Research Consultancy – Adolescent Girls’ Education in Crisis Initiative (AGENCI) Project – (South Sudan, Uganda, and Syria)

Position title: Research Consultancy
Position location: Remote
Reports to: WUSC Program Manager
Duration: May 2024 – September 2024
Expected Start Date: May 2024
Application Deadline: April 24, 2024, 11:59pm EST

1. Introduction
   World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a Canadian non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people. We bring together a diverse network of students, volunteers, schools, government, and businesses who share this vision. Together, we foster youth-centered solutions for improved education, economic, and empowerment opportunities to overcome inequality and exclusion in over 15 countries around the world. WUSC believes that if youth have access to and benefit from inclusive, quality education opportunities from primary to post-secondary, then they will develop the knowledge, skills, and capacities they need to secure a better quality of life. WUSC has been active in the education sector for several decades, with a strong focus on improving education access and quality in conflict-affected and fragile contexts to ensure that even the most marginalized youth can change their lives through education.
   Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), leveraging resources from the wider Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), promotes development in Africa and Asia, tackling the root causes of poverty through a holistic and interconnected set of programs. These initiatives address people’s most pressing needs and enable them to unlock their full potential, with a particular focus on marginalized groups like women and girls. AKFC has a country office in Kampala and a presence in Syria. WUSC and AKFC have entered into a consortium for the implementation of AGENCI, with WUSC as the project lead. Aligned with a consortium agreement, WUSC solely implements the project in South Sudan and AKF solely implements it in Syria. For project activities in Uganda, WUSC and AKF implement jointly.

2. Background of the AGENCI Project 

The Adolescent Girls’ Education in Crisis Initiative (AGENCI) is a five-year (2020-2025), $17.97million project to enhance the empowerment of adolescent girls and female youth (AGFY) pursuing educational pathways in crisis-affected areas of South Sudan, Syria, and Uganda. It targets 123,768 adolescent girls and female youth aged 10-24. It is a joint initiative of World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), with financial support from Global Affairs Canada (GAC). 

AGENCI is implementing a range of innovative and tested interventions including media campaigns, community outreach, girls’ and boys’ clubs, flexible response funds, and girls’ mentorship programs. Working with education stakeholders, AGENCI provides training and support to ensure that teachers and educational leaders have the skills, resources, data and information they need to provide girls with safe, quality, gender-responsive and inclusive learning environments. The project addresses two critical moments in girls’ education when they are most at-risk of dropping out of the education system: adolescence (primary to secondary) and transition to adulthood (secondary to vocational training or employment). The specific interventions employed by WUSC and AKFC in South Sudan, Uganda, and Syria are based on the needs, priorities and realities of each context. 

3. Objectives 

WUSC is seeking a qualified researcher(s) to lead a research study on the AGENCI project. 

The key objectives of this consultancy are: 

1. To conduct research on the following key intervention and thematic areas of the AGENCI project across the three countries of implementation: 

○ Engaging Men and Boys (EMB) 

○ Life Skills Interventions 

○ Community Engagement Approaches 

2. To produce 4-5 case studies that will inform policy and practice at the local, national and international levels and serve to increase AGENCI’s contribution towards the global evidence base around what works in promoting girls’ education in crisis and conflict settings. The case studies should be designed for the target audience including AGENCI project partners, project participants, local government and organizations working within the education sector, and the project’s donor.

4. Scope and Methodology 

The Researcher(s) will produce 4-5 case studies guided by a list of research questions. The case studies will highlight concrete examples of practical learnings and results on three key areas of the AGENCI project as outlined below. 

This assignment will be remote based. Data sources could include, but are not limited to, project reports, monitoring and endline data, and key informant interviews with relevant project staff and partners. Applicants are requested to detail their methodology in the technical proposal. 

Research questions

Questions could include but are not limited to the following, and will be further discussed and finalized collaboratively during the inception phase: 

1) Engaging Men and Boys: What are some examples of promising practices within the AGENCI project to meaningfully engage men and boys as a strategy to improve girls’ empowerment and education? 

2) Life Skills Programming: What are some examples of promising practices when designing and delivering life skills programming to enhance girls’ empowerment and education?

■ What are ways in which girls themselves have been involved in life skills design and delivery? How have boys been engaged in this process? What are ways in which girls and/or boys could be more meaningfully engaged? 

■ Which life skills topics and approaches work most effectively for the empowerment of adolescent girls? What topics have they found most valuable? 

■ How have life skills education curricula and delivery approaches been effectively adapted for different contexts? 

3) Community Engagement: What are some examples of promising practices to meaningfully engage communities to enhance girls’ empowerment and education? 

■ What were the successful approaches and adaptations within the three country contexts based on contextual differences? 

■ What practical action has come from community engagement? 

4) Cross-cutting: 

○ How do life skills and community engagement programs influence each other to support the empowerment of AGFY? 

5. Key Activities & Deliverables 

This assignment will include the following activities and deliverables: 

● Kick off meeting with WUSC and AKFC 

● Inception Report including updated work plan and methodology 

● Desk review of existing documentation and qualitative and quantitative data including endline data where available 

● Consultations with key stakeholders (remote) 

● Draft case studies (4-5) on the identified thematic areas 

● Final, designed case studies (4-5) for target audiences

6. Ethical Standards 

The research for this study must consciously abide by AKFC and WUSC’s Codes of Conduct and Child Protection and Safeguarding Policies, as well as by relevant recognized professional and ethical guidelines and codes of conduct for individual researchers. Codes of conduct must be specifically referenced and commitment confirmed in writing by each researcher involved in this study.

7. Required Experience and Qualifications 

● Minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience leading research or learning studies and producing quality knowledge translation products; 

● Bachelor’s degree in social science, monitoring and evaluation, communication for impact, or related qualification from a recognized institution; 

● Experience in impact evaluation studies; 

● Experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis; 

● Strong analytical skills and an ability to synthesize data from a range of sources;

● Knowledge of gender equality issues in the education sector, empowerment programming and/or girls’ education interventions an asset; 

● Written and oral communication skills in English; 

● Ability to produce high quality work under tight timeframes

8. Submission of Proposals 

Qualified and Interested applicants are requested to submit the following:

● Technical proposal (3-6 pages) demonstrating your understanding of the ToR, relevant experience, and proposed approach and methodology for the assignment

● Financial proposal (in CAD, not exceeding CAD 35,000) including level of effort and daily rate for each proposed team member 

● Curriculum Vitae for all proposed team members outlining relevant experience

● Writing sample(s) of previous relevant work 

Please submit proposals electronically to Lauren Stanley ([email protected]) with the subject line ‘AGENCI Research Study’. 

Please note incomplete applications will not be considered. 

Closing date for submission of the application package is 11:59pm EST on April 24th, 2024