Youth First Rwanda 2022-23 Evaluation

Terms of Reference for the translation of qualitative data

I.Organization Background

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Learn more about  The Wellspring Foundation for Education (Wellspring)
The Wellspring Foundation for Education (Wellspring)i jobs in Rwanda

Wellspring Foundation for Education is an International NGO whose vision is to be a catalyst for transforming education in Africa and to foster vibrant communities that address poverty in all its forms. Wellspring is registered as an INGO in Rwanda and as a charitable organisation in Langley BC, Canada. 

The Wellspring Foundation for Education has been working in Rwanda since 2008, implementing locally-led education programs in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Rwanda Education Board and our partner districts. 

Our innovative School Development Program has supported educators, leaders, and the school community members in over 150 schools in Rwanda. Wellspring is also dedicated to developing and piloting local innovations to support quality education in Rwanda - current projects include Gender Responsive Formative Assessment, and Blended Digital Learning for Teacher Professional Development. Wellspring is now leading the implementation of Corstone's Youth First Rwanda program that builds resilience and mental health for young adolescents in Rwandan secondary schools across 7 districts.

II.Project Background

CorStone’s Youth First Rwanda (YFR) program is a school-based resilience intervention that targets psychosocial, physical, and educational wellbeing among Rwandan youth (ages 13-15) studying in government lower secondary schools. CorStone adapted YFR from Youth First implementations in India and Kenya, drawing as well on scientific evidence from the positive psychology, resilience, and mental health promotion fields. YFR has been specifically customized to the cultural and language context of Rwanda. The program aims to enhance adolescents’ agency by building their planning and decision-making skills and their sense of self-determination. In collaboration with the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), CorStone piloted YFR in 2020 and officially launched the program in 50 lower secondary schools in 2021. In the 2022-23 academic year, CorStone began partnering with The Wellspring Foundation for Education for implementation of YFR. The intervention aims to reach 50 percent of Rwandan lower secondary schools by 2025.

YFR trains and supports schoolteachers to facilitate student resilience sessions: weekly, one-hour meetings of adolescent girls and boys in separate small groups of 15-20 students per week. The core YFR curriculum unfolds throughout one academic year, progressively building tangible skills in:

• Character strength development
• Social-emotional and communication skills
• Goal-setting, problem-solving, and conflict resolution
• Gender rights, puberty and reproductive health, hygiene, and safe water practices

YFR uses a training-of-trainers (ToT) approach and a curriculum that translates and adapts research and best practices from the fields of emotional resilience, positive psychology, social-emotional learning, conflict resolution and other fields into materials, activities, and skills tailored for young adolescents in Rwanda. Youth First and a similar program Girls First have demonstrated results in increased resilience, self-efficacy, emotional self-regulation, and increased use of practical tools to communicate, solve problems, resolve conflicts, and set and achieve goals. Evidence also suggests increasing youth aspirations and confidence toward completing their education, delaying marriage and childbirth, and reaching career and other life goals.

Teachers receive eight days of intensive training and content immersion in a hybrid remote/in-person format related to resilience, social-emotional wellbeing, problem solving, dealing with difficult emotions, goal setting, and conflict resolution, as well as skills around effective facilitation and student engagement. Additionally, teachers receive regular supportive supervision and mentoring by Master Trainers and further build skills through five monthly peer support sessions over the course of the program. Youth First programs in Kenya and India consistently yield evidence that teachers gain resilience through teaching resilience: teachers report improved psychosocial and educational attitudes and practices such as better teacher-pupil relations, improved relationships with school administrators and other teachers, improved communication and support in the home environment, and greater commitment to students and their education.

III.Scope of Work

As part of the endline evaluation of the YFR program, Wellspring purposively selected 9 schools based on contexts of interest (e.g., geographies, higher or lower performing, types of populations, etc.) to participate in the realist evaluation. At each school, focus group discussions were conducted with students and interviews with students, teachers, and head teachers using realist-informed data collection techniques. The focus group discussions and interviews were recorded and transcribed in Kinyarwanda.  Wellspring is seeking to hire a firm with expertise and experience in translation to translate this data from Kinyarwanda to English in July 2023. More specifically, the data is from the following categories of participants and sources:

• student focus group discussions
• student individual interviews
• teacher individual interviews
• head teacher interview

The data that needs to be translated is estimated between 450 and 500 pages in Times New Roman, Font size 12 and 1.5 line spacing, and should be completed within 15 calendar days from the date of the signature of the contract between Wellspring and the Firm/Consultant.

The Firm’s/Consultant’s full scope of work, including tasks, deliverables, and estimated time frame appears in the following deliverables:

IV.Expected tasks and deliverables

Wellspring will be responsible for the following

• Provide an induction session to the translators on the data to be translated;
• Provide a working space to the translators if necessary;
• Provide feedback on the translated texts

Responsibilities and Liability of the Firm/Consultant

• Find qualified and experienced translators of written documents
• Provide a full supervision to the assignment
• Provide necessary tools that are needed for his team to carry out effectively their work in a conducive environment
• Maintaining confidentiality of all Wellspring materials, resources, data and processes shared for review, and that of Wellspring’s partners (schools, districts, NGOs)
• Reading and complying with Wellspring’s Child Safeguarding policy and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Policy
• All materials and data would be Wellspring’s intellectual property

V. Terms of Contract  The contract between CorStone/Wellspring and the firm/Consultant will be a fixed fee determined by mutual agreement of both organizations. The Firm selected for this contract must ensure that the entire scope of work (both direct and indirect costs, including travel to/from school sites) can be completed with the available resources.

VI. Supervision and Logistics

• The firm shall work under the supervision of SEL Program Manager.
• The firm and the relevant Wellspring staff will meet as per the agreed timings and at various stages throughout the project
• The main working language is English but some data may be provided in Kinyarwanda. Translations may be provided if needed.

VII.Qualifications and Experience

• The Firm hired for this contract needs to be registered in Rwanda and have 3-5 years’ experience providing translation services in Rwanda and a record of accomplishment of successfully translating documents for small-scale projects.
• The firm should be reliable and dependable, meeting deadlines and with attention to detail.
• Strong understanding of, and ideally experience in, educational and social contexts in rural and urban schools in Rwanda.
• The firm needs to provide a list of at least 7 translators.

The Lead consultant hired for this contract will ideally have the following minimum qualifications:

• A Master’s degree translation or a related field of study such as language, literature and linguistics;
• 5-10 years’ experience providing translation services in Rwanda.
• 3-5 years’ experience successfully leading and managing small- to medium-scale translation projects.
• The Firm or the Consultant should be reliable and dependable, meeting deadlines and with attention to detail. 
• Strong understanding of, and ideally experience in, Rwandan education context, especially the high school level.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Kinyarwanda and English, including the ability to translate interview notes and transcripts

The translators hired by the form for this contract should  have the following minimum qualifications:

• University graduate in translation, languages or literature
• 2-3 years’ experience in written document translation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Kinyarwanda and English.

VIII.Submission Requirements

Firms or Consultants interested in fulfilling this scope should submit a proposal separated into two parts, a Technical Proposal and a Cost Proposal. See below for detailed proposal instructions. The Expression of Interest should not exceed 8 pages (See below for detailed proposal instructions).

Technical Proposal

• Relevant Experience: Relevant project experience in performing translation work, preferably on similar or relevant topics with similar populations (max of 2 pages)
• Offeror’s Understanding: Understanding of the Offeror about the program and the scope of work (max of 2 pages)
• Comments and Suggestions: List of observations or suggestions (if any) on the ToR that are incorporated into the technical proposal
• Technical Approach and Work plan: Description of the Technical Approach, including quality assurance processes, and Work plan proposed by an Offeror for successful execution of all components listed in section IV: Scope of Work (max of 2 pages)
• Project Staffing and Management Plan: Identify the project staffing plan and structure, essential staffing and the percentage of the time each will spend on this activity. CVs of essential staff should be provided. (max of 2 pages)

Cost Proposal

• Budget Narrative: Narrative summary of the proposed budget including discussion and rationale for costing approach, major expenses, risks and other considerations related to the budget. The budget should be determined on the basis of the cost of translating one page with the specifications below and should be inclusive of all expenses that can be incurred by the firm:
• Font: Times new Romans
• Font size: 12
• Line spacing:5
• Margin: 2 cm on each side.

Additionally, Offerors should provide three client references and contact information. References should have worked with your organization within the past  3-5 years on projects relevant to the requested services.

Note: CVs of the Lead Translator and translators to assign to this assignment should be attached as an appendices.

The Bids shall comprise of the following:

• Full address of the bidding company indicating Country, Province

District, Sector, Cell, Village, Street number, E-mail, telephone number, Post office box and Bank account details.

• Copy of RDB certificate;   
• Valid Tax clearance certificate;
• Valid clearance from RSSB to prove filing of pension for its staff

X.WELLSPRING’S COMMITMENT TO SAFEGUARDING 

Wellspring is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the children and communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff. As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment and consultancy contracts will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks.

XI. Submission Procedures and Selection process

Interested companies/firms which meet the requirements should submit their Expression of Interest/proposals as per the bid requirements in English by submitting proposals to RWrecruitment@thewellspringfoundation.org with cc to sibomanae@thewellspringfoundation.org and theogenek@thewellspringfoundation.org.

The closing date for this opportunity is Monday 4th July 2023 at . The shortlisted 2-3 candidates may be invited to submit modifications if need be, make a short presentation or take part in an interview for the final selection. 

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organization. All underrepresented qualified groups are highly recommended to apply.

 27th June 2023

Wellspring Foundation for Education