The Government of Lesotho has received a grant from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Project and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of the grant to conduct a study on number of learners reached by Life skills education in 2010.

Global Fund Coordinating Unit (GFCU) now invites eligible person/consulting firm to indicate their interest to conduct the study. The goal of the consultancy is to provide technical support for the collection of information on LSE from all schools (primary and secondary). Specifically the consultant is expected to provide information on the number of learners reached with LSE in 2010 by gender and the number of Schools that taught LSE in 2010 by district.
Terms of Reference

1. Background
As part of scaling up interventions on HIV prevention in line with the National HIV and AIDS strategic Plan (2006-2011), the Ministry of Education and Training identified Life Skills Education (LSE) as one of its key strategies and the National Curriculum Development Centre is mandated to oversee its implementation in all primary and secondary schools.

The rationale for the life skills education is to equip learners at both primary and secondary schools with a variety of skills such as decision making, problem solving, effective communication, stress and anxiety management, interpersonal relationship, self-esteem and assertiveness. These skills are aimed at empowering the learners to lead healthy, responsible and productive lives.

The Ministry of Education and Training has enjoyed both technical and financial support from development partners such as the Global Fund to AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria in executing LSE. The support from Global Fund started in 2004 under the R2 HIV grant and continued under the R7 grant which commenced in 2008. The support included training of teachers on LSE, procurement of learners and teachers books.


2. Progress to date
As indicated earlier, the Ministry of Education and Training through the National Curriculum Development Centre is responsible for ensuring that LSE is implemented in all schools. This entails making sure that all schools are adequately capacitated with the required resources to implement LSE, providing information every six months on the number of schools providing LSE as well as the number of learners reached. Under both R2 and 7 HIV grants more than 4000 teachers were trained, teachers and learners books were procured and distributed to schools.

On the other hand, reporting challenges on the number of learners reached with LSE and schools providing LSE had always persisted within the Ministry. This challenge has affected the Performance of all the global fund grants in Lesotho particularly the R7 HIV grant

3. Objectives of the consultancy

The goal of the consultancy is to provide technical support for the collection of information on LSE from all schools (primary and secondary). Specifically the consultant is expected to provide information on the number of learners reached with LSE in 2010 by gender and the number of Schools that taught LSE in 2010 by district.

4. Purpose of the Consultancy
Information collected will inform the indicator as set in the Performance Framework for Round 7 Grant as well as to report to MOET on how many pupils have been reached with Life skills education from Primary Std 4 level to Form A-C secondary level for 2010 period.

5. Scope of Work and Main Activities in the Consultancy
Under the supervision of NCDC, the consultant is expected to:
• undertake a desk review of all the documents related LSE, including SAQMEQ reports;
• develop an appropriate tool for collecting the required information;
• undertake field work to collect the data;
• analyze, interpret and built inferences on the data findings;
• Produce study report in line with the objectives of the study.

6. Expected Outputs/Deliverables
1. Inception Report
2. Final report with disaggregated statistic data/tables.
3. Presentation to stakeholders on findings

7. Requirements of the consultant
• A minimum of Masters Degree in Social Science with strong knowledge and background of statistics
• At least 5 years of experience in qualitative research
• Experience of research in the education or social sector in the SADC region
• Experience of research in the education or social sector in Lesotho will be additional value
• Familiar with Lesotho’s education system will be additional value

9. Duration of the assignment
1 month

10. Supervision of the consultant
The consultant will be supervised by NCDC within the Ministry of Education.

11. Deadline of submission: September 28, 2011 on or before 12.00 HRS
Interested people/consulting firms should submit their proposal(s) to the following address: The National Coordinator, Global Fund Coordination Unit
Ground Floor Mafike House Kingsway Road Or email at info@gfcu.org.ls
For more information visit GFCU website at www.gfcu.org.ls