RFI Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria .pdf

Document Type: Request for Information (RFI) Number: RFI 72062020LEARN001 Issuance Date: January 2, 2020 Closing Date: January 24, 2020 Closing Time: 4:00pm Abuja, Nigeria Time Activity Title: USAID Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria

(USAID/LEARN)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This is not a Request for Application, an Annual Program Statement, a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication that USAID/Nigeria’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance, or any other branch of the United States Government, in Nigeria or elsewhere, will publish a solicitation or make an award related to this RFI. The RFI is an attempt to reach out to the market in an effort to determine the scope of industry capabilities and interest and will be treated as information only.

Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary, are not applications, and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding agreement or contract. USAID/Nigeria will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement.

This RFI does not restrict the Government's approach on a future solicitation. USAID/Nigeria is in the process of designing some activities (see Appendix I). This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the US Government to procure any supply or service whatsoever. Further USAID/Nigeria is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals submitted in response to this RFI.

No decision has been made regarding the type of instrument that will be used (e.g. acquisition or assistance). For this reason, this RFI has been posted on both Grants.gov and beta.SAM.gov.

The US Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Nigeria, is in the process of determining how its grants and/or contracts in education to be issued between 2020 and 2025 might support selected states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to manage and distribute their financial, human, and material resources such that all children eligible for grades 1-3 across their state have access to safe, equitable learning environments where they learn to read.

This RFI is an attempt to gather information that might be critical to planning and financing a successful education systems strengthening and capacity building intervention towards better

RFI 72062020LEARN001

Nigeria LEARN Activity

Appendix I reading outcomes. Areas of particular interest to USAID/Nigeria under this RFI include: 1) reactions from USAID partners, stakeholders, and the public to the draft, potential, proposed theory of change that might guide USAID’s education systems strengthening investments in the future; 2) information about recent or current interventions to build education system stakeholder capacities, and their strengths and weak points; 3) information about appropriate indicators for measuring the success of systems strengthening and capacity building interventions towards better reading outcomes; 4) suggestions for criteria for the selection of Nigerian states with which USAID/Nigeria might engage in such systems strengthening efforts; 5) reflections on strategies for linking any future systems strengthening efforts to USAID/Nigeria’s mandate to assist marginalized populations to receive a safe, high-quality primary education, beginning with reading; 6) any other information experienced members of the public believe would be important for USAID/Nigeria to take into account in its continued program development efforts for systems strengthening of the Nigerian education system; and 7) feedback on the theory of change. Please see the questions in the Appendix I to this announcement for further details.

USAID/Nigeria encourages respondents to be as specific as possible in their responses.

The goals of this Request for Information (RFI) are to:

1. Gather information that may help USAID/Nigeria prepare an eventual solicitation(s) or Notice of Funding Opportunity(s) for an activity or activities to support the Government of Nigeria in the implementation of reading and access reforms in selected states;

2. Assess USAID’s assumptions about the efficacy of preliminary, proposed, and diverse strategies for systems support.

INSTRUCTIONS

USAID/Nigeria asks that the public submit concise written responses to the questions outlined in Appendix 1. Responses to all questions are not required. Respondents are encouraged to submit answers only to those about which they have the most knowledge to contribute. USAID/Nigeria encourages the use of the response template (Appendix II).

Submissions must be in the English language using single-spaced, Times New Roman font (or similar size typeset), size 11, 1-inch margins, pages numbered consecutively in the bottom margin. Responses must be in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat formats and clearly labeled on all pages with the name of the organization responding and, "USAID Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria". USAID/Nigeria values concise, issue-specific comments where appropriate.

The email subject line and file name should be as follows: “Responses to the USAID/LEARN RFI.” Any additional information appended to the submitter’s response, such as a report or infographic, will only be reviewed by USAID/Nigeria if it is included in the body of the response as an embedded link. Please also provide your name, title, organization, and contact information in your response.

USAID/Nigeria will not respond to any questions, telephone calls, certified letters, or other communications received about this RFI. Responses to the RFI that follow the instructions

APPENDIX I

I. Background and Information

USAID/Nigeria is engaged in the early stages of a reflection process about both the challenges in, and opportunities for, accelerating mastery of reading skills of children in the early primary grades in select states of Nigeria. USAID/Nigeria’s current considerations involve three “tiers” of states: a) those where USAID/Nigeria has made significant recent bilateral investments in primary grade reading (Bauchi and Sokoto), b) those where a rapid expansion of the USAID-financed Mu Karanta (“Let’s Read”) reading program in Hausa might be of benefit to students not currently receiving reading support from another sector actor, and c) any other state participating in the World Bank-financed Better Education Service Delivery for All (“BESDA”) program that might need to make specific consulting requests in order to best leverage its Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC)-provided funding and/or other revenue to improve students’ reading outcomes. USAID/Nigeria is currently considering the below theory of change as a framing device for the design of that eventual activity.

Figure 1: LEARN Draft Theory of Change

II. Questions for Industry and Partner Feedback

1. Please state your organizational affiliation, your title with the organization, and your connections, if any, with the education sector in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

2. Regarding the draft theory of change above:

a. Do you perceive any major factors that might affect students’ reading outcomes in Nigeria that are not taken into account in the current logic model? What are they, and how could they be taken into account?

b. Is the logic that links the potential USAID/Nigeria “results packages” (bottom level of the framework) to the two main intermediate results, and then to the two top-level results/activity purpose clear? If not, what could provide additional clarification?

c. Based on the above theory of change, the context of Nigeria and the absorption capacity of local education institutions, what would be a reasonable budget ceiling for USAID to achieve these results: i) in Bauchi and Sokoto, ii) in states that had not yet received support implementing Mu Karanta, iii) in states working with the UBEC-World Bank BESDA program, who could access one-off technical assistance through an eventual USAID-financed activity?

3. Based on your experiences, or those of your organization:

a. What strategies in systems strengthening and capacity building in the education sector in Nigeria have succeeded in improving the efficiency and efficacy of: a) State Ministries of Education, b) State Boards of Education, c) Local Government Education Authorities (LGEA), d) School Administrations, e) School-Based Management Committees, f) Other institutions responsible for the delivery of high-quality primary school education? For any strategy you describe as successful, please describe why it was/is successful.

b. What strategies in systems strengthening and capacity building in the education sector in Nigeria have failed to improve the efficiency and efficacy of: a) State Ministries of Education, b) State Boards of Education, c) Local Government Education Authorities, d) School Administrations, e) School-Based Management Committees, f) Other institutions responsible for the delivery of high-quality primary school education? For any strategy you describe as unsuccessful, please describe why it was/is unsuccessful.

4. Have you or your organization worked with the Global Partnership for Education’s

Nigeria Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) and/or World Bank/BESDA education sector support programs in primary education? If so, please describe any lessons learned from your own or your organization’s experiences from that program that you believe would be relevant to improving the efficiency and efficacy of national, state, or local education institutions.

5. Are you or your organization aware of any local, Nigerian groups or organizations, beyond your own, involved in strengthening the capacity of the education system institutions or actors in Nigeria? If yes, which organizations, where do they operate, and what can you tell us about the effective strategies they use and the impact they have achieved?

6. What areas have you worked on previously?

7. What is the main source of reliable data about out-of-school (OOS) primary-school-aged children? What is your best estimate of the number of out-of-school children who are primary-school aged in Nigeria? What data source would you use to find information about out-of-school primary school-aged children in Nigeria?

8. What role could you envision for civil society in a reading support activity in Nigeria?

How would you recommend LEARN activities incorporate civil society to achieve better outcomes?

a. To what extent are youth groups or youth-led organizations supporting improved reading or literacy outcomes in the areas where you work?

b. What organizations exist? What successful approaches are they using?

9. How well does the concept address the specific development needs in Northern Nigeria?

10. What indicators and metrics have you or your organization found to be effective in measuring increased institutional capacity and effectiveness of education stakeholders in Nigeria?

11. What conditions for the provision of financial and technical support from USAID/Nigeria to a state government, a local government area -LGA-, or another group of education’s stakeholders do you think would be reasonable and effective? Please be specific and describe which conditions would apply to which actors or levels of the education system.

12. Which states do you recommend USAID/Nigeria partner with to expand the evidence-based reading program in Nigeria? Please provide criteria-based justification for your recommendation.

13. What are the barriers to LGEAs effectively delivering quality and equitable basic education services for children in their community? Please list as many as you are aware of, and describe exactly how they impact the functioning of the LGEA.

14. How are differences in the relative capacities and abilities of education institutions at the state and local levels in Nigeria related to any inequities in service delivery? Please describe how any future systems strengthening efforts could be tailored to be pro-poor and to address any persistent inequities at the classroom, school, or community levels of the system.

15. What role, if any, could Nigerian businesses and private sector actors in major industries play in systems strengthening or capacity building in the education system in Nigeria?

Please be as specific as you can.

16. Do you have any other information about systems strengthening and capacity building in Nigeria that you believe it is important for USAID/Nigeria to understand? Please explain.

[END OF APPENDIX I]

Appendix II

APPENDIX II

USAID/Nigeria USAID Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN)

Request for Information (RFI) Response Template

USAID/Nigeria is interested in responses to the questions in Appendix I. Respondents are encouraged to review the questions and submit responses to the questions they feel most qualified to answer. Respondents do not need to respond to all the questions.

USAID/Nigeria is also interested in any other program recommendations, relevant context, existing capacities, or other information relevant to the design of this program.

For any question to which an answer is submitted, the question must be identified by its question number. Please use the format below for responses to this RFI.

Name:

Title:

Organization:

Authorized Point of Contact (POC) of the Organization:

Email:

Question 1:

Response 1:

Question 2:

Question 2 (a):

Response 2 (a):

Question 2 (b):

Response 2 (b):

Question 2 (c):

Response 2 (c):

[END OF APPENDIX II]