Youth First Rwanda 2022-23 Evaluation

Qualitative Research

Terms of Reference

I. Organization Background

CorStone is an internationally-recognized nonprofit organization working at the nexus of resilience, education, and social change through personal resilience programs to build Firm and improve wellbeing for marginalized youth, focusing on adolescents as critical change agents in their communities. Building resilience among at-risk and marginalized youth populations has the potential to create a significant ripple effect, working from ‘the inside out’ to seed positive social change. Since 2009, CorStone has developed, researched, and conducted evidence-based innovative school- and community-based programs for more than 180,000 marginalized youth via hundreds of trained community and schoolteacher facilitators in both densely-populated urban and remote rural settings in India, Kenya, and Rwanda.

The Wellspring Foundation for Education (Wellspring) is an International NGO whose vision is to be a catalyst for transforming education in Africa and foster vibrant communities that address poverty in all its forms. It is headquartered in Langley BC, Canada, and expanding in Rwanda and Eastern Africa. Wellspring is a growing development Firm, focusing on innovative solutions to address the need to empower a new generation and bring transformational change through quality Christian values-based education. Wellspring has been working in Rwanda since 2004, implementing projects in the districts of Gasabo and Rubavu through its innovative School Development Program, supporting teachers, educational leaders, and the school community to play their roles in children’s education more effectively. Just recently, Wellspring expanded its activities to five other districts, namely Huye, Kayonza, Musanze, Bugesera, and Rulindo through the Youth First Program Rwanda, in Partnership with CorStone. The Programs aims at supporting teachers and Senior 1 Students to improve their emotional life, resilience, and learning in order to set and achieve their life goals.

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 2022-23 academic your, CorStone began partnering with The Wellspring Foundation for Education for the 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.

Similar Jobs in Rwanda
Learn more about The Wellspring Foundation
The Wellspring Foundation jobs in Rwanda

III. Study Background

During the 2022-23 academic year, CorStone intends to conduct a quasi-experimental study with a nested realist evaluation that seeks to (1) answer key questions about the impact of YFR on Rwandan youth and (2) develop an explanatory theory for any observed effects. The study will include Senior 1 (S-1) students (ages 13-15) from 50 schools benefiting from YFR and S-1 students from 50 comparable schools not benefiting from YFR.

The impact of YFR will be assessed through student outcome data collected through surveys. These outcomes relate to empowered self-concepts, resilience, relationships between teachers and students, planning and decision-making skills, critical consciousness, intention to persist in school, and school engagement. The impact of the program on these outcomes will be measured by comparing changes in student responses from baseline to end line between the treatment and comparison groups. Statistically significant differences in changes between the two groups that favor the treatment group will indicate positive impact of the intervention.

A theory-driven realist evaluation framework will be used to develop and refine an explanatory theory regarding what works, for whom, how and in what context. The nested realist evaluation will take place within the treatment group and will be undertaken throughout the study. We will first establish an initial detailed program theory, based on the established theory of change and including detailed hypothesized mechanisms and contexts that could influence outcomes. Then, approximately 3-5 schools will be purposively selected based on contexts of interest (e.g., geographies, higher or lower performing, types of populations, etc.) to participate in the realist evaluation. Throughout the intervention, we undertake multiple rounds of interviews, qualitative observations, and focus group discussions (FGDs) that draw on realist informed interviewing techniques. These interviews and FGDs will be undertaken with students, teachers, and school staff.

Quantitative student survey data will be collected at the beginning of the academic year (October 2022) and at the end of the academic year (June 2023). Qualitative data collection for the realist evaluation will take place two times during the academic year (November 2022 and May 2023).

IV. Scope of Work

Wellspring is seeking a qualitative researcher to conduct, transcribe, and translate (from Kinyarwanda to English) qualitative data from a sample of six schools (60) at two time points: November 2022 and May 2023. At each school, the researcher and her/his team will conduct the following:

• 2 student focus group discussions (1 all-male and 1 all-female)
• 4 student interviews (2 male students and 2 female students)
• 2 teacher interviews
• 1 head teacher interview
• 1 YFR session observation

The researcher’s full scope of work, including tasks, deliverables, and estimated timeframe appears in the following deliverables:

V. Expected Deliverables

Responsibility of CorStone and Wellspring will be responsible for the following

• Get permission for school visits;
• Provide any supporting documents such as school list, school contact information, and field staff contact information
• Provide training/orientation to the researcher and her/his research assistants on data collection instruments (i.e., student interview guide, student focus group discussion guide, teacher interview guide, and session observation form)
• Provide feedback

Responsibilities and Liability of the Firm/or Researcher

• Find qualified and experienced qualitative research assistants
• Provide 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

VI.Terms of Contract  The contract between CorStone/Wellspring and the researcher will be a fixed fee determined by the mutual agreement of both organizations. The researcher 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.

VII. Supervision and Logistics

• The firm or lead consultant shall work under the supervision of the Director of Planning, Advocacy and Research and SEL Program Manager.
• Principal investigator will be CorStone Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Specialist
• The lead Researcher and the relevant Wellspring staff will meet as per the agreed timings and at various stages throughout the project
• Logistics may be provided by Wellspring 
• The main working language is English but some data may be provided in Kinyarwanda. Translations may be provided if needed.

VIII. Qualifications and Experience

The lead researcher hired for this contract will ideally have the following minimum qualifications:

• A Ph.D. or Master’s degree in a related field of studies such as education, psychology, or sociology
• 5-10 years experience conducting qualitative research related to education in Rwanda
• 3-5 years experience successfully leading and managing small- to medium-scale studies taking place in schools
• The Researcher 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 East Africa, particularly Rwanda.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Kinyarwanda and English, including the ability to translate interview notes and transcripts

The research assistants hired by the lead Researcher for this contract will ideally have the following minimum qualifications:

• University graduate
• 2-3 years of experience conducting qualitative research related to education in Rwanda
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Kinyarwanda and English

IX. Submission Requirements

Researchers 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 qualitative surveys on similar or relevant topics with similar populations (max of 2 pages)
• Offeror’s Understanding: Understanding of the Offerors 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.
• Cost Proposal Details: The proposed budget and associated narrative will have sufficient detail to allow a detailed evaluation of the costs proposed for EACH discrete activity.

Additionally, Offeror 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 activities and geographic area of work and activities outlined in this Terms of Reference.

Note: CVs of the lead consultant/ Researcher and personnel to assign to this assignment should be attached as an appendix

The Bids shall comprise 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 Friday 14^th October 2022. 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. 

Should anyone wish to have lists of schools that need to be visited, can send an email to erick@thewellspringfoundation.org.

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

September 30^th, 2022

Libby Karangwa-Miles

Country Director

The Wellspring Foundation for Education

P.O. Box: 7489, Kigali-Rwanda

Tel:  (+250) 780881998

www.thewellspringfoundation.org