Curriculum Development and Training Consultant

BACKGROUND

Women for Women International (WfWI) works with the most marginalized women in conflict-affected countries to help them move from poverty and isolation to self-sufficiency and empowerment. WfWI’s vision is a world where all women determine the course of their lives and reach their full potential. To achieve that, WfWI’s support enables women to earn and save money, improve health and wellbeing, influence decisions in their homes and communities, and connect to networks for help. By utilizing skills, knowledge, and resources, women can create sustainable change for themselves, their families, and their communities.

CONTEXT

Since 1993, WfWI has supported hundreds of thousands of women engaged in varied vocational tracks as entrepreneurs – individually or collectively, to develop and grow their businesses and to have more control over their economic resources. These women are engaged in micro and small businesses from basket weaving, soap production, petty trading, restaurant business, bakery, cake making and sales, small-holder farmers, etc.– for survival, resilience, and income generation in Afghanistan, DR Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Iraq.

WfWI’s women’s economic empowerment programming strengthens women’s aspirations and skills to tackle poverty by accessing resources and opportunities to run and grow financially resilient and sustainable enterprises and the power to make individual and business decisions that benefit themselves, their families, and their communities. This is achieved by promoting a gendered graduation approach known as WfWI’s Stronger Women, Stronger Nations (SWSN). The SWSN design is designed to build women’s self-reliance and economic stability through a holistic bundled approach of social and economic empowerment delivered over 12 months. The economic components of the SWSN model include:

• Economic Empowerment curriculum on numeracy, basic business skills, business plan development to develop women’s abilities and capacities to manage income-generating activities better,
• Vocational skill training (e.g., agriculture, sewing) per women’s vocational track to earn income,
• Ways to save money, through formal and informal savings mechanisms like Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) and linkages to financial services like microfinance institutions and commercial banks,
• $10 monthly cash stipend,
• Training on the formation and management of cooperatives.

Aside from these standard economic interventions, there are complementary support interventions:

• Mentorship to improve income generation through better business decisions. To this day, it is provided to a section of women as part of a research purpose.
• Asset transfer to grow women’s businesses. So far, the amount has been ad hoc and varies per country office as directed by donor interest and availability of funds

This is also in synergy with working in allyship with men to challenge patriarchal social norms as present structural barriers to women’s more equitable access to and control over resources and opportunities to run and grow financially resilient and sustainable enterprises and the power to make individual and business decisions that benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.

OBJECTIVE

In 2021, WfWI conducted a Randomized Control Trail (RCT) impact evaluation of post-graduation mentorship on 500 out of 1000 women graduates of the 12-month SWSN in Nigeria. The research question sought to understand if six months of post-graduation mentoring provided to an individual, group of women, and a blended approach significantly contributed to improved economic outcomes for women’s self-employment.

Findings indicated an average weekly income in the treatment arms from $14.80 to $18.87 as compared with the control group, which had an average weekly income of $10.22, which also significantly increased women’s saving abilities— access to loans to start income generating activities in agriculture, amongst others- also, mentoring helped women engage in income-generating activities with increased work hours.

There is a growing increase across WfWI to replicate the mentoring experience and increase the organization’s impact on women’s economic empowerment at the country level. Thus, WfWI wants to create a standard and customized mentoring curriculum and toolkit to support women’s entrepreneurial drive for success.

Through the Associate Director, Women’s Economic Power (AD-WEP), WfWI provides technical support and expert advice on women’s economic empowerment to country office Economic Empowerment (EE) teams by supporting, designing, and testing innovative programming, supporting, demonstrating impact, and enhancing and sharing best practices and learning across WfWI. This mentoring and training needs assessment provides a clear scope in line with EE programming.

SCOPE

The mentoring and training needs assessment will be delivered in five phases.

Phase 1 will entail the detailed designing of the assessment where the consultant(s) will, together with the AD-WEP, outline a methodology, approach, and location to assess the mentoring and training needs for WfWI’s women’s vocational track mentoring in consultation with core WfWI stakeholders and or and or the EE country team.

Phase 2 will encompass a series of assessment activities related to the Mentoring Needs Assessment (MNA) of women and their business support needs- individually or collectively, including needs assessment of potential or past mentors, assessing cost implications for the SWSN model if all COs adopt mentoring for all SWSN women, and a review of existing mentor’s guide and toolkits, WfWI’s mentoring RCT in Nigeria and the design of the mentoring component’s training delivery system (TDS).

Phase 3 will include presenting findings and priorities of the MNA and TDS.

Phase 4 will consist ofdeveloping the complete customized curricular package and toolkits.

Phase 5 will deliver an in-person or remote Training of Trainers (ToT) on the customized curricular package and toolkits to ensure Country EE departments and others can have provided training and mentoring support in any geographic and contextual settings.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINE

The key deliverable from this TOR are:

1. Assessment analysis report of the MNA and TDS includes cost implications for mentorship in the SWSN model if all COs adopt mentoring for all SWSN women.
2. Presentation of findings and accompanying slide deck
3. Mentoring curricular package and toolkit
4. Training of Trainers

DURATION

The consultancy will be for 60 working days, maximum between October 9, 2022, and December 26th, 2023. The consultant will bill periodically for time spent, as agreed with the AD-WEP.

ACTIVITY

DEADLINE

1.

Establish project team and governance

• This project is owned by the AD-WEP but will include resource persons such as Director for Innovation, Associate Director, Social Empowerment, Director, and Associate Director, MERL. The AD-WEP will manage the project.

Week of October 10th, 2022

2.

Research Phase 1:

• Complete assessment design in consultation with AD-WEP, Director for Innovation, Associate Director, Social Empowerment, Director, and Associate Director, MERL.
• Design of approach and methodology
• Agree on the priority country for the in-person ToT

Week of October 10th, 2022

3.

Phase 2: Complete assessment.

• This will include the best method for assessing women’s- individual or collective business needs, including desk review of existing content, conducting key informant interviews, and focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders.
  • Analysis of critical essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be addressed in the mentoring curriculum
  • Analysis of key content required for the mentoring curriculum.
  • Analysis of key content necessary for the TDS: frequency of training/refresher training, location, methods, etc.
  • Analysis of the definition of mentoring, accompaniment, consulting, and coaching
  • Analysis of relevant tools to be used by mentors and women during mentoring sessions.
  • Identify the best “host project” within which to deliver a pilot training of mentors.
  • Report on findings

Week of November 14th, 2022

4.

Phase 3: Prepare a presentation on the MNA and TDS findings:

• Presentation of results of the MNA and the TDS
• The critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be addressed in the Mentoring curriculum
• Outline the curriculum design, including the essential content required for the mentoring curriculum,
• Outline the training delivery system, including frequency of training/refresher training, location, methods, etc.
• Definition of mentoring, accompaniment, consulting, and coaching
• Recommendation on appropriate tools for master trainers, mentors, and women.

Week of November 21st, 2022

5.

Phase 4: Mentoring curricular package and toolkit development

• This will include the priority areas and tools per the MNA/TDS findings, adapted to the profile of mentoring master trainers/trainers, potential mentors, and women entrepreneurs.
• Develop or adapt appropriate tools for master trainers, mentors, and women.

Week of November 28th, 2022

6.

Phase 5: Training of Trainers (ToT)

This will include

• Identify the best “host project” and country to deliver the in-person ToT if the budget allows
• Providing master trainers with an overview of the role of a mentor
• Train master trainers with a hands-on overview of an applied learning approach that prepares them to use the mentoring guide and relevant toolkits
• Provide practical experience in facilitating mentoring activities.
• Provide guidelines to the Mentor’s Supervisor to improve mentoring activities in the field.
• Make relevant reviews on the mentoring toolkit, including guides, session tools, women entrepreneur tools, etc.
• Produce a training report.

Latest week of December 12th, 2022

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

The ideal candidate should have the following experience:

• • Minimum five years of research experience on education, women’s economic rights issues, and empowerment, including entrepreneurship, vocational skills, and financial inclusion, with solid expertise looking at gender inequality
    – Experience in collecting and analyzing data from different countries
    – Experience in human-centered design approaches
    – Experience working with low literate and or illiterate women
    – Experience in curriculum development and delivery
    – Excellent command of English fluency. French is a plus.
    – Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to speak and write persuasively and present ideas clearly and concisely.
    – Capacity to work simultaneously on a variety of issues and tasks independently, adjusting to priorities and achieving results with agreed objectives and deadlines.

How to apply

Please follow the following link to apply for this role:

https://careers.womenforwomen.org/jobs/66865