Senior consultant to develop the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan for RISE Rwanda Programme, Kigali Rwanda, 3 months - For Rwandan Nationals ONLY

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Context and Introduction

 Rwanda, like most sub-Saharan African countries, has a significant youth population which presents an enormous potential and opportunity. Youth in Rwanda (defined as persons aged 16–30 years) represent more than a quarter (27 per cent, or 3.5 million) of the country’s growing 13.2 million population, underscoring the urgent need to create an enabling environment that allows them to acquire skills, access dignified and fulfilling jobs, and drive national development. Young people, however, face several challenges. Although access to primary education in Rwanda has improved significantly, the transition to and completion of secondary education remains problematic. In recent years, an average of 6 to 10 per cent of Rwandan primary and secondary school students drop out each year, leading to many out-of-school youth with low educational attainment.

Of the more than 3.5 million youth (aged 16–30 years), the fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census data shows 20 and 16 per cent of youth completed lower and upper secondary, respectively: 51 per cent completed primary education. The recent Rwanda labour force survey (NISR 2024) indicated that just over a million youth (62 per cent female) are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Girls are much more likely to be NEET (39.4 per cent) than boys (25.9 per cent). The gender disparity in opportunities to employment, education and training is prevalent in both rural and urban areas. Similarly, the latest (2023/24) MINEDUC statistics show over one million youth aged 18–28 years are out of school, mainly due to high dropout rates, particularly in secondary education (7–11 per cent annually in the last three years). A study conducted in 2019 by Laterite, commissioned by UNICEF in support of MINEDUC shows that female youth are most likely to be out of school, especially from age 16 onward. They are also more likely to dropout permanently and to be unemployed or in a low-paid job.

To address these challenges, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) in partnership with UNICEF and other partners is implementing “Resilience in Secondary Education in Rwanda (RISE Rwanda)”, an ambitious national programme that aims to enable out-of-school youth access and complete secondary education through nationally accredited and technology -enabled flexible learning pathways. RISE Rwanda programme is designed to support flexible pathways to respond to the unique and diverse educational needs of underserved out-of-school youth. The programme is planned to be scaled up to reach 1.1 million out-of-school youth in Rwanda over ten years. In particular, the programme targets vulnerable young persons, including young women, persons with disabilities, and refugees.

This programme is envisioned to contribute directly to the realization of Rwanda’s Vision 2050, which aspires to transform Rwanda into a knowledge-based, high-income economy, underpinned by a skilled, productive, and innovative workforce. RISE Rwanda aligns with the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2 2024–2029) and the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP 2024–2029), which emphasize inclusivity, digitalization, and market-aligned education for all youth, especially those historically underserved.

RISE Rwanda is also inspired by and aligned with the Mastercard Foundation’s RISE Africa Programme under the broader Young Africa Works Strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million youth, particularly young women, across Africa to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. The programme also reflects Rwanda’s commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union Agenda 2063, and UNICEF’s global and regional strategic priorities, including the Generation Unlimited and the UNICEF Africa Strategy.

The targeted youth will also be supported to improve digital skills and English language proficiency in addition to vocational skills relevant for their context. Specifically, the programme will support youth who dropped out of school before completing secondary education, to acquire a nationally accredited secondary education equivalency certificate that enables them to pursue further education in Rwanda or elsewhere across the world. 

It is in this context that UNICEF is seeking an individual consultant to support the development of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan and framework to facilitate data collection, analysis, and dissemination of evidence to meet the goals of the RISE Programme. The development of the MEL plan should be thoughtfully aligned with the RSIE programme Theory of Change to ensure that MEL efforts meaningfully reflect the intended pathways to impact and support evidence-based decision-making.

Objectives and Purpose of the consultancy

Achieving the ambitious target of the RISE programme requires having a robust Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning plan (MEL) as an integral part of the programme. A MEL plan will set out a clear learning agenda and strategies for evidence generation to inform adaptive implementation and programme management. The MEL plan will allow to integrate a participatory monitoring lens that ensures perspectives of young women, persons with disabilities, and refugees are consistently reflected in data collection and reporting:

Specifically, a consultant is expected to develop a MEL plan and framework that will be used to:

Ensure systemic valuation of performance and progress towards the expected outcome and impact.

Scope of Work:  

The scope of work involves developing a comprehensive MEL plan aligned with the programme theory of change, outputs, outcomes, and impact. The focus will be on assessing the performance of the programme, examining its implementation plans, inputs, outputs, and outcomes. It should explicitly define mixed methods approaches, detailing both quantitative and qualitative evidence pathways to strengthen triangulation, attribution, and adaptive learning for decision-making.

The plan will serve as a vital tool for demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of the programme by generating reliable and actionable information for both UNICEF and its partners. This information will contribute to learning, improved performance, and accountability.

Key Tasks:

Under the direct supervision of Chief Education, UNICEF, and the guidance of the M&E team, the consultant will:

Throughout the process of developing the MEL plan, the consultant should engage in a participatory way with Mastercard Foundation and RISE partners to co-create the learning agenda and ensure the feedback loop at every step of the way.

The RISE MEL plan approach should be integrated rather than a set of separate interventions. While tailored MEL activities will address the unique aspects of individual interventions, they opt to be a unified framework with relevant processes and clearly define the responsibilities of different stakeholders.

The MEL plan and all related tools and dashboards/Database should be developed using easily accessible user-friendly, open-source material. It will not require purchasing specific software, limited / licensed access, or heavy training. It should be intuitive and easy to fill-up, even for partners which may join the project at a later stage and were not part of the initial development/training of the MEL tools.

Deliverable/Output

Payment 1: 20%

• Approved RISE Programme learning agenda

• An inception report that outlines technical description of the scope of work, including needs analysis and project timeline. The inception report should also map governance and coordination mechanisms, clarifying the roles of MINEDUC, UNICEF, Mastercard Foundation, and implementing partners in MEL oversight.

Payment 2: 40%

• Draft MEL plan is validated

• Final MEL plan is approved

Payment 3: 40%

• Final consultancy report

• M&E training report

Duration and Location

The consultancy will be for 3 months from November 2025 to January 2026, and the consultant will work from home.

Selection Criteria

Applications shall be assessed based on their technical and financial proposals. Maximum scores for technical and financial applications will be 75% and 25%, respectively.

Successful candidates in technical evaluation will have their most competitive, all-inclusive financial proposals evaluated too.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

Minimum requirements:

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.