Technical support for Feasibility Analysis - Financial + Social Sustainability of Kagoro Girls’ Secondary School in Gwassi Division of Suba District

Background
Green Forest Social Investment (GFSI) is a social development enterprise, currently in the process of re-structuring and re-orienting its economic and social development programs in Gwassi Division of Suba District, in Homa Bay County, as informed by a recently concluded Strategic Review and Context Analysis. The intention is to transform the existing program to increase its relevance to the people of Gwassi and to ensure that GFSI operates with a people-centred approach, and more effectively and sustainably, reaches its economic, social and environmental objectives. The initiative through Green Forest Social Investment Trust (GFSIT), its social investment strategy, supports a private girls’ secondary school- Kagoro girls in Kagoro village, within its programme area.

In 2006, the need for a girls’ school in this village was stressed by community members of Kagoro. According to the findings of the 2009 Population and Housing Census the transition rate to secondary education in Nyanza Province is still one of the poorest. According to the statistics, only 37% of the girls who enroll for primary education manage to go to secondary school. The literacy rate for women aged 15 years and above is at 69.4%, a proportion much lower than their male counterparts, which is at 90%. There are numerous underlying problems that have constantly forced girls (and boys but to a lesser extent) to abandon their education prematurely. The main reasons are:

• Widespread household poverty in the region has pushed minors out of school. Girls are even more effected by this due to various reasons (e.g. early marriage, favoring boys over girls)
• Early pregnancy causes drop out of school to tend their young ones.
• Most schools are poorly equipped and in need of trained teachers to improve the level of academic performance.

From 2006, the community of Kagoro joined hands and organized various ‘Harambee’s (fund raising) to raise local funds for the establishment of the Girls’ Secondary Kagoro School . In a period of four years the community members collected three million Kenyan Shillings from the local community, and with the money they collected, the community started the construction of the secondary school. Although a considerable amount had been raised, during the construction it became visible that there was insufficient budget to complete the school. Therefore, the community approached GFSI to become a partner to aid the further development of the school. This was accepted and so then the initiative through its social investment arm, the GFSIT, got into informal agreement with the community that together they would co manage the school on a commercial basis for a period of 5 years which is coming to an end in 2015 as indicated by donors hence the need for self financial and social sustenance of the school.

Ambition and objectives of the school
The vision of the Kagoro Girls’ Secondary School is that Suba district be an environment in which educated people are educating their children (by themselves and through schools) on how to utilize and handle with care the social, cultural, economical and geographical environment they are living in.

The mission is to provide quality secondary education aimed at increasing the ability of the graduated girl to manage her environment for the good of herself, her future children, her community and her country.

The core business of the school is to provide quality secondary education to (marginalized) girls from the Suba district as well as boarding facilities for the same girls. The school is a private school and provides the government curriculum for the subjects that are tested in the government examinations at the end of each school year. In addition the school provides life skills education as well as other character building courses like arts, music, sports and child and women rights. Each form has a capacity of 40 children. This means that when the school is running at its full capacity, 160-200 girls can follow a quality education with boarding facilities.

The main strategic objectives of the school are:-
• Establishing and maintaining a sustainable business model for the Kagoro school;
• Ensuring quality education for girls in a safe environment;
• Ensuring enrolment irrespective of financial situation (reaching marginalized girls);
• Positively affecting the communities by delivering well-educated young women
• Creating awareness on girl child rights and importance of quality education to girls

Purpose of Assignment
Inform GFSI comprehensively and appropriately with regard to:

1. Feasible and practical operating model for Kagoro School that could provide a better balance between social impact (providing education to girls from poor / marginalized families) and current cost levels (while reducing and ultimately eliminating the financial gap)
2. Feasible and workable/practicable route that leads towards financial and social sustainability for the school without (future) support of the current donors teasing out clearly how this would look like
3. Development of a detailed road map on the future of the school in the absence of support of the current donors and as informed by findings of 1 and 2 above.

In view of the need for the initiative to have a thorough understanding of:

• Feasible, practicable and detailed scenarios in order of merit on future direction to take so that informed decision is taken
• Practicable route(road map) that leads to financial and social sustainability for the school in the realization of its objectives, and sequence of activities to undertake with time lines and milestones to realize

The information gained is expected to define the overall practicable step by step pathway for the school in achieving self financial and social sustenance or otherwise.

Objectives of Assignment
The overall objective of the assignment is to research, analyze and generate comprehensive information in relation to self financial and social sustainability of the school. The assignment seeks to identify and profile opportunities for continuity of the school to realize its defined objectives without financial support from GFSI and its partners or otherwise

Scope of Work for Assignment The consultant(s) will undertake, to:

i. Conduct a comprehensive assessment and analysis on feasible and practicable financial and social sustainability of the school, building on experiences on running similar schools in rural settings.
ii. Describe clearly practicable route that leads towards financial and social sustainability for the school without (future) support of the current donors teasing out clearly how this would look like. This should be supported by sound financial and social analysis on linked to social impact.
iii. Conduct a comprehensive assessment and analysis of the community within the school catchment area, relevant stakeholders such as local ministry of education official on their perception of the school and take on self financial and social sustenance. Draw conclusions and make appropriate recommendations.
iv. Draw conclusions based on findings of 1 and 2 and make appropriate and relevant recommendations in line with the purpose of the assignment

Time Period for Assignment
The Assignment is expected to start from Monday 15th April 2013 and to occupy the consultant(s) for a period of 65 days (with completion by 18th June), with 1 day for orientation, collection of reports and discussion with GFSI staff, 60 days in the field in Gwassi, and 4 days for production of the zero draft report.

Execution of the Assignment
• The consultant(s) should submit an inception report to GFSI incorporating a detailed work plan for the assignment and share with the GFSI management within one (1) week of receiving the ToR for the assignment.
• A participatory approach will be expected with maximum stakeholder participation and appropriate involvement of representatives of the local ministry of education and managers of such similar schools in rural setting.

GFSI Support for the Assignment
GFSI will support the consultant(s) during the assignment with all necessary logistics, including a driver, 4-wheel drive vehicle, fuel and desk space. GFSI will also facilitate the consultant(s) accommodation and meals at the Kwethumbe and/or Magunga guesthouse accommodation (though accommodation and meals will be charged in line with GFSI policy).

Outcomes and Deliverables for the Assignment
• The consultant(s) should submit an inception report to GFSI (in hard and soft copy) incorporating a
detailed work plan for the assignment and share with the GFSI management within one (1) week of receiving the ToR for the assignment.
• A comprehensive quality zero draft report (as both hard and electronic copy – latter in both MSWord and PDF formats) will be shared by the consultant(s) with the GFSI Senior Management Team by COB on 18th June 2013.
• Following the receipt of comments on the zero draft report from the GFSI Senior Management Team, the consultant(s) will submit, within a period of five days, a comprehensive quality final draft report (as both hard and electronic copy – latter in both MSWord and PDF formats).
• The final report presented will broadly adhere to the following format: - Executive summary (covering major findings and recommendations) - Background - Description of the objectives of the assignment and execution methodology - Findings and analysis - Conclusions and recommendations - Annexes covering: Terms of Reference, abbreviations, data collection formats and questionnaires, references, etc.).

How to apply:

Experience and Qualifications for the Assignment
Consultant(s) employed on this assignment are expected to have the following attributes; • Background on education with at least 3-5 years’ experience on self financing secondary education models, or management of private secondary schools in rural setting without donor support

Contact Information
Interested and appropriately qualified consultants should prepare and submit to Green Forest Social Investment (GFSI) a technical and financial proposal for the assignment by Sunday 7th April 2013. They should indicate their qualifications and experience together with a detailed execution plan. The proposals, CV and letter of motivation, as well as three (3) referees should be sent electronically to info@subagreenforest.com