Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, August 24, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
1. Background
Build It International is an ambitious and growing NGO that creates opportunities for young people and their communities through skills training, work experience and essential community building projects.
Build Its primary programme in Zambia is called Training into Work. Over the past 10 years this vocational training initiative has steadily built up with over 1,200 graduates. We’ve achieved the scale up in our training through our newly developed training Centre for Excellence. By 2023 we aim to train 350 trainees a year.

To date, our training has focussed on entry level building skills training which we deliver to international quality assurance standards. Our annual impact analysis shows that our training has a tangible impact on livelihoods: average income increases significantly in comparison to baselines and control groups with the majority of our graduates lifting themselves out of the poverty line within 2 years of graduating.

25% of our trainees are female. Although we have tried various recruitment strategies to encourage more females to join our construction focused skills training, less females than males join our courses. Unfortunately, female graduates don’t do as well as male graduates. They earn significantly less on average per from construction activities than their male counterparts.

Following a mid-term strategy review in late 2019, Build It International took the decision to aim for a 50:50 gender balanced programme by 2024. A key objective within this is that women succeed post-training at least as well as their male counterparts and that we train as many females as males.

We will still continue advocating for female participation in the construction sector whilst offering a greater diversity of courses that will provide skills in ‘in-demand’ sectors.

We recognise that this is likely to mean adding to our core courses of traditional construction skills and an expansion on the range of courses we provide. We have completed some initial desk based research and now need to narrow down on some further research to enable us to make decisions about course selection and development.

We are seeking a consultant to build on the in-house research we have done and identify suitable courses in areas where there is a skills gap in Zambia and so provide a high chance of achieving the desired outcomes for our graduates, in particular, female graduates.

2. Objectives of the Consultancy
Main objective: Identification of the skills that could provide women from our target group with the highest probability of significant long-term income growth post training.

Key Criteria for Skills Selection:
• Suitable for our target group of beneficiaries (low income, basic education, limited previous skills and experience)
• Barriers to women entering the sector are manageable
• An entry level of competence can be achieved within 12 months of training
• In an area of the economy that is growing and with current and predicted skills shortages
• Where income earning potential is strong

Specific Objectives:
i. Identify entry-level skills areas that meet our criteria (for formal and informal sectors)
ii. Provide a clear cut case to support your recommendations against the above criteria with a justification for need and expected outcomes against specific skills. Include an analysis of barriers/risks and outline solutions.
iii. Provide key stakeholder map and analysis in recommended areas to give a good understanding of the sector; not-for-profit, commercial (employers), governmental, trainers.
iv. Give high level guidance on the content that an entry-level course would need to contain to meet employers needs and so assist with course design. Include reference to existing courses developed elsewhere and their effectiveness. Make reference to any softer skills required.

3. Guidance on Methodology
a. Desk based appraisal of existing and new publications and research and findings of from Build Its own in-house research. This can include relevant sources from outside Zambia.
b. Key informant interviews & discussion groups with target group (women 18-35) BII current trainees/graduates, relevant employers and representative bodies, other training organisations, experts in the sector, Build It staff and other key stakeholders. Minimum 15 interviews expected.
c. Presentation of conclusions and recommendations

4. Deliverables
i. Planning phase, including confirmation of methodology, timelines, drawing up interview questions, preliminary meetings with BII staff to identify key issues and focus of research.
ii. Presentation of provisional high level findings – production of a post-interview and initial desk research report summarizing key themes and emerging issues to be submitted to the Country Director.
iii. Production of a final report addressing the main objective and sub-objectives.
iv. Final presentation with Build It to present findings and recommendations.

5. Expected Timeframe
i. Planning, desk based research and fieldwork: September 2021
ii. Report writing and Presentation: October 2021
iii. Overall expected no. of days: 21 working days
6. Management of the Consultant
The Consultant shall report to Country Director and provide weekly updates.

7. Compensation
i. The tender should include the proposed daily rate. Value for money will be taken into account in tender evaluation. Reasonable and receipted travel and accommodation related to carrying out the tasks in this Terms of Reference will be covered, based on prior agreement with Build It and subject to certain conditions.
ii. The consultant shall be paid in two installments: the first to be paid after completion of the first two deliverables, and the second to be paid after deliverables 3 and 4.

8. Consultant Profile Requirements
• Demonstrable experience in conducting research in labour market analysis
• A relevant degree and/or masters
• Knowledge of skills development and livelihood programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Experience of working with the NGO/not-for-profit sector/ employers
• Experience of conducting qualitative, interview-based research as well as quantitative data gathering and publications based analysis.
• Ability to effectively coordinate research and multiple logistical components
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

{module 312}

Job application procedure
To be considered for this consultancy, please send your application via email to recruitment@builditinternational.org with the subject title being ‘Your Name’ – Research Consultant.
Applications MUST include:
• A proposed methodology / work-plan to deliver the assignment
• Detail of costs: fees and incidentals.
• A summary CV and cover letter detailing relevant skills, experience, availability.
• Reference from two recent clients
• A writing sample of previous work (no more than 5 pages)
The deadline to apply is Monday 30th August 2021 at 17:00hrs. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

All Jobs

QUICK ALERT SUBSCRIPTION

{module 316}