Call for Proposal-National and International Development of School Data Collection and Support System and Pilot rollout in 30 learning spaces/schools At UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Call for Proposal (Organization/Firm) – National and International Development of School Data Collection and Support System (SDCSS) and Pilot rollout in 30 learning spaces/schools

Date Issued: 13th December 2023

Organization: UNESCO Project Office in Yangon

Duration: February 2024 to July 2024

Start: 23rd February 2024 (tentative)

Deadline: 5th January 2024

Terms of Reference

I. Background

Under the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Education Sector Program Implementation Grant (ESPIG), UNESCO has secured funding to implement activities towards the attainment of three (3) outcome areas. These are outlined below.

• Outcome 1: Ensuring safe and equitable access to learning for children and youth in Myanmar;
• Outcome 2: Ensuring quality teaching and learning for children and youth in Myanmar by strengthening the capacities of education staff and fostering context-responsive, equity-focused learning resources and modalities adapted to the evolving situation; and
• Outcome 3: Ensuring systems strengthening, management, coordination and monitoring.

These outcomes contribute to the long-term goal of ESPIG which is ensuring that children and youth in Myanmar can re-engage in quality, meaningful, inclusive and gender-responsive learning in safe, protective environments, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable learners. As one of three (3) Grant Agents for implementation of ESPIG, UNESCO in collaboration with national and international partners.

To support the development of this System which supports the implementation of Outcome 3, UNESCO is currently seeking a qualified national or international organization/firm. The selected organization will support the development of a School Data Collection and Support System (SDCSS) and the piloting of this System among 30 learning spaces/schools. This SDCSS will be modelled on a system previously commissioned by UNESCO known as ClassMap (now inactive). ClassMap was a real-time online platform which connected schools in remote areas with potential supporters/funders.

II. Work Assignment

The Contractor will perform the tasks under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, the direct supervision of the Head of Office, UNESCO Project Office in Yangon, and in close collaboration with the ESPIG programme team. The Contractor is expected to support UNESCO in designing, developing, testing, rolling out the SDCSS to be used primarily by non-government education providers in the initial phase. The Contractor will build technical capacities of the stakeholders involved in the SDCSS and eventually the overall deliverables should contribute to enhanced systems strengthening, management, coordination and monitoring. Activities include but are not necessarily limited to the following tasks:

Task 1 – Carry out a needs assessment and SDCSS design

• Hold discussions with UNESCO and other relevant partners to further clarify the scope of the assignment and assess required needs.
• Develop a requirements document including SDCSS design.

Task 2 – Develop an SDCS software application for emergency context

Based on the needs assessment, discussions with UNESCO and other partners, an examination of the prior SDCSS system (ClassMap), and on the technical specifications of IT infrastructures:

• Identify the data to be collected based on reporting needs expressed by UNESCO and its partner agencies in the needs assessment phase.
• Identify a suitable software solution that is in line with the country technical and educational needs, and that can be easily adapted to an evolving situation requiring future compatibility with other software, as well as low-cost and able to function in a low-bandwidth or offline environment (see technical details below);
• Develop and/or adapt the selected software solution to the national context, including customization of the data capture forms and reports based on identified requirements;
• Develop data and systems security procedures and mechanisms against hackers and/or system disruption;
• Provide technical documentation for initial installation, deployment and scaling-up of the solution after pilot operations, including software license(s) requirements and/or recommendations;
• Develop user-friendly guides for key SDCSS roles at UNESCO and at learning spaces/schools (in English) – content and graphic design aligned to UNESCO’s graphic guidelines.
• Provide technical support for system maintenance with UNESCO staff during the period of the consultancy.

Task 3 – Build capacities of UNESCO team in charge of administering the SDCSS (e.g. IT and programme staff) as well as end users at the 30 pilot learning spaces.

• Liaise with UNESCO to identify categories and number of personnel to be trained;
• Prepare the training session and deliver through online modalities;
  • One training session should be allocated for each group, that is, UNESCO staff and end users.
• Ensure post-training support to the users from UNESCO until the end of the contract.

Task 4 – Pilot the SDCSS software in 30 learning spaces following the identification of these spaces by UNESCO.

• Support learning spaces/schools to assign unique identifiers for select administrative and teaching staff;
• Support learning spaces/schools to install the mobile software and access the web/offline application; and
• Based on lessons learned from the pilot, propose a set of recommendations for enhancement and modification of the system as needed.

III. Description of the SDCSS – Minimum Functional and Non-functional Requirements

UNESCO shall evaluate the proposed SDCS solution in terms of the following minimum aspects:

1. SDCSS solution is non-proprietary software – Website and Mobile (Android) version.
2. Coding is relevant, clear and meaningful. A coding review will be conducted by a third party upon completion of this contract.
3. SDCSS solution is technically-adequate, comprehensive and is comparable to good-standing SDCSS solutions being implemented in countries in emergency context;

In addition, the following minimum features should be proposed:

1. User roles

• Administration (UNESCO)
• Teacher
• Principal/Head teacher

1. Website and Mobile App (Android)
2. Able to work both online and offline (Website and Mobile App)
3. Integration of a workflow engine (business process, workflow)
4. Scalable (work both at learning space/school level, based on country needs at different stages of the implementation process throughout the years)
5. User friendly (Easy to use for end users with different levels of IT knowledge and capacities)
6. Security features (access authentication, administrative rights, system log, etc.)
7. Load balancing and scalability
8. Availability/ reliability
9. Usability
10. Compatibility
11. Daily Log
    • Record of daily attendance of students

• Ability to upload daily photos of classroom activities
• Section to type special remarks (memo/journal)

1. Fully functional on all type of android devices (including mobile phones), web compatible using a limited internet data bandwidth
2. Open source/ non-proprietary software
3. Supports dual languages (English and Myanmar language)
4. Full-featured admin panel
5. Fully localizable into Myanmar language (including right to left user interface)
6. Two-factor authentication system (administrators at UNESCO and users handling school data). A simpler and user-friendly log-in will be required for end users (teachers), many of whom may have limited IT knowledge.
7. Hosting/Cloud Service (Preferably Azul)
8. Be able to collect and manage data on the following areas (not exhaustive):
   • Basic information of the school/learning space (name of school, head teacher, phone number, photograph of school building)
   • Level of education being offered (early childhood education, primary school education, middle school education, high school education, non-formal education, monastic education, etc.)
   • Location of school (only approximate location due to security situation in Myanmar)
   • Basic enrollment and input counts:
     1. Number of students (disaggregation by gender, disability, age, grade/level of education)
9. Number of dropouts (disaggregation by gender and age)
10. Number of teachers (disaggregation by gender and age)
11. Qualification of teachers (no qualification, matriculation examination mark, B.Sc, M.Sc, etc)

• Information on Infrastructure
  • Number of buildings on learning space/school compound
  • Number of classrooms
  • Number of library facilities
  • Number of desks, chairs, toilets, etc.
  • Information on IT equipment (laptops, desktops, tablets, projectors, printers, etc.)
  • Chat Function with Admin (UNESCO)
• Reporting for learning spaces:

1. School budget and funding request
2. Upload school development plan
3. File an issue and ability to view history

Other technical details:

The selected solution should not create technical dependency to any business entity (including the contractor), and be able to be fully managed and modified by any party at UNESCO or by another business entity that UNESCO may contract at later stage. For this reason, the contractor should ensure full transfer of information to UNESCO on the software development and features, including provision of the entire source code with a licensing model allowing for modification by third party.

Ownership:

The company must transfer to UNESCO:

1. The rights for usage of software without any time or functional limitations;
2. The right for usage of software means the right of UNESCO to, under its own terms, give the right of usage of software in absolute manner to another party without the need to report or ask for any permission or assent from the software developer; and
3. It is the UNESCO’s decision to, under its own terms, choose the number of installation, locations and users of software without any need to report that to the software developer and/or ask for any permission.

   Acceptance test:

4. Acceptance will be done by both UNESCO designated staff and the intended users designated staff (administrative and teaching staff at learning spaces/schools);
5. The functionality and performance of cooperation between different units of implementation will be tested (UNESCO level and field level).

IV. Deliverables

The Contractor shall submit to UNESCO Yangon Project Office for approval the following deliverables :

1. Summary report of discussions held with UNESCO and other relevant partners and detailed work plan: by 1st March 2024.
2. Requirements document with SDCSS design and mock-up of UI/UX using Figma or Adobe XD prototyping tools: by 20th March 2024.
3. Beta version of SDCSS software application for testing: by 26th April 2024.
4. Report on the pilot of the beta version of the SDCSS software undertaken in 30 learning spaces/schools: by 27th May 2024.
5. Report on capacity building sessions held with UNESCO team and end users from the 30 pilot schools: by 10th June 2024:
6. Final SDCSS software application taking into consideration the feedback from the pilot exercise: by 28th June 2024.
7. Website deployed on the relevant domain (to be provided by UNESCO) and Android app uploaded to Play store: by 5thJuly 2024.
8. Brief user-friendly guidelines for key SDCSS roles (administration and users) in English and other technical documentation: by 5th July 2024.
   • At least 7 years of relevant experience and proven track record in IT capacity and software development project.

Regular exchange of information between the Contractor and UNESCO shall happen throughout the project implementation. This is aimed at ensuring compliance with UNESCO’s standards and requests. UNESCO should also be immediately informed of any challenge or barrier that may occur in the project implementation at all times.

V. Required Qualifications

The Contractor is expected to bring its technical expertise in the development of SDCS, preferably in an emergency context, with a team covering all activity areas in term of technical expertise, including Burmese language requirements. The Contractor is expected to propose and submit the CVs of highly qualified key experts expected to work on this assignment along with a written guarantee of finding a backup expert(s) for this assignment at no additional cost on UNESCO in case of rejection of the proposed Experts during technical evaluation by UNESCO or in case of unexpected attrition of the proposed Experts or in case of his/her unsatisfactory performance during contract implementation phase.

Organization/Entity

Required qualification:

• Strong understanding of programming software and tools, as well as experience in developing software, website, and mobile app and purchasing third party tools license.
• Experience in the development of education management information systems.
• Excellent command of English with a strong portfolio of multilingual websites and in depth understanding of integrating Unicode and non-Unicode fonts.
• Ability to deliver results amid tight deadlines.

Desirable qualifications:

• Experience developing SDCSS for countries experiencing emergency/conflict.
• Experience working with CSO and /or other UN agencies and INGOs.
• Good knowledge of Myanmar language.

Team lead/Project Manager

Required qualification:

• At least a Bachelor Degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Software Development or relevant field.
• At least 7 years’ experience in IT capacity and software development projects.
• Experience in UI/UX design, development app, web-based technology.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to meet deadline and manage resources effectively.
• Strong knowledge of verbal and written English.
• Extensive knowledge and skills of computer programs applications, particularly in the area of database management systems, developing websites and Android mobile applications.

Desirable qualifications:

• Experience working with CSO and /or other UN agencies and INGOs.

Other Personnel/staff

Required qualification:

• Experience in technical support for UI/UX design, development app, web-based technology.
• At least 2 years experience in IT capacity and software development projects.
• General understanding of computer programs applications, particularly in the area of database management systems, developing websites and Android mobile applications.
• At least one member of the team must have a strong knowledge of written and verbal Myanmar language (Pyitaungsu, Zawgyi, Myanmar font).

Desirable qualifications

• At least a Bachelor Degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Software Development or relevant field.