PROSPECTS Kenya: Digital transformation of skills development and learning solutions

The ILO is seeking to recruit an individual consultant to support the implementation of activities of the ILO PROSPECTS project in Kenya with the goal to support National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) the Digitalization of Course Content for six Trade Areas.

1. Context

1.1. Technical context

Kenya’s young population continues to face socio-economic pressures as economic growth has not led to the creation of a sufficient number of (decent) jobs. Consequently, a major challenge currently facing young people in Kenya is youth unemployment, which stood at 38 per cent in 2019 according to the most recent Kenya Population and Housing Census report. Almost one in seven (13.7 per cent) young people in Kenya were Neither in Employment, Education or Training (NEET, SDG Indicator 8.6.1) as of 2016, with young women finding themselves around twice as often (18.2 per cent) in this group than young men (9.2 per cent).

At the same time, the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. In recent years, forced displacement has increased in scale and complexity. While forcibly displaced persons face specific vulnerabilities, including psychological trauma, lack of opportunity and protection risks, host communities struggle to pursue their own development efforts in an environment that has been transformed by a large influx of newcomers. The responses to these challenges are becoming more focused on durable solutions to support more dignified, inclusive and comprehensive programmes for refugees and the communities that host them.

The digital economy has emerged as a key driver for the creation of decent jobs especially for Kenya’s youth. The country has adopted the Digital Economy Blue Print of 2019 providing a framework to leverage digital government, digital business, infrastructure, innovation-driven entrepreneurship and digital skills and values. This also presents opportunities for refugees and host community members to access jobs in the digital labour market. Fully harnessing these opportunities requires to improve access to quality education and skills development as well as stimulating labour demand and access to digital labour markets within and beyond refugee camps. For young refugees to benefit from the transformative power of information and communication technologies (ICTs), they must be equipped with a range of digital skills and have affordable access to connectivity. In short, there is a need to change towards the digitization of lifelong learning systems through supporting strategy definition, definition of specific needs for each context and recommendation of solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.

1.2. Operational context of the assignment

In response to the challenges facing both host communities and refugees, a new partnership initiative titled: PROSPECTS Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons’, has been launched by the Government of the Netherlands that brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. The overall objective of PROSPECTS in Kenya is to improve the living standards and inclusiveness of refugees, asylum-seekers and vulnerable host communities, by contributing to the expansion of socio-economic opportunities through better education and mainstreamed protection interventions.

A key partner of the ILO, the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) is a state corporation established under the Industrial Training (Amendment) Act of 2011. Its mandate is to promote the highest standards in the quality and efficiency of Industrial Training in Kenya and ensure an adequate supply of professionally trained workforce at all levels in the industry. NITA is also responsible for developing industrial training curricula; Integrating labour market information into skills development; Harmonising curricula and certificates of competence; assessing industrial training, testing occupational skills and awarding certificates including Government Trade Test certificates.
In this regard, there is an ongoing undertaking between ILO, NITA and TVET stakeholders whose objective is to build the capacity of Industrial Training Officers (ITOs) in the digitization of curriculum; development of digital training materials, and training of ITOs in curriculum delivery using e-Platforms. In this undertaking, NITA and ILO have already identified a suitable platform currently under development for use with digitised curriculum content as part of the main activities for the successful accomplishment of the undertaking.

The vision under digitising learning content for NITA and TVET stakeholders is to broaden their reach to youth groups across the country with more focus on people from marginalised communities as well as young people living in areas further apart from training centres. Another channel through which the reach of NITA and TVET training stakeholders offer will be broadened by digitisation is through employers and workplaces where employers and industry representatives can access the learning content and make it available at their workplaces.

2. Objective and scope of work

The objective of the assignment is to support and facilitate NITA in digitalization of five trade areas and one generic skills including Masonry NCS I; Electrical Wireman NCS I; Light Motor Vehicle Mechanic NCS I; Welding and Fabrication NCS I; Hair dressing NCS I and Generic Skills NCS I.

This will be achieved by undertaking the following specific objectives.
a) Offering technical guidance to subject matter experts in developing digital learning content in a workshop set-up
b) Offering e-instructional design guidance in embedding the digitalized course content in the NITA LMS
c) To roll out of the digitized course units in September 2024

The development of digital learning content shall adapt the Participatory Beneficiary Approach (PBA) method. The method will be used to involve the NITA as the beneficiaries, in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the development and delivery of online learning activities. This approach will place a strong emphasis on engaging the NITA to benefit from project and acquire digitalization skills for upscaling. Key elements of the Participatory Beneficiary Approach will include but not limited to: Participation, Inclusive, Collaboration, Empowerment and Contextualization.

3. Deliverables, Key activities, and duration

The assignment will involve a hybrid working arrangement for an indicative duration of 30 working days and will have the below-outlined deliverables. The assignment will be carried out over the time period: 01 August and 31 November 2024.
Please note that the total level of effort (working days) indicated above should be seen as guidelines for consultants as they develop technical and financial proposals. Deviations from these guidelines are possible and should be justified in the proposal. Consultants are also kindly asked to specify a timeline for the deliverables.
Aside from remote work, the consultant will be required to regularly participate in physical meetings with ILO, NITA representatives and other TVET stakeholders in Nairobi. In addition, physical field missions outside Nairobi might occur and would be discussed with the ILO Kenya PROSPECTS team in advance to specify if and which parts of the mission need to be done in person.
The scope of work has been outlined below activities;
1. Digitalized five trade areas and generic skills Learning content to be used on NITA LMS – August 2024 (12 days)

• Develop content constructive alignment, this will include determining content that can be delivered either as in-class (synchronous) or out-of-class (synchronous)
• Design interactive learning activities, this included but not limited to practical exercises, gamification and case studies among others
• Developing story boarding
• Multimodal production of learning content, this will involve
  • Review power point presentation to enhance interactivity
  • Carrying out screen casting and voice offers
  • Video recording real life demonstration and case studies
  • Editing video clips
  • Video optimization
• Publishing digital learning content in NITA through an interactive and engaging approach

Deliverables for Activity 1:

1.A detailed implementation plan that clearly outlines the methodology for achieving the project deliverable.

2. a step-by-step guide to assist in the creation of digital learning content

3. Multimedia equipment and recording studio facilities set-up support

4. Curriculum aligned for digitalization to ensure constructive alignment.

5. Progress updates of the technical Support in the development of Digital Learning Content

2. Uploaded five trade areas and generic skills, interactive learning content in NITA LMS – August 2024 (8 days)
The activities to be involved will include:

• To ensure content is accessible, engaging, and organized for trainee. Content Creation and Preparation this will involve;
• Ensure that all content is compatible with NITA LMS platform and is in the right format (e.g., SCORM, HTML5, PDF, etc.).
• Check for any copyright or licensing issues and ensure NITA have the necessary permissions to use the materials.
• Course Builder this will involve
  • access the area in the LMS where you can manage and upload learning content
  • Create a Course or Module
  • upload various types of content, such as videos, documents, quizzes, and more to the appropriate location within the course/module.
  • Arrange the content in a logical sequence, ensuring it flows well for the learners
• Configure Interactivity:
  • Configure the settings and options for interactive elements like quizzes or discussions
  • Set due dates, time limits, and grading criteria if applicable.
  • Use of H5P interactive tool
• Test Content and Publish Content:
  • Test content to ensure that all interactive elements work as intended and that there are no technical issues.
  • Publish the content and enroll trainees

Deliverables for Activity 2:
6. Six trade areas uploaded on NITA LMS
7. Develop a quality assurance and piloting rubric for the first cohort of trainees.
8. Reviewed and refined assessment tools and grading criteria.

3. Piloting the digital content report on first cohort in five trade areas and generic skills – September to December 2024 (10 days)
The activities to be involved will include:

• Keeping an eye on trainee progress and engagement with the interactive content through LMS analytics.
• Assess the effectiveness of the content and make improvements if needed.
• Offer technical and instructional support to NITA Trainers as they take their e-facilitation role
• Make necessary recommendation for upscaling

Deliverables for Activity 3
9. Develop Online Learning Guidelines
10. Final Report including the progress of the piloting and recommendation
Deviations from these deliverables can occur according to the evolution of the assignment; however, any changes observed or anticipated should be consulted with the focal person at the ILO.

4. Payment Terms

The ILO will only pay for services that have been performed and for deliverables that are successfully completed to the satisfaction of the ILO. The payments will be made according to the following schedule:

• The first payment of 30 per cent of the contract volume will be made upon receipt of deliverables 1 to the satisfaction of the ILO and presentation of the invoice.
• The second payment of 30 per cent of the contract volume will be made upon receipt of deliverables 2-8 to the satisfaction of the ILO and presentation of the invoice.
• The third and final payment of 40 per cent of the contract volume will be made upon receipt of deliverables 9 and 10 to the satisfaction of the ILO and presentation of the invoice.

5. Staffing, Roles, and Reporting

The consultant will operate under the overall supervision of The ILO Chief Technical Advisor and Director General NITA and will report directly to the Digital Skills Specialist at ILO HQ in Geneva. The ILO Kenya PROSPECTS team will offer technical support and will coordinate closely with the Regional Skills and Employment Specialist of PROSPECTS program, Skills Digitalization specialist at HQ, the Youth Employment Officer at the Regional Office for Africa and the Decent Work Skills specialist at Pretoria to facilitate mainstreaming and standardization of the approach across the project.

6. Specific Clauses

Throughout the course of this assignment, the consultant will report on a weekly basis to the ILO for coordination and follow–up. All communication to other relevant stakeholders should be coordinated with the ILO. If it appears necessary to modify the tasks of work or exceed the time allocated, the consultant must discuss the circumstances with the ILO and obtain prior written approval. ILO may disclose the draft or final documents and/or any related information to any person and for any purpose the ILO may deem appropriate.

1. Required experience and qualifications

• Education, university qualification (first degree/master’s) in TVET
• Knowledge of MOOC quality apprenticeship and Tools for Quality Apprenticeships in Enterprises
• Experience in Digital facilitation in Synchronous events
• Evidence for instructional design for e-learning or Moodle and H5P
• Professional experience: 8 years’ experience development of digital learning content for Vocational training and industrial training.
• Demonstration of having conducted at least two assignments of similar nature and magnitude (values, clients names and contacts)
• Evidence of having developed digital learning content in TVET sector
• Evidence of having carried out similar consultancy services with TVET institutions and other educational institutions in Kenya
• Language skills: business fluency in English