Rapid Needs Assessment on Education of Children with Disabilities in Dadaab Refugee Camps
Introduction
Dadaab refugee camps are about 500 km from the capital city of Nairobi and 80 km from Liboi, the Kenya/Somalia border.
The camp was established more than 20 years ago and is currently hosting 474,154 refugees. Dadaab
consists of 5 camps: Ifo, Ifo 2, Dagahaley, Hagadera and Kambioos.
Children and youth constitute nearly 70% of the population in Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. Currently, there are 72,209 students enrolled in formal basic education programs out of 163,308 school-aged children in Dadaab.
Gross enrollment in primary schools is 43%, and is lower at ECD (26%) and secondary schools (8%).
The ratio of girls to boys in school is relatively good in ECD where the Gender Parity Index (GPI) is 0.8 (GPI of 1 signifies an equal ratio of girls to boys), but this drops substantially in primary and secondary schools with an index of 0.65 for primary and 0.38 for secondary.
Across the five refugee camps there are 27 pre-school centers, 27 primary schools, and 7 secondary schools.
There are four vocational training centers for youth called Youth Education Pack (YEP) centers, three adult literacy centers, and three public libraries.
In addition, there are six private schools also following the Kenyan curriculum, as well as a number of religious Quranic schools (Madrasas and Duksis).
The education infrastructure has been under severe strain in the last one year due to, the large influx of over 160,000 refugees in 2011 fleeing conflict and famine in Somalia.
The existing Dadaab refugee camp schools were already congested, so new emergency temporary schools were set to give the incoming children an immediate protective learning environment.
Many of the children who arrived in 2011 influx had received little or no education in their home country, posing a challenge to their reintegration into the formal school system thus making the situation worse.
In order to increase access and ensure quality learning, there is still a huge demand for additional schools and more qualified teachers to accommodate all learners.
In April 2012, the Joint Strategy for Education in Dadaab 2012-15 was officially launched to address the gaps in the delivery of formal and non-formal educational programming and to identify solutions that can facilitate provision of quality education.
ADEO Overview
African Development and Emergency Organization (ADEO) is non-governmental and non-political organization registered in Kenya with headquarters in Nairobi.
ADEO has a mandate to pursue humanitarian activities in the African continent while expanding access to education and service delivery to the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Currently, ADEO is taking part in the humanitarian response in Dadaab refugee camps, particularly Ifo and Ifo 2 camps.
Education Services for Persons with Disabilities in Dadaab
Over the 20 years that Dadaab has been in existence, some attempts have been made to give services to persons with disabilities. In 1995, CARE was the lead NGO focusing on education delivery.
Teachers? capacity was improved in the area of special needs education as trainers were invited from KISE and MOE.
Handicap International was brought on board to offer services of persons with disabilities, including rehabilitation.
UN agencies and implementing continue to provide various services to persons with disabilities, although a formal strategy is needed.
Purpose of Assessment
The purpose of a rapid needs assessment on education of children with disabilities (CWD) is to collect baseline data about access and quality of education and protection of these children.
This qualitative assessment seeks to understand the current situation in the camps/schools for CWD, including barriers, local perceptions, and facilities or opportunities.
Presently, there is little information about this subject beyond prevalence of disability and the unmet needs of these persons (Handicap International Survey, 2011; NRC Survey on Out-of-School Children, 2012).
While it is clear that there is a large unmet need in education of children with disabilities, the reasons for these unmet needs and how to best address these needs remains unclear as the voice of this particular population often goes unheard.
This assessment should be viewed as a starting point, helping to seek explanations and comprehensive understanding beyond basic statistics.
Therefore, the assessment will be conducted primarily through focus group discussion (FGD), as well as interviews, case studies, school visits, and a survey of education partners.
The results of this assessment will enable UNHCR and education partners to better determine strategies, policies, and programming for children with disabilities particularly concerning their access to quality education and protection.
Key Research Question
What are the main barriers for providing access and quality education to children with disabilities in Dadaab refugee camps?
Methodology
Over the past few months, UNHCR has worked together with education partners and stakeholders in the community to develop a set of questionnaires for this rapid needs assessment focusing on: access to education, quality of education, and protection concerns of children with disabilities.
The assessment will be a collection of focus groups, key informant interviews, site visits, case studies and a survey of education partners and is designed to be conducted in a short amount of time.
A team of data collectors from the refugee and host community, which include camp supervisors, interviewers, and data entry clerks, will need to be recruited and trained.
Pretesting of the questionnaires will be conducted as part of the training of data collectors.
The data collection will take place across all five camps, which will be compiled into a report. Once a draft is finished, it will be shared with all education partners for review and edits before a final paper is released.
The final report will be printed and disseminated, in culmination with a workshop sharing the results.
The consultant (and assistant) will be expected to conduct assessment through active involvement of education partners as has been the procedure thus far in developing the proposal and tools, including: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, ADEO, LWF, CARE, SCUK, NRC, NCCK, HI, AVSI, RCK and DRA.
Inclusive involvement of all stakeholders? participation is expected to be of fundamental importance in information collection.
This will involve holding interagency meetings at each stage of the assessment and sharing materials (tools, analysis, and report) with education partners for input.
A working group consisting UNHCR, UNICEF, ADEO, LWF, CARE, SCUK, HI, WTK, NRC and DEO is responsible the management and of the whole assessment process.
The consult?s role should be seen as an advisor to the assessment as much of the preliminary work has already been done.
Their expertise will guide the assessment, by evaluating and improving the data collection tools, overseeing implementation, and providing insight into the analysis of the data.
The consultant?s assistant will be the assessment coordinator, working to hire and train data collectors, organize logistics, and prepare materials (paperwork, printing of tools, etc.)
Duration and Timelines
The total duration of the consultancy should be 4-6 weeks including the initial steps of review methodology and data collection tools, to the submission of final report.
The data collection phase should be completed by the end of November 2012 as schools will be beginning to administer end of year exams.
The final report should be submitted no later than 15 December 2012.
The consultant will develop the plan of action to be agreed with the working group responsible this process who will give directions at every stage of consultancy.
Deliverables
The consultant shall:
??? Review drafted assessment methodology and make recommendations for improvement. He/she shall also submit a detailed work plan which corresponds with determined methodology.
??? Review drafted assessment tools and make recommendations, including development of additional tools if necessary.
??? Provide guidance and support on organization and analysis of collected data.
??? Organize the drafting of report with education partners for input and consolidation of edits.
??? Present final draft report to working group within specified days as will be agreed in the contract.
??? Interview and hire data collection team (including interviewers, team supervisors, and data entry clerks) which is inclusive of persons with disabilities as per the determined methodology
??? Organize a one/two-day workshop to train data collection team, in consultation with advisor and education partners
??? Organize and run a pre-test of data collection tools. Work with advisors and education partners to modify tools.
??? Oversee data collection process across all 5 camps. This includes organizing: printing and preparation of tools assessment tools, distributing the tools and collecting the tools from field teams, and delivery to data entry clerks.
??? Oversee and review data entry process to ensure accuracy.
??? Provide feedback and support in the development of draft report.
A complete draft proposal for this assessment has already been jointly designed by education partners in Dadaab this year.
The methodology, tools, and suggested work plan are part of this proposal. Selected consultant will use these documents as a foundation for the assessment.
The final report should include the following:
1. Executive Summary
Particular emphasis should be put on main findings and recommendations. It must function independent excerpt and not to refer to other parts of the report.
2. Introduction / Background
This section should present the purpose of the assessment and refer to the background of education and persons with disabilities in Dadaab.
3. Chapters describing methodology and analysis
This should include a detailed description of methodology involved, as well as any challenges or perceived gaps during the data collection.
4. Chapters presenting findings and conclusions
The findings by preference focused on the findings and the conclusions should be well documented and discussed in the preceding chapters. This section should be divided into three key areas: access to education, quality of education, and protection concerns for children with disabilities.
5. Recommendations
The recommendations should be focused on development of a strategy for education of people with disabilities.
Recommendations should be based on the preceding analysis, findings and conclusions.
They should be deliverable and realistic, and can contain short term recommendation that require immediate intervention and long term recommendation.
In addition, recommendations can include suggestions for further assessment/research about education of children with disabilities in Dadaab.
6. Annexes
Should include: Terms of reference; List of institutions and persons consulted; Sample questionnaire used in the study; any other related annex from the consultant.
Prerequisites for the Candidates
Consultant
??? Must have Masters degree and above focusing on education (preferred experience in special education/inclusive education and/or education in emergencies) and/or monitoring and evaluation
??? Should have experience working with persons with disabilities/education/emergencies/humanitarian work
??? Should have considerable experience (at least 5 years continuous service) in evaluation, designing programmes (preferably on special needs education) and familiar with global trends on the area of people with disability.
??? Previous experience in conducting surveys, assessments and evaluations
??? Should have very good command of English language, writing skills, and computer literate.
??? Knowledge of legal provisions for persons with disabilities in different African countries/humanitarian/emergencies will be an added advantage.
??? Knowledge of refugee context in Dadaab environment and Somali language will be added advantage
??? Willing to work in a hazardous environment and as part of a large education team.
??? Should be extremely detail oriented and well-organized
Interested parties are expected to submit:
??? A technical proposal describing methodological approach and techniques with a time line to conduct the data collection, analysis and development of the report.
??? Cover Letter
??? Resume, highlighting experience with persons with disabilities, education, and monitoring and evaluation.
??? Writing sample
??? 3 References
Applicants can apply as a firm or as individuals.
In your application, please specify your preferred position with required supporting documents.
If you or your firm meets the above requirements, please send your application to recruitment@adeointl.org on or before 30th October 2012.
Deadline for submission: Tuesday 30 October.
Selected candidates should be available for travel to Dadaab during the first week of November and December for varying lengths of time.
Don't Miss Our Daily Job Updates Click Here To Subscribe to Career Point Kenya by Email
Source: http://www.careerpointkenya.com/2012/10/ngo-consultant-job-kenya-adeo.html
the weeknd payroll tax payroll tax aisha khan alanis morissette adam lambert incendiary
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.