Procurement Summary
Country : Liberia
Summary : Consultancy to Conduct a Needs Assessment on Youth Vulnerability, Education and Access to Employment Opportuities
Deadline : 20 Jan 2020
Other Information
Notice Type : Tender
TOT Ref.No.: 39766239
Document Ref. No. :
Competition : ICB
Financier : United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Purchaser Ownership : -
Tender Value : Refer Document
Purchaser's Detail
Purchaser : CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
The Country Representative, 16th Street, Sinkor, Gardiner Avenue
Liberia
Email :liberiaprocurement@crs.org
Tender Details
Tenders are invited for Consultancy to Conduct a Needs Assessment on Youth Vulnerability, Education and Access to Employment Opportuities in Liberia.
SCOPE OF WORK
Needs Assessment
January 2020
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT A NEEDS ASSESSMENT ON YOUTH VULNERABILITY, EDUCATION AND ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUITIES IN LIBERIA
Location: Monrovia with travel to two counties (Lofa and Grand Bassa)
Purpose: Consultancy for needs assessment on youth vulnerability, education and employment opportunities in Liberia
Period of the consultancy: January 28, 2020 to February 19, 2020
Duration of the consultancy: 23 days including weekends
About CRS Liberia:
CRS empowers youth around the world to realize their full potential, constructively contribute to their families, schools, communities, and even global networks, and to participate successfully in the social, economic and political spheres that influence their lives. Since 2003, CRS has implemented more than 130 youth-serving and youth-focused projects across various sectors and ensuring age and stage appropriate programming. CRS’ robust technical expertise across multiple development and humanitarian relief sectors ensures a holistic approach to youth programmingi.
Positive Youth Development: CRS uses the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework as a foundation for all engagement with youth. A guiding principle of USAID’s Youth in Development policy, PYD is a philosophy that views youth as agents of positive change. Building on the PYD approach, CRS believes that all youth, including those who are poor, in the home and the community, have the power to change the direction of their lives and that of their communities. Skills development, increased agency, contribution and an enabling environment ensure youth become healthy, productive and engaged adults.
The proposed CRS project seeks to provide a bold, locally led intervention that builds on current Liberia youth programs such as the previous USAID funded Advancing Youth Project (AYP) and Core Education Skills for Liberian Youth (CESLY) while also leveraging key recommendations and introducing lessons learned and innovation from other youth livelihood projects implemented by CRS for an improved program delivery. The USAID Youth situational analysis (Attachment A) also provides much useful information and data about the context, key components and some of the rationale behind the suggested intervention.
Background:
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Liberia mission is expected to release the Youth Activity solicitation toward the end of February 2020. The Liberia Youth Activity will be intentional in targeting youth cohorts, paying attention to vulnerable youth segments in targeting and tracking activity interventions. Already, the mission released an RFI in July in an attempt to reach out to stakeholders to receive feedback on their draft concept. For this announcement, USAID Liberia will concentrate its program resources toward increasing the economic self-reliance and resilience of youth in targeted areas. To support the achievement of this goal, the proposed project will implement interventions under three Strategic Approaches: 1) Develop the basic education and foundational skills of youth; 2) Support the strengthening of employment skills for improved livelihoods, and 3) Support the creation
of an enabling environment for improved youth productivity.
Purpose of the Consultancy/Assessment:
The purpose of the Assessment is to understand the various factors, barriers and drivers for economic
opportunities and improved self-reliance and resilience for youth living in rural and urban parts of
Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Lofa counties, and to identify opportunities to support these, particularly
for the most vulnerable youth segments along with recommending practices, tools/ materials and
partnerships that align with the Government of Liberia’s plans for economic growth. The consultancy will
support CRS Liberia in their needs assessment of the state of youth education and livelihoods in target
Liberian counties. The assessment report will help to establish the Youth Vulnerability, Education and
Access to Employment Opportunities in Liberia and, particularly in the three counties. The results of this
needs assessment will inform the country program on the root problems that youth are facing and what
interventions can solve those problems to improve prospects for youth. The consultant will assist CRS
Liberia in the conduction of primary data collection, data analysis and reporting.
Expected Outcome
At the end of the consultancy, the consulting firm will be required to deliver the following:
An Inception report, including a work plan, the proposed methodology, and field manual
for the study;
§ A comprehensive draft Assessment report on youth vulnerability, education and access to
employment opportunities in Liberia to be submitted in both electronic and signed hard
copies, including findings and recommendations;
§ Systematic Assessment database produced and delivered along with the draft report;
§ Power Point presentation of draft report for review and comment
§ Finalized and submit report based on inputs from Power Point presentation
Duration and timeline:
The Assessment is expected to last for the period of twenty-four (23) days beginning the commencement
of signing of the consulting service contract'
Specific tasks are the following:
Description Deliverable
Develop a SOW/TOR for the assessment and budget
for assessment.
Technical proposal /ToR
with cost proposal, work
plan
Develop and validate data collection and analysis
tools, methodology and determine sampling size.
Data collection and
analysis tools
Conduct desk review on the situation of youth in
Liberia in general and in the three counties in
particular
Report of the desk
review
Conduct assessment in five rural districts in Lofa and
Grand Bassa and in Urban Montserrado County.
Field trip report,
Develop comprehensive assessment report Draft report, meta data
in Excel
Presentation and validation of the findings Initial comments on the
report
Incorporation of the initial comments and final draft
of the report
Final draft of the report
Incorporation of the comments and finalization of the
report
Final report
Total Days
Logistics:
The consultant will be responsible for all logistical requirements for the duration of the consultancy and
should be embedded in the cost proposal. A CRS staff member will be assigned to serve as a coordinator
during the data collection timeframe and will be available to provide coordination work within the regions
were data is being collected (liaise with local officials, etc.).
Source Document to be provided to consultant;
The consultant is expected to review the following documents:
• Government policies, strategy and program documents
o Education Sector Plan 2017-2025
o TVET and ABE policies, guidelines
o Labor Laws
o Ministry of Youth Policy on youth development and empowerment
• USAID Youth Situational Analysis 2019.
• Liaise with CRS sub-sector leads for additional reference tools and/or assessments
Report format
The draft report of minimum 20 but no more than 30 pages (excluding executive summary, table
of content and annexes) will be shared with CRS for revision and incorporation of feedback
where needed. The final comprehensive Assessment report will include the following:
§ Title page
§ Acknowledgement
§ Acronym list
§ Executive summary
§ Table of contents
§ Introduction/Background
§ Methodology, sampling approach and scope of study
§ Limitation
§ Analysis of Findings
§ Conclusion and Recommendations
§ Literature list
§ Annexes/appendices
Qualification
The Consulting Firm: expected to have the following qualifications:
a. Should have at least five years’ experience of conducting project baselines/assessments,
evaluations and researches, particularly of Youth related projects;
b. Should have a team having experience of working on land issues;
c. Should have strong organizational credibility, logistics, and systems to carry out such
assignments;
d. Demonstrated experience of working in Liberia
e. Demonstrated expertise in data analysis, including statistical methodologies and related
research techniques;
f. Proven track record of on-time performance;
g. Demonstrated ability to write clear, brief, analytical reports.
Lead Researcher
Academic Qualification: Advanced university degree (MSC or equivalent) in one of the key areas
of expertise (sociology, Statistics, communication, monitoring and evaluation) or other related
educational background.
Experience:
1) At least ten (10) years of progressive and responsible professional experience in conducting
researches, project baseline and studies, evaluations and other related areas
2) Demonstrated experience in working with national governments, local authorities,
communities, youth and diverse stakeholder groups.
3) Reasonable experience in applying or engaging in community participatory approaches to
Youth development and empowerment issues
4) At least 5 listed projects undertaking similar assignments is required, with description of work
and specific role.
5) Demonstrated knowledge and experience in data gathering, analysis, enumeration, etc
Competencies:
1) Timely delivery of high-quality analytical work
2) Strong problem-solving skills
3) Excellent command of written and oral English is required
4) Strong technical report writing skills
Lead Analyst
Academic qualifications: 1) Advanced degree in sociology, communication, monitoring and
evaluation, and other related studies
Experience:
ü At least 8 years of progressively responsible and related professional experience
ü Experience in data Acquisition and Analysis/processing.
ü Strong demonstration of analytical e
Documents
Tender Notice