Digital MERL System- LEAP at World University Service of Canada

Overview

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian non-profit organization in international development, committed to providing education, employment and empowerment opportunities that improve the lives of millions of disadvantaged youth around the world. WUSC is working in partnership with partners to implement Learning through Education and Access to Skills for Employment (LEAP) to support girls in Kalobeyei Settlement. The Learning through Education and Access to Skills for Employment Program (LEAP) project aims to increase empowerment of adolescent girls and young women in Kalobeyei Settlement, Kakuma Refugee Camp, and surrounding host communities through Education and Access to livelihoods.

Objectives of the Assignment

The LEAP project, currently in its second year, aims to monitor cohorts of students and project beneficiaries, in a context where individuals often miss school/ learning institutions, move between schools/ learning institutions or leave school/ learning institutions entirely. Being able to track these individuals is critical to the project in monitoring the overall project outcome. The project is supporting 15 schools in Kalobeyei and Kakuma, as well as skills training beneficiaries spread across these target geographic locations. Currently, the project is relying on a paper based system, which is time consuming, prone to errors and inconsistent in the tracking of beneficiaries. Hence, the need to collect and analyse beneficiary data digitally and develop rapid feedback loops has become increasingly important to the project.

Therefore, WUSC seeks to engage the services of a system developer (consultant) or system development consulting firm to expand the current coconut application that WUSC uses under the KEEP project such that it;

1. Captures and stores project beneficiaries’ biodata, attendance records and academic scores.
2. Tracks and monitors the progress of project beneficiaries through the project period.

Ideally, the system will comprise of two components;

1. The first component is a mobile client-user interface, delivered as a “progressive web app”, which means it can run on a variety of devices including tablets, phones and laptops. It is also an offline capable web app, which means that even without internet connectivity, the application is fully functional.
2. The second component is a cloud-based application that is accessed through a web browser, which is the back-end of the system, a dashboard where we can monitor progress of data collection and access collected data.

Scope of work

It is expected the consultant or consulting firm will:

· Develop add-on to the existing WUSC digital end-to-end monitoring & evaluation solutions to collect, store and aggregate the LEAP project beneficiaries’ data. This will include working with the LEAP MERL staff and end users to co-create a user-centred system, digitise existing M&E tools to the system, and develop new tools and solutions where needed.

· Ensure the developed system can manage data from end-to-end: enable remote data collection, store data securely, and enable rapid data analytics on a dashboard format and ensure interoperability.

· Ensure the data platforms are aligned to existing project and WUSC data management processes and software.

· Develop an implementation strategy that clearly articulates responsibilities and timelines.

In order for a successful roll-out and adaptation of the developed system, it is expected that the

consultant/consulting firm will carry out the following high-level activities;

· Needs assessment/ requirement gathering which will include assessing the current coconut application that WUSC uses.

· System development (co-creation with end users)

· Testing and deployment

· Recommendation on Hardware and procurement

· Training of users

· Ongoing/ service level support

Key Deliverables

• Concept note on the design and implementation of the MERL digital solution taking into consideration the project needs

• Testing report of the MERL digital solution with intended end users and project team

• Final implementation strategy

• Adapted MERL digital system for LEAP project

How to apply:

The application should contain the following:

• A technical proposal on the system development/ proposed approach to the assignment including work plan;

• A financial proposal;

• Proof of experience or Organizational experience/ evidence of technical capacity by providing documentation of 2 samples of past similar assignments.

• Profile/ CV of core team members (for a firm).