Pakistan: Research Partner for Pakistan Reading Project

IRC Overview

The International Rescue Committee helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure.

In 2014, the IRC and our partners:

• Helped 17.6 million people whose lives and livelihoods were shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future.


• Provided 16.1 million people with primary and reproductive health care


• Gave 3.3 million people access to clean drinking water and sanitation


• Vaccinated over 364,000 children under the age of one against disease


• Helped 331,448 women deliver healthy babies in IRC-supported clinics and hospitals


• Treated 104,096 children under the age of five for acute malnutrition.


• Provided schooling and educational opportunities to over 1 million girls and boys, and trained over 23,000 educators


• Provided counseling or cared for over 32,499 vulnerable children and provided skills training or access to financial services to another 10,917 young people


• Counseled and provided essential services to over 10,809 survivors of gender-based violence and educated and mobilized over 1,255,877 men, women and children to lead prevention efforts in their communities


• Created 1,531 village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) that benefited some 35,752 members in 8 countries


• Provided 18,338 farmers with agricultural or agribusiness training


• Provided job-related skills training (entrepreneurship, business and financial literacy, vocational training) to 18,417 people


• Provided legal assistance to 22,000 people through IRC-supported legal centers

See more details about our impact in 2014: http://www.rescue.org/

Project Background and Context

Pakistan Reading Program Impact Evaluation

Pakistan Reading Program is one of the largest investments of USAID in the education sector of Pakistan. Both the Government of Pakistan and the US Government, through USAID, have joined forces to improve the reading levels of children in early grades. PRP interventions focus on mutually-reinforcing objectives across three levels of the education environment: (1) improve the classroom learning environment for reading; (2) enhance policies and systems that support reading; and (3) increase community-based opportunities to practice reading outside of school.

Possible PRP Beneficiaries who are expected to be impacted by the program

Table 1 – PRP Beneficiaries

Beneficiary

Target* Number

Interventions Summary

Students in grades 1 and 2

1.3 million

In addition to providing training to the teachers of grades 1 and 2, students will get workbooks, decodable readers, scripted daily lesson plans for teachers, alphabet strips, flashcards and classroom library books for classrooms

Primary School Teachers

23,800

In-service training through face-to-face orientation and school based coaching, Teacher Inquiry Groups, supervisory support visits; and provision of learning materials including ICT

Faculty members of 111 teacher training institutes

666

Training to include reading as a subject in ADE as well as B.Ed. course of study; and capacity building to obtain accreditation for the ADE and B.Ed. programs

Scholarships for young men and women who want to be teachers

3,649

New scholarships for B.Ed. (Honors) students in partner TTIs; disbursement of 3,649 (1,695 PRP on-going and 1,954 TEP ongoing) payments to ongoing scholarship recipients through the successful completion of their degrees.

Government academic supervisors, head teachers, mentors and other staff

2,633

Training of government identified mentors and academic supervisors on the five components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Education policy makers and other government officials

100

Government officials’ engagement through provincial level steering committees; training for government officials on reading policy and developing reading improvement strategies; developing performance standards for reading; devising policies for reading assessments at the school, district and regional levels.

Community members and civil society groups

7,500

Community managed reading grants; grants for civil society organizations to promote innovations in reading at the community level; reading camps and events; and dedicated grants to promote reading for special children and girls.

PRP Teacher Training Model:

Building the capacity of 23,800 teachers is the most important activity of this project. The following are steps of teacher training in the PRP Model:

1. Government identifies grade 1 and 2 teachers for PRP’s training


2. PRP organizes 5 days of face-to-face training for teachers in which they are informed about PRP, why reading in early grades is important and they are introduced to the first two modules of training (there are 17 training modules that cover different reading topics).


3. Teacher Inquiry Groups (TIGs) Meetings Once a Month:
   
   1. Each group consist of 5-6 grade 1 and 2 teachers (belonging to 3-5 local schools) within a cluster where distance between schools is not more than 10 KM.
   
   
   2. TIG meetings happen only once a month
   
   
   3. There is always a host school that hosts the meetings
   
   
   4. In the TIG meeting, teachers are supposed to do the following:
   
   
   5. Warm-up activity related to component skill
   
   
   6. Sharing of experiences from previous module
   
   
   7. Learn it : Reading about the new component skill
   
   
   8. See it: Video demonstrating activities for the new component skill
   
   
   9. Do it: Practice carrying out the activities demonstrated
   
   
   10. Self-assessment
   
   
   11. Plan for the next meeting
   
   
   12. In these meetings, PRP also has the mentor plus school support associate (SSA) to assist if there are any problems.
   
   


4. Student assessment by the teacher in schools


5. School Coaching
   
   1. PRP mentor goes to each teacher in her/his school and helps them in helping children to read in their classrooms. Mentor also checks whether the teacher are following the TIG modules’ instructions. The school support associate also helps during school visits.
   
   
   2. Each teacher is visited twice in three months.
   
   


6. Teacher Refresher Training

23,800 teachers will be trained in 3 Cohorts of program implementation. Training of Cohort 1 and 2 teachers has already begun; training for Cohort 3 teachers is planned to start in April 2016. This date may move slightly further since a contract modification is expected at this time.

M&E and Research

The monitoring, evaluation and research activities of this program aim to inform reading instruction in Pakistani schools by regularly monitoring the implementation of PRP interventions and answering research questions that will help in improving the interventions and in advancing the knowledge in the area of early grade reading. PRP will be:

• Implementing robust monitoring of all its interventions so that it can be ascertained that reading interventions, especially those that relate to teachers’ capacity building, are implemented with uniform integrity and fidelity in every project school, and


• Evaluating other interventions, e.g., use of ICT in reading, the impact of libraries on reading skills etc., that will help in further improvement of the interventions and create new knowledge that can be used by other implementers.


• Conducting student assessment to establish whether the interventions have resulted in improved reading outcomes for children.

Impact Evaluation

PRP is planning to conduct an impact evaluation of cohort three students/schools and a comparison group of schools not implementing PRP at all. The cohort 3 impact evaluation is expected to employ a quasi-experimental design rather than an experimental design as the prior selection of intervention schools has already taken place. Random assignment to intervention and control groups (the ideal) is not possible as PRP intervention schools were previously selected based on programmatic reasons and needs. The details regarding the evaluation design and logistics will be determined in cooperation with the selected research partner.

Scoop of Work

The research partner, in collaboration with the PRP team and IRC technical units, is expected to implement a well-designed and well-organized student evaluation for children in cohort 3 of the program. The partner will:

1. Lead the design , analysis and reporting of an impact evaluation of the effectiveness of the Pakistan Reading Project. In particular: advise and determine, in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, the following aspects of the evaluation:
   
   1. Research design and sampling framework including the comparison groups
   
   
   2. Training of the PRP in assessment implementation and data collection
   
   
   3. Data collection
   
   
   4. Analysis framework
   
   
   5. Reporting
   
   

In addition, the following collaboration is expected:

1. Further clarification of additional research questions based on variations of implementation


2. Select, construct, and co-construct instruments for data collection for all research studies


3. Provide training support to local researchers and data collectors


4. Conduct the analysis of the data and report writing/editing.


5. Presentation and publishing the impact evaluation findings when appropriate.


6. 
   

   Annual Analysis and reporting on data collected at baseline, midline and endline points

   
   


7. 
   

   Assist in the data analysis of the cost effectiveness of PRP interventions study:

   
   
   1. Review the design if required and suggest improvements
   
   
   2. Work with the local research team in the determination of costs of ingredients for each intervention and assist in establishing the cost calculations for each intervention and its variation
   
   
   3. Assist in the review of the data and the best way to analyze and present the data analysis
   
   
   4. Assist in the review of the final report and ways of presenting the findings in simple yet rigorous manner that will be useful to the Government of Pakistan for making policy decisions.
   
   

RFP Response Details and Process

Information to address in your proposal

In the proposal, please include:

1. Qualifications and Experience to provide services as described in the RFP. The information should be provided in sufficient details to demonstrate your ability to perform the work outlined in the RFP


2. Describe what your approach would be to working collaboratively with PRP team and IRC Technical Units both at HQ and field office.


3. A statement why the Research Partner believes he/she to be the best qualified to perform the engagement.


4. Provide prior experience in dealing with non-profit organizations and local governments.

Timeline:

• We would like the Research Partner to ideally commence working with us in February 2016. The project is due to be completed by June 2018.

Costing:

• Provide detailed pricing information as per below Fee schedule

Fee schedule:

1) 10% mobilization cost;

2) 10% paid upon the completion of the Impact evaluation design (within 3 months of signing of the contract);

3) 10% payment after the training of the staff and implementation plan completed;

4) 20% paid after baseline data collection for both target and comparison groups in cohort 3;

5) 10% paid after report of the baseline submitted to IRC;

6) 10% paid after midline data collection and reporting;

7) 10% paid for endline data collection and reporting;

8) Last payment of 20% upon submission of the final report.

Business expenses covered by IRS:

1. Flight


2. Communications


3. Lodging


4. Travel (in Pakistan)

Timeline: Schedule for RFP Process

• RFP published 7^th Jan


• RFP responses due 23^rd Jan


• Candidate selected and notified 12^th Feb

Contact Information for submission and questions

Please email an electronic version of your response (via e-mail), including all supporting documentation, and direct questions about the RFP to: