ACR-Cambodia 2 Activity_RFI_72044221R00002.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

All Children Reading-Cambodia 2 Activity

USAID/Cambodia has developed a DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW) for an All Children Reading-Cambodia 2 Activity (final name TBD). The purpose of this RFI is to provide industry and stakeholders an opportunity to review, comment, suggest and enhance areas in the SOW.

The RFI is anticipated to result in a finalization of the SoW that may lead to a formal Request for Proposals for potential offerors. The potential period of performance is five years. The Draft SOW is provided in the following pages.

DISCLAIMER

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes. This is not a Request for Proposals (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S.

Government. Responses to this RFI shall not be portrayed as offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding agreement. Issuance of this notice does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. Government, nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation of comments. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.

Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary and USAID will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. If a Request for Proposals is issued, it will be announced on beta.sam.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that Request for Proposals separately from any response to this announcement.

Businesses should identify any proprietary information in their responses. Proprietary materials will neither be distributed, nor discussed with, any other organization. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

FAR 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997)

(a)The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(b)Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/31.205-18#FAR_31_205_18

(c)This solicitation is issued for the purpose of exchanging information to improve industry understanding of the Government requirements.

INSTRUCTIONS

Responses (comments, suggestions, and enhancements) to this RFI are due to USAID at the identified e-mail address(es) below by December 4, 2020 at 4:00 pm, Phnom Penh time.

Interested parties shall provide one (1) electronic copy of their response in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat format. Please e‐mail responses to Ms. Honey Sokry at hsokry@usaid.gov with a copy to phnompenhoaa@usaid.gov with the subject title “Response to the All Children Reading-Cambodia 2 Activity_RFI_72044221R00002” mailto:hsokry@usaid.gov mailto:phnompenhoaa@usaid.gov

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

QUESTIONS

The USAID Cambodia All Children Reading-Cambodia 2 Activity Design is seeking comments on the draft SoW attached in this notice. Please ensure comments are concise and specific to the information requested. Please ensure that submitted comments make specific reference to page and section numbers. Special consideration should be given to the following:

1. Are there additional issues relevant to the activity’s objectives that should be included in the problem statement? Please elaborate.

2. Are the results listed in the draft SoW achievable and sufficient to achieve the intended objectives? If not, please elaborate.

3. Based on the objectives, are there additional partners or activities that USAID needs to coordinate with to ensure complementarity of interventions to support the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport reforms?

4. Are there areas in the draft SoW that require further clarification? If yes, please elaborate.

5. Are there any major potential risks that should be mitigated to achieve the intended objectives?

6. Please add additional comments, if any.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

DRAFT Statement of Work

I. Purpose The purpose of this activity is to improve early grade learning skills of children with and without disabilities in primary schools in Cambodia. The four overarching objectives of this activity are:

1. Strengthen Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) capacity to scale up and achieve national rollout of the Early Grade Learning program;

2. Strengthen school-based management at the pre-primary and primary levels to increase social accountability between schools and communities;

3. Improve education system resilience to provide equitable educational services for all students in normal and emergency situations; and

4. Strengthen MoEYS capacity to provide equitable access to quality educational services for children with disabilities1.

II. Background The MoEYS has been working with USAID and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to develop and pilot an early grade learning (EGL) program. The goal was to create a program that could be scaled nationally to improve Khmer language and mathematics learning outcomes in Grades 1 and 2. During the first year of implementation, grade 1 EGR showed a 16% increase in vowel identification compared to the baseline. Due to COVID-19 school closures, the grade 2 results had to be postponed. The reading component is currently implemented in 8 provinces, reaching approximately 32% of primary schools in Cambodia. The mathematics component is expected to reach 5 provinces by the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Upon the Minister’s request, the EGR in-service Grades 1 and 2 packages have been integrated into the preservice teacher training diploma courses to be implemented in all Provincial Teacher Training Colleges in the 2020-2021 academic year. The current EGL program has been adopted by the MoEYS and is a core focus under the Education Strategic Plan 2019-2023.

The current EGR Package includes teacher’s guides for Semester 1 and 2 of Grades 1 and 2 in Khmer literacy, student supplementary book, decodable and sensory storybooks, supplemental teaching and learning material that complement the Khmer Literacy textbook. Teachers are exposed to the EGL package through a series of in-service teacher training over a 9 day period throughout the course of the academic year. The Math package also has teacher’s guides, 1 For USAID’s definition of disability please see USAID’s How to Note: Disability Inclusive Education. November 2018. https://www.edu-links.org/sites/default/files/media/file/How-ToNote_DisabilityInclusiveEducation_0.pdf https://www.edu-links.org/sites/default/files/media/file/How-ToNote_DisabilityInclusiveEducation_0.pdf supplemental materials and teachers also receive a 9 day in service training package over the course of the academic year.2

This activity is designed to build on the success of MoEYS ownership and desired scale-up of the EGL program nationally. The MoEYS’ commitment to expand the early grade reading program to national scale has increased the demand and need for a more accelerated scale-up and implementation plan. A new All Children Reading (ACR) 2 mechanism will play a crucial role in responding to this demand and will maximize the current successes toward achieving a sustained positive impact on student learning outcomes at scale.

III. Problem Statement Despite current rigorous education reforms, Cambodia is still struggling to ensure students’ improve learning outcomes at scale. Recent assessments show that only 32 percent of male third graders are proficient in Khmer language, compared to 48 percent of their female peers (National Grade 3 student assessment, 2015). Only 8 percent of 15-year-old students achieved the minimum level of proficiency in reading and 10 percent achieved the minimum level of proficiency in mathematics (PISA-D, 2018).

With regard to disabilities and inclusion, experience with implementing the All Children Learning activity indicates a lack of trained professionals both in the education and health sectors and the inaccessibility of assistive devices for those living outside the two urban centers (Phnom Penh and Siem Reap) of Cambodia. Learning support for children with disabilities is still underdeveloped and the majority of children with a disability find themselves outside of school. In 2017, UNESCO estimated that 57 percent of children with disabilities are out of school, 50 percentage points greater than children without disabilities. For multilingual education mainly offered in Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Kratie, and Steung Treng, the key challenges include the language barrier between students and teachers, the low attendance and high dropout rates of indigenous children (CARE, 2015). A recent evaluation of the Multilingual Education National Action Plan shows a lack of systematic connection between multilingual preschools to primary schools, which are barriers to effectiveness. There is also a high demand for qualified indigenous teachers and core trainers for primary education (UNICEF, 2018). This means increasing access for children from ethnic and indigenous minorities and quality of instruction remain a challenge.

On a broader issue of quality early grade learning, historical evidence shows that despite contributions from NGOs and donor programs to support reading since 2010, the quality of learning outcome for students at national scale remains a grave concern. The 2016 national student learning assessment grade 6 confirms a minimal improvement in student reading skills, using a scaled score comparison for the 10-year period between 2007 (score: 500) and 2016 (score: 504).

This longitudinal record indicates that fragmented interventions which make improvement only in some selected schools cannot move Cambodia out of the learning crisis. The poor foundational skills of children in literacy and numeracy has had a domino effect on the students’ learning

2 For additional information see the MoEYS Komar Rien Komar Cheh site: https://www.facebook.com/123komar/ https://www.facebook.com/123komar/ outcomes at higher levels. Learning struggle, among other factors, is also a significant driver for school dropouts and demotivates parents to invest in their children’s long-term education as well as ruins efforts for better equity since those dropout children are mostly in vulnerable groups. The MoEYS statistics show a significant drop in enrolment figures from 98% at primary, to 59.1% at lower secondary and down to 29.7% at upper secondary level. The high enrollment figure at primary level proves that parents and children acknowledge the importance of education initially;

however, they are struggling to continue- almost half of the children drop school at lower secondary level. If learning outcomes at scale in early grades are not addressed, the vast number of children, mostly vulnerable children, will continue to miss meaningful educational benefits; and it is difficult to envision a realization of quality education and equity for all Cambodia children at higher levels.

The MoEYS has, therefore, continued to emphasize improving the quality of early grade instruction, while concurrently developing broader reform agendas including teacher capacity development and school-based management initiatives to improve quality of education at all levels.

The MoEYS has placed a major emphasis on improving the quality of learning for early childhood education (upper preschool) and grade 1 students to improve the quality of education. They have also placed a secondary emphasis on grade 2 and 3 students to ensure a solid educational foundation in core literacy and numeracy. However, bringing the EGL program to reach a national scale is a significant endeavor and requires concerted efforts, expertise and resources from multiple stakeholders.

IV. Theory of Change If there are coordinated investments in early grade learning through a holistic approach for school improvement including teacher professional development, transparency, and accountability, then students’ learning outcomes will improve.

V. Objectives and Key Results

1. Achieve National Roll-out of the Early Grade Learning (EGL) program

Strengthen MoEYS capacity to scale-up the EGL program: manage, monitor and evaluate the EGL program

The activity will build on the success of the current All Children Reading Cambodia activity which has formed strong collaboration and partnership among the MoEYS staff and NGO experts in implementing the EGL program in select provinces. A number of staff at national and sub-national levels, including staff at teacher training colleges, have been trained as core trainers and as teacher trainers. Given the interruptions of COVID-19, many of these individuals have not fully mastered the skills yet to become the Ministry's pool of resources in rolling out early grade learning nationally, let alone adapting it to the new normal and sustaining the impacts. Therefore, there is a need to upgrade the capacity of these trainers and to train more trainers to cover roughly 70% of grade 1 & 2 teachers, who have not yet been trained on EGL. Among the remaining schools, there are schools that implement bilingual education. This activity will work to adapt and test the national early grade learning package to meet the needs of the local communities such as ethnic minority and indigenous children in bilingual school settings. In addition, to build a strong literacy foundation this activity will support the MoEYS in developing and testing a grade 3 package. This requires capacity building to more EGL trainers and teachers to roll out the grade 1 and 2 program to schools in other provinces, while developing and implementing grade 3 in select current provinces.

This activity will support the Ministry and NGO community to build a strong pool of human resources with core EGL skills adaptable to the new normal and capable to support the MoEYS to roll out and sustain early grade learning program impacts in the long run.

Increase MoEYS capacity to mobilize domestic and external resources for EGL scale-up

This activity will build the Ministry’s capacity to mobilize domestic and external resources to bring EGL to scale. Building on the costed plan for rolling out the early grade reading program developed by the current ACL project, the activity will support the MoEYS to seek funding from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and to ensure that other external resources in early grade learning are mobilized to support this national EGL program including the new GPE Multiplier fund that will be managed by the World Bank.

Increase MoEYS capacity to sustain the impacts and model of EGL

This activity will build early grade learning capabilities of the MoEYS to take full ownership of the early grade learning program, building a sustainable system in both pre-service and in-service teacher training as well as the regular operation of schools to ensure that EGL teachers use national core EGL teaching and learning materials, apply effective teaching methodology and have the opportunity to improve their early grade teaching skills overtime via continuous professional development and monitoring and evaluation systems.

2. Strengthen School Governance, Transparency and Accountability

Strengthen School-Based Management

This activity will maximize the Ministry’s reform on school-based management (SBM) to improve the effectiveness of school governance and accountability. Based on the experience of implementing school-based management approaches supported by the World Bank and CDPF, this activity will support the MoEYS to consolidate the best practices and support the adaptation and harmonization of SBM implementation piloted at the secondary level to the primary level.

The activity will leverage this opportunity to strengthen the early grade learning program, implementing a whole school approach for primary schools to foster complementarity between teacher capacity building, teacher and school director performance, and school accountability.

Strengthen implementation of the Social Accountability Framework in Education

As the MoEYS is undertaking D&D reforms in the education sector starting with 3 sub-sectors including early childhood education, primary education and non-formal education, it is crucial to ensure this process does not compromise the efforts and achievements made in the sector, particularly at the school level. This activity will maximize the implementation of the Social Accountability Framework in Education that aims to empower citizens to hold the government accountable, strengthen partnerships between subnational authorities and citizens, and leverage enhanced accountability of these authorities to improve local service delivery. This activity will strengthen the capacities of schools and subnational authorities to implement the requirements of D&D reforms in a way that promotes democracy and transparency in the school operating environment.

Increase civil society engagement and participation in the education sector

This activity will empower civil society in the education sector to support citizens and communities to advocate for increased accountability of education service providers. This activity will maximize the civil society network to monitor the school operation with particular focus on the implementation of early grade learning and school-based management.

3. Increase Education System Resilience

Develop and strengthen short-term interventions and adaptations to COVID-19

This activity will address the secondary impacts of COVID-19 on education such as increased dropout rates, the need to reintegrate/transition children and teachers back to school, and the increased impacts of poverty which have led to an increase in child labor due to the loss of income of households during the pandemic. This activity will support schools to ensure safety and quality of education with necessary adapted teaching and learning approaches and materials responsive to the new school operational context.

Develop and strengthen medium and long-term response to COVID-19 and other emergent circumstances

This activity will improve system resilience to strengthen education service adaptability to implement distance and blended learning in an equitable and accessible approach that is able to quickly and effectively respond to emerging circumstances. This activity will support the

MoEYS to harmonize and conduct quality assurance reviews of the current blended and distance learning materials from the provisional COVID-19 response period.

4. Strengthen and improve inclusive education services

Improve quality and access to education for children with disabilities

This activity will support the MoEYS to strengthen education services for children with disabilities including those with developmental delays, with a specific emphasis on strengthening the MoEYS special schools. This activity will contribute to pre-service and in-service teacher training to enable teachers to implement methodologies to assist children with different needs in the classroom. The activity will improve the quality of education services for students with disabilities in pre-school and early grades, including special schools. This activity will build on the success of the current All Children Reading-Cambodia regarding adapted Early Grade Reading Assessment and adapted teaching and learning resources and address gaps to establish a strong foundation for the MoEYS to improve inclusive education, particularly in literacy for children who are deaf/hard of hearing and blind/vision impaired. The activity will help the MoEYS to collect reliable data on the learning achievement of students with disabilities, to develop a pool of human resources with expertise on disabilities, and to make informed decisions on how to prioritize and implement strategic steps toward inclusive education. The activity will also strengthen the capacity of Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and disability related NGOs and maximize their network to promote early grade learning.

Increase roll out of the national early grade learning program to bilingual/multilingual education areas.

The activity will support the MoEYS to adapt the EGL package and teacher training to support children in bilingual/multilingual school settings. This would include the testing and roll out of the adapted EGL program in some multilingual schools in the 4 northeastern provinces. The project will coordinate and engage stakeholders working on multilingual/bilingual education to support schools and students so that they can successfully transition to Khmer language.

VI. Proposed Geographic Targeting Criteria The geographic targeting will be determined in consultation with MoEYS and other development partners to ensure complementarity of interventions to achieve MoEYS targets under the Education Sector Plan.

VII. Expected results This activity is expected to build MoEYS capacity to bring an early grade learning program to national scale so that all Cambodian children, particularly those in vulnerable groups including slow learners, children with disabilities, and ethnic minority children, have improved foundational learning skills. This activity will improve equitable access to quality early grade education and achieve further education reforms. Below are expected results of this activity:

● The MoEYS will have sufficient capacity and resources to manage the roll-out of early grade learning program throughout the country;

● Early grade teachers, including those who are newly qualified, have core skills in teaching inclusive early grade learning to effectively implement the national early grade learning package.

● Target primary schools will have a more effective governance structure that supports learning and promotes democratic principles, accountability, and transparency with active community and civil society engagement.

● MoEYS and target primary schools have increased capacity to address the impacts of COVID-19 on early grade learning with the necessary tools and resources to transition school operations back to normal, and improved resilience in responding to emerging circumstances.

● The MoEYS including the Special Education Department (SED), the National Institute for Special Education (NISE) and teachers, teacher trainers and school director in special schools have improved expertise in teaching/managing, prioritizing and strategizing inclusion programs to improve the quality of EGL education services for children with disabilities and/or bilingual/multilingual education.