Research Consultant & Content Developer | Lebanon based At Seenaryo

Terms of Reference

Research Consultant & Content Developer | Lebanon based

Seenaryo Scenechangers: Employing Youth and Building their Skills through Theatre in Classrooms

2023-2027

Organization: SEENARYO

Project: Seenaryo Scenechangers: Employing youth and building their skills through theatre in classrooms

Project Location: Lebanon

Consultancy Duration: A maximum of 13 days between April 2023 and end of December 2023

Assignment Duration: approx. 8 months

1. Introduction

As the rising generation of leaders and decision makers, youth possess vast potential to bring fresh hope, insight and change to their communities. However, with the world’s highest youth unemployment rate (Jordan at 24% and Lebanon at 37%), youth opportunities are severely limited in the MENA region, and a 2020 survey shows that nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds have considered emigrating. Meanwhile, teaching quality in schools in both Lebanon and Jordan is limited by lack of resources and training. The lack of opportunity to build transferable skills and the resulting spiral of poverty and low self-esteem has created an urgent mental health crisis, as well as an economic one. World Vision estimates that 541,000 young people in Lebanon are at risk of early marriage and being forced into child labor as parents struggle to put food on the table. In Jordan, 1 out of 10 women are married before the age of 18. The suicide rate in Lebanon has also drastically increased, with 16% of youth aged 12-14 years admitting they have suicidal thoughts. In light of these alarming numbers, it is more crucial than ever to rekindle hope and a sense of agency for youth, as well as to provide pathways for training and sustainable employment.

Having reached over 100,000 children, youth, women, and teachers since 2015, Seenaryo believes in the power of theatre to equip people with the tools to collaborate, think critically and build transferable skills – supporting them to be powerful agents of their own lives and positive contributors to their societies. While making theatre, Seenaryo is continuously training up facilitators, trainees, and youth leaders to lead the work themselves, with the aim of enhancing our participants’ employability and opening up income-earning opportunities.

1. Project Summary

Funded by the DROSOS Foundation, Seenaryo is launching the “Seenaryo Scenechangers” project in March 2023 which aims at providing sustained employment pathways for youth who have upskilled through theatre under Seenaryo’s programming. The project will train and employ 128 youth Scenechangers (aged 18-30) to teach the curriculum through theatre, embedding them in schools to run play-based, participatory workshops that respond to curriculum needs for 9–16-year-olds. These workshops will in turn build the life skills, engagement, and wellbeing of a total of 20,800 School Youth who will participate in workshop-classes taught by Scenechangers. The project as a whole, which reaches 23,680 beneficiaries, will embed theatre into the heart of the school day in a way that is unique in the region, exposing thousands of youth to theatre for the first time, transforming the atmosphere of schools, and, on the long-run, embedding theatre into national educational policy in our countries.

The overall impact of this project is to sustainably employ youth and build their skills for life, by introducing theatre to classrooms. By using theatre as a uniquely powerful way to teach both the curriculum and life skills, the Scenechangers project will “change the scene” in the lives of our Scenechangers; who will, in turn, change scenes for the School Youth they teach; and the project as a whole will change the scene in the 48 schools in which we will work.

1. Purpose and Objective of Assignment

The consultant is contracted by SEENARYO to draw on their experience of arts and curriculum delivery in the region, in order contribute to the research for and development of a training programme and accompanying manual for the Scenechangers programme. This training will be delivered to a group of selected young people (called ‘Scenechangers’) and will aim to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to go into schools and deliver curriculum lessons through theatre and play-based techniques. This will involve an initial phase of field and desk-based research to understand the theatre and play based practices currently used in schools in Lebanon to deliver the curriculum. The second phase will involve working with a UK based curriculum developer to assist in the design and writing the in-person training programme to be delivered to the Scenechangers, as well as the training handbook to accompany. The consultancy objectives will take place over a period of 8 months in year one of this four-year project.

The current workplan for this consultancy begins in April 2023 and expects to achieve all deliverables by the end of December 2023 (end of month 8). If however the project start date is delayed, timelines can be negotiated and adjusted accordingly. Throughout the consultancy period the consultant will work in close collaboration with project staff and in coordination with Seenaryo’s Senior Management Team, as well as with a UK based consultant who will be leading on content development. An ability to be self-starting and to work independently, and an ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with others is essential.

The objectives of the consultancy include:

1. Mapping current provision of learning through theatre and play in schools in Lebanon (including a selection of public schools, low-income private schools and NGO schools).
2. Understanding the needs and capacities of selected schools to engage in delivery of the curriculum through theatre and play.
3. Feeding into the design, writing and production of a brand-new modular training programme and accompanying handbook that will equip youth (the ‘Scenechangers’) to deliver curriculum lessons in schools through theatre and play. This will involve participatory research (i.e. focus group discussions) with other local content creators, curriculum designers and arts and education specialists.
4. Providing ongoing technical support to the project staff in troubleshooting and continuing to adapt and develop training as the roll out of the pilot trainings take place.
5. Documentation of the learning (process and impact) throughout and at the end of the project.
6. Project Content & Target Group

The project engages two main target youth groups: initially with 128 Scenechangers (aged 18-30) and then, through the Scenechangers rollout, with 20,800 younger School Youth from Grades 3 – 9 (aged 9-16). In addition, the project will reach 352 schoolteachers (Scenechangers will work in 48 schools by Year 4, leading sessions with four different classes in each school). We aim to target two geographic areas in each country (Bekaa and Akkar in Lebanon, and Irbid and Tafileh in Jordan), working with a total of 48 schools: roughly 6 schools in each of the 4 regions. Some initial research & development and pilot sessions may also take place in Beirut and East Amman.

The breakdown of beneficiaries by project activity is as follows:

1. Studio Productions & National Tours: 64 youth (4 cohorts of 16) create 4 productions and perform them twice in their local regions, then tour them nationally 2 times each. Their shows reach a total of 2,400 audience members (4 shows are performed 4 times each, reaching 150 audience members at each performance).
2. Scenechangers Training: The 64 youth are joined by a further 64 youth graduates from other Seenaryo theatre programmes (who have created theatre with Seenaryo and are looking for further skills development and employment opportunities). The 128 Scenechangers are trained over 10 days. The most promising 96 Scenechangers are then selected to run 3 practice sessions in pairs with 960 youth in local community spaces (48 pairs each work with 20 children).
3. Scenechangers Rollout: The fully trained Scenechangers reach a total of 19,840 School Youth by teaching cycles of six theatre-based sessions in schools. 64 Scenechangers go into schools in the first year of rollout; and 48 in the second and third years.
4. Consultancy Deliverables & Timeline
5. Mapping & Needs Assessment: field & desk-based research

• Review Seenaryo’s current play-based and theatre tools, training plans & materials
• Collaborate with Seenaryo to determine scope of needs assessment i.e. selection of schools in relevant regions
• Conduct needs assessment of schools in Lebanon and Jordan including a) overview of current interventions using theatre and play-based tools in classrooms of children aged 9-16 years old in selected schools and b) meetings with teachers in a minimum of 3 selected schools to establish needs, ideas and limitations for potential interventions
• Present findings and recommendations to Seenaryo project staff by end of June 2023

Timeframe: April – June 2023

Estimate of expected working days: 3-4 days

1. Contribution to the design & creation of Scenechangers Training Content & Methodology

• Consult with local content creators, curriculum designers and arts & education specialists to gather ideas, best practice and advice on content creation for the Scenechangers programme
• Provide input through regular meetings with the UK based consultant to help design and write content and methodology for Scenechangers training programme, split into two levels (Level One and Level Two) with approximately 5 days of training content per level
• Assist in the development of 3 example Scenechanger session plans, based on training material, that can be used in pilot phase

Timeframe: July – August 2023

Estimate of expected working days: 2-3 days

1. Contribution to the design & Creation of Scenechangers Training Handbook

• Provide input through regular meetings with the UK based consultant to help design and write training handbook to help support newly trained Scenechangers, based on the content of the training programme
• Work with UK based consultant to submit finalized training handbook by end of August 2023

Timeframe: July – August 2023

Estimate of expected working days: 2-3 days

5.4 Piloting of Scenechangers Training

• Conduct 3 x pilot Scenechanger sessions in schools visited during needs assessment phase
• Revise training plans and handbook based on feedback and learnings from pilot sessions
• Re-submit finalized training plans and handbook by end of October 2023

Timeframe: September – November 2023

Estimate of expected working days: 3 days

1. Assisting with the training of Seenaryo’s Facilitators (i.e., trainer mentors)

• Consult and assist during the 5-day training for Seenaryo’s trainer mentors to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to run the full Scenechangers training programme

Timeframe: December 2023

Estimate of expected working days: 1-2 days

Throughout the project the consultant is expected to:

• Consult closely with teachers to build a concept for the training content that is practical, accessible, relevant and in line with school needs and existing curriculum demands.
• Collaborate and communicate regularly with Seenaryo project staff and the Senior Management team e.g., through attending monthly progress update meetings.
• Contribute to a positive and participatory working environment by effectively including teachers, participants and team members in the process.

1. Candidate Qualifications

We are looking for one consultant to carry out the assignment outlined above. The consultant should have the following skills and experience:

• Diverse and solid experience working in schools and/or arts organisations to deliver arts-based programmes.
• Experience conducting research in schools and/or arts organisations.
• Experience contributing to the design and development of arts-based programmes.
• Experience working with small NGOs or CBOs and a demonstrated interest in this field of work.
• Based in Lebanon or Jordan with extensive knowledge of the context and experience in public schools is preferable.
• Willing to travel to locally to and within the areas of implementation.
• Willing to work over an extended mandate.
• Fluent in English and Arabic.
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills in English and in Arabic.