Deadline: 20 May 2020
UNWOMEN Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is soliciting proposals from not-for profit institutions with education and content development expertise.
The Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme (2018–2021) aims to develop context-specific, affordable and scalable learning and employment pathways for empowering the world’s most disadvantaged women and young women. The programme is being piloted in Cameroon, Jordan, India, Mexico, Chile and Australia and aims to directly benefit 67,000 women and young women from indigenous, refugee, displaced, and low-income groups.
The SCE programme requires contextualised learning material that directly meets the needs of the women it serves. SCE seeks to partner with an institution, university and non-profit organization with expertise in developing learning content for this target audience across its six pilot countries. Given that this is a pilot programme, the primary aim of this phase (until June 2021) is not to create as many courses as possible but to develop and test out the approach to course development and content format, in preparation for scale-up post-June 2021.
A Call for Proposal SCE-001-2020 has been placed for a Responsible Party (RP) of the SCE Programme to pilot an approach to course development by producing and supporting the production of a selection of high-quality targeted courses for the SCE programme, building on the local partner content and high priority gaps in content.
Content
In terms of content curation and development, the first phase was completed during the first year of the programme (June 2018–June 2019) when the SCE global and country teams worked with the partner Learning Equality to undertake a survey of existing open source content to complement initial content mapping completed by country teams. As expected, available content suitable for the SCE target group is limited. As a result of the initial curation, 11 content sources (a group of courses and resources from one website/content partner) have been selected and uploaded to Kolibri, a learning platform developed and managed by Learning Equality that provides offline access to learning resources.
As examples of the content curated in this initial phase, resources include entrepreneurship courses from the HP Foundation called HP LIFE, maths and science video lessons from Khan Academy, and videos on practical skills from Sikana. Content is available in English, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Arabic. It falls into four broad categories: life skills (‘learning to be’); foundational skills (‘learning to learn’); vocational skills (‘learning to earn’); and leadership skills (‘learning to lead’).
The second phase involves the development of digital content by implementing partners at the local level. So far:
- in Mexico, 13 courses have been designed based on the training needs identified in each location. Topics include digital skills, business and financial literacy, reading skills, study and learning methods, family well-being, life planning with a gender perspective, and leadership, communication, and networking skills.
- in Cameroon, resources on entrepreneurship, financial management, ICT, agriculture (beans, cassava, maize), poultry, and tailoring have been developed by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family (MINPROFF).
- in Australia, the partner in Melbourne has created five courses in different handicraft skills and life skills, with a further 70 course topics planned.
The third phase, running until June 2021, will focus on the adaptation of local partner content (where available) and the development of new content. For this, UNW will engage a learning institution as a content development partner to pilot an approach to course development by producing and supporting the production of a selection of high-quality targeted courses for the SCE programme, building on the local partner content and high priority gaps in content.
The work will therefore proceed in five stages (with overlap expected):
- Stage 1 will involve virtual consultations with country offices and implementing partners and a desk review of existing content, resulting in an inception report that will guide content development in Stages 2 and 3. The report will review the following:
- the availability, relevance and quality of existing local partner content, both video- and textbased. The primary focus of the review will be content related to the three proposed courses (life planning, digital literacy and financial literacy), but an inventory of content on other topics will also be needed.
- the relevance and quality of other curated content that is proving useful.
- local capacity (in-house and hired) for production and filming of courses.
- the best way of allocating in-person/remote support across the six countries, taking into account the demand for in-person visits, variations in local capacity, resource and time limitations, and the most likely timescale for the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
- The content development partner will also review and specify the format in which course materials will be produced, allowing for uploading to both its own open learning platform and the Kolibri platform.
- Stage 2 will involve the development of a format or template for three courses on the following topics at beginner’s level:
- Life/ career planning Subtopics could include:
- Career/work planning
- Confidence building
- Managing family/relationships in context of working
- Gender equality
- Awareness of labour rights
- Digital literacy Subtopics could include:
- The basics of using a smartphone, PC and tablet
- Internet basics
- Assessing the reliability of sources
- Keeping safe online
- Social media
- Financial literacy/entrepreneurship Subtopics could include:
- Managing your money
- Using a bank account
- Deciding which business idea to pursue
- Basics of making and selling
- Basics of marketing
- Life/ career planning Subtopics could include:
- Stage 3 will involve course development across the six countries according to the capacities identified in Stage 1. Some countries will be able to take on course production themselves using local expertise (e.g. film-makers and education consultants) and remote support. Mexico, India and Australia may fall into this category. In other countries (e.g. Cameroon, Chile, Jordan) the content development partner will be expected to provide a higher level of support, carrying out at least some of the production in-country alongside on-the-job training for local partner and UNW staff. It is appreciated that the provision of incountry support and course production itself (discussions with beneficiaries, interviews, filming etc.) depend on the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, the timescale for which remains uncertain.
- Stage 4 will involve the production of a global version of the three courses. This will feature video footage from across the six countries, showing a mix of cultures and contexts. The primary aim of the global courses is to inspire rather than educate, although they will be a source of learning for many women who are not SCE beneficiaries. They will convey the experiences and voices of women across the programme and will be used for branding/marketing purposes.
- Stage 5 will involve the production of a content development plan for scale-up, incorporating lessons learned from Stages 1–4. It should include a revised template (from Stage 2) and guidance on course development.
Funding Information
The budget range for this proposal should be 400,000 – 500,000 USD.
Languages
Courses should be produced in the main language of the country as shown below. The content development partner will provide basic guidance on how to produce a translated version of a course (e.g. how to create subtitles in a different language, what materials need to be translated (transcripts, text materials, etc.)), as local partners may need to translate into the secondary languages shown in brackets as well as local languages.
- Australia: English
- Cameroon: French (English)
- Chile: Spanish
- India: Hindi (Marathi, Odiya, English)
- Jordan: Arabic
- Mexico: Spanish
The three global courses will be produced in English only.
Competencies
- Licensed and registered pedagogical expertise in developing content for learners with interrupted educational history and backgrounds characterised by economic or social hardship, gender-based violence, poverty, conflict or displacement.
- Proven capacity to develop courses with a video spine (or heavy video component) and simple complementary resources and exercises
- Subject matter experts in the areas listed above, who can work collaboratively with implementing partners, facilitators and beneficiaries to produce effective, engaging contextualised content.
- A method of working that relies on user involvement and user feedback from the start.
- Its own free, open learning platform that can house the content and give user-friendly access on mobiles. A shared sign-on with the SCE portal/Kolibri will be required to allow for seamless logging in (the SCE portal uses Kolibri as an authentication provider and Kolibri uses the OpenID Connect standard to establish a single sign-on). Analytics will also need to be shared.
For more information, visit https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/programme-implementation/2020/04/call-for-proposals-for-responsible-parties