Background
The United States Department of Agriculture funds school meals in many developing countries, including Mozambique, where meals and literacy programming are delivered by a number of implementing organizations, including World Vision. In this project, IFPRI is partnering with World Vision to analyze how a literacy intervention and reading camps combined with school meals can improve nutrition and literacy outcomes for children in primary school.
More specifically, World Vision delivers a comprehensive school meals program to all schools in three districts in Nampula province, northern Mozambique. The school meals consist of a porridge with micronutrients added and are provided to all teachers and students at the school, every school day.
In a subset of schools, World Vision will also implement an early grade literacy program called Unlock Literacy (UL), that entails two components: 1) teacher training in early grade literacy and 2) reading camps. The teacher training comprises training of all teachers in the school on good pedagogical techniques for early grade reading. Teachers are taught the five phases of reading: letter knowledge, sounding out words, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Teachers learn to create a print-rich environment in their classrooms and ensure that children remain motivated while learning to read. They are also provided with materials including books and classroom aids. These materials are in local language, using locally relevant exercises, and are targeted at the appropriate grade level.
The reading camps are after-school sessions that are led by a literate youth in the community. They aim to make reading fun by teaching literacy through games and other artforms. They create fun spaces for learning and provide additional time outside of school for children to improve their reading skills.
The study itself is a randomized control trial (RCT) in which 160 schools in the districts of Nacaroa and Muecate were randomly assigned to one of three groups:
1. School meals only
2. School meals + teacher literacy training
3. School meals + teacher literacy training + reading camps
Consultancy Summary
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks a qualified survey firm to conduct the endline survey in 160 schools in Nacaroa and Muecate, and will consist of the administration of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) to all students in grade 3 in each school, a short interview with a sub-sample of 10 grade 3 students in each school, an interview with the grade 3 teacher, an interview with the deputy school director, and an interview with the school cook. Additionally, a classroom observation of teaching practices will be conducted with the grade 3 teacher, and the reading camp leaders will be interviewed. Interviews will be conducted on tablets and will be primarily in Emakhuwa or Portuguese. The enumerator teams must be fluent in these languages.
Statement of Work
Review questionnaire and provide comments Program the questionnaire into a CAPI program Test questionnaire on tablet and provide comments Recruit enumerators and field coordinator Organize and lead training of enumerators on the questionnaire and interview protocol Pretest survey instrument Organize field work of baseline data collection Conduct the baseline survey Conduct meetings with parents to acquire written consent to interview their children Ensure all completed interviews are uploaded to secure data repository on a daily basis Track progress of endline data collection Perform quality checks and data cleaning Draft field report at end of data collection Liaise between IFPRI and partners to maintain effective communication and partnership Travel within Nampula Province including to rural areas Submit a final financial report within two weeks of the end of data collectionConsultancy duration
The collaborator will perform this work from May โ October 2023. The proposed start date for this collaboration is around May 1, 2023.
Required qualifications for consultant or lead staff at organization
Demonstrated experience conducting field work and survey work in Mozambique within the past 5 years Demonstrated experience conducting survey-related trainings Experience in building trust and good relations with village leaders, interviewees and communities Knowledge of program management skills: demonstrated experience in successfully coordinating large field teams and managing deliverables. Excellent communication skills in E nglish, Portuguese, and Emakhuwa Enumerators should be able to communicate in Portuguese and Emakhuwa The survey firm team should be able to communicate in Portuguese and English Excellent computer skills and experience using statistical software packages, especially SurveyCTO and StataPreferred qualifications
Experience working with international and national researchersRequirements to Apply
ยท Proposal submitted in English ยท Detailed budget breakdown / financial statements ยท Capacity statement/organizational brochure/profile CV/rรฉsumรฉ(s) of key personnel involved in the project