Short Term Consultant/trainer on Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

Place of Training:
Vang Vieng district, Laos

Commissioned by:
Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation

Topic
Participatory Learning and Action

Dates
20 to 24 May 2024

The Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation (PCF) is a Swiss non-profit organization, which works worldwide. Our vision is to create a world as a global village of peace through education. PCF seeks to enhance inclusive and equitable quality education to promote sustainable development and living peacefully together in 12 different countries in Central America, South East Asia, East Africa and South East Europe. To get more information about PCF, please have a look at the following website: http://www.pestalozzi.ch/en/

PCF implements projects through local and experienced Partner Organizations, which are responsible for the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the joint projects.

In Laos, PCF is implementing projects to enhance quality education and school environment improvement through teacher training, improved school management, community engagement and Green and Clean Schools (G&C) development to contribute to sustainable development in 2 provinces. Through the projects, primary school children could increase their learning competencies and environmental knowledge.

PCF provides funding to local organizations and aims at strengthening their staff capacities and skills to achieve its program outcomes. To support local Partner Organisations, we would like to offer them participatory learning and action (PLA) training. PCF is therefore looking for a consultant/trainer to lead training a training.

• Objective of the Training

The objective of the training is to equip PCF Partner Organisation staff in a participatory learning and action (PLA) to enhance their capacity in participatory project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, which will lead to effective project management and sustainability of its results. The training shall be tailored to the specific needs and knowledge of the PCF Partner Organizations.

The training shall enable participants…

• To gain and increase their knowledge and skills of the PLA tools and methodologies and how to apply them to the project management cycles, fostering collaboration and ownership among project stakeholders.   
• To increase their ability and confidence to facilitate the community planning process ensuring an active participation of the community members, teachers and school children.
• To be able to prepare the tools and develop the tentative plan for the PLA tools application for each Partner Organisation according to their project implementation plans.

• Participants

Participants will be selected from PCF Partner Organisations in Laos as identified per the organisation’s Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) capacity needs. PCF Partner Organizations include a local NGO of small size and a government institution – teacher training college. The training shall be conducted for a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 20 participants. The main participants are going to be the Partner Organisations project managers, coordinators, project officers/trainers, local government partners and the PCF education officer.

• Tentative Agenda

The training agenda shall be developed by the consultant in close cooperation with PCF Lao staff. For a tentative 5-day training, the main topics/contents will be:

• Fundamentals of the PLA philosophy, methodology and approach.
• Understanding of the PLA’s tools in community mapping and diagram and techniques and practical exercises in using the tools.
• Draw out the lessons learned and develop action plans for applying the PLA in the projects.

To determine the current knowledge and exact needs, an assessment questionnaire should be developed and circulated by the consultant/trainer upon provision of participants’ contacts. The results will inform the detailed planning and agenda of the training.

A follow-up exercise for the participants shall be part of the training package (participants go back to their respective work and apply their learning), the exact format is to be identified and agreed with the trainer.

• Dates and Place

Preferred dates for the training are between 20-24 May 2024 (5 days). The duration of the training should not exceed 5 days (excluding arrival and departure days of the trainer and participants). The training shall take place in Vang Vieng district, Laos and the training shall be in the Lao language (if necessary, a live translation from English into Lao can take place in parallel if the trainer is non-Lao speaking). Costs for transport, accommodation and alimentation are covered by PCF.

• Required Qualifications
• University degree in Community development, Education Studies, Social studies, Leadership for development, (environmental) Education, Development Studies or a relevant subject;
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in education;
• The ability to write follow-up reports in the English language;
• Professional experience and proven skills in workshop facilitation and education;
• In-depth understanding of the education context in Laos;
• Excellent communication skills and ability to influence and bring people of different knowledge and backgrounds to contribute and reach a common understanding

• Application

To apply, please send a signed technical and financial offer and your CV to Homdouangxay Khamseng, k.homdouangxay@pestalozzi.ch, and to Anja Bühler, a.buehler@pestalozzi.ch, and by the latest 14.03.2024

• Annex
• Signed offer
• Trainer CV

The present ToR are part of the contract to be signed by the Contractor and PCF.