Terms of Reference for Consultant – Developing the Social Behaviour Change Communications Strategy.

I. General context

The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Save the Children and its partners are implementing Zero Out-Of-School Children (Zero OOSC) Project which will contribute to Rwanda’s commitment to the quality of education and education for all children. The project goal is Improved access to and retention in equitable primary education for all Rwandan children. Our shared vision is that no child misses out on primary education in Rwanda. The project intends to enrol and retain the remaining 177,199 out of school children.  The project outcomes are as follow:  

• Strengthening the identification, enrolment, attendance, and retention of out-of-school children at the school-level.
• Empowering communities and families to promote identification, enrolment, attendance, and retention of out-of-school children; and
• Strengthening policies, data, and feedback management systems on and for out-of-school children

Save the Children, MINEDUC, and implementing partners propose to deliver a comprehensive, coordinated intervention to address the gaps and needs relating to out-of-school children and drop-out rates at the primary grade level. The project will directly contribute to achieving universal primary education in Rwanda by employing behaviour change communication techniques to help community members and families to participate in the identification, enrolment retention and achievement of out of school children.

Save the Children believes that the contribution of community members and families is required for the success of the project which needs to be implemented by supporting the project stakeholders, especially community members, children, and caregivers, to adapt positive behaviours towards supporting their children’s education.  

To achieve this, Save the Children seeks to hire an individual consultant to develop a contextualized Social Behaviour Change Communication Strategy to guide campaigns and outreach approach across the country. The strategy will target different stakeholders in the community (children, parents, families of OOSC, male, female, children with disabilities, community leaders etc.) and use different channels of communication. 

II. Scope of Work 

The consultant will:

• develop a customized behavior change communication strategy, including stakeholder analysis; the identification of current norms, beliefs, and behaviors, as well as barriers and enablers to the enrolment, persistence and achievement of out of school children; and propose SBC activities and targets  for the life of the Zero OOSC Project.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities will include:

1. Carry out a literature review on the current situation and concluded assessments of evidence and lessons of behavioral science, Social Networks Analysis etc. to better understand the major barriers and facilitators to social and behavior change issues that contribute to school dropout and non-enrolment in school for primary school aged children.
2. In collaboration with the project implementers, partners, and community stakeholders, design and lead a formative assessment on current norms, beliefs and behaviors around school enrolment and persistence in target communities.
3. Develop the strategy:
   1. Analyze the findings to develop a clear vision of the SBCC strategy, challenges in the context and those affected by the challenges, contributing to behaviors, influencers, and entry points.
   2. Determine target audiences and audience segmentation and propose activities, channels, and messages that are most appropriate for the socio-cultural context.
   3. Identify strategies to promote positive behaviors and amplify existing positive actions identified during the research, while strengthening linkages between communities and schools.
   4. Identify and incorporate SBC techniques that promote inclusion in education, especially for children living with disabilities and other culturally marginalized groups.
4. Propose a monitoring and evaluation plan to track progress of the strategy identify factors that contributed to or constrained the achievement of the SBCC goals.
5. With SC counterparts, organize and conduct a validation workshop with partners to present the developed SBCC strategy. SC will cover all related costs. The consultant is thus expected to provide advisory and technical support to ensure an effective and smooth running of the workshop.

III. Expected deliverables.

Save the Children works on strict deliverables and milestones that on which payments will be made; thus, the consultant should submit the following key deliverables:

1. Inception report: Outlining details of activities with proposed methodology and timeline/ delivery dates.
2. Field research plan, community consultation tools
3. Schedule of workshop and session plan.
4. Draft SBC strategy for feedback and comments.
5. A draft report on communication and advocacy structure and focus.
6. A final strategy (e copy and hard copy) in English, including implementation plan and communication evaluating tool, after incorporation of stakeholders’ comments.
7. Workshop report 

IV. Key qualification and skills of the consultant

Required:

• Experience delivering consultancy assignments for international organizations in strategic communications planning and especially in developing SBC strategy.
• At least six (6) years of relevant experience in market research; developing, designing, production and disseminating communication products using various media.

Preferred:

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline:
• Experience in working for not-for-profit organizations in using SBC for social change and community mobilization.
• Experience in education an advantage 

V. How to apply: 

Interested consultants should submit the following documents by 16^th February 2024. Applications should be submitted to Rwanda: bid@savethechildren.org 

Evaluation note 

A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. Offers should use the structure below to submit proposals.

1) Essential documents

• Application letter
• RDB Business registration certificate if relevant
• Valid RRA tax clearance certificate if relevant
• Valid RSSB tax clearance certificate if relevant
• VAT certificate if relevant
• Company Profile

2) Capability and technical Proposal

1. Detailed Technical proposal indicating the methodology proposed and timeline for the assignment.
2. Updated CV
3. Three services good completion for similarly with our service 
4. At least one Professional recommendation for related consultancies performed.

3) Financial

• Detailed financial proposal.