Terms of Reference (TOR) for Long-Term Technical Education Consultant

USAID/Liberia Civil Society Activity (CSA)

Background

The Liberia Civil Society Activity (CSA) is a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by DAI Global, LLC (DAI). The Civil Society Activity aims to strengthen Liberians’ ability to advocate for policy reforms, policy implementation, and service delivery improvements through multi-stakeholder coalitions that build feedback loops among the GOL, CSOs, and citizens around reform priorities. The project provides opportunities for CSOs to build linkages with their peer groups and constituencies at national and subnational levels and use linkages to communicate reform achievements back to their constituencies and engage them in policy dialogue.

CSA has four complementary objectives:

1. Strengthen linkages between CSOs with shared priorities to increase their impact 2. Enhance civil society’s ability as a conduit for information between constituents and officials
2. Enhance supported CSOs’ financial and organizational sustainability
3. Make available ongoing capacity development services in the local market

Description of services

To date, CSA has issued Fixed Amount Award (FAA) advocacy grants to a consortium of eight civil society organizations working on education in six counties (Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Montserrado, Margibi, and Grand Bassa) to advocate for and create public awareness on transparency and accountability in education, advocate for citizen`s participation in decision makings affecting public schools as well as advocating for greater accountability and transparency in the allocation of resources towards education. The education CSO consortium members are working on the following:

1. Monitoring and Research/Investigation into Public School Registration Fees 2. Advocacy for PTA Guidelines for School Monitoring and Oversight
2. Establishment of Regional CSOs Legal Clinics/Assistance Centers

Given this, DAI is seeking an experienced long-term technical education consultant to provide technical advocacy and capacity-building support to CSA education coalition partners in the planning and implementing of their advocacy grant to achieve the above-stated advocacy initiative.

Activities to be carried out by the long-term technical education consultant include but are not limited to the following:

➢ Provide high-quality technical support to education coalition civil society organizations to plan, implement, and evaluate advocacy projects.

➢ Facilitates collaboration and fosters communication among education coalition civil society organizations.

➢ Provide technical support to coalition members in designing and implementing advocacy training programs at national and subnational levels.

➢ Analyze and recommend adaptable solutions to improve civil society coalition education advocacy initiatives.

➢ Facilitate collaboration and coordination among education coalition and national and subnational national-level education and governance stakeholders.

➢ Willingness to travel to education coalition operational counties and provide technical assistance and ability to work on different assignments simultaneously to meet the timeline for assignments.

➢ Undertake periodic visits to education coalition partners to identify challenges and gaps including follow-up and advocacy capacity building support to coalition partners. ➢ Provide technical advocacy capacity support to civil society coalition partners to advocate for citizen`s participation in education decision-making processes. ➢ Have a good understanding of the policies, regulations, laws, and protocols that govern education in Liberia as well as laws and policies that govern decentralization, citizen empowerment, and transparency in school administrations.

➢ Provide one-on-one mentorship and coaching to education coalition partners to strengthen their ability to build community capacity to plan and take action to demand accountability in the provision of quality education.

➢ Facilitate peer-to-peer learning conferences and experience-sharing sessions with education coalition partners to support continuous learning and adaptation. ➢ Work closely with CSA subcontractors, NAYMOTE, and Accountability Lab (A-lab) in designing and implementing technical advocacy support to education coalition partners. ➢ Review education coalition partners milestone calendar and provide technical support in implementing milestone activities including meeting timeline of each milestone. ➢ Review the program description of each of the education coalition partners to acquaint yourself with the program strategy for advocacy.

➢ Provide technical support to education coalition partners in developing advocacy materials including talking points, fact sheets, and flyers, as well as monitoring and research tools for tracking transparency and accountability fees paid in public schools.

➢ Any other duties assigned by the Chief of Party/Deputy Chief of Party/Senior Policy Advisor.

Deliverables

At the beginning of each month, the consultant and the supervisor will agree on the task for the month. Following the execution of the monthly tasks, the consultant will submit a monthly deliverable report for all tasks accomplished including a timesheet stating the number of days worked in a month. The consultant will be paid only for the number of days worked in a month excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

Qualifications

➢ Master’s degree preferred in education, law, or a related field.

➢ At least eight years of senior-level experience in leading civil society advocacy programs/advocacy campaign organizational capacity development in the education sector or related field.

➢ Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team environment. ➢ Demonstrated working experience serving in a similar position and working environment. ➢ Senior-level experience and expertise in capacity building of civil society organizations or community-based organizations (CBOs).

➢ Strong facilitation, mentoring, research, and analytical skills.

➢ Good advocacy skills including research, capacity building, co-creation, report writing, problem-solving, planning, etc.

➢ Effecting communications skills, both written and oral.

➢ Good understanding of how politics work in the advocacy field.

➢ Prior experience in designing and delivering participatory training and mentorship activities.

➢ Ability to produce timely and high-quality reports.

HOW TO APPLY: If you are interested, please send the following to CSA no later than December 21, 2023 to email address LiberiaCSA@dai.com with the title Technical Education Consultant in the subject line:

• Detailed CV – outlining all previous professional experience.
• A cover letter that explains 1) why you are interested in the CSA program and the role of Technical Education Consultant, and 2) why you are best suited for this role. • Name of three professional and academic references.

USAID CSA values diversity and inclusion and strongly encourages women and persons from marginalized groups to apply.