Education in emergencies and DRR consultant

Background

UNICEF concentrates its efforts to advocate for the integration of education in emergencies into all disaster response plans and humanitarian interventions with a view to building resilience and adopting a DRR approach.

Specific tasks

The consultant is expected to carry out the following key-tasks for this rapid review:

1. Carry out a focused but rapid comparative study by collecting, reviewing, analysing and appraising technical-and cost reports, local building cost data, contracting documentation and tender procedures, management-and delivery methods for school construction in the refugee camps , architectural designs and construction work plans, community participatory approaches, capacity-building/skills training initiatives by liaising with ARRA, UNHCR, MOE at Federal, Regional, the World Bank, UN Agencies (UNICEF, UNHCR, UNOPS, WFP, etc), and INGOs and local NGOs

2. In consultation with ARRA, MOE, Somali REB, UNICEF, UNHCR and participating , donors, NGOs, conduct field visits to selected Refugee camps and host communities, establish and assess and document first- hand the school design, construction and management options in practice; together with the capacity of the Regional , the NGOs and/or UN agencies operating in the field; and evaluate the quality and cost of civil works and capacity of contractors, consultants and skilled labour.

3. Develop a clear and comprehensive report using the rapid assessment to describe:
- the lessons learned this proposed project can draw from in constructing schools in Refugee camps and host communities; 
- which adjustments must be made at all phases of the school construction/ development process and what their implications are for the costs of construction i.e. from planning (standards, budget, time-scales, construction volume, etc); design typologies; choice of technology (multiple options of building methods, choice and production of building materials), construction costing and contracting processes, building management-and delivery methods, community participation approaches (incl. learning from history) and local building skills-training, and short-term and long-term rehabilitation and maintenance issues; 
- Develop recommendations for improvement and sustainability of the school construction/development process in refugee camps and host communities - inclusive of costing – and school design models towards containing the costs component in the immediate short, medium and long term;

The comprehensive report shall be tabled and discussed during the Refugee education coordination meeting, and a separate Education cluster meeting and after review and inputs from the Region, the report shall be used as a basis for discussion of the school construction component at the Planning & Response to EiE in Refugee camps and host communities.

Methodology

Using a combination of desk reviews, discussions with key partners and field visits, the International consultant shall carry out a focused , but rapid comparative study involving local authorities at all levels (Federal, Regional, woreda, Camp and local host communities/Kebele if possible), liaise with UN Agencies, and other development partners.

In addition, the consultant will conduct field visits to selected Refugee camps and host communities agreed upon amid ARRA, UNHCR UNICEF, participating NGO’s to collect both primary and secondary data and see first-hand information and appraise for the same rapid review school construction projects with consideration for Climate Change Adaptation and DRR, the International consultant will be expected to:

1. Analyse relevant government approved designs, documentation from ARRA, GoE and its key partners involved in school construction and architectural/technical plans, ii) have meetings and discussions/interviews with key stakeholders involved, iii) visit Regional, refugee camps, Host communities and schools agreed upon amid ARRA, MOE, UNHCR UNICEF and collaborating NGOs, iv) analyse the selected buildings, construction type, climatic classroom comfort, school ground and services and available quality of local skills, roads, and availability of locally-produced or found materials in relation to the total cost of construction for that school and the total area of exterior/interior learning space offered per classroom.

The rapid appraisal of the entire school construction/development process inclusive of community participatory approaches from planning up to construction and hand-over with a focus on containing the costs during each of those phases and assuring sustainability

2. After the initial analysis – the output of the rapid appraisal should result into:

- a series of scenarios using ARRA and MoE/Somali REB classroom standards of a school with 4 or 8 classrooms and administration block, water-point and gender responsive sanitation package and basic school-ground development. The scenarios should factor in costs of materials, labour, and transport, expected quality of work and time-frame, mode of delivery that is - ranging from full-contractor-built to full-community-built or to combinations of contractor + NGOS/Faith-Based Org. or NGO/Faith-based Or with local Communities. Each scenario should present clearly what to expect in terms of cost of construction,  quality of work, time-frame to finalize a school, level of community involvement and each scenario should clearly state the pros and contras for each approach.

- a series of recommendations for the entire school construction/development process of how to make it affordable, how to maintain quality of construction while maintaining an acceptable scale of the project (number of schools constructed at once), how to timely deliver schools to be constructed in a relatively weak local building industry-and infra-structure of Dollo Ado and neighbouring Woredas, how to set up the management structure in terms of overall coordination and of site supervision to maintain high standards of quality of construction and timely delivery, how to develop clear, and reader-friendly tender procedures and documentation for local/international building firms, how to strengthen ARRA, MoE and Somali REB physical planning and school construction processes, how to set-up proper systems and mechanism for community-based school construction and finally, how to setup an appropriate construction monitoring mechanism to oversee the (emerging) larger scale of school construction for the medium and long term development.

3. Conduct field visits to selected Refugee camps agreed upon amid ARRA, MoE, Somali REB, UNHCR, UNICEF, NGOs and faith-based organizations and selected schools and prepare comprehensive field reports that will complement the rapid appraisal (comparative analysis study)

Expected deliverables

A rapid appraisal Report of all phases of the school construction/development process report and a Power Point Presentation:

1. A clear and comprehensive final report on: 
- lessons learned;
- adjustments to make during each of the phases of the school construction/development process; and
- Develop recommendations for improvement and of the school development process – at the selected Refugee camps, and at all phases, inclusive of costing-and school design models towards containing the costs component in the short term, medium and in the long term.

2. A power point presentation of the final report and present to the Working Group on Refugee Education and the Education cluster in Ethiopia

Expected background and experience

- The consultant shall have minimum, a B.Sc. in Structural or Architectural/Building Engineering and professional membership;
- The consultant must have a minimum of 8 years of progressive work experience at the national and international levels, work relations with international organisations at the level of the World Bank, Development Banks (such as AfDB, ADB ), UN Agencies, and INGO’s on school construction projects an advantage;
- The consultant should be fluent in spoken and written English;
- The consultant should have recent, hands-on experience with school construction;
- The consultant should have experience with building and works policies, community-driven school construction, preferably in the Horn of Africa/East Africa
- The consultant must have good communication, report-writing, and analytical skills and preferably have work experience in the Ethiopia or neighbouring countries;
- Must provide Evidence of experience as independent supervisor of public construction project
- Must provide demonstrable ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
- The consultant must be conversant with MS Office applications (Word, Power-point, and Excel) and e-mail/Internet;
- The candidate must be available immediate due to the urgency of this Rapid Review for further EiE response