Expression of Interest Consultants Curriculum

USAID/Mali is seeking expression of interest and availability to contract with two consultants to assist the Ministry of

Education of Mali in its curriculum development process. Estimated period of performance is from June 20, 2011 to

August 31, 2011 in three phases as detailed below. Formal request for quotations will be sent to a short‐list by June 8, 2011. The short‐list will include the consultants meeting the minimum requirements and who will have confirmed their availability by the deadline.

Background:

As part of the Education Sector Investment Plan, the Ministry of Education of Mali is planning to upgrade curricular material to be provided to teachers for the 2011‐2012 school year.

Mali Ministry of Education is gradually expanding the implementation of a new competency based curriculum using national languages in early grades and progressively switching toward French language as a medium of instruction in upper grades of basic education.

The curriculum is currently in use in approximately 2,500 schools, but teachers encounter difficulties which the

Ministry of Education wants to quickly address:

‐ teachers are poorly trained in the application of the curriculum

‐ the teacher guide is too complex and too theoretical and needs to be revised and simplified

‐ there is no clear methodology for learning reading and writing in early grades

‐ no reading material exist for the new curriculum

The goal of the activity will be to assist the Ministry of Education of Mali in revising its curricular material and in designing a simplified teacher guide.

The specific objectives will be to have:

‐ Level 1 (grade 1‐2) curriculum and competency framework revised

‐ Level 1 Mathematics Standards Framework defined (Reading / Writing Standards Framework was already built by USAID/Road to Reading program)

‐ Level 1 Teacher Guide designed / adapted from existing material.

The consultants will guide and monitor the activities of a team of approximately 15‐20 people from the Pedagogy

Department of the Ministry of Education who will revise the documents and develop the new teacher guide.

Minimum qualifications/experience:

‐ Experience in similar technical area.

‐ Fluent French

Possible schedule of activities:

The activity is to start as from mid‐June 2011.

‐ 20‐30 June 2011: design of framework, including the facilitation of the initial workshop.

‐ 18‐22 July 2011: mid‐term assessment of Ministry of Education Technical Team products.

‐ 15‐26 August 2011: Final “validation” workshop.