Curriculum Development Consulting Engagement with BRAC International

Purpose of assignment:
Support analysis of curriculum needs, assembly of curriculum and development of necessary curriculum for a variety of audiences. This will support a flagship programme to be initiated in 2022 (in a partnership of Mastercard Foundation and BRAC International) to inform the design and implementation of a five-year programme aimed at achieving social and economic empowerment of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and women in four countries of Africa including Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Deliverables:
● Review existing curriculum mapping and wireframes and create project specific versions that clearly outline scope and sequence, learning outcomes and skills outcomes
● At the direction of BRAC colleagues, assemble, edited and develop (as needed) curriculum content and any requested participant workbooks or graphics for groups indicated below in
tasks
● Finalize formatting and production of training package material in collaboration with a designer (this can be external or if applying with a consortium or firm, part of the team)
● Recommendation of a system for storing content and making it accessible to mentors in partnership with BRAC staff and in line with BRAC International policies; storage of all curriculum content in the decided upon system
● Participate in curriculum testing and feedback and complete adaptations needed
● Input into baseline, midline and endline evaluation tools and assessments for mentors, staff and beneficiaries, recommendations for questions, as needed
● Input into orientation of staff on curriculum delivery
● Final report on curriculum development process and outcomes

Application submission date: 25 April 2022
Anticipated assignment period: 10 May – 30 September 2022
The agreement can be extended upon agreement by both parties

1. Background:
   BRAC International is a leading non-profit organization with a mission to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. Our approach is grounded in the conviction that people living in vulnerable situations can be agents of change if they are empowered with the tools, skills, and hope they need to change their lives. We design proven, scalable solutions that equip people with the support and confidence they need to achieve their potential. BRAC’s institutional expertise on successfully implemented programmes is applied across 10 countries, touching the lives of over 130 million people, where our models are adapted according to the country’s context.

In 2022, the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with BRAC International (BI) will be announcing an initiative that will create a positive and measurable impact for 1.2 million adolescent girls and young women and 9.5 million people across seven countries in East and West Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda. The programme has the following objectives:
a) To increase the agency and voice of 1.2 million AGYW and women aged 12-35 to make decisions and act on their aspirations.
b) To enhance community engagement, particularly of men and boys, to support and advance empowerment of 1.2 million AGYW and women living in programme areas
c) To economically empower 1.19 million aged 15-3527 to engage in and benefit from decent and sustainable livelihoods
d) To empower 1.19 million AGYW and women aged 15-35 to advocate for their rights
e) To create an enabling ecosystem where key stakeholders including policy and decision-makers are supportive to the social and economic advancement of AGYW and women

The programme follows an integrated programme implementation approach. The core of the implementation modality is BRAC’s microfinance footprint and its associated community network providing both the base and accelerator for social and economic interventions to operate at scale by integrating other sectoral interventions to unlock the potential of AGYW. BRAC’s proven development models will be implemented in a coordinated way for purposeful synergies of impacts

• Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) and Youth Empowerment among others. Collaboration and coordination with a range of stakeholders – starting from the government ministries at national level to the lowest administrative units, community leaders, local CBOs and civil society, private sector actors, multilateral organizations, and international development partners – will be instrumental in the success of this integrated programming.
  Given the diversity of the contexts of the countries in terms of socio-economic conditions, political dynamics, and cultures, it is deemed necessary to conduct a curriculum review and assemble and and cultures, it is deemed necessary to conduct a curriculum review and assemble and develop curricula specifically for this project using existing BRAC content, open source content and developing any modules where gaps are identified.

BRAC International intends to conduct a gender analysis as part of its inception work of the flagship programme under the partnership. This ToR is inviting interested individuals and consultant firms to submit their proposals.

Eligibility and Timeline:

Eligibility

The following eligibility criteria shall apply:

● 3-5 years of experiencing leading the development of experiential curriculum and training materials in African contexts

● Experience with learner centered and engaging content, ability to support design of engaging visuals to enhance participant learning

● Self-starter with a proven track record of delivering high quality curriculum and training deliverables on time

● Knowledge of positive youth development principles, AGYW and women’s programming and youth employment

● Understanding of gender equality and social inclusion concepts and approaches in the international development sector

● Demonstrated ability to lead consensus building during collaborative processes to achieve a final product

● Ability to facilitate and relate to stakeholders at multiple levels

● Attention to cultural/historical context in curriculum development

● If the applicant is a firm, the names of the leading project manager will have to be specified with confirming their availability for the study.

● If applying as a consortium or firm, the team must consist of consultants of African origin and any team with exclusively African team members is preferred.

RFP Timeline
● Advertisement by 10 April 2022
● Service delivery agreement signed by 10 May 2022
● Draft AGYW and ABYM curriculum for testing by 10 June 2022
● Final report submission date 1 September 2022
Scope and process for the deliverables: The purpose of the curriculum project is to create curricula that deliver skills and knowledge needed to overcome gender inequalities faced by adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and women in the target communities, especially related to economic empowerment, and to those in their enabling environment.

Activities:
● Review the curriculum sourcing and skills mapping completed for the project
● Gather open source curriculum to fill identified gaps
● Create a curriculum map and wireframe
● Assemble, edit, and develop (as needed) lesson plans while accounting for contextual adaptations; including AGYW and women (three age groups), ABYM (1-2 age groups),parent, microfinance client curricula, community leadership; content will cover social empowerment and economic empowerment
● Adapt and update facilitator manual
● During testing of curriculum, support feedback processes and complete adaptations recommended
● Support local contextualization in partnership with BRAC staff
● Support creation of an orientation for the curriculum delivery
● Upon curriculum completion, act in supportive role for appropriate content translations with hired external ranslators
● Organize curriculum to be accessible and allow for ease of version control

Do-No-Harm Approach: As BRAC adheres to the do-no-harm principle, the potential risks to participants linked to this analysis and mitigation plans to overcome risks should be outlined.

Reporting, performance assessment, and finance:
The consultant will report to Regional Advisor for Youth Empowerment, BRAC International You will report to Regional Advisory for Youth Empowerment and work in close collaboration with the Associate Director of Education and Empowerment, Head of Youth Empowerment and Head of Programme, Accelerating Impact for Young Women as well as interact with multiple teams across the organization.

The consultant’s performance will be assessed along the consultancy duration particularly the quality of work produced, their timely implementation, time commitment, and meeting the scope and objective of the task. Other conditions like incidental liability, intellectual property, non-disclosure policy, ethical standard and data protection protocol, and safeguarding policy will be applicable as per BRAC’s related policies.
The maximum budget threshold is USD 42,000, payable in monthly installments upon submission of a work update and invoice indicating days worked per task and subject to approval by the Assignment Manager.

The Consultant will be reimbursed for all reasonable travel and related expenses with prior approval by the Assignment Supervisor. The Consultant should provide a timely summary report of expenses on a monthly basis or as relevant – all expenditures must be supported by receipts or invoices to qualify for reimbursement.