Research study on Non-Education barriers under for Empowerment and Development of Girls Education

1. Purpose

 

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Zambia is seeking the services of a consultant or team of consultants to propose design options for a package of integrated interventions to address key non-educational barriers to help more girls re-enter and complete their secondary education. The design will be based on a review of FCDO supported programmes (including nutrition, social protection, adolescent, sexual reproductive health and education) and projects while learning from other partners and broader social trends to assess options to strengthen FCDO’s impact on supporting improved opportunities for girls under the Zambia’s new Empowerment and Development for Girls Education (EGDE) Programme.

 

The objectives of this assignment include:

 

- Reviewing and strengthening current approaches to addressing non-education barriers;

 

- Reviewing existing FCDO funded programming around nutrition, social cash transfers and adolescent reproductive health (ASRH) to interrogate the underlying theory of change, implementation approaches and lessons learned;

 

- Reviewing work by other partners relating to non-education barriers facing girls and draw lessons on what works;

 

- Reviewing and establishing linkages of the designed intervention to FCDO funded programmes and other existing programmes to optimise the desired change for girls' education;

 

- Developing an integrated model for addressing non-education barriers around the current EDGE programme and

 

- Setting out options for implementing this model.

 

Context and evidence

 

1. Review of what works to address key non-educational barriers for girls (NEBG) in Zambia and relevant countries – what drives children’s and particularly girls’ exclusion to education? What are the most protracted barriers in the Zambian context?

 

2. Mapping of key programmes and interventions focused on addressing key barriers to keeping girls in schools.

 

3. Gap analysis, including gaps in existing formative research.

 

Assessing and analysis of current FCDO approach

 

4. Provide specific technical review of key areas of FCDO programming specially:

 

o Scaling Up Nutrition

 

o Social Cash Transfer

 

o Legacy programming on ASRH

 

5. Provide (on-going) technical support and analysis of current design, implementation progress, impacts, include direct participation in technical working groups and annual review as required.

 

6. Assess the scope and implementation modality under EDGE and the options to build the theory of action to include specific intervention to address NEBG.

 

7. Assess extent to which current programming can be adapted or redesigned to support these design options.

 

Design Development

 

8. Set out options for FCDO implementation of a NEBG component under EDGE – looking at scale, partnership and implementation levels (school, district etc)

 

9. Assess option to leverage other partners and government initiatives (i.e., Constituency Development Fund) in the design options.

 

10. Set out costed options for a three-year component under EDGE