Improving Market-driven Curriculum for Higher and Vocational Education to Jobs Trajectory

 

Background

SPARK develops higher education and entrepreneurship so that young ambitious people are empowered to lead their post-conflict societies into prosperity. In Lebanon, SPARK has been working to develop the capacity of students and improve their access to higher education, economic empowerment, entrepreneurship and leadership development. Moreover, SPARK supports existing small and medium enterprise (SMEs) to grow and add jobs.

 

SPARK is a not-for-profit, non-political NGO with headquarters in Amsterdam and field offices in South East Europe, Africa, and the MENA region.

Programme Summary:

SPARK, in partnership with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development is responding to the poverty reduction and economic inclusion need for Syrian refugees and vulnerable youth residing in Lebanon through SPARK’s regional job programme. SPARK’s regional jobs programme has an overall objective to increase economic inclusion through creating job opportunities and facilitating access to the labour market for refugees and vulnerable members of the host communities. The grant given by the Arab Fund will be incorporated into the regional jobs programme with a specific focus on the implementation of the Skill-Up and Match-Up pillars for Lebanon.

 

Skill-up: The common lack among potential employees of market-relevant skills illustrates a challenge for most educational institutions in the region. An evident gap exists between existing curriculum provided by educational institutions and the skills needed by employers. Colleges and other institutions need to be supported in developing curriculums and courses, together with the private sector, which will provide work-relevant skills. An important pillar of the programme is to provide access to higher and vocational education for refugees and host communities that is aligned with skills that are in market demand through the development courses and curriculums with partner institutions.

Match-up: Career development, internship and preparation for the labour market are largely absent in the current educational systems in the region. The focus is still primarily on finishing the study itself and not on the next phases. If a company is working with interns, they are mostly considered as free labour rather than possible new employees or an investment in a well-qualified new labour force. Providing youth with better market relevant skills and increasing their interests and capacities in private sector employment will open up alternative pathways to secure a job after graduation. The programme provides youth with matching with the opportunities in the market.

To improve the success rate, Skill-up and Match-up pillars should be considered as an integrated approach. Skill up program is designed to support match up activities and the youth who is matched up with the market will be selected mostly among who are skilled up. The outcome of the programme is to develop curriculums with entrepreneurship and internship components together with the higher education institutions and match students who receive the improved curriculums with internship opportunities.

Target Group: The programme targets refugee and host community youth in Lebanon.

 

Expected Deliverables:  

  1. Conduct 1 Technical Needs Assessment (TNA) including Labour Market Analysis (identifying gaps, needs and analysing data of country and region)
  2. Organise curriculum development workshops for local private sector and relevant higher education institutions
  3. Develop 1 or 2 new curriculum(s)with entrepreneurship and internship components for youth to access employment opportunities in line with markets’ gaps & needs
  4. Conduct Training of trainers (ToT) for capacity development for trainers who will implement newly developed curriculum
  5. Develop online learning module for newly developed curriculum(s)
  6. Enrol min. 100 – max. 200 students in training programme based on newly developed curriculum
  7. Deliver min 35 – max 70 students to Jobs Skill Training (including soft and digital skills trainings)
  8. Min 35 – max 70 internship placements (including 3 months’ stipends) who have received Jobs Skill Training
  9. Place min. 15 max. 35 students to sustainable jobs after internships.

Main Indicators

    • # of TNA conducted
    • # of curriculum development workshops
    • # of new curriculums for youth to access employment opportunities
    • # of ToT organised
    • # of online training modules
    • # of students enrolled in TVET based on curriculum
    • # of students who received Jobs Skills Training (soft + digital)
    • # of students placed internships for 3 months
    • # of retained jobs after internships placements

 

Requirements:

  1. The partner must meet the following criteria: 
  1. Have actual operations in Lebanon;
  2. Be responsible for the preparation/ management/ implementation of the project in collaboration with related local partners and institutions,
  3. Be experienced in the field of curriculum development, training and, placement, and able to show that they have the capacity needed to manage the scale of the project in question, 
  4. Deliver tangible and efficient results,
  5. Be able to efficiently budget and contribute to the success of the activities.
  1. The partner will comply with any legal obligations it is bound by under national law;

The partner will adhere to SPARK’s General Terms and Conditions for partnership agreements.

 

Payment Scheme for the Final Programme Evaluation:

Payments will be done through the receipt of invoices and upon deliverables approved by SPARK and in accordance to the following scheme:

Inception Report | 40% of total contracting sum, upon approval of deliverable

Draft Report | 20% of total contracting sum, upon approval of deliverable

Final Report | 40% of total contracting sum, upon approval of deliverable

 

  1. Expertise required for the Final Programme Evaluation:

The partner(s) should be experienced training providers and offers must include the following:

    • Technical and Financial Proposals (including a detailed budget breakdown per activity and other expenses including VAT)
    • Action Plan and Budget
    • CVs of trainers and project management team
    • Full address and contact details of the bidder
    • Offer should be stamped and signed by an authorized person
    • Names, organizations and contact details of at least two references whom we may contact
    • Certificate of Registration or Incorporation Papers (Arabic originals or scanned Arabic photocopies and English translation)
    • Previous track record and relevant experience
    • Optional documentation including brochures, research reports, etc.

 

  1. Application:

The proposal (in English) must detail the following:

  1. A brief description of the expertise/portfolio for the applying agency in the field of curriculum development, training and, placements,
  2. Details why the applicant agency is a good candidate for this partnership based on the project,
  3. Proposed dates / duration for implementing the program, (Detailed time plan)
  4. Detailed implementation plan, (Objectives, results/outcomes & indicators/outputs) (Annex I)
  5. Monitoring and evaluation plan and description of the monitoring system,
  6. Project team structure, roles and responsibilities,
  7. Communication plan and activities,
  8. Estimated efficient budget with breakdown (Annex II).

 

Annexes:  

Detailed Implementation Plan (Activity plan)

Budget breakdown (including project activities, human resources, other admin costs and, internship stipends)

Other related document shall be included as an annex.

The proposal must be maximum 10 pages in addition to the annexes.

 

Data

Specific Instructions / Requirements

Language of the Proposal

English

Currency of Proposal

United States Dollar (USD)

Deadline for Submission

 4th December 2020

 

How to apply

Submit online by email to [email protected] Using the title – Economic Empowerment – Match-Up, Skill-Up

Expired
Deadline
Friday, 04. Dec 2020
Type of Call
Call for Proposals
Intervention Sector(s):
Education, Labor & Livelihoods, Training & Capacity Building
randomness