Developing a Desk Review and a Challenge Statement for the Social Innovation Lab (SIL) 

Name of the organization: ROWAD Foundation  
Sectors of intervention: Education Sector
Country: Yemen

INTRODUCTION:

ROWAD Foundation is a non-profit organization officially registered in 2013. Since its establishment, the foundation has been working towards achieving economic development by supporting entrepreneurial activities in Yemen. The aim is to address major challenges such as youth unemployment, food insecurity, and limited access to education and healthcare through entrepreneurship and business creation.
ROWAD Foundation seeks to launch Yemen’s Social Innovation Lab. We are looking for a highly qualified and experienced consultant to conduct a desk review and prepare a challenge statement for the Social Innovation Lab and hackathon focused on the education sector in Yemen. The goal of the Social Innovation Lab is to develop and identify innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the education sector in Yemen, particularly in the context of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis.
The Social Innovation Labs and Hackathons aim to support economic and private sector development in Yemen by linking Yemeni talent to the challenges facing key social and economic sectors, leveraging innovation, and fostering collaboration among relevant stakeholders.

This initiative will facilitate a process where stakeholders in key social and economic sectors can gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they face and work collaboratively to develop and implement innovative solutions and policies to address these challenges.

CONSULTANCY OBJECTIVES

The primary goal of this consultancy is to conduct a desk review and work closely with stakeholders to identify and articulate a challenge statement that addresses significant issues and gaps in the education sector in Yemen. The challenge statement should inspire innovation and collaboration among participants in the Social Innovation Lab.

The objectives of the consultancy are as follows:

• Conduct desk research to understand the current state of the education sector in Yemen, including the major challenges faced by students, educators, and education service providers.
• Analyze the findings of the desk research to identify the most pressing challenges facing the education sector in Yemen.
• Develop a comprehensive challenge statement that captures the key issues and opportunities for innovation in the education sector in Yemen.
• Validate the challenge statement with stakeholders in the education sector, including teachers, school administrators, students, parents, government officials, and representatives from local and international NGOs.
• Provide recommendations on how the challenge statement can be used to inform the design of the Social Innovation Lab and the selection of participating teams.
• Support content development for various formats such as infographics, short video clips, webinars, and podcasts to highlight the challenges and opportunities in the education sector, inspire innovators to generate ideas to address these challenges, and engage Yemeni talent and a broader audience.
• Collaborate with the project team and communications office to design and launch a call for teams of educators, entrepreneurs, experts, designers, coders, and activists to apply to participate in the Social Innovation Hackathons to share their ideas for addressing the identified challenges.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Task 1: Desk Research

• Conduct thorough literature and desk research to understand the current state of the education sector in Yemen, including the significant challenges faced by students, teachers, and educational institutions that limit access to quality education.
• Execute key informant interviews and fieldwork as needed to develop reports on the current state of the education sector.
• Analyze the desk research findings to identify the most pressing challenges facing the education sector in Yemen, and prepare a comprehensive desk research report.

Task 2: stakeholder mapping; stakeholder engagement and validation workshop

• Map and engage with diverse groups of stakeholders in the education sector, including teachers, students, school administrators, parents, government officials, NGO representatives, education experts, entrepreneurs, and other potential lab participants.
• Develop data collection tools to validate the findings of the desk research report and inform the development of the challenge statement.

Task 3: Developing the Challenge Statement

• Develop a clear, concise, and compelling challenge statement that captures the key challenges, gaps, and opportunities for innovation in the education sector in Yemen.
• Ensure that the identified challenges align with the lab's objectives and the broader educational development goals of the country.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES:

The consultant is expected to deliver the following in both Arabic and English:

• Desk Review Report describing the current state of the education sector in Yemen, including stakeholder mapping and validation workshop, the main challenges facing the education system, students, teachers, and educational institutions. The desk review report will also include a key stakeholders map for the education sector.
• Challenge Statements that identify the main challenges and barriers that innovators should address with other stakeholders to help improve access to quality education in Yemen. Each challenge should be described simply and concisely, supported by relevant and key data points, a list of key stakeholders, and examples of how the challenge manifests at the local level.

TIMELINE:

The consultant is expected to complete the assignment within [3 weeks], starting from the date of contract signing.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

The ideal consultant should possess the following qualifications:

• Master's degree in a relevant field such as education, social sciences, economics, business administration, or a related discipline.
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting research and analysis on education development, innovation, educational entrepreneurship, or related fields.
• Proven experience in developing similar reports focused on the education sector.
• Familiarity with the Yemeni context and the challenges facing the education sector in Yemen.
• Ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including teachers, students, parents, education administrators, and government officials.
• Relevant experience conducting research in the education sector, with a focus on social innovation or entrepreneurship being an added advantage.
• Strong research skills, including the ability to conduct a thorough desk/literature review, key informant interviews, and fieldwork.
• Strong analytical thinking skills to identify relevant stakeholders and the main challenges, as well as potential areas of collaboration in the education sector.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, to present research findings to different stakeholders and help translate reports into various formats such as infographics, short video clips, webinars, and podcasts.
• Collaborative mindset and willingness to work with other stakeholders to develop an effective research strategy and engage in multi-stakeholder discussions and workshops.
• Results-oriented with a proven track record of delivering high-quality research outputs that lead to actionable insights and impact in the education field.

REPORTING:

The consultant will report to the SIL Manager at the ROWAD Foundation.