Consultancy Services for Developing a Civic and Peace Education Curriculum

Background and Context

After the 1994 genocide perpetrated against Tutsi, the government of Rwanda implemented several initiatives, policies, and strategies to deal with its severe consequences and rebuild the nation. One of these initiatives was the reintroduction of Itorero in 2007, a civic education program designed to help build a society that promotes and upholds Rwandan positive values such as unity, culture of peace, and patriotism; a society that understands the country’s long-term vision and everyone’s role in its implementation.

Among its many initiatives, the government of Rwanda established, in 2021, the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE). The mission of the newly established Ministry revolves around preserving historical memory, reinforcing national unity, and promoting citizenship education. To fulfill its mandate, MINUBUMWE requires a curriculum that will be used to nurture civic and peace education among all Rwandans and in all categories, including Rwandans in the diaspora, families, teachers, youth, faith-based organizations, the public and private sector, and civil society in formal and non-formal settings.

Specifically, through Itorero and Citizenship Education, Rwandans are expected:

• To understand the country’s History.
• To understand Rwandan culture, values, and taboos.
• To be active citizens.
• To clearly understand the concepts of identity, national unity, culture of peace and patriotism.
• To be catalysts for positive change.
• To uphold the culture of volunteerism.

It is against this background that the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) in partnership with Interpeace wishes to recruit a firm to develop a comprehensive Civic Education Curriculum that will guide Itorero and citizenship education delivery for Rwandans.

Objectives of the Assignment

The objective of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive Civic Education Curriculum that includes a set of learning objectives, content, materials, and evaluation methods. The document will be in three official languages (Kinyarwanda, French and English).

Scope of services

The firm shall undertake the assignment targeting children, adolescents, youth & young adults, and adults in and outside of Rwanda. Specifically, the curriculum will be divided into four modules namely:

• Itorero in villages.
• Itorero in Ubutore Development Centers.
• Itorero in public, private, and civil society institutions.
• Citizenship education.

Tasks

1. Review of existing materials, content, and methodology.
2. Content and tools development for all categories.
3. Review and harmonization of contents and tools: this step could be achieved through an in-person workshop and/or through a series of consultation with partners.
4. Finalization of the training curriculums: including formatting.
5. Validation of the curriculum

Deliverables

• Provide the Inception report.
• Produce the 1st draft of the Civic Education curriculum targeting all categories as mentioned under scope of work.
• Produce the 2nd Draft of the Civic Education curriculum after incorporating all comments and inputs.
• Produce the Final draft of the Civic Education curriculum Provide the Final curriculum.

Reporting and Time Schedule

The Consultant will present the following reports:

Inception report: to be submitted in one month after the commencement of the tasks and after the Consultant has had detailed discussions with MINUBUMWE. MINUBUMWE will review this report within 3 days after.

• 1st Draft of the Civic Education curriculum; to be submitted in 3 weeks after the approval of the inception report. The consultant will present the draft curriculum to the technical committee in MINUBUMWE for discussions and comments.
• 2nd Draft of the Civic Education curriculum: to be submitted in 3 after receiving comments and inputs on the 1st The consultant will present the 2nd draft to the stakeholders in a validation workshop to brainstorm and further orient its development. The consultant will then address the concerns of the partners arising from the above workshop in the Final Report.
• Final draft of the Civic Education curriculum: to be submitted in 3 weeks, after the validation workshop for final approval.

The document should be presented in the following form.

3 hard copies and one soft copy containing the final version. The curriculum will be submitted in Kinyarwanda, English, and French versions.

Duration of the Consultancy

The consultancy will last for 60 -days from the date of signing the contract.

Staff Requirements

The Lead Consultant would be an expert in Content Development. S/He would have:

• At least a master’s degree in relevant fields including governance, education, human rights, civics education or other related social sciences;
• Relevant experience of not less than 10 years in the development, assessment and evaluation of the curriculum and teaching and learning resources.
• Extensive experience developing training curriculums on relevant topics.
• Expertise in pedagogy and experiential learning approaches
• Proven record of delivering professional curriculums (with at least 2 verifiable references)
• Excellent Kinyarwanda, French and English speaking and writing skills.
• Being conversant with existing “Itorero” and Citizenship Education content and methodology.

For Additional team members:

• At least a bachelor’s degree in relevant fields including governance, education, human rights, civics education or other related social sciences.