Consultancy - Terms of Reference (TOR)

Title: Principal Investigator - PlayMatters Educator Implementation Research

Total number of Consultants: 2

Country Program Ethiopia, Education

Proposed Dates August 2021 – August 2022

Duration 60 days (per consultant) 

Background of the project  

PlayMatters (2020-2025) is an education initiative funded through a $100 million grant from the LEGO Foundation. The program reimagines childhood for 800,000+ refugee and host-community children across Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda – children whose education and social development has been affected by displacement and trauma. Building on children’s amazing resilience and a growing evidence base supporting Learning through Play (LtP) methodologies, PlayMatters (PM) cultivates holistic learning for children ages 3-12+. PlayMatters is led by the International Rescue Committee and includes Plan International, War Child Holland, Innovations for Poverty Action, the Behavioral Insights Team in partnership with the LEGO Foundation. 

The Purpose of the Educator Implementation assessment study

The main objective of this implementation assessment study is to closely study the implementation of PM interventions with educators in pilot ECD centers and primary schools in Year 2, with the results used to inform program implementers of insight to improve and refine the PM package and implementation model for scale-up and efficacy trials in Year 3.

Specific topics include: 

• Examining how trainers implement the PM package through the teacher professional development model, with a focus on the quality and fidelity of implementation.
• Examining how educators participate in PM teacher professional development activities and implement the PM package in and outside their classrooms, with a focus on the quality and fidelity of implementation.
• Testing out and adapting instruments and procedures in preparation for future randomized controlled trials in Years 3 and 4 of the project. 
• Examining whether the PM Theory of Change (ToC) for educators works as expected, with a focus on examining pathways of change, including measures of student learning. 
• Examining trainers, educators’ and pupils’ perceptions of the PlayMatters package in terms of systems, content, relationships, techniques, motivations, and contextual relevance across schools and settings. 

Scope of work 

The Local Principal Investigator will work with the Regional Principal Investigators to lead this research in-country. Tasks include: 

Preparation and Planning

• Leadership of a team of reassessment assistants, including convening meetings
• Review project documents
• Refine research questions 
• Review and contextualize data collection instruments
• Lead the process of obtaining country-level IRB ethics approval
• Data Collection
• With support from the Regional PIs, lead the data collection preparation workshop including cognitive pre-testing, piloting of data collection instruments, and enumerator training
• Coordinate with IRC team to oversee data collection processes for baseline, midline, and endline
• Data Analysis, Validation of Findings and Dissemination
• For baseline, midline, and endline, lead the initial cleaning and analysis of data from schools, according to an analysis framework, using computer-assisted data analysis software provided by PlayMatters.
• Lead the writing of a report after each round of data collection and analysis that synthesizes main findings as well as success and challenges to be shared with the country-level and regional teams for learning purposes
• Design and facilitate a country-level workshop to validate findings with IRC and partner staff and stakeholders after each round of data collection
• Participate in a regional analysis workshop with cross-national (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda) research team, to be held in Kampala, Uganda. 
• Design and facilitate a country-level analysis and writing workshop (ideally in a multi-day retreat setting)
• Lead the country-based team in pulling together a country-level research report. 
• Review and provide feedback to the final cross-national research report.
• Contribute to research and policy briefs with country-level and regional level findings for key local stakeholders (may be in English, Kiswahili and/or Amharic)
• Contribute to dissemination efforts by writing blogs, articles for submission to peer reviewed journals, and conducting presentations. 

This consultancy starts in August 2021. The country-level research report is expected to be submitted to the local PI no later than August 2022.

The report should be shared with Regional PIs in the following formats:

Report that includes country-level studies submitted to the project’s Principal Investigators. The report should be clear and concise (max. 60 pages). The report should include: 

• Executive Summary, 
• Background information 
• Evaluation methodology (Participants, instruments, process of data collection, analytic strategy).  
• Results: Country-level findings, and findings for each case study
• Conclusions and recommendations 

Deliverables:

• Instruments validated via cognitive pre-testing in six languages (Somali, Afar, Amharic, Nuer, Agnuak, and Rutana)
• Enumerator training completed in multiple sites
• Baseline Report with results from first round of data collection and analysis
• Midline Report with results from second round of data collection and analysis
• Endline Report with synthesized results from each round of data collection and analysis

Payment Rate and Schedule:

• Local IRB/government permissions submission complete with study design and instruments: 20%
• Enumerator training, baseline data collection and baseline report and presentation with findings: 20%
• Midline data collection and midline report and presentation with findings: 30%
• Endline data collection and endline report and presentation with findings: 30%

Job Requirements

Profile of consultant(s)

The PlayMatters research team is seeking experienced early childhood development and education researchers based in Ethiopian universities to serve as Principal Investigators. The lead consultants should possess:

• PhD in education, early child development, or related fields
• A university appointment (lecturer, professor) with teaching and/or research responsibilities related to early childhood development, education, psychometrics, or a related field. 
• A minimum of 10 years of learning assessment and research/evaluations experience in education settings in Ethiopia. 
• A background leading, supporting and/or publishing research in East Africa in the areas of teacher professional development, early grade reading assessment, early childhood education and development, play-based learning, learning assessment, and/or pedagogy. 
• Experience leading enumerator trainings on specialized learning assessment and classroom observation tools, such as Early grade Reading Assessments (EGRA), ISELA, IDELA, TIPPS, MELE, etc. 
• Experience conducting studies and writing reports that are gender and inclusion sensitive.
• In-depth knowledge of quantitative and/or qualitative research methods is required; a background in experimental research is a plus
• Experience conducting research in refugee and/or conflict-affected settings is preferred
• Excellent analytical and writing skills in English

General conditions 

• The consultants will conduct his/her work using his/her own laptop. IRC will provide any other necessary supplies.  
• Terms of payment will be negotiated upon acceptance of the consultancy. 
• Final payment will be remitted upon satisfactory submission of agreed deliverables.

How to Apply

Candidates who meet the above qualifications; please send your CV and application letter only through IRC career site:

External Link

 Your application letter/cover letter must include the following information.

• Name of the position applied for
• Date of application
• Summary of your qualifications and experience
• Motivation/objective of why you have applied for the job
• Please include at least 3 references from current and former supervisors.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply!

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability. 

Standards of Professional Conduct on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and carries out policies, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.