Requisition ID: req51507
Job Title: Consultant – Training Partner on Blue Skills
Sector: Education
Employment Category: Consultant
Employment Type: Part-Time
Open to Expatriates: No
Location: Nigeria
Work Arrangement:
Job Description
Background of the project
The Opportunities to Learn (OTL) activity is a USAID five-year funded project implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in partnership with Plan International, the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Inclusive Development Partners (IDP), and Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI). USAID-funded Opportunities to Learn (OTL) project aims to address the immediate education need of out-of-school children (OOSC) and youth in up to 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states through safer new and existing non-formal-education while laying the groundwork for sustainable improvement of education systems at the community and government levels. OTL aims to ensure out-of-school children and youth in Northeastern Nigeria are safely able to gain foundational skills, including literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional skills, to progress to higher levels of education, training, and/or engagement in the workforce.
The crisis in northeast Nigeria remains among the most severe in the world. Over 8.3 million people need humanitarian aid1. 1.38M needs education services across the BAY states. As a result of the crises, children in northeast Nigeria have been deprived of a normal childhood due to the conflict, high poverty rates, inflation, the impact of COVID-19, and the breakdown of the social protection safety net. Over the years, children have been exposed to persistent violence, insecurity, abuse, neglect, exploitation, and conscription into NSAGs.
The objectives of the education sector include ensuring increased access for conflict-affected boys and girls to inclusive, quality, basic education, and vocational skills opportunities within a safe learning environment, and ensuring students receive quality and conflict-sensitive educational services to enhance their learning and resilience. The education sector also aims to increase and maintain the capacity of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and communities to plan and deliver timely, appropriate, and evidence-based education in emergency responses.
Girls and boys are exposed to grave violations of children’s rights, such as limited access to education,
child marriage, sexual and gender-based violence,
emotional/physical violence, and trafficking. Boys face the risk of forceful recruitment/re-recruitment by NSAGs, trafficking, and child labor. Parents and caretakers have been exposed to stress/violence, and need child protection services, ranging from mental health psychosocial support to livelihood interventions.
Humanitarian programmes operating in conflict contexts can have both positive and negative impacts on conflict dynamics. As a result, they must take a conflict-sensitive approach to ensure they cause no harm to communities impacted by the conflict. The goal of OTL is to ensure OOSC and youth in Northeastern Nigeria are safely able to gain foundational skills, including literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional skills, to progress to higher levels of education, training, and/or engagement in the workforce.
To ensure systems are strengthened and can sustain the provision of quality education, OTL is working closely with MoE, SUBEB, SAME LGEA as well as community structures to deliver education services across the BAY states. This is done through planning, implementation, and monitoring of all activities. This further ensured ownership and sustainability, especially in preparation for handing over 65% of NFLCs to the government at the end of the project.
Given the above, the OTL will use the USAID Checklist for Conflict Sensitivity in Education Programs3 to analyze the operational and technical aspects of government (SAME, SUBE, MoE, and LEAs) edu- cation programs. This is to ensure the reduction of conflict and tensions, which promotes equity and social cohesion and builds peace when taking over 65% of NFLCs to the government at the end of the project.
Objectives:
Blue skills, often called people skills or emotional intelligence, are defined as the ability to interact amicably with others. Honing self-abilities to resolve conflicts, solve problems, and provide excellent service can lead to stronger and better relationships with friends while improving interactions between communities and the States.
- Improve the self-reliance of Youths in the BAY States
- Improve business skills for participating youths
- Ensure that these youths develop their potential for self-development.
- Provide them with the tools they need to navigate life successfully, build meaningful relationships, and contribute positively to society.
- Improve their holistic development and prepare them for the challenges and opportunities they will en- counter throughout their lives, both academically and in their future careers.
Outcomes/Deliverables:
- 12,000 Youths in the BAY States Trained on Blue Skills - Borno 5,000 Learners, Adamawa 2,500 Learners, and Yobe 4,500 Learners, for 6 months. Blue-skills Curriculum should contain communication, leadership, time management, resilience, empathy, responsibility, self-awareness, critical thinking, self-confidence, problem-solving/conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, self-motivation, responsible citizenship, and cultural competence.
- Participating youths have completed assigned training contents and earned a verifiable certificate (hard/e- copy).
- Participating youths are provided with both mentorship and support, with resources or guidance for im- proved soft skills.
- A data-driven baseline, midline and endline reports are provided at agreed timelines.
- A physical state-based session is hosted in each of the BAY states to promote blue skills among the Youth and held with critical and relevant state and private partners in attendance.
Consultancy Fee:
Payment amount should be inclusive of all costs including travel, hotel fees, vehicle hire, training/workshop fees, and all other logistics needed by the consultancy.
Qualifications
Requirements/Methodology/Criteria:
- Consultant/Training partner MUST be located and operational in the BAY states and be able to be de- ployed within short notice to OTL-supported LGAs within the BAY states.
- Consultant MUST have conducted similar training within the country preferably Northeast Nigeria and can show verifiable report(s) of previous assessments conducted.
- A minimum of two verifiable reports and training resource sample used MUST be submitted for review.
- Consultant MUST be a Nigerian citizen.
- Training will be delivered in person, to both genders and people with disabilities, leveraging on the OTL existing infrastructure.
- Training will be scheduled 2 times per week and situated within the community of the selected partici- pants.
- The Consultant/Training partner MUST work hand-in-hand with the Learning Facilitators and community structures to deliver the curriculum for this training.
- The Consultant/Training partner will provide both training and learning materials, to enable an efficient classroom experience.
- The Consultant/Training partner in close collaboration with the relevant OTL staff, will provide the re- quired assessment, to validate the certificate given to the participants.
- Training will be implemented both in English and the relevant language(s) of the host communities.
- The Consultant/Training partner will identify and recommend to the OTL Innovation Program Team, EduTank, 10 outstanding learners from the BAY States, who will receive tablets each, at the end of this activity.
- A virtual checking meeting will be held once every 2 weeks, for program update review and feedback, with the project team.
All applications should be submitted through the email : NGHR.ConsultantsApplications@rescue.org
The closing date for applications is 1st May 2024
Note: Applications lacking any of the above requirements will not be considered.
- Standard of Professional Conduct: The Consultant must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.
- IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
