Consultancy to produce the report of the 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers

Reference: STPD/HCWG/0503/0264
Location: Mauritius
Duration: 50 person days
Closing Date: 5 Jul 2012

Background

The Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) has been held triennially since 1959. CCEMs are one of the principal forums for Commonwealth inter-governmental consultation and decision-making for the education sector. The CCEMs’ purposes are to discuss issues of mutual concern and interest, to formulate policy on key developmental issues, and to build consensus at a high political level within the Commonwealth. 18CCEM will contribute to broadening the Commonwealth goals of development, democracy and human rights as set out in the Commonwealth Secretariat Strategic Plan.

18CCEM will take place in Port Louis, Mauritius. The theme of the meeting is ‘Education in the Commonwealth: Bridging the gap as we accelerate towards achieving the internationally agreed goals’. Ministers of Education from all Commonwealth countries are invited to the ministerial meeting which takes place over three days. The conference also will bring together a diverse range of educational stakeholders, including senior officials, representatives from national and international agencies, academics and teachers, civil society and NGOs, youth and the private sector. It is anticipated that in total several hundred delegates will attend 18CCEM. In addition, observers from a range of partnership organisations will be invited to attend the meeting, as will ten finalists and four adjudicators for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards.

The core of the meeting is the Senior Officials’ Meeting, which will take place on 28 August, and the Ministerial Meeting, which will take place on 29-31 August. The venue for both meetings will be the Forum Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre. The Ministerial Meeting will include both plenary sessions, and up to four simultaneous policy roundtables. Alongside the core meetings are four parallel forums, which will be held in different venues:

• Post-secondary and Higher Education Leaders’ Forum (University of Mauritius, Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium);
• Stakeholders’ Forum (Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre)
• Teachers’ Forum (Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre);
• Youth Forum (Mahatma Gandhi Institute).

The formal programmes for these run 27-30 August. The Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards will also be judged at the CCEM and the prizes awarded at the opening ceremony.

A report which captures the CCEM deliberations and decisions will be produced and disseminated widely. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Education Section seeks to engage two consultants to produce this report. One of these consultants will lead the activity, and take overall responsibility for the implementation of the consultant services and the final product.

Aims and objectives

The overall aim of the consultancy is to produce the 18CCEM report.

The specific objectives are to:

• co-ordinate the acquisition and collation of the necessary material;
• act as rapporteurs for the Senior Officials’ and Ministerial Meetings and selected sessions of the parallel forums;
• produce minutes of all 18CCEM sessions from the rapporteur notes and tapes of the non-rapporteured sessions; and
• produce the final report.

Scope

Utilising available notes from Education Section members, audio tapes and 18CCEM papers, the consultants will:

• Ensure that all sessions of the 18CCEM are recorded;
• Transcribe all relevant audio tapes, background papers, speeches and presentations from 18CCEM;
• Summarise, compile and edit the background materials to produce a draft report for consultation;
• Design a report layout using a template agreed with the Education Section;
• Produce the final 18CCEM report. Previous reports have been in the region of 85 A4 pages.

Major tasks and responsibilities

Task 1: Conduct a review of the 18CCEM reports, publications, relevant policy documents and background information.
To familiarise themselves with the objectives, themes and issues under discussion at the 18 CCEM, the consultants will undertake a review of documents including:

• 18CCEM Concept Note
• 18CCEM Issues Paper
• Achieving the Goals 2009
• Achieving the Goals 2012
• Guidebook to Education in the Commonwealth
• Education for Sustainable Development in Small States
• The Role and Status of Refugee Teachers in Education in Emergencies

Task 2: Make a record of all 18CCEM sessions
To ensure a complete and consistent record of discussions and decisions, the consultants will make sure that all sessions, including those of the Ministerial Meeting, Senior Officials’ Meeting, all four Parallel Fora and the opening and closing ceremonies, are recorded on an audio medium, and transcribed as verbatim records. In addition, the consultants will take minutes at the principal sessions, the list of which will be agreed with the Chief Record Co-ordinator prior to the meeting. They will also collect reports, photographs and background information from parallel forums.

The lead consultant will co-ordinate the taking of minutes and the recording of sessions.

Task 3: Prepare the 18CCEM report
To ensure a high quality, accurate report, the consultants will first prepare a draft report, which will be provided to the Chief Record Co-ordinator and representatives from the planning committees for the parallel fora for comments. The report will then be amended in the light of comments, before being resubmitted to the Chief Record Co-ordinator.

The report should include:

• Foreword;
• Summary of Senior Officials’ meeting;
• Summary of Conference Opening Ceremony;
• Summary of Ministerial Meeting;
• Summary of Closing Ceremony;
• Appendices:

• Port Louis Communiqué
• Report of the Senior Officials’ meeting
• Proposed Commonwealth Secretariat Education Work Plan 2012-2015
• Post-secondary and Higher Education Leaders’ Forum Statement
• Stakeholders’ Forum Statement
• Teachers’ Forum Statement
• Youth Forum Statement
• Provisional Agenda for Senior Officials’ Meeting
• Provisional Ministerial Programme and Agenda
• List of Delegates

The Lead Consultant (Report Writer) will be responsible for:

• Taking accurate minutes of the Senior Officials’ and Ministerial plenary discussions and selected roundtables;
• Receipt and integration of all records, minutes from all sections of the 18CCEM including from the four Parallel Forums, the Good Practice Awards and any ad hoc meetings that will need to be reported to the main Ministerial Meeting;
• Providing guidance to and supervision of the other team member;
• Overall responsibility for the quality and timely submission of the 18CCEM Report.

The Rapporteur Consultant (Minute Writer) will work with the Lead Consultant to cover the duties outlined above.

Institutional and organisational arrangements

The consultants will report to the Conference Secretary, work under the direction of the Deputy Conference Secretary or their designee, and work in close consultation with the Chief Record Co-ordinator. Regular meetings with the Deputy Conference Secretary and Chief Record Co-ordinator to discuss preparations, progress and implementation of the consultancy will be scheduled as appropriate. Education Section will provide to the consultants the documents set out above.

The Commonwealth Secretariat will book and pay for return, economy class flights from the consultants’ usual country of residence to Mauritius, and book and pay for accommodation in Mauritius. The consultants will supply the equipment necessary to make audio recordings in all sessions in all venues.

Implementation schedule and estimated inputs

The assignment is planned for August and September 2012. It is estimated that about 50 person days of professional services would be required for the consultancy as shown in the table below.

	Tasks	Estimated days	Dates
1	Desk review & preparation	10 (2 x 5)	22-26 August
2	Rapporteuring	10 (2 x 5)	27-31 August
3a	Report preparation (draft)	20 (2 x 10)	3-14 September
3b	Report preparation (final)	10 (2 x 5)	24-28 September
Total:		50

This will require the following consultants :

	key consultants	Estimated person -days
1.	Lead Writer	25
2.	Minute Writer	25
Total:		50

List of deliverables and schedule of payments

The following reports shall be submitted to the Chief Record Co-ordinator in MS Word format as follows:

• Draft report. This report should be submitted for comments by close of business on Friday 14 September 2012. The Commonwealth Secretariat will submit comments by close of business on Friday 21 September.
• Final report. The consultants will revise the draft comprehensive report based on the comments and will submit the final comprehensive report by Friday 28 September 2012. The Commonwealth Secretariat reserves the right to request further amendments by the consultants if necessary.

For the performance of the duties enumerated under this Terms of Reference, the Consultants will be paid an all inclusive fee. The fee shall be paid in the following manner:

• 25% of the contract sum on signing the contract;
• 75% of the contract sum based on the approval of the final report.

Consultants’ qualifications

The consultants must be citizens of Commonwealth member states. The consultants are expected to bring strong knowledge of education, excellent research and report writing skills, and experience of recording large-scale international conferences.

The consultants must have the following appropriate experience and qualifications:

• Demonstrable knowledge and at least 4-5 years’ work experience in education;
• Experience of writing similar reports, and presenting complex issues in an accessible and engaging manner;
• Accurate written communication skills, with the ability to write fluently and concisely in plain English;
• Highly developed IT skills, with the ability to present information clearly;
• Ability to deal diplomatically and productively with a variety of stakeholders, including at ministerial level;
• Ability to produce high-quality work to tight deadlines with the minimum of supervision.

How to apply

Download the Job Description