[consultancy] Baseline Design And Support

Baseline Design and Support Terms of Reference

STRIVE Sri Lanka

WUSC is a leading Canadian international development organization committed to providing education, economic and empowerment opportunities to improve the lives of millions of disadvantaged youth around the world, particularly women and displaced people. WUSC's vision is a world where every young person thrives and belongs, and its mission is to catalyze positive education and economic outcomes for young people. WUSC works as a facilitator and a convener, bringing together diverse resources and stakeholders to tackle complex challenges at a systems level. WUSC leverages a wide network of actors from civil society, post-secondary education, the private sector and youth themselves to design and implement initiatives that will bring lasting change for the benefit of youth.

WUSC operates in over 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with an annual budget of over $45 million CAD. WUSC has over 300 staff globally implementing many development projects in collaboration with donors, such as Global Affairs Canada, the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Mastercard Foundation. With support from Global Affairs Canada and other funders, WUSC has worked in Sri Lanka (SL) since 1989, contributing to national development goals through partnerships with the Government of Sri Lanka, civil society, the private sector, and other key development actors.

STRIVE Project

STRIVE is a new initiative designed to transform the economic prospects of young people—especially young women—in Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern Provinces. Over five years, the programme seeks to reduce poverty, boost regional competitiveness, and propel sustainable economic growth, giving specific attention to advancing gender equality and strengthening resilience to climate and economic shocks.

Using a collaborative approach, STRIVE will drive gender responsive, environmentally sustainable collective action among actors in the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) ecosystem. These actors will be supported to increase participation of young people, particularly young women, in enhanced TVET that leads to increased gender equitable employment and self-employment in key sectors facing current and future skills gaps, with emphasis on the green economy.

The ultimate outcome of STRIVE is: Improved economic wellbeing of young people, especially young women, in the North and East of Sri Lanka

The intermediate outcomes are:

• Improved participation of young people, particularly young women, in gender-responsive, environmentally sustainable and market-relevant TVET in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka
• Enhanced gender equitable transition to employment, including green jobs for young people, particularly young women, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka

The immediate outcomes are:

• Increased demand for TVET from young people, particularly young women
• Increased capacity of TVET Institutions to offer quality, inclusive, gender-responsive, environmentally sustainable and market-relevant skills training for young people
• Increased motivation of employers in select sectors to hire and retain TVET graduates, especially female graduates
• Improved capacity of TVET Institutions and industry to transition young people, particularly young women, from learning to employment

Purpose and Objectives of the Assignment

The primary objectives of the STRIVE baseline assignment are the following:

• Support greater understanding of the baseline situation and context related to all outcome indicators included in the STRIVE Performance Measurement Framework (PMF)
• Provide evidence to validate/invalidate assumptions underlying the project Theory of Change and inform modification of the project design, as appropriate
• Inform the development of outcome targets for inclusion in the PMF

Scope of Work

The STRIVE project will use an Inclusive Market Systems Approach to facilitate positive change within the TVET sector and within those systems that can support employment for young people. A systems approach to project design is by nature iterative, and relies less on pre-defined indicators and targets than on deep understanding of the context, continuous learning and adaptation.

Given that the STRIVE project is in its inception phase, decision making regarding key project design elements (e.g. target communities, sectors of focus, participating TVET institutions and local partners, etc.) is ongoing. These decisions will be based on findings from further studies and stakeholder consultations that are being conducted by the project team.

As project intermediaries are yet to be identified, the project has adopted a rolling baseline approach, which involves phased collection of baseline data to align with the onboarding of participating stakeholders. As such, primary data collection will not be undertaken as part of this consultancy. Rather, the focus of the consultancy will be the following:

1. A comprehensive review and synthesis of existing evidence to provide context and relevant benchmarks that speak to the project's outcome indicators as outlined in the STRIVE PMF. Documents for review will include (among others) national policy documents, labor market studies, evaluations of similar interventions, and findings from studies undertaken by the project team (e.g. the STRIVE GESI-Integrated Labour Market Assessment).
2. Development of a methodology and timeline for baseline data collection on all indicators (from primary or secondary sources). The proposed methodology outlined in the PMF will be a key resource guiding this activity. The methodology should also propose methods (such as Outcome Harvesting) to collect ongoing data on unanticipated outcomes, and focus on learning processes that center the voices and lived experiences of young people, especially young women.
3. Training of the STRIVE team and partners in the proposed methodology.

The following STRIVE indicators will be the focus of the desk review. The consultant will work with the project team to identify which indicators are of most relevance for the purposes of this study:

• 1000.1 %/total of young people reached through project activities reporting increased income or improved employment status (disaggregated by sex, age, province)
• 1000.2 Perception of (own) economic well being among young people reached through project activities (disaggregated by sex, age, province)
• 1100.1 Ratio of young men to young women enrolled in participating TVET institutions (disaggregated by sector, province)
• 1100.2 # of youth enrolled at participating TVET institutions (disaggregated by sex, sector, province)
• 1200.1 %/total of young people engaged by the project who are employed within 12 months of completing skills training programs (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, wage/self-employment, province)
• 1200.2 %/total of TVET graduates employed in green jobs (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, wage/self-employment, province)
• 1110.1 Perceptions among young people of TVET as a pathway to employment (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, province)
• 1110.2 Willingness among young people to pay for TVET (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, province)
• 1120.1 Level of satisfaction of trainees with the gender-responsiveness of teaching practices (disaggregated by sex, sector, province)
• 1120.2 Changes in the operational practices and training modalities of participating TVET institutions (disaggregated by type of change, type of institution, province)
• 1210.1 Level of satisfaction among employers with the technical capacity, including green skills, of TVET graduates (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, project participation (y/n), province)
• 1210.2 % change in the # of formal agreements (MoUs, internship programs, placement partnerships) signed between participating TVET institutions and employers (disaggregated by TVET institution, sector, province)
• 1220.1 %/total engaged young people accessing job matching services and internships (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, province)
• 1220.2 Views of participating TVET trainees on their ability to access work opportunities in select sectors following completion of skills training (disaggregated by sex, age, sector, province)

Study Approach and Methodology

The consultant is expected to propose a detailed methodology for assessing secondary data relevant to all project indicators, including a list of documents for review. The consultant can also draw upon existing data that has been collected during project design from the Labour Market and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion analyses. Note that the consultant will be provided with guidelines for the development of a final summary report during the inception meeting.

Key Activities and Deliverables

The selected Consultant will have overall responsibility for the design and implementation of the study, and for ensuring quality and timeliness of all deliverables. The key activities and deliverables expected from the consultant for this assignment are as follows:

• Partic