1.0 Background information

Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) is an alliance of presently 84 diverse independent and voluntary organizations such as non – governmental organizations, community-based organizations, trade unions and faith-based organizations which promote quality education in Malawi. As a collective voice, CSEC was set up to complement government’s efforts in piloting innovations, coordinating non-state actors, shaping policy discourse, lobbying for increased budget allocation, as well as tracking the utilization of resources committed to the education sector. The Coalition is fully registered with the Malawi Government under the Trustees Incorporation Act (CAP 5:03). The Coalition is also a member of the Council for Non-Governmental Organizations in Malawi and the Non-Governmental Organization Board of Malawi.

Oxfam in Malawi is a is a Non-Governmental Organisation that works to create a Malawi where Malawian women, men, girls, and boys are more equal, have improved livelihoods and, as active citizens, have greater influence over the decisions that affect their lives. Since 2017, Oxfam has been working to promote primary and secondary school education in Malawi with the following objectives:

1. Improve enrolment, retention, and completion of learners in targeted schools.
2. Create a safe learning environment for learners by challenging negative social norms that affect girls’ education.
3. Influence government on progressive education budget allocation to support infrastructure development, teacher recruitment and education material provision.

Girls Activist Youth Organization (GAYO) is a non-profit making professional organization, primarily concerned with promoting Adolescents, youth, and women who are self-sustainable. Gayo promotes effective implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 3, 4, 5 and 8. In addition Gayo adhered to Malawi education policy that promote equal access for education to all. GAYO programing focuses on Providing motivation and mentorship to students in and out of school through role modelling, career guidance, resource mobilization to support vulnerable learners with basic education needs and back to school advocacy campaign.

The Forum for African Women Educationalists Malawi Chapter (FAWEMA) is a registered non- governmental organization, which brings together women educationalists in order to support and promote girls and women’s education in Malawi. The chapter was established in 1993 and was registered in March,2001 under the Trustees Incorporation Act, 1962. FAWEMA is one of the 34 national chapters of

the Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE), a pan African Organization whose headquarters is in Nariobi, Kenya.

FAWEMA vision is A just and inclusive society in which girls and women have necessary skills, competencies and values they need to achieve their potential. Our Mission: In partnership with strategic partners, FAWEMA will foster innovations, promote positive policies/practice and provide opportunities for girls and young women, especially the vulnerable, to develop skills, competencies and values that will allow them to be productive members of their societies.

2.0  Background to the Study

The country development agenda is driven by the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III, which is the mid-term development instrument of the country. To ensure effective implementation of the strategy, the government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning develops a national budget on an annual basis to support all sectors and departments that contribute to the implementation of the strategy.

On a yearly basis since the year 2000, the coalition and its partners has been conducting the analysis of the national budget and tracking of its expenditure, with a focus on the education sector. This process informs our advocacy efforts towards effective utilization of public funds.

In this regard, the coalition and its partners GAYO, FAWEMA and Oxfam intend to analyze the draft 2024/25 draft national budget with a focus on Education, Gender and Inclusive responsiveness and Ed- Tech and track the utilization of the 2023/24 financial year budget in the area of construction (Classrooms, change rooms and toilets), SIG and teacher distribution and retention, especially in the rural areas. The aim of this initiative is to ensure efficient allocation and utilization of the public funds and review the gender and disability sensitivity of the education expenditure.

3.0  Purpose of the assignment

CSEC, in collaboration with its partners, is currently seeking the services of a highly qualified consultant to analyze the draft 2024/25 draft national budget with a focus on Education, Gender and Inclusive responsiveness and Ed-Tech and to track the 2023/24 national budget expenditure, with a focus on Education, Gender, WASH and Ed-Tech. On the analysis, while the focus is on 2024/25 draft education budget, the consultant will also be expected to analyze trends in allocation (disbursement and expenditure) by carrying out a retrospective review spanning five financial years (2020/2021 – 2023/24) using (where possible) the same parameters for analysis and reviewing the outputs and outcomes of corresponding allocations

In regards to tracking, the consultant in addition to expenditure tracking they will be expected to assess the distribution of teachers among hard-to-reach, semi-urban, and urban areas. Additionally, the consultant will assess the disparity in the number of female teachers between rural and urban schools.

The tracking will focus on the following aspects: the comparison between the amount approved and the amount disbursed, the timeliness of disbursement from the treasury to the district and from the district to

contractors or schools, physical verification of the progress on construction in relation to the amounts disbursed. Further details are provided in the section below.

• Scope of work Specifically, the analysis shall:
  • Assess   whether   the    budget   has    been     aligned   to    Malawi    Growth   and

Development Strategy (MGDS) III with respect to education and a special focus on basic education.

• Review allocations to different sub-sectors within the ECD and Education sector including: ECD, Basic Education, Secondary Education, TVET, Tertiary Education, Ed- Tech, Girls’ Education, and Inclusive Education
  • Identify and compare the amounts allocated to key gender and disability provisions, allocations and outputs (including WASH) in the 2020/21/ 2021/22, 2022,23, and 2023/24 education budget
  • Identify budget allocations towards TLMs for ECDE, basic education, secondary education and tertiary education through the lenses of inclusive education.
  • Isolate budget allocation towards “Girls and SNE Education” for ECDE, basic education, secondary education and tertiary education.
  • Identify budget allocation towards Education Technology and Open Distance and eLearning (ODeL) for ECDE, basic education, secondary education and tertiary education.
  • How has the budget factored issues of capacity building of teacher’s capacity building in Ed-Tech.
  • Determine the trend analysis of both the Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) and the development budget in the ECD, basic education, ODeL and the overall education sector (comparing the total allocation, against total disbursement and total actual spend
  • Assess the efficiency of resource allocation across the ECD, basic education and other Education sub-sectors
  • Make recommendations to promote: Greater efficiency in resource allocation to the ECD, basic education and other Education sub-sectors including ODeL.

Specifically, the tracking shall:

• Analyze the budget lines for construction of classrooms, toilets, and change rooms for the targeted districts in five education districts namely: Nkhatabay, Dowa, Dedza, Machinga and Phalombe

• Review the disbursement reports to ascertain the actual amount disbursed out of the approved budgets to determine if there was any variance, and assess gender disparities in the disbursements.
  • Assess the timeliness of the disbursement to ascertain if they were any delays.

Conduct a physical verification of the project and ascertain the progress made with the disbursement.

• Assess the utilization of SIG in the sampled schools and also the timeliness of its disbursement
  • Review the teacher deployment report for districts to understand which schools have received teachers over the last 3-4 years and the corresponding quantities and their related gender disaggregation.
  • Conduct a physical verification in sampled schools to determine if those deployed are still within their deployed duty stations.
  • Assess the teacher pupil ratio in hard to reach, semi urban and urban schools to determine the teacher distribution differences. The consultant is also expected to assess the difference in female and male teacher ratio between rural and urban schools.
  • Make recommendations to promote:
    • Greater efficiency in resource utilization Education sub-sectors.

In doing this work, the consultant will develop tailor-made tools to collect the needed information, which will be vetted by the contractor prior to utilization.

Documents to be read:

• Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III
  • National Education Policy
  • National Education Sector Investment Plan
  • Education Sector Performance Report for 2018
  • Previous WASH and budget analysis reports.
  • National Strategy on Inclusive Education
  • National Girls Education Strategy
  • 2023/24 education budgets documents
  • 2024/25 Draft national budget documents

The Consultant will report to the Executive Director of CSEC but closely work with Programme Manager (CSEC).

5.0  Duration of the assignment

This assignment is expected to be completed in a period of 21 days starting on …

6.0  Deliverables

The consultant is expected to produce the following:

1.           An inception report outlining the methodology/approach, work plan with clear timelines on how the assignment will be carried out

• Data collection tools
  • Electronic and hard copies of the analysis report
  • One policy brief based on the critical findings of the budget analysis.
  • PowerPoint presentation on the key findings of the draft budget analysis.
  • A final report

Final report

The final report (electronic & hard copy) (60 pages max) should clearly document the allocation in the education sector including ODeL and the gender, disability (inclusive education), and WASH responsiveness of the education budget. The report should also clearly detail amount approved vs disbursed, timeliness of disbursement from treasury to district and district to contractors or schools, physical verification of the progress on construction verse amounts disbursed, number of teachers deployed in the last three years verse those who are still within their deployed duty station, number of teachers verses students available and then compare male/female teacher ratio between rural and urban.

7.0  Qualifications and Experience of the Consultant

The consultant is expected to have the following qualifications:

• A minimum of master’s Degree in Economics, Development Economics, Public Sector Financing, Statistics, and other social science subject

Specifically:

1. At least 5 years’ relevant work experience in conducting budget and expenditure tracking exercises, ideally within the field of education.
2. Extensive experience in public finance management frameworks and public budget formulation and analysis, among others.
3. Understanding of/familiarity with human rights-based approach to research and advocacy on issues related to the financing of education and other public services.
4. Demonstrated comprehensive range of analytical skills especially in key macro and micro- economic fundamentals and their application to public policy development and analysis.
5. Experience and knowledge in regional social service delivery issues will be an added advantage.
6. Experience in working in the field of Governance and the broader public governance systems will be an added advantage; and
7. Demonstrated experience and solid track record in similar assignments will be added advantage.
8. Proven understanding of the importance of ethics in research work.

8.0  Mode of Application

Applications should include a detailed proposal on how they will carry out the assignment and the understanding of the Terms of References (ToRs); the estimated cost of undertaking the assignment in a broken-down budget and the consultant’s detailed profile highlighting undertaking of similar assignment. Please also attach at least one examples of similar previous work.

Submission marked “ 2024/25 Draft Budget Analysis and 2023/24 Education Budget Tracking ” should be sent by email to The Executive Director; Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) Chitukula Road,

Area 47/4/ 719, Box 30736, Lilongwe 3.Tel: +265 1 762 210, Email: kkumwenda04@gmail.com and copy TKayuni@oxfam.org.uk, Richard.Batch@gayomalawi.org and mcgulani@yahoo.com

Closing date for the submissions: 5^th February 2024