a way that leverages the delivery chain (e.g., work through district education officials) and seeks to build its capacity in the long run (i.e., the officials can run and manage the innovation without the innovator)
- Innovations should be beyond proof of concept and should ideally have been tested and implemented in emerging markets. Preference will be given to innovations that were tested in African countries.
- Innovations should be scalable to the entire public education system, and they should be costefficient at a system-wide level (i.e., less than $10 per student for 200,000 students). Preference will be given to innovations with the lowest cost to scale to a system wide level.
To evaluate the proposals, a selection committee comprised of officials from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Dalberg, and the Hempel Foundation. The selection committee will use a comprehensive framework to select an innovation. The judging criteria are as per the below: Criteria
Description
Score
Demonstrated impact
Excellent track record delivering education innovations (e.g., recent data that shows quantified impact
Track record is proven through a strong study that is experimental or a full
RCT.
10
10
Ability to execute
Past experience working in developing countries (experience in Africa / Tanzania / Zanzibar is a plus)
Experience in systematically scaling programs by building capacity across teachers, school leaders and district officials over multiple years.
Qualified team for the pilot (e.g., deep and relevant technical experience in the education sector, experience in managing similar programs in emerging countries
5
10
5
Approach and methodology
Training material is vetted through formal accreditation or extensive use in other contexts
Description of the pilot (e.g., how existing training material will be customized for Zanzibar, who will be trained, number of training session, training material for teachers and students, reasonableness of associated costs, delivery in a low-tec environment) with a clear articulation on how capacity will be built in the pilot program.
Clear project plan on activities required in the pilot preparation phase and during the pilot and time periods for the activities (assuming a 6-month pilot)
Clear articulation of MEL plan (e.g., what data will be collected from what sources during the pilot, how the results will be analyzed and reported, and how the pilot will be modified based on interim results, qualifications of the people undertaking the MEL)
Scalability
Robust demonstration of scalability in the pilot and methodology for embedding and the innovation in the public system (e.g., number of years to scale, incremental objectives for each year, learning process from iteration, direct school interventions versus district level interventions, Train the Trainer model)
Total program cost, cost per teacher, and cost per student for each year of the scaling period, and any recurring cost after the program is fully scaled (including a breakdown of costs for training sessions, printed material, capacity building etc.). The total program cost at scale should be less than USD 10 per student for 200,000 students, and preference will be given to programs with the lowest cost at a system wide level.
TOTAL
100
BIDDING
Innovators should submit no more than 10 PowerPoint slides structured as follows: Section
Description
Executive summary
(1 slide)
A brief narrative summarizing the proposal. This should include a summary of the innovator’s demonstrated impact and ability to execute, as well as the approach and methodology for the pilot program, the scalability plan beyond the pilot, and a simple table with the total costs and the costs per student for the 6-month pilot and each year of the future scale-up.
Demonstrated impact
(1 slide)
Key exhibit/s demonstrating impact on student outcomes for other recent programs undertaken by the innovator, as well as a description of the experimental study or RCT that was undertaken for the program.
Ability to execute
(1 slide)
A description of who the innovator is and a summary of relevant past experience, especially in: 1) developing countries (especially in Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar), 2) systematically scaling programs over multiple years, and 3) building capacity in the public education systems. In the event the of a joint proposal, provide a brief explanation of the partnership. Please emphasize any experience in working in Zanzibar with governmental authorities, as well as knowledge of the sociopolitical context.
Team structure
(1 slide)
An overview of the proposed team and brief bios for the team members, with an emphasis on: technical experience in the education sector, and experience in managing similar programs in emerging countries. In the absence of team members based in Zanzibar, provide a brief explanation of how local team members will be recruited and how long that process will take.
Description of the innovation / proposed pilot
(1 slide)
A detailed description of the innovation. This should include: How the training material has been vetted (e.g., through formal accreditation, extensive use in other contexts)
Description of the pilot (e.g., how existing training material will be customized for Zanzibar, who will be trained, number of training sessions, training material for teachers and students, reasonableness of associated costs, delivery in a low-tech environment)
Clear articulation of how capacity will be built during the pilot program
Project plan
(1 slide)
An overview of the proposed work plan highlighting the activities required in the pilot preparation phase and during the pilot and time periods for the activities (assuming a 6-month pilot). This should also include key milestones and deliverables.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan
(1 slide)
A comprehensive framework of tracking and monitoring progress throughout the pilot period. This should include the overall ToC for the innovation, a robust set of KPIs, the systems and tools to be used to track and these indicators, and key checkpoints with Elimu-Soko to provide updates, problem-solve and iterate on the innovation.
Future Scaling Plan
(1 slide)
A clear description of the post-pilot scaling plan, including: 1) a theory of change to show how the intervention will be scaled-up and embedded in the government, 2) methodology for scaling the innovation (e.g., number of years to scale, incremental objectives for each year, learning process from iterations, direct school interventions versus district level interventions, Train the Trainer model), and 3) methodology for embedding the innovation in the public education system, after the pilot program (i.e., approach to transition to government). A clear explanation of what elements of the pilot are cost-effectively and efficiently scalable and what elements will present risks in scale-up will be required.
Pilot and Scaling Cost
(1 slide)
Total program cost, cost per teacher, and cost per student for the 6month pilot as well as each year of the scaling period. Any recurring cost after the program is fully scaled should be shown in a separate column, Major cost items (e.g., delivery of training sessions, printed material, capacity building) should be shown as separate line items. Preference will be given to innovations with a methodology that results in the lowest cost at a system wide level.
Supplementary information
(1 slide)
Any other relevant material (please include as the last slide rather than changing the flow of the previous slides).
Additionally, the Innovator MUST attach the following material to the proposal (as separate attachments):
- Impact studies from past programs, especially any impact data on student outcomes
- Any accreditation or peer review/validation details of the programmatic approach
- Program implementation material from a similar program (e.g., curriculum, workbooks, etc.)
- Excel file with detailed, line-item breakdown of all costs
- 3-5 references that can attest to the information provided in the proposal
Finally, innovators should include a single statement in the submission email that self-certifies that the following documents can be provided at the end of the selection process (or an explanation on why a certain document might not be available):
- Legal registration documents
- Copy of license to operate in country where project work will be completed
- Annual reports for the last 3 years
- Audited annual financial statement for the last 3 years
- Organizational chart
- Names and addresses of key personnel (e.g., CEO, COO, Chief Program Officer, other projectspecific personnel with oversight over funds)
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act certificate
- Child protection policies / training descriptions
APPLICATION PROCESS
Innovators are encouraged to consider these:
- Proposals (technical and financial) must be sent as separate files in a folder to [email protected] copy [email protected]. The email subject line should be “Innovation proposal for Elimu-Soko Zanzibar initiative”
- All documents must be in PDF
- All costs in the financial proposal must be in USD, and VAT inclusive
- Innovators should disclose any actual or apparent conflict of interest that may exist between Elimu-Soko or its partners and any of their team members or any party that the innovator seeks to engage in the provision of services and/or materials for the pilot.
All inquiries and communications regarding these ToRs shall be directed to [email protected] copy [email protected]. If a question is prompted by an item in these ToRs, the bidder must cite the section and page number for each question. Every attempt will be made to answer all inquiries from each bidder. To ensure consistent interpretation of the ToRs, a consolidated written response will outline each question/clarification and Elimu-Soko’s response and be communicated to all bidders.
Key dates:
Activity
Deadline
Issuing Terms of Reference
06 September 2023 Submitting and responding to questions / clarifications
15 September 2023
Submitting proposals
29 September 2023
Announcing winning proposal
13 October 2023
Launch of pilot
01 January 2024
