Senior consultant to develop the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan for RISE Rwanda Programme, Kigali Rwanda, 3 months - For Rwandan Nationals ONLY at UNICEF - United Nations

Achieving the ambitious target of the RISE programme requires having a robust Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning plan (MEL) as an integral part of the programme. A MEL plan will set out a clear learning agenda and strategies for evidence generation to inform adaptive implementation and programme management. The MEL plan will allow to integrate a participatory monitoring lens that ensures perspectives of young women, persons with disabilities, and refugees are consistently reflected in data collection and reporting:  The MEL Plan should include a table of relevant and required shared measures, along with their targets and required disaggregation levels that are aligned with the programme.  The MEL plan should recommend priority monitoring areas (key aspects the programme intends to monitor), clearly specifying the following for each area: - monitoring questions, - methodology, - responsible party, and Timeline.  The MEL plan should be aligned with the Rwanda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan and Mastercard Foundation's Impact Framework. All proposed monitoring and evaluation activities should be reflected in the MEL Plan.  A review session is to be held between the consultant, UNICEF, and Mastercard Foundation to align the methodologies and timelines.  For individual learning evaluation activities, a consultant should define 1) Purpose, 2) Evaluation questions, 3) Brief methodologies, and 4) Timelines Specifically, a consultant is expected to develop a MEL plan and framework that will be used to: • Capture all programme activities, processes, outputs, targets, and achievements, including partners’ contribution and regular downstream partners reporting • Track the progress of programme activities and provide timely data to meet information and reporting needs • Ensure systemic valuation of performance and progress towards the expected outcome and impact

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Context and Introduction

Rwanda, like most sub-Saharan African countries, has a significant youth population which presents an enormous potential and opportunity. Youth in Rwanda (defined as persons aged 16–30 years) represent more than a quarter (27 per cent, or 3.5 million) of the country’s growing 13.2 million population, underscoring the urgent need to create an enabling environment that allows them to acquire skills, access dignified and fulfilling jobs, and drive national development. Young people, however, face several challenges. Although access to primary education in Rwanda has improved significantly, the transition to and completion of secondary education remains problematic. In recent years, an average of 6 to 10 per cent of Rwandan primary and secondary school students drop out each year, leading to many out-of-school youth with low educational attainment.

Of the more than 3.5 million youth (aged 16–30 years), the fifth Rwanda Population and Housing Census data shows 20 and 16 per cent of youth completed lower and upper secondary, respectively: 51 per cent completed primary education. The recent Rwanda labour force survey (NISR 2024) indicated that just over a million youth (62 per cent female) are not in employment, education or training (NEET). Girls are much more likely to be NEET (39.4 per cent) than boys (25.9 per cent). The gender disparity in opportunities to employment, education and training is prevalent in both rural and urban areas. Similarly, the latest (2023/24) MINEDUC statistics show over one million youth aged 18–28 years are out of school, mainly due to high dropout rates, particularly in secondary education (7–11 per cent annually in the last three years). A study conducted in 2019 by Laterite, commissioned by UNICEF in support of MINEDUC shows that female youth are most likely to be out of school, especially from age 16 onward. They are also more likely to dropout permanently and to be unemployed or in a low-paid job.

To address these challenges, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) in partnership with UNICEF and other partners is implementing “Resilience in Secondary Education in Rwanda (RISE Rwanda)”, an ambitious national programme that aims to enable out-of-school youth access and complete secondary education through nationally accredited and technology -enabled flexible learning pathways. RISE Rwanda programme is designed to support flexible pathways to respond to the unique and diverse educational needs of underserved out-of-school youth. The programme is planned to be scaled up to reach 1.1 million out-of-school youth in Rwanda over ten years. In particular, the programme targets vulnerable young persons, including young women, persons with disabilities, and refugees.

This programme is envisioned to contribute directly to the realization of Rwanda’s Vision 2050, which aspires to transform Rwanda into a knowledge-based, high-income economy, underpinned by a skilled, productive, and innovative workforce. RISE Rwanda aligns with the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2 2024–2029) and the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP 2024–2029), which emphasize inclusivity, digitalization, and market-aligned education for all youth, especially those historically underserved.

RISE Rwanda is also inspired by and aligned with the Mastercard Foundation’s RISE Africa Programme under the broader Young Africa Works Strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million youth, particularly young women, across Africa to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. The programme also reflects Rwanda’s commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the African Union Agenda 2063, and UNICEF’s global and regional strategic priorities, including the Generation Unlimited and the UNICEF Africa Strategy.

The targeted youth will also be supported to improve digital skills and English language proficiency in addition to vocational skills relevant for their context. Specifically, the programme will support youth who dropped out of school before completing secondary education, to acquire a nationally accredited secondary education equivalency certificate that enables them to pursue further education in Rwanda or elsewhere across the world.

It is in this context that UNICEF is seeking an individual consultant to support the development of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plan and framework to facilitate data collection, analysis, and dissemination of evidence to meet the goals of the RISE Programme. The development of the MEL plan should be thoughtfully aligned with the RSIE programme Theory of Change to ensure that MEL efforts meaningfully reflect the intended pathways to impact and support evidence-based decision-making.

Objectives and Purpose of the consultancy

Achieving the ambitious target of the RISE programme requires having a robust Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning plan (MEL) as an integral part of the programme. A MEL plan will set out a clear learning agenda and strategies for evidence generation to inform adaptive implementation and programme management. The MEL plan will allow to integrate a participatory monitoring lens that ensures perspectives of young women, persons with disabilities, and refugees are consistently reflected in data collection and reporting:

• The MEL Plan should include a table of relevant and required shared measures, along with their targets and required disaggregation levels that are aligned with the programme.
• The MEL plan should recommend priority monitoring areas (key aspects the programme intends to monitor), clearly specifying the following for each area: - monitoring questions, - methodology, - responsible party, and Timeline.
• The MEL plan should be aligned with the Rwanda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan and Mastercard Foundation's Impact Framework. All proposed monitoring and evaluation activities should be reflected in the MEL Plan.

1. A review session is to be held between the consultant, UNICEF, and Mastercard Foundation to align the methodologies and timelines.
2. For individual learning evaluation activities, a consultant should define 1) Purpose, 2) Evaluation questions, 3) Brief methodologies, and 4) Timelines 

Specifically, a consultant is expected to develop a MEL plan and framework that will be used to:

• Capture all programme activities, processes, outputs, targets, and achievements, including partners’ contribution and regular downstream partners reporting
• Track the progress of programme activities and provide timely data to meet information and reporting needs

Ensure systemic valuation of performance and progress towards the expected outcome and impact.

Scope of Work:  

The scope of work involves developing a comprehensive MEL plan aligned with the programme theory of change, outputs, outcomes, and impact. The focus will be on assessing the performance of the programme, examining its implementation plans, inputs, outputs, and outcomes. It should explicitly define mixed methods approaches, detailing both quantitative and qualitative evidence pathways to strengthen triangulation, attribution, and adaptive learning for decision-making.

The plan will serve as a vital tool for demonstrating the effectiveness and impact of the programme by generating reliable and actionable information for both UNICEF and its partners. This information will contribute to learning, improved performance, and accountability.

Under the direct supervision of Chief Education, UNICEF, and the guidance of the M&E team, the consultant will:

• Develop the learning agenda that specifies (i) key learning questions/gaps to be addressed throughout the implementation of RISE programme, (ii) key learning activities to address the learning questions/gaps, and (iii) learning products and outputs, and (iv) the timeline of the learning activities.
• Review relevant documentation, including the education sector strategic plan, policies, theory of change, programme documentation, and other appropriate materials.
• Conduct needs and gaps analysis of existing M&E/MEL tools and systems to identify gaps and areas that require improvement, including with the downstream partners (Imbuto Foundation, CRS, DoT and others). As part of this, the consultant will also assess the evaluability of the RISE programme, that is, the extent to which the programme’s design has a Clear Results Chain showing how inputs and activities will lead to intended outputs, outcomes, and impact as well as clear, measurable objectives, well-defined indicators, credible baselines, and realistic targets that can be tracked over time to allow for reliable assessment of results, effectiveness, and impact.
• Draft a comprehensive and feasible MEL plan and framework in consultation with all key stakeholders to ensure the plan is aligned with the programme strategies and goals.
• Develop data collection tools/templates based on programme key performance indicators, to be monitored.
• Finalize the MEL plan through a consultative process, ensuring it meets the needs of all stakeholders involved to have a harmonized.
• Work closely with the MEL teams of partners, ensuring a collaborative process.
• Provide training to the programme team and programme downstream partners on how to effectively use the MEL framework to ensure smooth implementation and ongoing data management. Capacity building must encompass structured training, mentoring, and continuous technical support to institutionalize the MEL practice within MINEDUC and REB teams.
• Design a learning log template and after-action review form, for a simple repository and digital systems, to capture and analyze programme insights that directly inform reports, briefings, and adaptive management.

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