Terms of Reference for the Situation Analysis in Education Sector in Serbia and the Road Map to Institutionalization of Program Y within the Regional Project: “Future for You(th): Young people as Leaders of Life Skills Education in the Balkans”
Project Duration: 01st of March 2021 -29th of February 2024
Deadline for application: July 19th 2021
About CARE in the Balkans
CARE’s mission in the region is to contribute to post-war recovery and the socio-economic development of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo* and Montenegro. CARE in the Balkans consists of Offices in Sarajevo and Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH); in Belgrade, Serbia; Skopje, North Macedonia and Pristina, Kosovo*.
CARE’s work in the Balkans started in 1992, when it provided humanitarian support to people affected by war. In the late 90-ties, CARE shifted its focus in the region from humanitarian post-war assistance and rehabilitation to socio-economic development engaging in interventions directed at conflict prevention and peacebuilding, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence.
CARE in the Balkans places the quality of its program at the centre and has developed a regional strategy that encompasses two main program directions: Gender Equality and Social and Economic Inclusion. The goal of the Social and Economic Inclusion Program is to strengthen capacities and create opportunities for marginalized, socially excluded and poor to integrate into society and access rights. CARE’s Gender Equality Program aims to empower women and girls vulnerable to violence, discrimination and poverty, to reach better life opportunities and social justice. CARE’s engagement and contribution lies in strengthening sustainability of key regional, national and/ or local civil society organizations and networks promoting gender equality and diversity, in the context of social inclusion and non-violence.
Background
Peer and gender-based violence along with unhealthy lifestyles and risk of radicalization remain a pressing problem in schools and juvenile correctional institutions in Western Balkans, fueled by gender stereotypes and social and cultural norms, and exacerbated by a challenging socio-economic context, with high unemployment and migration rates and political uncertainty. The educational and social welfare systems in the region, generally rigid and obsolete, are not successful enough with current programs in the response to this situation. In 2013, through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) -funded project Young Man Initiative (YMI), CARE and partners started to advocate for introducing gender transformative life skills programming -– such as Program Youth (hereafter, Program Y) – in high schools in Serbia, Kosovo*, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to fight inter-personal and gender-based violence and improve gender equality in the region.
This proposal incorporates the lessons learned from YMI I and II and goes far beyond, putting the standardization and quality assurance through institutionalization of Program Y in the focus, expanding thereby the implementation of the program in elementary schools and in juvenile correctional institutions, strengthening the cooperation with pedagogical and teaching universities, and maximizing the use of online tools to ensure the continuity of the program in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing mechanisms established with YMI I and II as well as new institutional mechanisms within this project will enable the handover of life skills programming to educational institutions, which represents the fulfilment of our 15-year long ultimate goal: that education institutions owns innovative, modern and efficient methodology that upbrings mindful and healthy generations of young people.
YMI projects have put the focus on acquiring official accreditation from the state authorities and on training teachers and peer educators on the Program Y methodology. At the moment, the quality assurance agencies are in charge only to monitor and evaluate the training for professional development of teachers/educators while funds for such capacity building do not exist. Teachers/educators and schools interested in a particular professional training program must pay by themselves this education or rely on project-funded training programs funded by international donors or local self-governments. In order to ensure the financial sustainability of the program, CARE and partners will collaborate with the educational institutions and advocate for the creation of institutional mechanisms to enable the funding of the professional development of teachers as well as a more prominent role of the quality assurance agencies on the delivery of professional training for teacher and educator staff.
Building on the achievements from YMI, the intervention will continue working with ministries and quality assurance institutions for the accreditation of Program Y and the integration of life skills in the national curricula in the target countries. For this purpose, the project will establish cross-sectoral working groups for development of institutional strategy for Program Y integration. Through institutional cooperation, CARE and partners will concentrate efforts on the capacity building of teachers/educators and social workers as key multipliers and catalysts for sustainability, introducing a certification based on standards for teachers/educators and peer educators in each country and putting in place “Schools of Excellence” and a peer-to-peer training system.
The project will also support a new generation of educators that will use the new skills in their future jobs by introducing a Program Y course in universities. In line with that, the project will target public and private universities, some of which with a MoU with CARE and/or partners, and their faculties/departments for pedagogy, philosophy, philology, andragogy, teaching as well as other humanities. Based on previous experience with YMI II, working with master courses would be best solution for integrating new teaching skills.
The model for institutionalization will be reflected in the Strategy for institutionalization of life skills education in national context. The Strategy represents the country specific framework for inclusion of life skills themes in pre-university education, developed as a broad consultative process coordinated by institutions, CARE and partners.
Purpose of the Situation Analysis Study
The Situation Analysis in Education Sector Study will be carried out to analyze entry points of Program Y elements in national curriculums of Serbia and propose a road map of the process of institutionalization and sustainability of Program Y or similar life skills programming in the educational system, contributing to the sustainability of life skills programming after project ends. This will be done in cooperation with educational stakeholders in Serbia, CARE and partner organizations.
The Consultant`s Responsibilities
The Consultant(s) will be responsible for the following:
Indicative workload with timetable
| Description of the activities | Number of Days | Timetable |
| Revision of documents and mapping of stakeholders and initiatives | 3 Days | August 1-15 2021 |
| Revision of laws and policies | 2 Days | August 1 – 15 2021 |
| Conducting interviews | 2 Days | August 1 – 15 2021 |
| Developing road map for institutionalization | 5 Days | August 15 – 25 2021 |
| Finalization of Situation Analysis Study and Road Map Report | 3 Days | August 25-31 2021 |
| TOTAL | 15 Days |
| Application |
CARE invites individual experts, teams of experts, NGOs and agencies from the Balkan region, familiar with the context and subject of the project in question, to respond to this call and present in details their expertise, experience, division of work and responsibility levels/responsible person (in case of teams or agencies).
Required qualifications
Application process
The candidates (individual, company or teams) are expected to include in the application:
Selection:
The applications will be assessed as follows:
Offers should be submitted by July 19th 2021 at 4 p.m. to the following address:
Procurement Team, CARE International Balkans, Hasana Kaimije 11, 71 000 Sarajevo or to the e-mail address [email protected] and [email protected]
The offer that is chosen by CARE International Balkans will be notified in writing by July 23rd 2021.
Deliverables
The following documents have to be submitted in hardcopy format and online, no longer than 15 pages in total, excluding Annexes (Arial or Times New Roma font 11):
Situation Analysis Study:
Road Map to Institutionalization of Program Y:
Coordination/Responsibility
The coordination between Consultant, CARE Project Manager and YMI Senior Advisor, partner organization representatives will be done by CARE Project Manager.
CARE commits itself to:
Consultant commits him/herself to:
Payment
The payment will be made upon CARE staff approval of submitted Study of the Consultant(s).
Annex 1 – Format for Situation Analysis Study and Road Map to Institutionalization of Program Y
The Situation Analysis Study should include the following chapters:
The Road Map to Institutionalization of Program Y should include the following chapters:
Supported by
