Call for Applications: ADEA Country Education and Skills Data Mapping and Needs Assessment Study

Country-specific mapping of education and skills data ecosystem producers and users (institutions, partners, and other stakeholders), processes, initiatives, needs, and capacity gaps

Location: In-country for Rwanda, Nigeria, Mauritius, Gambia, Zambia, Kenya

Duration: 20 Working Day

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), as a critical voice of education in Africa, seeks to empower African countries to develop responsive educational systems for sustainable development. Its vision is to create “a high-quality education and training system for accelerated sustainable development of Africa.” ADEA’s mission, therefore, is “to serve as an open and flexible pan-African organization that informs and facilitates the transformation of education and training systems for resilience, human capital development, and youth empowerment in Africa”. ADEA has played a significant role in the education space for over 34 years as a convener, catalyst, knowledge creator, and forum for policy dialogue. ADEA’s overall goal is “to empower African countries to transform schooling to meaningful learning by leveraging our globally connected partnerships, a well-equipped and skilled Secretariat, and country-led Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs)”. ADEA achieves this goal through its continental and regional level work and country-focused support using the thematic-based ICQNs as a community of practice for peer learning, knowledge exchange, and experience sharing.

Africa faces a data crisis in education and skills. Since the Education For All (EFA) 2000 and transcending subsequent major global and continental frameworks (MDGs, SDG4, AU Second Decade of Education for Africa 2006-2015, Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025), the availability of quality education and skills data for informed decision making has been a perennial challenge in many African countries. This is in terms of evidence-based research, policy, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of impact. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation, especially for the education sector. In many African countries, the education sector did not contribute significant comprehensive data to inform change in policy and practice responses regarding continued remote education and reopening of learning institutions.

Due to the above-identified challenges, ADEA is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) in a five-year “Tackling Education and Skills Data Challenge (ESDC)” project to strengthen the capacity of up to 30 African countries “to produce, report and utilize quality data on education and skills for informed decision making in policy, planning, programme implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of impact.”  

This initiative is expected to achieve the following objectives: 

• Create an appetite for the leadership to demand for quality education and skills data. This will result in a shift in the decision-making approach to be more evidence-based. 
• Strengthen the capacity of the Ministries of Education in the selected African countries to use quality data to reform their education sectors to provide quality education and skills to the youth. 
• Provide a platform for peer learning, knowledge exchange and experience sharing among African countries on the production, management, and use of data on education and skills. 
• Build regional peer learning for greater coordination and planning in education at regional level. 
• Develop a roadmap for scaling up the 30-country experience to other African countries.

Data and data-driven tools are becoming crucial for effective governance, especially in the education sector. They play an essential role throughout the public policy process, from identifying needs to implementing and evaluating policies. By offering a strong foundation for informed decision-making, these tools ensure that the policies created effectively address the challenges at hand. Their significance can be emphasized at multiple levels.

Through the ESDC project, ADEA is seeking in-country resource persons to assist in a comprehensive assessment of the education and skills data landscape in the individual project countries. The goal is to deepen understanding of the country data context and identify needs and priorities to ensure the effective production and utilisation of education and skills data for informed decision-making. To achieve this, it is essential to comprehensively assess current data production processes, identify gaps in capacity, and map existing resources and data-related initiatives. Also, an assessment of the Ministry of Education’s capacity to leverage technology for education and skills data is essential. The outcomes of this mapping study and needs assessment will inform the development of a costed action plan for the capacity building of relevant government stakeholders in each project country.

ADEA’s ESDC project team will work collaboratively with the in-country resource persons to perform the following tasks:

1. Map country-specific institutions, partners, processes, and initiatives in education data and skills landscape: 
   1. Identify key institutions: Compile a comprehensive list of government agencies, NGOs, country, regional and international partners, private companies, and academic institutions involved in education data collection, analysis, and skills development.
   2. Analyse current processes: Assess and map existing data collection processes across institutions, reviewing methodologies and identifying gaps or overlaps in data practices.
   3. Map data-related initiatives: Identify previous and ongoing education data and skills development initiatives, gather information on successful programs that utilize education data, and document the partnerships and specific roles of involved institutions.
   4. Develop a framework to categorize institutions, partners, and initiatives by their functions and contributions, along with criteria to evaluate their effectiveness.
   5. Prepare a final report summarizing the mapping exercise, including key insights, visualizations, and recommendations.
2. Assess country capacity needs and priorities: 
   1. Evaluate the existing skills, tools, and resources of data producers and users, and assess their current data management practices and technological infrastructure. 
   2. Assess education and skills data capacity gaps for the integration of technology, including the use of Artificial Intelligence for data management as a whole and data analysis in particular. 
   3. Identify current education and skills data gaps and areas of improvement, particularly in the context of data harmonization and system integration processes within and between Ministries responsible for education and skills development.
   4. Establish a comprehensive baseline for understanding the current state of education and skills data production and usage, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
   5. Identify good practices such as the use of digital technology to manage and improve quality data production, management, and utilization, as well as collaborations with development partners and/or private sector organisations. Prepare a final assessment report that includes key findings and recommendations.

The work will be carried out in accordance with ADEA’s standard policies and procedures, comply with evaluation norms, and follow ethical safeguards. All efforts must be made to ensure that the process is participatory to ensure the involvement of ADEA’s key stakeholders, especially countries and partners, academia, and private sector players.

The process should involve a collaborative effort between the ADEA Secretariat and the ESDC project team, Ministries of Education, key partners, and the resource persons.

The following methods will be considered as a minimum for the mapping study and needs assessment – please note that candidates are expected to detail their methodological approach and tools, and this outline should not be considered as exhaustive:

a. Desk review

The resource persons will review and analyses relevant documents and reports of country’s education system, education and skills policies, data-related initiatives implemented in selected countries, partner profiles, among others.

b. Partner consultations 

The resource persons will conduct online and in-person group/individual discussions with the key education and skills data stakeholders (producers and users), concerned Ministry representatives, partners, and ESDC project focal points in the selected countries.

The consultant will be required to provide the following deliverables:

• An inception report within 10 days of signing the contract. It will clearly outline the tasks or activities to be undertaken as well as the corresponding timelines, provided in a Gantt chart. It will also include a draft format for the final reports.
• A draft Country Mapping Report submitted to the ESDC Project Manager through the ADEA Secretariat for review and feedback.
• A revised draft Country Mapping Report incorporating the feedback from the ADEA ESDC project team.
• A final Country Mapping Report submitted to ADEA Secretariat.
• A draft Country Needs Assessment Report submitted to the ESDC Project Manager through the ADEA Secretariat for review and feedback. The report should provide an overview of the assessment results, identified gaps, national priorities, and recommendations 
• A revised Country Needs Assessment Report incorporating the feedback from ADEA ESDC project team.
• A final Country Needs Assessment Report submitted to the ADEA Secretariat.

• Proven ability and experience in conducting mapping studies and needs assessment. 
• Extensive experience in education and skills data management, including data production, utilization, and harmonization.
• Strong knowledge of selected country educational system. 
• Proven ability to engage with diverse stakeholders and navigate complex political environments.
• Strong analytical and communication skills to assess, interpret, and present complex data and concepts effectively.
• A minimum of Master’s degree in education, economics, development studies, project management or related discipline and strong experience conducting qualitative and quantitative evaluations as well as development of strategic documents.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English or French, and a working knowledge of the other, is essential.

The assignment will take place over a period of 20 working days, with a breakdown of time allocation as follows:

• Pre-mission preparation (5 working days): Review of background documentation, development of methodological approach and tools 
• Consultations (10 working days): Consultations with key education and skills data stakeholders
• Reporting and presentation (5 working days): Preparation of reports, consolidation of findings, and debriefing with ADEA Secretariat and Ministerial staff.

The Resource Persons will work under the direct supervision of the ESDC Project Manager. Regular updates will be provided to the Project Manager, and the Resource Persons will submit all deliverables in accordance with the agreed timeline.

Applicants should submit the following: 

1. a copy of the CV and an expression of interest including a motivation letter explaining how they understand the mission and relevant experience; and 
2. a technical and financial offer. The financial offer should include: 
   1. the daily fees in USD, and
   2. detailed breakdown of tasks for the number of days for this assignment.

Applications must be sent to adea-applications@afdb.org no later than Tuesday, 3rd December, 2024. The subject of the e-mail should be “Resource Person for the ADEA Country Education and Skills Data Mapping and Needs Assessment Study”.