Consultancy To Conduct Research On Factors That Enable/Hinder Better Learning Outcomes For Children And Young Adolescents In Rural/Urban Kenya At ChildFund International

Background

As a result of the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text[1], according to a new report published today by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, UK government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This rate was 57% before the COVID -19 pandemic, but now the learning crisis has deepened.This generation of students now risks losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings in present value, or the equivalent of 17% of today’s global GDP, up from the $17 trillion estimated in 2021.According to the report, following the focus of the millennium development goals on getting children into school, most of these children are in education but not yet completing primary school with “fundamental skills”. Further 260 million children are still not in school. The report finds that progress in tackling the gap in literacy is too slow to meet the global goal of achieving quality education for all by 2030. It predicts that at the current rate of improvement, approximately 43 per cent of children aged 10 in 2030 will still not be reading proficiently. Emerging data measuring actual learning levels of children in reopened (Post COVID-19) school systems around the world corroborate the predictions of large learning losses. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), increases in learning poverty were smaller, as COVID-19 school closures in this region typically lasted only a few months, but stand now at an extremely high 89%. In all other regions, simulations show increases in learning poverty.

The report also shows that even before COVID-19, the global learning crisis was deeper than previously thought. The global average pre-pandemic learning poverty rate, previously estimated at 53% for 2015, was even higher – with updated and revised data revealing that 57% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries were not able to read and understand a simple text, the measure for learning poverty. In regions, such as Latin American Countries and SSA, in which temporally comparable data is available, the report notes that learning poverty has remained stagnant in this period. This highlights that returning to the pre-COVID status quo will not secure the future of the world’s children – a vigorous learning recovery and acceleration is needed.

Prolonged school closures and unequal mitigation strategies have worsened learning inequality among children. Evidence is mounting that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and other disadvantaged groups are suffering larger learning losses. Children with the most fragile grasp of foundational literacy before the closures are most likely to have suffered larger learning losses. Without strong foundational skills, children are unlikely to acquire the technical and higher-order skills needed to thrive in increasingly demanding labor markets and more complex societies.

Worldwide, 58% of children and adolescents are not reaching minimum proficiency levels in mathematics and reading — with the lowest proficiency levels seen in Sub Saharan Africa, Central Asia and Southern Asia, and Western Asia and North Africa[2]. Projections by the International Commission on Financing Education Opportunity indicate that 825 million young people will not have the basic literacy, numeracy, and digital skills to compete for the jobs of 2030[3]. Factors contributing to the learning crisis include access to learning and learning completion, particularly in low-income countries. Access to pre-primary education is on the rise, however, it is progressing slowly. This is particularly the case in low-income countries where 78% of children are missing out on education3. For example, 2018 data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS) shows that in low-income countries, only 24% of children are enrolled in pre-primary education, improving to just 41% enrolled in the year prior to starting primary school. For children attending school, completion rates are also a critical issue. Among school-age children in low-income

countries, just over half (56%) of children complete primary school, 28% of adolescents complete lower secondary school and only 13% of youth complete upper secondary school[4]. School attendance rates are also lower in countries facing emergencies such as conflict and natural disasters.

In Kenya, primary education is reaching universal levels while secondary school enrolment increased by over 50% in the seven years before the pandemic. These achievements have resulted directly from increased spending and enrolment at all levels, as well as consistent improvements in learning outcomes before the pandemic. Performance also improved in numeracy (mathematics) and languages (English and Kiswahili). For example, performance in Class Three mathematics, English and Kiswahili improved in 2016 and 2018. Minimum requirement satisfaction increased by 6% in numeracy,16% in English, and 6% in Kiswahili. Regionally, Kenya is outstanding in reading, the report notes. Numeracy dropped in 2018 against neighboring countries, however, early grade mathematics assessments between 2015 and 2021 improved from 71% in 2016, to 80% in 2021 in secondary schools. Final secondary examinations (KCSE) performance improved from 11% in 2017 to 18% in 2021[5].

According to the report, these improvements resulted from sustained high spending on education. Expenditure has reached international benchmarks, both as a share of total government expenditure (TGE) and as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). TGE as a share of GDP reached 5.3% in 2018, higher than the average for other lower middle-income and upper middle-income countries, except for South Africa. The share of the government budget on education also increased, reaching 19% in 2020. Education spending per capita is also relatively high compared to countries in the region, which the report highlights is a key factor in quality education.

Despite these gains, challenges abound. Kenya has huge regional inequalities in all education outcomes. While most counties exceed 12 expected years of school, very low outcomes are concentrated in a few counties in the north and northeast of the country, in arid and semi-arid areas with expected years of schooling as low as 6.5 years. Only Nairobi County is near completing 12 years of Learning Adjusted Years of School (LAYS). Education outcomes are much lower in rural areas and for lower income populations. Net enrollment rates (NER) are significantly higher in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, for children from households in the top 20% of income distribution, when compared to the bottom 20%.

Compounded by the pandemic, these challenges have led to learning losses and deepened inequalities in education. Around 17 million students and more than 320,000 teachers were affected by the closure of 30,000 primary and secondary schools in 2020. Schools gradually reopened from October 2020 to January 2021. Efforts to provide remote learning revealed a significant digital divide, with over 50% of the students being left out, mainly due to lack of appropriate electronic devices, access to electricity and internet connectivity.

The percentage of school-aged children aged six (6) to fifteen (15) years in Kenya who are out of school has increased from 7.5 per cent in 2021 to 8.5 per cent in 2023[6]. Seven counties with the largest percentage of out-of-school children are all in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) region with Mandera County leading. Worryingly, too, the majority of the children out of school are from households whose heads have no formal education.

The assessment also found that a school-aged child in a poor household is twice as likely out of school as his/her counterpart in a rich household. In 2021, three out of 10 children were enrolled in private primary schools, but that changed significantly in 2023 when two out of 10 were enrolled in private schools. The odds for a learner in a private primary school to have better learning outcomes in English and numeracy are 45 per cent and 28 per cent respectively higher than those of a learner in a public primary school. The assessment also found that nationally, only 4 out of 10 grade 4 learners at least meet expectations in both solving a grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem and reading a grade 3 appropriate English text. Three in 10 Grade 4 learners in public schools and 5 in 10 Grade 4 learners in private schools at least meet expectations in both solving a Grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem and reading a Grade 3 appropriate English text. The report notes that three in 10 grade 6 learners did not meet expectations in reading a Grade 3 appropriate English text. Two in 10 Class 8 learners did not meet expectations in reading a grade 3 appropriate English text.

About ChildFund

ChildFund is a child-focused international development organization that works in 24 countries to connect children with the people, resources, and institutions they need to grow up healthy, educated, skilled and safe, no matter where they are. ChildFund Kenya works through 11 implementing partners (IP’s) to implements various development interventions across 20 counties and direct implementing units in 7 counties. The thematic areas that we focus on are Child Protection, Household Economic Strengthening, Early Childhood Development (ECD), Education, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition.

Globally, ChildFund implements multiple early childhood development programs that focus on early stimulation and deliver parenting education through both home visits and group sessions. These programs have prioritized increasing quality parent-child play activities, promoting responsive parenting including ensuring children have adequate supervision, proper nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation. Preschool attendance sets the stage for a child’s journey through education; children who have attended pre-primary education are more likely to start school on time, and to attain minimum reading and mathematics competencies in primary school and beyond[7]. Through our programming, we have also established early childhood learning and development centers in several countries to help support preschool attendance. For school-age children (ages 6 to 14), our programs focus on building supportive learning environments both at home and in the school environment. These programs promote high quality academic teaching and child literacy, and support students, teachers, and parents to create a safe and inclusive learning environment that keeps children protected from harm. They also promote emotional, physical, and psychological well-being — to support staying in school and learning achievements.

The Kenya Country Strategic Plan goal is to contribute to improved health, education, skills and safety of 7,500,000 children and youth and their families through the implementation of quality, cost-effective, and impactful programs and sponsorship by 2026. The following are the strategic objectives;

• Strategic Objective 1: More than 1,500,000 infants and young children aged 0 to 5 years in marginalized and resource-poor households and communities are healthy and secure.
• Strategic Objective 2: Improved learning outcomes and protection of 1,500,000 children aged 6 to 14 years.
• Strategic Objective 3: Improved and sustained socio-economic development of 1,200,000 adolescents and young adults.
• Strategic Objective 4: Strengthened formal and informal child protection systems and advocacy.
• Strategic Objective 5: Increased resilience of 2,700,000 vulnerable households, children and youth to the negative effects of disasters and climate change.

With the objective of improving access to high quality basic education and literacy and numeracy learning outcomes for children and young adolescents, ChildFund is seeking a highly qualified consultant to lead a project aiming at understanding and examining the factors that enable or hinder better learning outcomes for children young adolescents in rural/urban Kenya.

Purpose of the Study

General Objective

To examine the factors that enable or hinder better learning outcomes for children and young adolescents (6-14 years) in rural/urban Kenya.

Specific Objectives

1. To determine the impact of COVID-19 and other emergencies on learning poverty in Kenya.
2. To determine how the attitude towards learning influences the academic performance of students in Kenya.
3. To establish how the availability of teaching and learning materials influences the academic performance of students in Kenya
4. To determine how learning strategies used by the teachers influences the students academic performance in Kenya
5. To establish how school management influences the students academic performance in Kenya

Research Questions

The following questions will guide the research.

1. What is the impact of COVID-19, Drought, Floods, Desert Locust invasion and other emergencies on learning poverty in Kenya?
2. To what extent does student’s attitudes towards learning influence the academic performance in Kenya?
3. How does the availability of teaching and learning materials influences the academic performance of students in Kenya?
4. How does the learning strategies used by the teachers influence the students academic performance in Kenya?
5. How does the school management style influence the students academic performance in Kenya?

Management and Coordination

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager and Programs and Sponsorship Director. The consultant or consulting firm will work closely with Senior Specialist, Early Childhood and Development, Senior Specialist, Disaster Risk Reduction and implementing partners.

Data Protection

The service provider shall not disclose any confidential information of ChildFund Kenya to any person or other third-party or make use of such confidential information for the Service Provider’s own purposes at any time without ChildFund Kenya’s prior written consent.

Child Safeguarding

ChildFund International is committed to safeguarding the interests, rights, and well-being of children with whom it is in contact and to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for children.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access

ChildFund creates a culture where diversity of people, thought and experience is celebrated, and everyone is seen and welcomed equally. ChildFund is cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment where: everyone connected with us is free and safe to be who they are, so that we all succeed and thrive. Our donors and external partners aspire to experience a deep sense of pride and belonging in our shared commitment to excellence and social responsibility.

Timeline

The research is expected to take a maximum of 30 days. The specific duration of the assignment and deliverables is as below.

Deliverable

Inception report with detailed methodology, Desk review and draft data collection tools – 3 days

Data Collection – 7 days

Data analysis and report writing – 7 days

Develop the draft research report – 5 days

Final report and stakeholders’ workshop to present findings and recommendations – 3 days

Deliverables

Key tasks for the assignment may include but not limited to:

• Prepare an inception report to outline the methodological approach for the research and evidence generation.
• Produce a draft report based on the analysis of the new evidence generated and review of existing evidence.
• Facilitate a stakeholder consultation meeting to validate findings to inform the necessary adaptation in ChildFund and partners education programs.
• Prepare the final report, infographics summary and a policy brief including a detailed summary of findings, identify possible programmatic interventions.

Qualifications of the Consultant

The consultant must have the following competencies:

• Masters or PhD degree in education, education in emergencies, or related social sciences.
• Up to date knowledge of a wide range of research findings related to child development and education in Kenya
• Proven experience developing, designing and conducting case study research and presenting findings.
• Demonstrated understanding of child rights and enablers/barriers to quality education in Kenya
• Demonstrated understanding of use of data for advocacy to counter the existing barriers to quality education for children in Kenya
• Experience working with Education stakeholders and child focused international and national NGOs organizations
• Strong research, analytical, writing and editorial skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work independently
• Excellent cross-cultural communication and experience working across with partners in multiple contexts
• High attention to detail, a focus on solutions, and an optimistic outlook

How to apply

All applications must include the following;

Technical Proposal: The consultant’s understanding and interpretation of the Terms of Reference (TOR), a detailed methodology and approaches they may deem fit for this assignment. The proposal shall include;

All statutory documents are mandatory such as Valid Certificate of Incorporation in case of a company/firm/institute, Valid Bank Account Number, Valid PIN & Tax Compliance Certificate, Professional registration documents where applicable.

Capability statement: How the consultant or firm is structured for the assignment, including the CVs of the key personnel who will take part in the consultancy.

References: Names, addresses, telephone numbers of three organizations where you have conducted similar work.

Financial proposal: the proposal that should include the consultancy and field administrative costs in Kshs as well as applicable taxes.

Payment process

Payment upon submission and acceptance of the Inception Report by ChildFund Kenya –30%

Payment upon submission and acceptance of Draft Research report by ChildFund Kenya –30%

Payment upon submission and acceptance of Final Research report by ChildFund Kenya and dissemination of the findings in stakeholder forum- 40%

• The Contractor’s compensation shall be paid NET, within 30 days from receipt of a proper invoice unless otherwise specified.
• Payment will be made through direct bank transfer.

Note: CHILDFUND will evaluate the proposals and award the assignment based on technical and financial feasibility. CHILDFUND reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal received without giving reasons and is not bound to accept the lowest, the highest or any bidder. Only the successful applicant will be contacted. CHILDFUND does not charge any fees from applicants for any recruitment.

[1] The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update”, a new joint publication of the World Bank, UNICEF, FCDO, USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and in partnership with UNESCO

[2] 1 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2019). Every child learns: UNICEF education strategy 2019-2030. New York, NY: Author.

[3] The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (2016). The Learning Generation: Investing in education for a changing world. The Education Commission. https://report.educationcommission.org/ downloads

[4] United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2020). Global education monitoring report, 2020: Inclusion and education: All means all. Paris: Author.

[5] Kenya Economic Update, Edition 25: Aiming High, Securing Education to Sustain Recovery via https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099430006062288934/pdf/P17496106873620ce0a9f1073727d1c7d56.pdf

[6] Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (FLANA) Report 2023. An assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills for children aged six to 15 years in Kenya conducted between June and July 2023 by Usawa Agenda.

[7] 8 UNICEF. (2019). A World Ready to Learn: Prioritizing quality early childhood education. New York, NY: UNICEF.