Training Programme Consultant at Lutheran World Relief, Nigeria

Lutheran World Relief is a Non-Governmental and Nonprofit humanitarian and development Organization. Lutheran World Relief brings the integrated expertise of its fellow Corus International organizations, including IMA World Health, to holistically address the interconnected challenges of poverty, healthcare access, and climate change in Nigeria. Lutheran World Relief collaborates with the Nigerian government, private sector, and local partners to analyze market systems, strengthen agriculture value chains and the capacities of enterprises, and promote livelihood diversification, rural financing, climate-smart and improved agriculture practices, and sustainable water and land management with smallholder farmers.

As part of our efforts to strengthen farmers' resilience and support their well-being, Lutheran World Relief also looks for opportunities in Nigeria to apply IMA World Health's experience in treating and preventing diseases, responding to and mitigating gender-based violence (GBV), and improving maternal and child health.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Training Programme Consultant for Mentors, Teachers, and Community Leaders to Offer Mentorship and Psychosocial support for Youths and Children at Risk of Child Labour in Ifedore and Idanre LGAs

Location: Idanre / Ifedore Ondo
Employment Type: Contract
Terms of Reference: Mentors Teachers’ and Community Leaders’ Training

About the Project

• LWR is implementing a food for Progress Program to launch a cocoa productivity and marketing project in Nigeria Known as, the Traceability and Resilience in Agriculture and Cocoa Ecosystems of Nigeria (TRACE) under the sponsorship of USDA. The five-year project is to increases productivity in the cocoa value chain by applying climate smart agriculture and expands the cocoamarket through traceability back to its source.

Context and background
Child Labour Education and Resilience (CLEAR) Project:

• LWR is implementing the Child Labour Education and Resilience (CLEAR) Project funded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Idanre and Ifedore local government areas of Ondo State. In implementing the project, LWR is collaborating with the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) in Ondo State.
• The project focuses on reducing child labor significantly among cocoa farmers in Ondo state, Nigeria. Eradication of child labor is one of the Sustainable Development Goals which Nigeria has subscribed to since 2015. A good number of cocoa farmers in Ondo State still engage children in different aspects of their cocoa farming activities.
• Some of the causes of child labor are the level of poverty, low level of education, poor or no awareness about the impact of child labor, large family sizes with limited resources, low net income from cocoa farming and other sources of generating resources, and lack of life building skills. Children’s working conditions and overall situation vary greatly with different consequences.
• The severity of child labor describes the extent to which child labor causes irreversible harm, which includes mental health, physical health, and negative impact on cognitive development, poor school attendance, impaired cognitive development, lower well-being, and poor learning.
• CLEAR seeks to intervene by working holistically with communities to help tackle the interconnected challenges and reduce the prevalence of child labor practices among cocoa farmers in the targeted communities in Ondo State.
• CLEAR will address the underlying causes of child labor, empower communities that lack or have limited education on child labour, and provide life-building skills for the children of cocoa farmers.
• In addition, the project focuses on primary areas of responsibility, which mirror UNICEF’s international child protection system strengthening standards: with a focus on helping to prevent child labor and support children at risk of child labor and monitoring to help identify and remediate cases of child labor and support through the implementation of community-based Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS).
• Therefore, the three outcomes of the project include solutions to the problems of supporting teachers, parents, and key community stakeholders’ sensitization activities, capacity building and strengthening for parents, and entrepreneurial activities/clubs for adolescents.
• Activities will also include access to finance through Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) groups to enhance livelihood opportunities and reduce vulnerability to financial shocks that trigger dependence on child labor. This intervention can facilitate a greater understanding of gender issues, leading to grassroots change towards greater social equality.
• The goal of CLEAR is to Significantly reduce the prevalence of child labor practices among cocoa farmers in the selected communities of Ondo State. The intervention will be implemented in 5 communities in each local government. There will be 800 direct beneficiaries made up of 500 children, 100 youths, and 300 adults. Participation will include junior secondary schools in the selected communities.
• The CLEAR project to eliminate child labour and to support children in different vocational skills and entrepreneurial training seeks to conduct a training program for Mentors, Teachers, and Community Leaders to offer Mentorship and Psychosocial support for Children and Youths at risk of child labour in the entrepreneurial club either at the school or the community level.
• In this context, the LWR, Akure office is seeking to engage an independent consultant or a firm to facilitate, in collaboration with the LWR team and CLEAR project partners, a three-day training for mentors, teachers, and community leadership on Mentorship and Psycho-social support.

Objectives of the Assignment
The LWR is seeking to engage an independent consultant or a firm to conduct three days of training for participants from the CLEAR Project Communities - Olofin, Ita-Loorun, Ala Elefosan, Gbalegi, Ofosu in Idanre LGA and Ajebamidele, Molete, Ikota, Ibuji and Ipogun communities in Ifedore LGAs in Ondo State. The consultant will be tasked to:

• Support the project team in identifying beneficiaries and assessing their needs;
• Facilitate 3-day training in the state (Integrate gender consideration into the selection of participants for the training)
• Observe, assess, mentor, and coach trainer candidates as they deliver training to project beneficiaries of 10 Communities in Idanre and Ifedore LGAs in Ondo States for 2 days inclusive of reporting both training and coaching sessions.
• Report on the progress of trainers towards the provision of mentorship and psycho-social support.
• Certify participants after the successful completion of the program.

Methodology

• The Trainer will work closely with the project team in the selection of the beneficiaries of the training to be conducted. The consultant will also work closely in particular with the LWR/CLEAR Project team in the preparation of the agenda with a particular focus on children, youths, and adults currently acquiring skills in the project communities as well as on gender-sensitivity, which should be mainstreamed across the training.
• The consultant(s) is expected to provide the most effective and efficient coaching/supervision to the trainers and enable them to roll out training to project beneficiaries from 5 communities each in Ifedore and Idanre LGAs. The consultant will assess the knowledge and skills of trainees in delivering psycho-social training and based on the successful completion of the program, certify them as psycho-social support providers.

Tasks to be Performed by the Consultant

• Support the selection of beneficiaries and assess their training needs.
• Develop a training plan based on the identified youth beneficiaries' assessed training needs and recommend respective training modules.
• Collaborate closely with project staff in the integration of gender components into the training.
• Guide trainer candidates in the preparation of the training modules and ensure that the program responds to the identified needs of beneficiaries.
• Provide effective and efficient coaching/supervision to the trainer candidates as they roll out training to beneficiaries in the 10 project communities;
• Assess trainers during the delivery of training for children and youth beneficiaries.
• Certify successful participants.
• Provide a comprehensive training report including an assessment of each trainer candidate.
• Develop awareness messages/campaigns for mental health and psychosocial support to disseminate to communities. Coordinate with other members of the teams the most efficacious ways to convey those messages.

Expected Outputs:

• Training beneficiaries and their needs identified.
• Training locations determined preferably in Idanre and Ifedore LGAs.
• Training plan developed.
• Trained trainers effectively deliver training to beneficiaries from 5 communities each in Ifedore and Idanre LGAs.
• Gender components integrated.
• Up to 80 beneficiaries trained in each LGA (Ifedore and Idanre LGAs).

Deliverables:

• Training plan
• A detailed training report of the 3-day training, including assessment of all potential trainers
• A detailed report of coaching, mentoring, and assessment of the trainers to enhance access to community-based psychosocial services.
• A list of trainees recommended for certification.

Organization of the Assignment:

• The assignment will be carried out by one Master Trainer and an assistant in close liaison with the LWR/CLEAR project team. The assignment will cover 5 working days.

The assignment will be conducted in the following phases:

• Identification of youth beneficiaries, assess their needs, determine training locations, and develop training plan (1 day).
• Provide training on Mentorship and Psycho-social support to Mentors, Teachers, Community leaders, CFAN facilitators, and LWR team (3 days)
• Report writing and submission (1 day)
• The consultant(s) will work in close cooperation with and under the technical supervision of LWR Deputy Chief of Party, Akure. He/she will report to the LWR Deputy Chief of Party on all aspects of his/her intervention and will carry out the work by the terms of reference.

Timelines:

• Work starting date: 26 April 2024.Work completion date: 10 May 2024

Consultant Profile

• Degree in General Guidance and Counseling, Social or Educational Psychology, Social Work, Anthropology, Humanities, or Social Sciences.
• Previous experience in eliminating child labor work in cocoa farming, community work, and managing small teams.
• Relevant work experience in the areas of training delivery, in particular in the area of child labour and first aid psychosocial support to children and youth at risk.
• Understanding of Child protection issues and first aid psychosocial support
• Familiarity with the political and economic environment of the South-West including Nigeria.
• Knowledge of the safeguarding
• Good understanding of gender concepts in development.
• Good presentation skills and Excellent English and local language skills. Experience in communicating and working with a wide range of people, including people of culturally diverse backgrounds.

Ethical Standards and Confidentiality:

• Lutheran World Relief prioritizes respect for and the protection of the rights of people we serve and those supporting in the process. Therefore, prospective consultants will indicate processes for ensuring the safeguarding and protection of children and vulnerable adults or groups during the study. This will also include the protection of personally identifiable information and data of trainees during and after the training.
• The consultant is required to respect strict confidentiality vis-à-vis third parties, for any information relating to the assignment or collected on its occasion (no reproduction/dissemination of reports or documents is allowed). Failure to comply with this clause will result in immediate termination of the assignment. This strict confidentiality remains the rule, without limitation, after the end of the assignment.

Proposed Timelines and Deliverables
The expected timelines for the conduct of the survey and the deliverables are provided below:

The report must be submitted electronically in a Microsoft Word document using Arial font 11. The consultant or consulting firm is responsible for editing and proofreading the final report, which should be well formatted. The training attendance, lessons learned, and photographs taken during training and consultancy service will be submitted in electronic format to Lutheran World Relief.

Budget

• The consultant or consulting firm should submit a detailed budget in Naira in the proposal. This should include, the estimated number of days, cost per day for professional fees, covering the consultant, etc.
• The total budget allocated for the consultancy is a maximum of ₦1,250,000.00, therefore the total cost of the consultancy should not in any way exceed ₦1,000,000.00. Prospective consultants/consulting firms should note that a withholding tax of 5% will be deducted from the payment as applicable for the budget line.

Application Closing Date
15th April, 2024.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should express their interest by submitting detailed Technical and Financial proposals to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Application Process
The Technical Proposal (between 5-10 pages) should sufficiently explain a deep understanding of the Terms of Reference. This must include:

• Details of the capacity and qualifications of the consultant (or consulting firm) with previous experience undertaking similar tasks.
• Explanation of the proposed approach and methodology for the training and coaching/mentoring sessions,
• A proposed work plan presented in a Gantt chart.
• Team composition and level of effort of each proposed team member.
• The Financial Proposal with a detailed cost breakdown should include the following:
  • Consultancy fees/cost.
• Curriculum Vitae(s) of all key members of the team detailing their relevant experience.