Consultancy Services for mapping of daycare centres in Lesotho
Early Childhood Development Project
Catholic Relief Services Lesotho
A. Overview and Background
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been implementing the Strengthening Care in Early Childhood project since October 2018 to support the quality of care and development of the vulnerable children of factory workers attending daycare centres. By empowering day care centers to provide holistic care, CRS hopes to improve the future for children of Lesotho factory workers. The project builds upon successes and lessons learned from the Whose Child Is This? early childhood development programme implemented by CRS Lesotho from 2011 to July 2018.
Given daycare centres in Lesotho are not regulated by government, it therefore means there are no clear statistics on the number and location of existing daycare centres within the country. This poses a challenge in proper planning and implementation of programs to support daycare centres. To overcome this gap, CRS intends to build a comprehensive national database for all daycare centres in Lesotho. CRS will engage a consultant to locate all existing daycare centres in Lesotho. At the end of the assignment, the database will be handed to the Ministry of Education and Training which will continue to facilitate registration of new daycare centres.
B. Objective
The overall objective of the consultancy is to build a comprehensive national database for all daycare centres in Lesotho.
C. Activities and Deliverables
1. Consultancy Specific Activities
- To map out existing daycare centres within Lesotho targeting all the ten districts of Lesotho: Maseru, Berea, Leribe, Butha-Buthe, Mokhotlong, Thaba-Tseka, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Quthing and Qacha’s nek.
- To compile a digital database for all daycare centres mapped, which provides a detailed profile of each daycare centre. Details in the profile to include among others; a) name of daycare centre, b) location, c) details of daycare centre owner/manager, d) year daycare centre was established, and e) number of children enrolled in the daycare centre and their dates of birth.
- To provide a geo-location of each daycare centre in the database with live images.
- To provide training to CRS, Ministry of Education and Training and other government ECD stakeholders on use and maintenance of the digital database.
2. Key Deliverables
- A digital comprehensive database of all daycare centres existing in Lesotho is compiled.
- A geo-location of all daycare centres with live images exists.
- Training of CRS, Ministry of Education and Training and other government ECD stakeholders on use and maintenance of the digital database conducted.
D. Proposed Schedule
The consultancy is planned for a period of 3 months, starting April 01, 2022, and ending June 30, 2022.
E. Key Working relationships
Internal: Head of Programs, ECD Project Manager, Procurement and Admin Manager and IT Officer.
External:
- Daycare centre caregivers.
- Ministry of Education and Training including and other relevant government ministries and departments and non-governmental ECD stakeholders.
F. PAYMENT SCHEDULE
- First payment – 40% of the contract price upon signing of the contract.
- Second payment – 20% of the contract value upon presentation of the first draft of the database.
- Last payment – 40% of the contract value upon handover of a complete database and geo-location of the daycare centres to CRS.
G. SUBMISSION:
Interested Consultancy Firm/s should submit their proposals on how they will implement the study.
All proposal/s should be submitted per the following outline:
- Consultant expertise and experience in similar work
- Understanding of the Lesotho context
- Detailed methodology
- Quality control mechanisms during data collection
- Data processing plan
- Data analysis and report writing outlining methodology, strategies, plan and outcomes for the assessment.
- Field team with detailed responsibilities
- Workplan
- Detailed budget for;
o Daily rate of key professionals
o Travel costs
o Field expense (payment of field staff. Travel costs of field staff and other costs)
o Data cleaning, analysis and report writing
o Other costs (if applicable)
All proposals should be submitted in line with this SOW in soft copies to CRS via email to [email protected]
Proposals should be submitted until March 10, 2022, and any proposal received after the closing date will not be considered.
H. FOR FURTHER CLARITY CONTACT
- Irene Makoa
Procurement and Admin Manager
Catholic Relief Services – Lesotho
Tel: (266) 22 312 750
Email: irene.mak[email protected]
2. Ntsebeng Molulela
ECD Project Manager
Catholic Relief Services
Tel: (266) 22 312 750
Email: [email protected]
I. Ethical Consideration
All data collection processes will be handled in line with ethical standards. The study will consider the informant’s demand for respect, integrity, and dignity. Data collectors will be trained to be sensitive to the informants ‘responses.
All data collection procedures will be opened by data collectors introducing themselves to the respondents by name and whom they are representing. The purpose of the study will be explained to the participants and their consent will be formally requested.
Participants will be informed that they can freely decline or participate in the study without being victimized. Interviews will continue with only participants who have consent.