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The Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network is a local Non-Governmental Organization that seeks to empower women in Zimbabwe. ZWRCN is looking for a consultant to carry out a gender analysis of the Zimbabwe Education Sector Policies, Programmes and Budget. The analysis is expected to contribute to the main objectives of the Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme currently under implementation by ZWRCN, including the promotion of gender equality and equity in public policies and resource allocation to the education sector, and the upholding of the right to education for children in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network is a local Non-Governmental Organization that seeks to empower women in Zimbabwe. ZWRCN is looking for a consultant to carry out a gender analysis of the Zimbabwe Education Sector Policies, Programmes and Budget. The analysis is expected to contribute to the main objectives of the Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme currently under implementation by ZWRCN, including the promotion of gender equality and equity in public policies and resource allocation to the education sector, and the upholding of the right to education for children in Zimbabwe.

We require a consultant with recognised expertise and experience in Gender, Gender Budgeting, Economics, Public Policy, or any other related field, with experience in the analysis of public policies and particular experience in education policy being an advantage. Knowledge of the Zimbabwe national policy making and budgeting processes and knowledge and experience in gender (and or gender budgeting) analysis and excellent oral and written communication skills in English are also required.

Contact Details

Proposals to undertake this analysis should reach ZWRCN by 6 February 2009, and should include a detailed budget and proposed timeline for the work. All correspondence concerning this work should be addressed to:

Heather Panganai (Programme Assistant)
288 Herbert Chitepo Avenue
Harare
Tel: 252387-90

Or via email to: [email][email protected]

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background

The proposed action, for which these Terms of Reference are prepared, is the gender analysis of the education policies, programmes and budgets, which is expected to contribute to the main objectives of the Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme currently under implementation by ZWRCN, including the promotion of gender equality and equity in public policies and resource allocation to the education sector, and the upholding of the right to education for children in Zimbabwe.

Aside from putting in place and enforcing laws to support the fulfillment of child rights (particularly child socio-economic rights), government develops and implements public programmes targeted at the delivery of services for children. Because such programmes are premised on some underlying policy, ZWRCN will undertake policy analysis, and as budget follows policy, budget analysis to ensure that efforts to ensure children’s right to education are effective.

Purpose:

Monitoring the Zimbabwe national budget to advance children’s right to education is intended to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of educational programmes and budgetary allocations in responding to government obligations concerning this right.

The analyses to be undertaken seek to determine, among others:

• Whether government has put in place programmes to give effect to the child’s right to education
• How much has been allocated to the programmes, and the relative importance placed on these through an analysis of the allocations in relation to the total education budget, total programmes budget, and total government budget
• The presence and extent of discrimination in programme content (implementation plan, roll out of services), and the degree to which the programmes pay attention to the specific needs of the vulnerable, e.g. poor children, girls, the physically challenged
• Problems (financial and non-financial) that have to be overcome in the programmes to ensure that services are rolled out to all children (boys and girls) in need

The main components of the study will be 1) Situational analysis; 2) Policy and programme analysis; 3) Budget analysis; and 4) Analysis of budget implementation.

1. Situational Analysis

This component will assess the situation of children concerning basic educational opportunities. Basic education here refers to the primary and secondary education levels. The analysis takes into account access to education, which touches on sufficiency of family income, human development opportunities and economic and physical vulnerability. Specifically, the analysis will seek to move beyond just ensuring girls and boys are enrolled into primary and secondary school, and assess accessibility to basic education by girls and boys in Zimbabwe in terms of:

• Attrition: This refers to the proportion of students starting school who discontinue through withdrawal, dropping out, etc). The determinants of children’s retention in primary and secondary education are assessed to provide a basis for analysis of policies and programmes that seek to address this. The MOESC has set as one of its objectives the reduction of the school dropout rate and improve retention
• Completion: This refers to the proportion of students successfully completing the last year of (or graduating from) primary or secondary school in a given year. An assessment will be made of the factors that affect completion in relation to the measures that are being and could be taken to address the issue. The survival rate to the last grade of primary education is low in Zimbabwe (63 and 62 for female and male students respectively)

2. Policy and programme analysis

The proportion of students completing primary school and entering secondary school can be positively shaped by a combination of policy interventions aiming to: increase primary enrolment rates, reduce dropout rates and provide sufficient numbers of places in secondary schools for those pupils making the transition. Specific measures have been put in place by the Zimbabwe Government to improve access to education by poor children, including the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), which was introduced in the late 1990s under social protection to assist vulnerable children with school fees and levies. BEAM was drawn up against a backdrop of high school dropout rates, especially among girls at secondary level. The policy emphasises that 50 percent of the beneficiaries from this fund should be girls at secondary school level. The policy and programme analysis component will include the:

• Identification and analysis of education policies and programmes that seek to promote children’s right to education with regards to access, attrition and completion
• Selection of programmes in the Ministries of Education, Sport and Culture and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare for analysis in the context of programme design, content, objectives, and level and extent of achievement of programme objectives
• Analysis of discrimination in access to services. This includes programme eligibility and access procedures, and analysis of government’s justification for discrimination in eligibility for a programme versus actual need.

3. Budget Analysis

This involves the analysis of the adequacy of budget allocations to selected programmes, analysis in relation to other programmes and the total education budget. The analysis will investigate specific expenditure on girls’ education as well as general/ mainstream expenditures in the education sector in relation to the following:

• The level of priority given to the programmes
• Different financing options available for the programme
• Impact on different groups of children such as orphans and vulnerable children, the disabled, and rural versus urban children. It is acknowledged that while some policies may generally succeed in improving overall access to education, problems in respect of enrolment, retention and completion often remain for the poor, disabled or children living in rural areas.

4. Analysis of budget implementation

This component looks at whether the funds allocated to the programmes found their way to the programme destination, proportion of allocations spent by the programmes, and the results (e.g. expansion in access to services looking at the gender variations in accessing the services)

Scope of Work

a) Review all relevant documentation on the macroeconomic situation in Zimbabwe, National macro-economic policy framework documents, poverty assessment studies, and other relevant materials
b) Review previous gender analyses of national budgets undertaken by ZWRCN and other regional organizations implementing Gender Budget Initiatives such as the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) in Uganda, and the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP)
c) Assess the situation of girls and boys in the educations sector with regards to access, attrition and completion
d) Critically assess the policies and programmes put in place by the Government of Zimbabwe aimed at addressing the observed gender inequalities in education
e) Provide an analysis of the responsiveness of the national budget, focusing on the education sector budget, to gender inequalities over the past 5 years
f) Using socio-economic indicators, analyze the adequacy of specific budgetary allocations in sector to achieving intended programme results
g) Analyze the level of priority given to selected programmes in the sector (e.g. by expressing the allocation to this programme as a percentage of the total sector budget)
h) Submit a draft of the gender budget study to ZWRCN for review
i) Following comments from the organization and other key stakeholders, produce a second draft of the study report
j) Present study findings at an education advocacy workshop
k) Make appropriate adjustments to the analysis following its presentation to key stakeholders at the validation and advocacy workshop and produce a final report

Reporting

The consultant will report directly to the Programmes Coordinator at ZWRCN

Required Qualifications

The consultant is expected to demonstrate the following:

• Recognised expertise and experience in Gender, Gender Budgeting, Economics, Public Policy, or any other related field
• Experience in the analysis of public policies, with particular experience in education policy an advantage
• Knowledge of the Zimbabwe national policy making and budgeting processes
• Knowledge and experience in gender (and or gender budget) analysis
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English

Contact Details

Proposals to undertake this analysis should reach ZWRCN by 6 February 2009, and should include a detailed budget and proposed timeline for the work. All correspondence concerning this work should be addressed to:

Heather Panganai (Programme Assistant)
288 Herbert Chitepo Avenue
Harare
Tel: 252387-90

Or via email to: [email][email protected]

ZWRCN policy in establishing fees is that the Consultant will assume any tax obligation that may be imposed by one’s government/country.