Plan International Bangladesh

Request for Proposal

“Hiring consultant to adapt and design a comprehensive ECDiE curriculum and parenting program for Early Childhood Development agencies working in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya Camps”

Plan International began working in Bangladesh in 1994. Across all our work, we encourage children and young people to be leaders in their communities and drive progress on the issues that matter to them. We also integrate gender equality and inclusion across all our areas of work. The country strategy 2020-30 of Plan International stated the vision to empower girls and young women, to be heard, to live without fear of violence and to achieve their rights. The strategic priorities imply children and youth leadership, girls make decision and young women control over resources. These priorities will chip in achieving SDG goal of Gender Equality and Girls Rights through empowering children and youth leadership as agent of change maker in gender norms, also promoting them in decision making about their lives by 2030.

Plan International Bangladesh (PIB) has the Country office in Dhaka, from where we are operating projects in Dhaka, Rangpur, Barisal and Chittagong divisions. Plan has been working in Cox’s Bazar to respond to the Rohingya refugee influx since 24 September 2017 implementing the following key objectives:

1. Ensure girls and boys affected by the crisis are protected from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation through appropriate prevention and response interventions in line with minimum standards. 2. Reduce the transmission of disease from feces to mouth through the promotion of good hygiene practice and the reduction of health risks related to poor sanitation. 3. Restore and increase access to safe, quality and inclusive educational opportunities for refugee children and adolescents (girls and boys) affected by the Rohingya crisis. Along with our main office at Cox’s Bazar, we have two more field offices i.e. Ukhiya and Teknaf. As part of the current emergency response plan, PIB supports both the Rohingya and host communities through different projects.

Project overview:

Access to integrated early childhood development (ECD) services for young children is very limited in the Rohingya refugee camps. As per J-MSNA 2023, 54% of aged 3-4 years Rohingya children are still not attending early education programming during the 2022-2023 school year which remains as a great concern. The education coverage for children aged 3-5 in camps is not as comprehensive as it is for children aged 6-14, and also seems not evenly spread across geographic areas, while parents/caregivers lack understanding about the importance of ECD for children’s wellbeing, development and readiness for education. Other early childhood services in the response include case management, child protection, health and nutrition targeting from conception and above, yet meaningful tracking of the needs, response and funding remains uncoordinated, including intersections across those sectors. For example, there are separate efforts and resources for positive parenting and caregiving awareness raising in the response, yet coordination remains amiss.

In the crisis-affected host communities in CXB, formal pre-primary education starts at age five, but recently government of Bangladesh has taken decision to expand it to the age four. Meanwhile, needs for ECD services in the broader sense remain under-addressed, and even the government’s interest and decision to support ECD, leading up to pre-primary education is short of the technical expertise and resources to address the ambition to improve on longer-term results for learning retention and outcomes in Cox’s Bazar, the lowest district in the country regarding learning achievements. To address these gaps and providing quality ECD services for young children, a platform has been formed called “ECD Working Group” under Cox’s Bazar Education sector. This was initiated by Sesame Workshop with support from BRAC, PLAN, SCI and some other I/NGOs. This platform formed comprising of local, national, international and UN agencies who are working at Rohingya camps and host communities for development, protection, wellbeing and educational support of girls and boys in early childhood both in Rohingya camp and host communities. The ECD working group not only includes in education sector members but also engage other sectors and inter-sectoral groups, such as CPSS, Nutrition, Health, and CwC.

The ultimate goal of the ECDWG (ECD working group) is to ensure effective coordination among the partners organization working in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh for educational support, protection and wellbeing of girls and boys in early childhood in both camp and host communities.

The Early Childhood Development Working Group (ECDWG) emerged as a crucial initiative of Play to Learn project of Sesame Workshop and Plan International Bangladesh playing a lead role as a Co-chair of the ECDWG since its inception in 2020. Sesame Workshop partnered with PALN Int. since the inception of the ECDwG and to support strengthening the WG to establish ECD as a critical element of any emergency. International Bangladesh performing as Co-chair with reputation and significantly contributing for enhancing coordination and capacity of ECDWG and achieved significant achievement under Plan-Sesame Workshop partnership project. The overarching objective of this partnership moved to its 3rd phase ein 2024 to establish a sustainable ECD coordination mechanism within the Rohingya Response in Cox’s Bazar. This involves advocating for the advancement of ECD in humanitarian settings, develop an ECDiE model by integrating service delivery pathway. This includes reviews of existing ECD curriculums, consultation with the major curriculum owners (PLAN, SCI, UNICEF), consensus building, adaptation and development of ECD curriculum for 3-5 years old children encompassing formative assessment approach and parenting module. Additionally, there will be a focus on enhancing capacities of ECD Working Group and its staffs involved ECD initiatives. Engagement with the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) would play a crucial role in demonstrating effective strategies and incorporating advocacy components beyond the ECDWG work plan.

The aim is to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of children affected by the crisis in Cox’s Bazar and to ensure that the critical aspects of Early Childhood Development receive the attention and resources it deserves. This extension of the partnership into another phase represents a continued commitment to achieving the greater goals of the ECD Working Group and beyond.

Objectives:

To design/adapt of comprehensive ECDiE curriculum including formative assessment approach and parenting manual with the support of ECDWG members and collaboration with Education Sector, CP sub-sector, Nutrition sector, Health and WASH sector.

Assignment deliverables:

From date of signing contact till 01 August 2024 (Total 60 working days including the review days of the report by PLAN International)

Key Deliverables:

Present major models review report with identified strengths and areas of improvement and unification scopes including notes on the model owners’ meetings as proof of buy in.
Inception Report with detailed methodologies, processes, plan and other relevant progress notes.
A list of Task team members and their ToR in bullets.
Agreed ECDiE model and curriculum out.
All the FGD, and other consultation, meeting, workshop notes, reports.
Draft model and curriculum
Final ECDiE model and curriculum
TOT plan, module and training report with assessment data
Parenting curriculum, implementation guideline and facilitation module

TIMETABLE:

The total duration of the assignment is for 3 months/ 60 working days after the signing of the agreement between consultant and Plan International Bangladesh.

SL.	Deliverables	# of working Days	Responsible
1.	Submit inception report	3 days	Consultant
2.	Review inception report	3 days	Plan Int.
3.	Finalize inception report	2 days	Consultant
4.	Desk review of ECDWG resources and other resources (from ECDWG partner organizations i.e. Plan, SCI, BRAC, UNICEF; multi-sectoral documents	7 days	Consultant
5.	Find scope of work, outline and mapping of ECDiE curriculum and design consultation workshop	5 days	Consultant
6.	Design tools and Organize FGD with relevant stakeholders at Camp & host community, expert, sectors for ECDiE curriculum development etc.	5 days	Consultant
7.	Design workshop on Findings sharing and planning for adaptation of resources to prepare comprehensive ECDiE model	3 days	Consultant
8.	Incorporate feedback from workshop with I-ECD curriculum and prepare an ECDiE model	3 days	Consultant
9.	Workshop on Draft ECDiE model and ECDiE program delivery approach	2 days	Consultant
10.	Conduct validation workshop of ECDiE model with education sector, ECD working group and government stakeholders and share it with relevant and prepare a report	3 days	Consultant
11.	Develop a comprehensive parenting module for Rohingya parents with strong focus on Fathers/male engagement in parenting	7 days	Consultant
12.	Design workshop and finalization of manual and guideline through a workshop	3 days	Consultant
13.	Develop capacity building plan consulting with ECD WG	5 days	Consultant and Plan Int. BD
14.	Organize and conduct training for ECDWG members and ECD staffs	2 days	Consultant
15.	Organize and conduct training for Master trainers pool and develop cascade plan	2 days	Consultant
16.	Prepare and share training report	3 days	Consultant
17.	Submit final report with all the relevant documents	2 days	Consultant

Submission of Proposal:

Interested consultant/consulting firms are requested to submit a technical and a financial proposal with updated administrative document (Trade License, BIN, TIN, Latest Tax Acknowledgement) through email at planbd.consultant.hiring@plan-international.org with the title “Hiring consultant to adapt and design a comprehensive ECDiE curriculum and parenting manual for Early Childhood Development Working Group (ECDWG) of Cox’s Bazar Education Sector”. The deadline of proposal submission is on or before 2^nd May 2024. Two separate folders i.e. technical and financial should be submitted into one zip folder with a covering letter. The proposals should be submitted in PDF format. Proposal submitted to any other email account except this or in any other form disqualified. Submissions after the deadline will be treated as disqualified. For any technical queries related to the project and assignment please communicate to Dipa Das (Dipa.Das@plan-international.org).

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Terms of Reference (TOR) can be downloaded from this link.