Syria is in a complex, protracted, humanitarian emergency in its twelfth year of hostilities. This includes North East Syria (NES), almost all the sub-districts of which are rated ‘severe’, ‘extreme’ or ‘catastrophic’ in terms of humanitarian need[1]. Long term consequences include the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, explosive ordinance contamination and one of the largest numbers of internally displaced people in the world. The civilian population has been subjected to massive and systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. More recently, accelerating economic deterioration and the impacts of climate change have become additional drivers of needs, compounding vulnerabilities further. In 2023, 15.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, an increase of 0.7 million from 2022[2]

Education overview

Education services are fragmented across the country, compounded by the COVID-19 and Cholera pandemic, economic crisis, insecurity and displacement. These factors limit the ability to build on past investments of duty bearers, educators, caregivers and most of all children. Education and child wellbeing are long-term investments that necessitate a holistic approach. For learning to take place and wellbeing to be fostered, education services need to be available, accessible and predictable across the academic years and learning levels and lead to recognised certification. The quality, relevance and utility of education needs to offset the direct and indirect costs of children regularly attending school.

The education sector faces major challenges and gaps in NES. Much of the school infrastructure destroyed during the war has yet to be rehabilitated, undermining the sector’s ability to meet needs and posing significant risks to children. Schools infrastructure remains inadequate, with high numbers of children studying in schools without adequate water or sanitation[3]. The shortage of water and electricity in most schools, communities, camps and as well as camp-like situations such as informal settlements, make it difficult for children to access quality education. This has been compounded by Covid 19, cholera and influenza outbreaks, which have sporadically closed schools. Extreme winter and summer weather conditions present acute challenges around heating, cooling, and ventilation of classrooms. Heating has been identified as the top priority in school needs[4]. Intensifying winters have resulted in a surge in learner absenteeism and dropouts.

Nationally, 12% of children are out of school, four of the five governorates with the highest level of non-attendance are in NES – 24% in Al-Hasakeh, 22% in Ar-Raqqa, 19% in Deir-ez-Zor and 16% in Aleppo[5]. A 2022 Humanitarian Needs Assessment Programme (HNAP) report showed that 9% of boys and 10% of girls of school-going age (between 6 and 11 years old) were out of school in NES. The report further noted that figures were much higher among the 12 to 17 years age group, where 42% of boys and 36% of girls were out of school. These rates were higher in camps.

Across Syria, only 24% of assessed operational schools have children with children with disabilities[6], despite persons with disabilities comprising 28% of the population[7]. The HNAP report noted that schools in NES have inadequate capacity to accommodate the over 95,000 children with disabilities in the region, approximately 27% of all children in NES.

The war in Syria has affected children’s learning outcomes over the years, with many Year 7s, Year 8s and Year 9s unable to read a simple seven to ten sentence story – the equivalent of Year 3 reading skills. The poor quality of education also limits access. The HNAP report showed that in NES, 31% of children did not go to schools because of their caregivers’ concerns about quality.

3. Non-formal education in the education in emergencies response

Local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders have been providing an education in emergencies response in NES for some years. They mainly respond in camp, camp-like settings, and in communities. The response is frequently centred on reaching out-of-school children (OOSC) with non-formal education (NFE). The purpose of this is to provide basic literacy and numeracy skills, frequently integrated with social-emotional learning or psychosocial support in view of the trauma faced by conflict-affected children, and often with the objective of enabling OOSC to (re)integrate into the formal sector at an appropriate grade level. Modalities vary, but can include an accelerated education approach, including accelerated learning, catch-up education, bridging programmes or remedial programmes. Some might work within formal settings (such as remedial programmes) to prevent drop-out of vulnerable children, while others are free-standing programmes, especially in camp or camp-like settings. NFE programmes are run in a variety of structures, ranging from tented temporary learning spaces through rented private accommodation to rehabilitated or reconstructed schools.

Given the variety of actors, approaches and settings, it is not surprising that a range of curricula is in use. These might be variations on the curricula being used in formal schools, materials adapted by NGOs from other settings, or based on the Self-Learning Programme (SLP) developed with the support of UNICEF. The SLP was originally designed to help children who could not physically attend school due to violence, displacement or work, to study at home or in community centres with the help of caregivers or volunteers, but is now being used, sometimes in an adapted form, in NFE centres.

Although NFE actors are providing high quality programmes overall, there are systemic challenges to the response. Coordination challenges risk gaps or duplication in coverage. Good practice is not always shared systematically. Differences in targeting strategies and material support for students and teachers, and variations in the classroom experience, such as in class sizes, accommodation, provision of food, numbers of teachers and so on, create confusion among beneficiaries, and can exacerbate tensions between displaced and host communities. There are also inconsistencies in the structure of provision (e.g., contact time, number of hours, frequency, duration, allowances for teachers etc.); material support to learners; terminologies used (e.g., accelerated, literacy/numeracy, catch-up, remedial, bridging, homework support); and in the consideration of connections to the formal school curriculum (for effective transition). Coverage, which should be broad-based and equitable, is not wide enough and hard-to-reach children are also not being reached. The lack of central oversight means that quality is not always consistent, and children in NFE classes run by one NGO may have a different experience from those in classes run by another. Differences in pay levels among actors mean that there may be rapid, unplanned movement by facilitators and other education personnel between employers, reducing efficiency and effectiveness; further, pay differences between the formal and informal sub-sectors might have a deleterious effect on formal education, and risk parallel provision of services.

There is a need to work towards greater convergence in the NFE response to ensure that all children are provided with high quality NFE that adequately prepares them with the necessary learning outcomes to continue on a relevant education pathway (especially into formal education). An NFE Standardisation Framework (NFESF) is to be developed to guide this convergence. The NFESF will set minimum standards for NFE provision to reduce the differences in programmatic approaches, enable the transfer of good practice between approaches, and ensure a more predictable, higher-quality, and more coherent experience for learners and communities. The NFESF will therefore help to ensure harmonisation of the education response in NES. It will cover all aspects of NFE, from programme management (including needs assessment, response planning, contingency planning, human resources management, programme delivery, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning, and resource mobilisation) to classroom practice. It will also address learner assessment and teacher training in fundamental education technical/pedagogical approaches (based on curriculum needs, context, evidence-based knowledge/skill gaps, and the need not to create imbalances with the formal sub-sector. The NFESF will align with the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies’ (INEE) Minimum Standards for Education and the Accelerated Education Working Group’s Principles for Effective Practice, along with the Sphere Standards and the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan indicators for the Whole of Syria. It will also inform a broader dialogue on issues of alignment and continuity in education in emergencies in NES.

Given the political nature of education, and the tensions between different groups in Syria, the curriculum is a sensitive topic, and will not be specifically addressed by the NFESF. However, the implementation of the various curricula will be, and the NFESF will provide guidance on how programmes can better align content and delivery so that the knowledge, skills and values that children acquire are more consistent across programmes, and enable frictionless transition to the formal sector.

4. NES Education Working Group

The NES Education Working Group (EWG) is the coordination body for all NGO partners responding in the education in emergencies sector in NES. The EWG’s main mandate is to ensure that there are no duplications or gaps in the education response throughout NES in camps or communities in NFE or formal education services. It also helps ensure that interventions are directed to communities that are in most need of humanitarian assistance. It operates under the umbrella of the Global Education Cluster, and is led by Save the Children in NES, UNICEF (the Global Education Cluster co-lead) not being physically present in NES.

The EWG consists of a Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) and five sub-thematic working groups: Non-Formal Education/Formal Education, Early Childhood Care and Development, Construction and Rehabilitation, Assessment, and Localisation. The Construction and Rehabilitation sub-thematic working group includes partners from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Shelter and Settlement, Shelter and Non-Food Items, and Emergency Response and Livelihoods Working Groups, and have the technical support of engineers from partners.

The EWG has secured funding from the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) to employ a consultant to develop the NFESF. The funding is through an Action being implemented by Concern Worldwide, who will host the consultant. Under the same Action the EWG will undertake a Joint Education Needs Assessment (JENA) and develop an Education Strategy, both of which will be led by another consultant.

Consultancy objectives and expected results

The consultant will lead the development of an NFESF for the NES EWG. The consultant will work closely with the EWG Secretariat (Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator, Support Officer and Information Manager), and will collaborate with the EWG NFE sub-thematic group, SAG, EWG partners and other relevant stakeholders. The JENA and the NES EWG Strategy are expected to commence in the second quarter of 2023; they will further inform the NFESF.

1. Objective and specific tasks to be undertaken by the consultant

The principal objective of the consultancy is to develop a Non-Formal Education Standardisation Framework for the NES Education Working Group.

The specific tasks the consultant will undertake are:

1. Document review: The consultant will review documentation related to current NFE interventions in NES to build an understanding of the sub-sectoral response, including programme outcomes such as learning outcomes and transition rates. This documentation will include, inter alia, project proposals, reports and guidance/handbooks; policy and advocacy briefs; NFE curricula; donor reports; EWG reports; Power Bi dashboard reports; the Severity Index Mapping; the Humanitarian Needs Overview; the Age and Disability Capacity Building Programme’s Minimum Standards for Age and Disability Inclusion in Humanitarian Action; the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action’s Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action; the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings; and the Humanitarian Principles. EWG members will provide some of this documentation, facilitated by the EWG Deputy Coordinator. The consultant will also review wider documentation on non-formal education in emergencies responses, including related standards, principles and guidance, and standardisation frameworks from other locations. NES is a complex context, which will require the consultant also to review literature around the context to get an appreciation of the dynamics in the operational environment.
2. Data collection:
   1. Field visits: The consultant will visit project implementation sites in a range of locations (camp, camp-like and community) to view NFE programmes from a variety of actors to build understanding of the realities of project implementation in NES, including projects’ strengths and weaknesses, and the variations between projects. The field visits will include classroom observations, and will cover as wide a range of modalities and target ages as possible. The consultant will also meet key persons, including project management staff, teachers/facilitators, children, caregivers, education committee officers, and community members to understand the approaches, impact and challenges of NFE programming. This will be done primarily through semi-structured interviews and/or focus group discussions. Discussions must involve an equal number of male and female respondents, and be representative of internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities, and persons with disabilities. EWG members will help facilitate the visits, coordinated by the EWG Deputy Coordinator. Training of any data collection enumerators will be undertaken by the consultant.
   2. Questionnaire: The consultant will prepare a questionnaire to be completed by all NFE actors and stakeholders to gather information about NFE responses in NES.
3. Assessment report: The consultant will synthesise the findings from the document review and the field visit into an assessment report that presents the key learning and how it will be applied to the development of the NFESF.
4. NFESF: The consultant will prepare a draft NFESF, in close collaboration with EWG members and other stakeholders. The draft will be circulated to EWG members and other stakeholders for comments. The consultantwill then finalise the NFESF in the light of the comments.
5. Operationalisation and monitoring plan: The consultant will prepare a plan for operationalising the NFESF. This will provide detailed and practical guidance to the EWG and its members to help NFE actors to adjust their programmes so that they align to the minimum standards in the NFESF. The plan should include specific timelines, accountabilities, milestones, and expected challenges and how these will be resolved. This will help ensure usage of the NFESF for three years, after which the EWG will review it.
6. Validation workshop: The consultant will facilitate a workshop for EWG members and stakeholders to familiarise participants with the NFESF and Operationalisation and Monitoring Plan. The focus should be on the practical implementation of the Framework and to support participants to begin the process of aligning their programmes to it. The workshop will also serve as an after-action review of the consultancy – learning from the workshop should be included in the final report

Consultancy deliverables

The consultant will deliver the following:

1. Inception report, including interpretation of the ToR, a work plan, explaining the methodology to be used during the assignment. The inception report should include a contingency plan to mitigate for unforeseen delays and disturbances in the operating environment, and for limited engagement by EWG members. This may include the possibility of remote management.
2. Start-up briefing to the EWG.
3. Assessment report.
4. First draft NFESF (including executive summary, maps, tables, graphs) detailing findings (separated by specific issues) and recommendations for various stakeholders, and debriefing meeting to be attended by the EWG Coordinator, SAG, partners and stakeholders.
5. Final NFESF.
6. Presentation to the EWG with the main findings and recommendations.
7. Operationalisation and monitoring plan for the NFESF.
8. Validation workshop with education stakeholders.
9. Final report, reviewing the development of the NFESEF and presenting the outcomes of the validation workshop, detailing successes and challenges, and making recommendations for the review of the NFESF.

Timeframe (once in-country)

The overall consultancy work is expected to take not more than three months, ideally starting in Quarter Two of 2023 (following an approved work plan submitted by the Consultant), but the consultant should make their own assessment of time inputs required and detail these in the proposal.

Institutional arrangements

1.Consultant’s role and responsibilities

The consultant will:

• Report to the Education Working Group Coordinator, with support from the Education Working Group support functions including the SAG and, in particular, the Deputy Coordinator.
• Travel to areas of operation in NES to undertake the consultancy, attend EWG meetings and meet with various education partners.
• Participate in weekly progress meetings with the EWG Coordinator or their Deputy to review progress and agree next steps.
• Sign a data protection memorandum of understanding.

Any offer is dependent on the consultant’s ability to access NES. The hosting agency, Concern and the EWG will provide any support that may be required during this process. As a contingency measure and in the event of restricted entry, remote engagement may be considered but with representatives to carry out the activities in NES, while maintaining the necessary quality of the final product.

2. Roles and responsibilities of the EWG Coordinator

The EWG Coordinator will:

• Provide direct line management of the Consultant.
• Support the consultant’s movement in areas outside of Concern’s areas of operation, including security arrangements.
• Provide the consultant with education data, reports and sources including secondary data to inform the development of the NFESF.
• Provide guidance to the Consultant relating to deliverables of the ToR.
• Hold weekly meetings with the consultant to discuss progress and challenges and share these with relevant stakeholders.
• Hold the Consultant to account with the submitted work plan.
• Mobilise the NES EWG NFE sub-thematic group to support the consultant on the assignment.
• Organise the meetings and workshops associated with the consultancy.
• Provide direction on the NFESF based on consultations with partners.
• Be the lead interlocutor for external stakeholders as well as with the coordination functions, such as the Whole of Syria EWG.
• Conduct ad hoc calls with the Consultant as necessary to follow up on relevant milestones of the consultancy to review and share feedback.
• Organise regular feedback meetings with partners.
• Arrange for the publication of the final NFESF.

The EWG Coordinator’s roles may be undertaken by the Deputy Coordinator as necessary.

3. Roles and responsibilities of Concern

Concern will host the consultant and will be responsible to:

• Manage the hiring process of the Consultant, with the engagement of the EWG Coordinator.
• Conduct regular calls with the Consultant to monitor progress at the different stages as necessary in line with their role as hosting agency.
• Arrange for permissions to travel, enter and exit the relevant countries, including residence and visa.
• Provide logistical and administrative support to the consultant, including transport when in areas of Concern’s presence.
• Provide accommodation within Concern’s guesthouse in Raqqa (shared living space).
• Hold final approval of all documents to effect payment as per the terms of the MoU between Concern and Save the Children, based on deliverables and monitored by the EWG Coordinator as per the work plan.
• Actively support the NFESF activity in its capacity as an EWG member. This will include attending meetings, providing reports and other support information on request, including actively taking part in the data collection process and any other support activities as agreed by members in EWG meetings.

4. Roles and responsibilities of the EWG Strategic Advisory Group (SAG)

The SAG will:

• Support the EWG Coordinator in ensuring that there is adequate consultation of members throughout the assignment.
• Review the inception report and give their feedback.
• Support in ensuring that members are mobilised and actively take part in the data collection process.
• Participate in and provide feedback on the draft framework and in the validation workshop.

5. Roles and responsibilities of the EWG partners

The partners will:

• Support the Consultant with provision of literature for the assignment.
• Actively take part in the consultation process, which will be led by the Consultant.
• Provide support for the data collection process; this may include seconding staff, vehicles etc.
• Attend the inception briefing and validation workshop and participate in the review of the draft NFESF.

Experience and qualifications

Essential:

• A postgraduate degree in education, social sciences or related subject from a recognised university.
• Demonstrable professional experience of at least six years in the education sector, with at least three years in emergency contexts.
• Expertise in non-formal education, including in education in emergencies and standardisation frameworks.
• Strong, concise and accurate writing skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas in simple and accessible language.
• Good knowledge of international standards and guidelines, including INEE’s Minimum Standards for Education, Sphere Standards and the Accelerated Education Working Group’s Principles for Effective Action.
• Understanding of sensitive settings and ability to work with diplomacy and tact in insecure contexts.

Desirable:

• Experience leading an education standardisation process, particularly in NFE.
• Curriculum development experience.
• Experience at cluster or working group level.
• Experience relating to humanitarian, preparedness, resilience and early recovery contexts.
• Ability to communicate in Arabic.
• Understanding of Syria including the NES context.