Save the Children œuvre en Haïti depuis 1978 et a commencé à œuvrer dans le secteur éducatif à partir de 1999.
Save the Children est désormais tourné vers l’avenir et est à la recherche d’un consultant pour mener une étude stratégique qui analysera la programmation actuelle de Save the Children – éducation de base, développement et soins au niveau de la petite enfance, santé et nutrition scolaires – dans le contexte des perspectives et priorités du Gouvernement Haïtien et des donateurs. Cette étude permettra ainsi d’identifier les domaines et approches de programmation stratégique pour les 3 à 5 prochaines années qui présentent les meilleures opportunités pour Save the Children de contribuer, à l’échelle nationale, au développement du secteur de l’éducation en Haïti.

Background
Long a complex and often-fragile environment in need of a variety of supports, Haiti had begun to stabilize in recent years and showed marked signs of improvement in a variety of sectors including security and local governance. These improvements had a positive impact on the education system and the ability of international actors to provide consistent support to schools and the system. Even so, primary school enrolment remained low and today more than 50% children between the ages of six and 12 are not enrolled in school. An estimated 38% of the population over the age of 15 is illiterate as a result of both non-enrolment and poor quality educational opportunities; many children who attend school leave without basic literacy or numeracy skills. In general, the state system is highly centralized, lacks governance, transparency, supervision, and adequate resources. As a result, about 90% of all primary schools are run by the non-public sector and many Haitian families pay up to 25% of their income to send their children to school.
Save the Children’s lengthy experience in Haiti includes basic education and school health and nutrition programming that has been anchored in the Central Department commune of Maissade, supported by the organization’s child sponsorship funding mechanism. This mechanism has enabled long-term support to 108 schools. In 2009 Save the Children’s education program launched Lekti se Lavni, a targeted program focused on improving learning outcomes for children in their native Creole piloted in Maissade and Port-au-Prince.
The massive earthquake that struck the country in January 2010 set back much of the positive progress of recent years and scrambled the operating environment for international organizations. For its part, Save the Children greatly expanded its operating scope to include many of the earthquake-affected areas including Delmas, Carrefour and Martissant communes in Port-au-Prince Municipality in the West Department, Leogane Commune in the West Department, and 5 communes around Jacmel in the Southeast Department. In doing so, it hired many new staff and developed and implemented a variety of new programming approaches. Programs and initiatives that had existed prior to the earthquake, such as basic education and school health and nutrition work in Maissade, Rewrite the Future and Letkti se Lavni, were disrupted due to the effects of the earthquake on the country and Save the Children’s operations, including turnover in staff and reprioritization of programming priorities and resources.
A measure of stability has now returned to the education sector and Save the Children’s own programming since the start of the 2010-2011 school year in Fall 2010. Save the Children now has a core education program team in place and a core package of support in basic education, called the Education Quality Initiative (QEI), has been defined and is in place for all Save the Children education programs in Haiti. Basic education programs and school health and nutrition activities in Save the Children’s Maissade Commune impact area have been reinforced and a plan to phase out of Maissade and into a new programming area is in place; and Lekti se Lavni has been re-launched in both the Sponsorship and Port-au-Prince areas and is about to be launched in Leogane. Moreover, new programming in early childhood care and development is underway in the Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Jacmel areas.
On the larger canvas, the Ministry of Education (MENFP), with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank and other donors, developed a five year plan for recovery and reform of the education system in the second half of 2010. Highlights of this plan include the reinforcement of the MENFP, improvement and standardization of the curriculum, support for the Early Childhood Development sector, and ensuring that all children have access to a quality, free, and compulsory basic education. While the five year plan has not yet been officially endorsed by the new government, the President of Haiti, Michel Martelly, has announced that his number one priority is to reform the education system. The government’s main objectives for the next five years are to make education obligatory and provide access to quality education for all children aged 6-12 years. The President has also indicated his commitment to free education, which will pose huge challenges in the context of Haiti’s largely private education system. Considering the state of the education system, there is a need to identify the comparative advantages Save the Children and other non-governmental education players may have in the medium and long term in contributing substantially to elements of the education reform efforts in Haiti.
Save the Children is now looking to the future and seeking a consultant to conduct a strategic review of Save the Children’s current programming—basic education, early childhood care and development and school health and nutrition—in the context of an environmental scan of government and donor interests in order to identify areas of strategic opportunity for the coming three-to-five years. The current programming components are also Save the Children global priorities. For this review, areas of strategic opportunity are defined as those programming components or approaches that present the best possibility for Save the Children to deliver on its Theory of Change) and to contribute at a national scale to the development of the education sector in Haiti. Save the Children’s Theory of Change posits that linking evidence-based innovation to advocacy and then implementation of successful innovations at scale is a “flywheel” that can generate substantial improvements in the lives of many children.

La période de consultation durera entre six (6) à huit (8) semaines. Pendant ladite période, il est attendu du consultant qu’il soit en contact permanent avec le personnel clé de Save the Children en Haïti.

The consultancy will last between six and eight weeks and include both in-country and remote work. It is expected that during the term of the consultancy that the consultant will be in regular contact with key staff in Save the Children Haiti as well as Save the Children’s Department of Education and Child Development (DECD) in Washington, DC. Key tasks of the consultancy will include: • Review Save the Children’s global priorities, capacity and expertise in all three key programming areas: early childhood care and development, basic education, and school health and nutrition. This will be primarily related to the experience and expertise of Save the Children US, but may include the work of other Save the Children members – for example Save the Children Denmark’s work with youth. (approximately 1 week, remote) • Compare the current five year plan for recovery and reform of the Education Sector with the Bernard Reform of 1978, the National Plan of Education and Training (PNEF) in 1997, and the 2007 National Strategy on Education for All (EFA), which were reforms meant to strengthen the education system in Haiti and use interviews (see below) to identify key issues and lessons learned from previous reform implementation. ( approximately 3 days remote, plus incorporated below) • Meet with key actors within the education system in Haiti to understand education players’ main priorities, concerns, strategies and intended support for plan. Informants should include Ministry of Education officials, representatives of the President’s administration, leadership of the Education Cluster and the Table Sectorielle de l’Education, peer international and national education NGOs and networks, and representatives of key technical and donor partners, such as the IDB, World Bank, European Commission, UNICEF and UNESCO but also bilateral funding agencies such as USAID, CIDA etc. As much as possible, meetings should take place at national as well as departmental and communal levels. (approximately 2 weeks, in country) • Become familiar Save the Children’s existing programming in Haiti. This will be accomplished through a document review as well as visits to programming sites and a series of conversations with Save the Children education staff. This activity should not be framed as a program review or evaluation, but instead should look to identify areas of perceived strength and strategic opportunity within current programming. (approximately 1 week, in country) • Present an initial review of findings to the senior technical and management teams in Haiti and conduct follow-up visits or investigations as recommended. (approximately .5-1 week, in country) • Working in close collaboration with SC Haiti and DECD staff, produce a final report. This process will include regular conference calls and email communication. (approximately 1.5 - 2 weeks, remote) Deliverables: At the end of the consultancy, the consultant will produce a full report that provides:  An analysis of the education priorities of the new government and how these priorities relate to prior education reform priorities and experiences and the current state of the education system  A map of the funding environment with the level of contribution of main education donors, and, where relevant, targeted locations, focus of contribution, and indication of links to the new government priorities  A summary of existing expertise and programming implemented by international and national education actors and an analysis of how existing programming relates to the emerging context and education reconstruction efforts  A set of key recommendations presented as opportunity scenarios informed by SC Theory of Change that details potential priority areas for investment, associated risks and the related implications for funding, staffing, geographic presence, etc.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCES
• Advanced university degree in education or relevant related field
• Three(3) years of experience in managing education program or relevant related field in
• Demonstrable experience in high-level coordination and chairing of meetings
• Experience of influencing government, donors and other organization through representation and/or advocacy.
• Excellent communication skills, written and verbal, especially listening skills.
• Excellent advocacy, representation, and diplomatic skills.
• Excellent teamwork skills and ability to build good relationships.
• Computer literate