Individual Consultant – Disability Inclusive Pre-primary Landscape Review At Education Development Center

Background

The USAID Leading Through Learning Global Platform (Leading Through Learning) is a global education learning system for USAID and its partners to enhance thought leadership and education program quality. Our vision is to elevate the experience of the field by providing avenues for local, regional, and global knowledge generation and sharing. We do this by bringing USAID together with international and local implementing partners, researchers, donors, private sector actors, representatives of other education networks, and partner country government leaders in a system of global learning networks and hubs. These three global Learning Networks, the USAID Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN), the USAID Global Reading Network (GRN), and a new USAID Higher Education Learning Network (HELN), create opportunities for members to share and address education needs while benefiting from and contributing to a global community of learning. As the Leading Through Learning Global Platform expands, we will regionalize this global learning by convening regional hubs to facilitate further exchanges and activities.

Leading Through Learning is implemented by Education Development Center, Inc.(EDC), one of the world’s leading nonprofit research and development organizations. EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Collaborating with both public and private partners, EDC strives for a world where all people are empowered to live healthy, productive lives.

To find out more about Leading Through Learning and to join one or more networks, please visit our webpage on Education Links.

Activity Overview

This activity is in response to the Pre-primary Working Group’s literature review, which identified the area of Pre-Primary Education (PPE) for learners with disabilities as a massive gap. The main elements of the Disability Inclusive Pre-primary Landscape Review include:

1. A landscape review to improve understanding of the current PPE landscape for learners with disabilities (who’s doing what, where, when, and with what objectives), including a mapping of how inclusive PPE manifests in crisis and conflict contexts and in higher education;
2. Facilitation of an online community-based ideation event to harness innovative ideas on how to best include and support children with disabilities and their families in quality PPE programs, which will inform the following;
3. White paper which will enable USAID to engage more meaningfully in disability inclusive PPE, which might include: discussion of guiding principles, key considerations, best practices, challenges, or persistent questions. These documents should feed into the broader USAID PPE Guidance Note and the Pre-primary Training which are currently scheduled to take place in March/April 2022.

Through community gathering and building, this activity should support disability inclusive education stakeholders and those working on PPE to merge into appropriate learning networks to sustainably guide future PPE work.

Rationale

This activity is designed to provide USAID and its partners with better understanding of how Disability Inclusive PPE manifests across a range of contexts, including those experiencing crisis and conflict. This topic is at the intersection of two thematic priorities for USAID: equity & inclusion and foundational skills (as well as Education in Crisis and Conflict). In order to make a meaningful contribution, USAID needs to understand what organizations are working in this space, what they are doing, what their goals/objectives are, and would simultaneously benefit from a participatory, inclusive ideation around how USAID can collaborate with other partners to contribute to this workstream in future years and how to translate/actionize these ideas with Missions and partners working in the field. The resulting Disability Inclusive PPE Landscape Review will immediately serve the purpose of contributing inclusive content to USAID training on PPE and help inform future activities of the PPE Working Group by providing a more robust evidence base on PPE for learners with disabilities.

Objectives and Outcome

Using key stakeholder consultation and a landscape review of existing disability-inclusive PPE programming, develop a White Paper to promote USAID understanding of and offer recommendations for future disability inclusive PPE programming, policy and PD.

The three main objectives of this activity are 1) Demonstrating USAID global thought leadership around PPE; 2) Demonstrating USAID global thought leadership around inclusive education for children with disabilities; 3) Guiding Agency investments in how to provide quality PPE for learners with disabilities. In achieving these objectives, USAID guidance, professional development and programming will be able to integrate global disability inclusion evidence, policy, and practice into overall Pre-Primary Guidance, professional development and programming.

Approach and Methodology

This activity will build on, and fill the gap noted by, the Pre-primary Working Group’s literature review. Approaches should consider looking at linkages with health systems from an early identification and intervention perspective. Main elements of the work include: 1) Facilitation of an online community-based ideation event, through which Leading Through Learning facilitates discussion among key DDI PPE stakeholders to gather examples, evidence and best practice on how to best include and support children with disabilities and their families in quality PPE programs; 2) Either before the ideation event (as a way to inform this event), or after the event (using the event to generate candidates), identify a 3-5 person Advisory Group to guide subsequent development of the white paper and meet with the AG as needed; 3) Through and beyond the consultation, activity will include a review of the disability inclusive PPE landscape across donors, contexts and implementers; 4) Based on landscape review and consultation, develop a guiding white paper that will also inform the broader PPE guidance, professional development and programming. Relevant resources include: Disability Inclusive Education, and USAID: Access to quality education for children and youth with disabilities.

Deliverables and Timeline

Work is expected to commence in November/December 2021. EDC expects applicants to propose a final delivery date.

Deliverables:

• Consultant(s) onboarding
• Consultancy Work Plan
• Landscape Review
• Ideation Event and event synthesis document
• Establish Advisory Group
• White Paper
• Summary Powerpoint
• Presentation to key internal and external stakeholders

Minimum Requirements:

Offerors should demonstrate the following qualifications:

• Meet one of the following education and experience combinations:
  • PhD in degrees related to inclusive education, development studies, humanitarianism, or other related topics and 8+ years of experience working on inclusive education in development and/or crisis and conflict settings, experience working both in program implementation and research an asset
  • MS/MA in degrees related to inclusive education, development studies, humanitarianism, or other related topics and 10 years of experience working on inclusive education in development and/or crisis and conflict settings, experience working both in program implementation and research an asset
  • Bachelor’s degree in inclusive education, development studies, humanitarianism, or other related topics and 12 years of experience working on inclusive education in development and/or crisis and conflict settings, experience working both in program implementation and research an asset.
• Deep understanding of principles and concepts of inclusive education, as defined by the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the International Disability Alliance, and disability inclusion for pre-primary learners, in development and crisis and conflict settings
• Ability to translate complex, technical concepts to a range of stakeholders, with differing levels of knowledge
• Strong collaboration and communication skills; ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with multiple stakeholders
• Proficient and fluent in English; strong communication skills, fluency in other languages helpful
• Strong multi-tasker with excellent organizational skills who can pay close attention to detail
• Prior experience working with EDC and/or USAID an asset.