Call for Applications: Senior TVSD Finance Expert (Consultant)

Published on Friday, 27 May 2022

Mapping Study on TVSD Financing Mechanisms and role of the private sector, in light of emerging national reforms and the COVID-19 pandemic

Deadline for submission is 6th June 2022 at midnight (12:00 a.m.) GMT to the following address: adea-applications@afdb.org. The subject of the e-mail should be “Senior TVSD Finance Expert”.

Introduction

As the voice of education in Africa and a key network of Education Ministries, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) plays a significant role in the education space as a convenor, knowledge creator, and forum for policy dialogue. ADEA sees its impact in African countries that are empowered to develop education and training systems that respond to their emergent needs and drive Africa’s sustainable socio-economic transformation. Two strategic pillars underpin the implementation of the ADEA Strategic Plan 2028-2022: the Continental Education Platform and the country-based Advisory and Execution Support Services. Both pillars are aligned to the African Union's Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25) and the Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 on Education (SDG4).

Under the first pillar, ADEA's Inter-Country Quality Node (ICQN) network enhances collaboration and coordination across stakeholders and national borders through capacity building, peer learning, and the exchange of knowledge and experiences. ADEA also serves as a pan-African knowledge hub for peer-to-peer learning while elevating the voice of Africa on education priorities through organizing or participating in high-level policy dialogue forums at regional, continental, and global levels. The second pillar on Advisory and Execution Support Services provides an opportunity for ADEA to serve the needs of African governments to deliver inclusive, relevant, and equitable quality education by delivering a complete package of services to countries, including the diagnosis of country-level needs, implementation, and monitoring of policies and programs.

Education and training are critical in achieving the goals of Agenda 2063 for Africa and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Both the African Union’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on promote TVET systems that aim to increase the number of youth and adults with the technical and vocational skills needed for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. To achieve this, the African Union's Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 (CESA 16-25) and the global education agenda call for a collective effort by all partners to address the challenges of TVET and lifelong learning. 

The Consultancy

ADEA is conducting a study to map mechanisms for financing TVSD, and the role of the private sector, in light of emerging national reforms and factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalization. The study will cover the following selected countries: Morocco (North Africa) ; DRC (Central Africa); Rwanda (East Africa); Cote d'Ivoire (West Africa); and Mozambique (Southern Africa).

Key players in the TVET sector have begun to address the issue of TVET financing. To date, only a few African governments currently fund TVET at a level that can support quality training. TVET is generally expensive in terms of cost per student. Yet this is not reflected in the budget allocation for the TVET sector, which remains subsumed within the education sector. Moreover, most of the resources devoted to TVET are for trainers’ salaries and operating costs. In addition, the share for equipment and working tools holds a very small part of the total national TVET budget. 

In addition, employment and/or job creation and Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD) must be closely linked. The financing of the sector must therefore be understood as part of the responsibility of thewhole ecosystem and in particular the productive sector, both public and private.

Against this background, ADEA is undertaking a study whose overall aim is to map recent, current and developing mechanisms for financing TVSD, and the role of the private sector, in light of emerging national reforms and factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalization. The study seeks to meet the following objectives:

  • Specific Objective 1:  Propose a typology of existing TVSD financing mechanisms, including private sector entities, that respond to national and/or regional or continental reforms. 
  • Specific objective 2: Make a comparative analysis of the existing TVSD financing mechanisms in 5 African countries with the different typologies of financing mechanisms identified after the validation of the evaluation criteria. 
  • Specific objective 3: Make recommendations on how financing mechanisms identified in the 5 African countries can be more efficient and sustainable considering factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization and the role of private sector entities.

This study will help to provide answers to the following questions: Do current vocational training funding mechanisms focus exclusively on what is commonly referred to as technical and vocational education and training or do they embrace the concept of technical and vocational skills development (TVSD)? What are the different funding mechanisms for TVSD in Africa? What is the nature and role of the private sector in these funding mechanisms? What are the different incentives provided by the government to promote TVSD? Given the impact of COVID-19 on TVSD, what are the most innovative and resilient technical, financial, and operationalization mechanisms? 

Expected Outcomes:

As a result of this study, all stakeholders should be able to: 

  1. Understand the difference and benefits between TVET and TVSD financing models.
  2. Know the different mechanisms for financing TVSD.
  3. Understand how to transition from the TVET funding model to TVSD funding mechanisms.
  4. Understand how to make TVSD funding efficient and sustainable.

ADEA now seeks the services of a Senior TVSD Finance Expert to drive this 3-month study. Reporting to the Senior Programs Officer, the expert will perform the following tasks, and produce the following deliverables:

Tasks:

  1. Identify the difference, as well as benefits, between TVET and TVSD funding models in each of the selected countries.
  2. Provide a summary of the current context of the different TVSD financing mechanisms in each of the selected countries.
  3. Analyze and assess TVSD practices (moving from policy and strategy to implementation).
  4. Identify innovative solutions/approaches to make TVSD funding efficient and sustainable and to improve access, quality and relevance, including those based on digital technology.
  5. Record cross-border collaborations/partnerships to promote TVSD funding.
  6. Provide recommendations on innovative solutions, lessons learned and gaps in TVSD funding policies and practices.

Deliverables:

  1. Draft and Final Inception Report.
  2. Draft and Validated Survey Tools.
  3. Draft Study Report.
  4. Validation Workshop Report.
  5. Final Study Report.  

Timeline: 

15th June to 15th August 2022 

Profile of the Candidate

  • A senior education/training expert with at least a Master’s degree in education, social sciences, or related fields with a minimum of 10 years of proven experience in the field of TVSD/TVET in Africa and with a track record of similar research work.
  • Solid and proven knowledge of issues related to TVSD/TVET sector financing, private sector and innovation on the continent. 
  • Based in Africa, with experience in the diagnosis/ evaluation of TVSD projects and/or institutions in Africa.   
  • Experience working with governments, continental/international development agencies, private sector or conducting TVSD/TVET analysis. 
  • Experience in regional analysis or research on digitization, TVSD/TVET, and financing mechanisms.  
  • Fluency in either English or French language (written and oral) and a working knowledge of the other language.
  • Excellent skills in using applications such as MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), email, internet, communication, and social media.
  • Ability to thrive under pressure in a fast-paced, deadline-driven, multi-project environment.

Submission of Applications 

Applications must be sent to adea-applications@afdb.org no later than 6th June 2022 at midnight (12:00 a.m.) GMT. The subject line of the email should be “Senior TVSD Finance Expert”.

Due to the high volume of applications, only selected candidates will be contacted through a formal correspondence via e-mail. Candidates are strongly advised not to contact ADEA or staff members to inquire about the status of their application.