1. Context and justification

ADEA Overview

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is a critical voice of education in Africa that seeks to empower African countries to transform schooling to meaningful learning. ADEA achieves its goal through its continental-level work and country-focused support using the thematic-based Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs) – communities of practice for peer learning, knowledge exchange, and experience sharing. 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.”

Tackling Education and Skills Data Challenge (ESDC) Project Overview

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 project, “Tackling Education and Skills Data Challenge (ESDC)”, 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 leadership to demand 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.

As part of the ESDC project’s ongoing efforts to strengthen national capacities on quality education and skills data production and utilization, comprehensive country needs assessments have been undertaken, priority areas identified, and action plans developed. ADEA engages in-country institutions to support the implementation of the action plans.

ADEA therefore seeks a dynamic and experienced in-country institution to support the Ministry of Education in Zambia (MoE Zambia) in the implementation of impactful capacity-strengthening interventions, based on agreed action plan, for sustainable growth in education and skills data production and use in the country.

2. Purpose of the Assignment

The selected in-country institution will support MoE Zambia in implementing the agreed action plan to meet the following objectives:

• Improve documentation on education and skills data production and use.
• Enhance capacities at central, provincial, and district levels, including using standardized procedures for data collection, validation, and utilization.
• Improve accessibility and use of educational data through modern tools and dissemination mechanisms.

This will entail, among others, coordinating the delivery of the capacity-strengthening interventions and ensuring the achievement of set deliverables.

3. Scope of work

The in-country institution, under the leadership and guidance of MoE Zambia, will be responsible for implementing the following activities:

A. Priority area 1: Improve data collection, validation and generation

i. Support the establishment of a Technical Working Group on Education and Skills Data (Central level).

The objective of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Education and Skills Data is to bring together key stakeholders to coordinate, guide, and harmonize efforts in improving the production and use of quality education and skills data. The in-country institution is expected to support MoE Zambia in the:

• Development of the ToR for the TWG on Education and Skills Data,
• Establishment of the TWG on Education and Skills Data, including the identification and onboarding of members.
• Organizing the launch of the TWG on Education and Skills Data and anchoring it in the national statistical system.

Deliverables:

• Validated ToR for the TWG on Education and Skills Data.
• Institutionalized and functional TWG on Education and Skills Data.

ii. Reactivate provinces, districts and schools’ data management committee

To strengthen the governance of education and skills data, MoE Zambia has established Data Management Committees (DMCs) from the provincial to the school level. However, the DMCs are currently not functioning effectively, which undermines the quality and use of education and skills data. The activity aims to reactivate the DMCs and make them more functional. To achieve this objective, the institution will:

• Review of Terms of Reference (TOR) of the DMCs
• Conduct an assessment of the DMCs at provincial, district and school levels to identify the challenges they face and provide actionable recommendations to foster their effective functioning

Deliverables:

• Revised TORs for DMCs
• Assessment report on the status of DMCs, challenges, and recommendations for their effective functioning.

iii. Improve documentation on education and skills data production and use

Improving the documentation of production and use of education and skills data is a necessary and strategic investment to ensure transparency and accountability, institutional memory, and data quality.

The in-country institution will work with MoE Zambia to implement the following activities:

• Training Ministry staff on the SDG 4 and CESA monitoring and evaluation frameworks to enhance understanding and support alignment with reporting requirements.
• Review, or /develop and validate where none exists, the national education monitoring framework in terms of the level of integration of relevant indicators from SDG4/CESA monitoring frameworks.
• Develop the national metadata document on education indicators.
• Develop a manual of standardized procedures for data quality validation.
• Facilitate the validation of the metadata document and manual produced through a workshop

Deliverables:

• Training modules
• National education indicators framework including selected indicators from SDG 4 and CESA frameworks (reviewed or validated if new).
• Validated metadata document.
• Validated manual of standardized procedures for data quality.

iv. Strengthen staff capacities at district and school levels in data collection tools , feedback mechanisms, and standardized procedures for data validation and utilization

Improving the capacity of staff at provincial and district levels to produce and use education and skills data is crucial to enhance the quality of data, enables evidence-based decision-making and improves accountability. This approach bridges the gap between national policies and sub-national implementation, ensuring sustainability by integrating data practices at decentralized levels. It also empowers schools and communities to make informed decisions for better educational outcomes. The in-country institution will therefore undertake the following:

• Develop training modules for the following focus areas: (i) data collection tools at school level, (ii) standardized procedures for data validation, and (iii) feedback mechanisms.
• Deliver the training of staff through a cascade model up to the district level.

Deliverables:

• Training modules
• Training reports
• Evaluation reports

v. Develop and deploy education and skills dashboard

Developing and deploying education and skills dashboards is key to making data visible, accessible, and actionable. Such dashboards support evidence-based decisions, strengthen accountability, and enable tracking of progress toward achieving national, regional, continental, and global education goals. This objective will be achieved through the following activities to be implemented by the in-country institution:

• Conduct a survey among key education stakeholders (national, provincial, district, and development partners) to identify information needs and preferred features of the education and skills dashboard.
• Develop training materials and train key relevant staff at the central level on Power BI
• Support the design and development the education and skills dashboard, primarily based on the Education Statistical Bulletin (ESB) and other validated national data sources.
• Support the launch the dashboard by MoE Zambia and its presentation to stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.
• Develop user guidelines/manuals for effective navigation and use of the dashboard.

Deliverables:

• Education and skills dashboard
• Training materials.
• Training and evaluation reports.

B. Priority area 2: Improve education and skills data management and publication

i. Improve education and skills data accessibility and use

Ensuring that education policymakers, educators, and communities access and use education and skills data in a timely and reliable manner is essential to make informed decisions. To improve data accessibility and use, expected activities by the in-country institution will include:

• Developing an education and skills data dissemination strategy.
• Organizing the presentation and validation of the dissemination strategy through a workshop.

Deliverables:

• Validated national education and skills data dissemination strategy.

C. Financial and logistic assignments:

i. Finance functions:

• Manage project budgets and track expenditures.
• Ensure financial transactions follow agreed standards and donor requirements.
• Prepare and share financial reports regularly for review.

ii. Logistics functions:

• Manage procurement of goods and services required for implementation.
• Coordinate travel, meetings, and other operational requirements.

Deliverables:

• Quarterly financial report.

D. Communication and Advocacy

Communications on the project at the country level and advocacy on important thematic issues are essential to its success.

The in-country institution will undertake the following communications functions:

• Co-create with MoE Zambia and ADEA the development of a communication strategy, and publicity and training materials (content for infographics, etc.)
• Support to the project’s communications officer and relevant Ministry official with the creation of content for knowledge management for the duration of the project at the country level with country insights (blog pieces, dispatches, policy papers, articles, Op-ed, etc.)
• Provide support on country insights to the project’s communications officer on best approaches to operationalize the country communications strategy
• Support with media engagement and monitoring throughout the duration of the project in the country
• Support with the preparation and drafting of communications report covering the project implementation period in the country.

Deliverable:

• Communications strategy
• Monthly communications report
• Media monitoring report

4. Timeline

The implementation of the country action plan is estimated to be completed within a maximum of 12 months.

5. Qualification and Experience

i. Institutional Qualifications

• Legally registered in Zambia or within the Southern African region with authorization to operate in Zambia.
• Minimum of 5 years of proven experience in education and skills data management, capacity strengthening, and training.
• Demonstrated experience working with government ministries and education stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage development partner-funded projects with transparency and accountability.
• Data management proficiency: Expertise in data collection, analysis, management, and reporting, with a focus on education and skills data.
• Training and facilitation skills: Proven ability to design and deliver high-quality training programs, workshops, and mentorship sessions.
• Coordination: Ability to organize and manage training sessions, workshops, and events, including travel and accommodation for participants.

ii. Operational Capacity

• Financial Management: proven capacity to manage project funds with transparency and accountability.
• Procurement: demonstration of the implementation of standard procurement practices.
• Human Resources: demonstrate the ability to implement standard Human Resources management practices
• Grants Management: ability to run donor funded programs.
• Governance: involvement of management in projects.
• Audits: proof of experience with annual financial audits
• Risk management: provide documented key aspects of the risk management plan

iii. Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration

• Partnership: Demonstrated established relationships with Ministries of Education and other relevant stakeholders.
• Communication skills: Effective communication and interpersonal skills to engage effectively with stakeholders.
• Result-driven and results-oriented
• Quality assurance: A commitment to deliver high-quality outputs, including training modules, reports, assessments, etc.
• Innovation: Willingness to adopt innovative tools, technologies, or methodologies to enhance the effectiveness of capacity-building activities.

iv. Expertise of Proposed Team

• Project Manager with expertise in education and skills data systems.
• Data Management Specialist with experience in CESA/SDG4 indicators.
• Training & Capacity Building Specialist experienced in developing and delivering training programs.
• ICT/Dashboard Developer proficient in Power BI or similar tools.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist to track project implementation.

6. Application Requirements

Interested institutions should submit the following documents as part of their application:

• Organizational profile: Mandate of the institution, including mission, vision, and key achievements.
• Legal status of the entity.
• Relevant experience: 5 years of proven experience in education and skills data production and analysis and conducting capacity development programmes.
• Team CVs: Detailed CVs of the project implementation unit.
• Proposed methodology: A clear and detailed plan for implementing the capacity-building plan.
• Detailed budget proposal: A realistic budget aligned with the country plan.
• References: Contact information for at least five references from previous assignments.

Applications must be sent to adea-applications@afdb.org no later than November 7, 2025, at midnight GMT. The subject of the e-mail should be “ADEA ESDC Project in Zambia”.

Annex 1: In-country institution budgeting template