Terms of Reference - Consultant

Accelerating Change Through InnoVation In Agricultural TVET (ACTIVATE)

​ Accelerating Change Through InnoVation in Agricultural TVET (ACTIVATE)

The Accelerating Change Through InnoVation in Agricultural TVET (ACTIVATE) program is a 5-year project funded by the Mastercard Foundation, which aims to improve the well-being and resilience of young women and men by strengthening an industry-led demand-driven Agriculture Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) system nationwide in Ghana. Using an inclusive market systems approach, the program blends education and skills training while building collaboration and linkages among key stakeholders such as public and private actors, academia, and agriculture value chain actors. Over the course of five years, this program will respond to key challenges facing the Agriculture and Adjacent sectors (defined as sectors that are directly or indirectly aligned with agriculture such as ICT and logistics) including:

• Low quality of ATVET instruction, curriculum and equipment/infrastructure;
• Non-alignment of new TVET policies and reforms across ministries;
• Lack of ATVET engagement with industry to understand their human resource needs;
• Poor business skills among young people and insufficient entrepreneurship support to the diverse needs of agripreneurs;
• Insufficient management capacity of ATVET providers, regulators and support organizations

The project will reduce gender specific barriers, elevate the voice and aspirations of youth and integrate a strong inclusivity lens, with respect to gender and disability.

The project’s ultimate goal is “Improvement in well-being and resilience of young women and men as a result of strengthened ATVET Systems, quality education and industry relevant skills training in agriculture and adjacent sectors”. In order for the program to successfully facilitate these positive impacts, the interventions of WUSC and its partners will focus on multiple actors across the agriculture and adjacent sectors, with the aim of effecting change at the individual, community, and systems level. For example, youth will have increased access to more innovative and inclusive ATVET institutes as a result of activities to improve the quality of instruction and curriculum (individual). As a result of access to quality education, youth will be well prepared to enter and contribute to the workforce, thereby adding income streams for their families (community). Finally, through the program’s prioritization of capacity building of local entities in gender-responsive approaches and participatory decision-making, the program is creating the right conditions for youth to thrive within the agriculture and adjacent sectors (systems).

The project will have a total reach of over 80,340 individuals out of which 79,360 will be youth aged 15 to 35 years old with 85% youth in work and 70% young women. As well as stronger and resilient ATVET Institutions, changes in practices of ATVET organizations, improved coordination, and confident youth with enhanced skills are expected results.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURE & RATIONALE

Ghana’s agriculture sector, which currently contributes 23% of GDP and is the country’s largest employer, holds significant potential to be a key driver for employment and economic opportunities for young women and men in Ghana. Critical to achieving this potential is a well-functioning agriculture education and training sector where ATVETs in particular are enabled to deliver high quality education and demand-driven skills development and technical training that lead to job creation and employability in the sector.

A key challenge to transformation of ATVET is the shift from a training approach that prioritized research and extension skills for government employment, to a model that focuses on employability within the private sector and on developing entrepreneurial capacities of students. There is a critical need to ensure that the ATVET curriculum is reflective of private sector demands, gender transformative and social inclusion-responsive, climate smart and reflects youth aspirations in order to equip students with current and future skills required by the labour force. As part of Output 1211: Accreditation of CBT curricula facilitated and Output 1212: Non-formal modular and short-course offered by ATVET providers, in particular offered to out-of-school youth, a team of curriculum development experts is required to develop CBT short courses based on the project selected agriculture value chain. This will include an assessment of existing CBT curricula with respect to market relevance, accreditation status, and content gaps. Under Output 1213: Review and Development  of agripreneurship  with climate considerations within ATVET curricula.. This responds to the need to ensure that ATVET learners– at both formal and informal institutes – require a comprehensive set of skills that reflect not only agricultural knowledge, but also business skills that will position them to thrive in the agribusiness sector, as well as a practical understanding of how to integrate increasingly relevant climate change considerations into their work.

OBJECTIVE OF ASSIGNMENT 

The objective of the technical support to be provided by the Consultant is to improve ATVET value chain specific programs through reviewing and updating of CBT curriculum aligned with the National TVET Qualification Frameworks (NTVETQF) Level 1-4.  This review will focus exclusively on trade areas and opportunities identified by the project, drawing on the findings of the Labour Market Assessment report. It will also consider existing CBT programs that are aligned with the project’s focus but are either expired or developed and pending approval.

The assignment is derived from two distinct output areas, each with corresponding tasks to be undertaken by the consultant, as outlined below

Output 1211: Accreditation of CBT curricula facilitated

• Facilitate and coordinate reviewing of existing and   approval of curriculum with accreditation authorities
  • Establish a technical working group made up of industry and technical experts, relevant government TVET bodies (CTVET, Agriculture Sector Skills Bodies (ASSBs), Ghana TVET Service etc) and conduct a series of workshops related to curriculum development and accreditation
  • Coordinate the development and validation of OS at NTVETQF Level 3-4 with the Agriculture SSB and CTVET to:
    • Conduct needs assessments on general area of competencies (GAC) of selected agricultural trades
    • Facilitate the development of Occupational Standards (OS) 
    • Validation of OS (ensure climate smart, gender responsive, and disability inclusive)
  • Coordinate with ASSBs, CTVET and Curriculum Development Experts to:
    • Facilitate the development of Unit Specification (US) for selected trades in Agriculture
    • Facilitate the development of Learning Material (LM), development of Assessment Instruments (AI), Marking Guidelines, and Re-assessment instruments for selected trade in Agriculture
    • Conduct quality editing of all materials developed (ensure integration of climate smart considerations, gender responsiveness, and disability inclusion)

Output 1213: Integration of agripreneurship and climate considerations within ATVET curricula supported

• Facilitate and coordinate the reviewing of CBT Agripreneurship curriculum

• Conduct assessment on entrepreneurship required for the labour market (consult CTVET, industry and young entrepreneurs)
• Assess existing CBT curriculum on agripreneurship  (Level, accreditation status, gaps)

• Establish a technical committee of entrepreneurship and agriculture experts (CTVET, industry players, hubs, incubators, ASSBs, etc). Share findings and report on the labour market assessment on entrepreneurship and coordinate workshops on the development of CBT agripreneurship curriculum.
• Coordinate the development of OS, US, LM, Assessment and reassessment instruments as well as Marking Guidelines (these might cover more than 2 levels of the National TVET Qualification Framework (NTVETQF), based on existing agripreneurship curriculum)
• Conduct quality editing of all materials developed (should be climate smart, gender sensitive, and disability inclusive) 

SCOPE OF WORK (SoW)

The ACTIVATE Project through the labour market assessment identified specific agriculture value chains that aim to enhance the skills and knowledge necessary for individuals within the agricultural field. 

The project proposes the reviewing and updating of 13 CBT curriculum development under the NTVETQF, which includes 9 ATVET and 2 Agripreneurship curriculum. Competences on climate change and environmental issues, climate smart agriculture, gender and inclusivity considerations, current trends and new technologies shall be integrated at the OS development stage and maintained or enhanced throughout the entire curriculum development stage.

Thus, the scope of work for this consultancy assignment includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Work with CTVET to identify
• Already partially developed curriculum that requires review and approval (2 curricula):
•   Vegetables (NCI & II)
• Expired curriculum that needs to be reviewed (11 curricula):
• Cashew Value Chain (NPI to NCII)
• Mango Value Chain (NPI & NPII)
• Oil Palm Value Chain (NCI & NCII)
• Poultry (NC II)
• Agripreneurship (NC I & II)
• Develop road map as well as proposal for the curriculum development
• Meet with ASSBs and other key stakeholders and conduct needs assessment of the various trades
• Conduct workshop with Agriculture Sector Skills Bodies to develop Occupational Standard (OS)
• Validation of the OS through workshop session
• Provide report on the validation
• Submission of OS to CTVET for approval
• Development of Unit Specification (US), tools and equipment list, Learning Materials (LM), Marking Guidelines (MG), and Assessment Instruments (AI) 
• Develop modules or unitise program for training short courses
• Select units for Workplace Experience Learning (WEL)
• Validation of the training package (OS, US, LM, AI, MG). Establish a technical working group made up of industry and technical experts, relevant government TVET bodies (CTVET, Agriculture Sector Skills Bodies (SSBs), Ghana TVET Service, Curriculum Development Experts, etc) and conduct a validation workshop. Ensure that the CBT programs are climate smart, gender responsive, and disability inclusive.
• Ensure engagement with Environment and Climate change consultant for integration of green element into all the curriculum to be developed
• Review package and conduct quality editing of all materials developed based on feedback received from the validation workshop (ensure climate smart, gender responsive, and disability inclusive)
• Submit package to CTVET for approval
• Follow up for feedback from CTVET
• Review program based on feedback and resubmit to CTVET for final approval
• Provide report on programme

The expected deliverables are outlined below:

1. Inception report with detailed revised strategy for the reviewing and development of the curriculum
2. Technical working group/experts established for the development of competency-based training (CBT) curriculum. A lead, and a 5 member each per selected trade i.e. vegetable production, agro-processing, specialized services, welding and fabrication
3. Curriculum Assessment conducted and report developed for both ATVET and Agripreneurship based on the labour market
4. Needs assessment report on general area of competencies (GAC) of selected agricultural trades
5. Review and develop 2 CBT agripreneurship curriculum
6. Review and develop 9 ATVET curriculum
7. Occupational Standards (OS) developed.
8. Report on OS validation workshop
9. Unit Specifications (US) developed.
10. Tool and equipment list developed
11. Learning Materials (LM), Assessment Instruments (AI), and Marking Guidelines (MG) developed.
12. Modules from the CBT curriculum developed for short courses
13. WEL units selected
14. Quality editing completed to integrate new technology, current trend, climate, gender, and inclusivity considerations within the ATVET CBT curricula.
15. CBT materials package validated.
16. CBT package reviewed and edited based on feedback from validation workshop
17. Package submitted to CTVET and WUSC
18. Comprehensive report on the consultancy assignment finalized

DELIVERABLES

Duration and Technical Team

The assignment will be executed for a 6-month period, from 13th June 2025 to 20th October 2025. The consulting team should consist of a team leader,  5 Expert members and a lead for each trade area,  with the exception of the tree crops that require 10 Experts,  covering the 13 selected ATVET trade areas that require review and update. The total cumulative effort of the consulting team  should not exceed 100 days.

The successful firm or consultant is expected to establish four (4) separate teams, with each team dedicated to a specific curriculum area, as outlined below:

1. Agripreneurship
2. Vegetables
3. Poultry value chains
4. Tree crops (Mango, Cashew, and Oil palm)

6. Submission:

To apply please submit a technical and financial proposal meeting the above requirements, and a best estimate of the level of effort required by 15th June, 2025. Only shortlisted applications will be evaluated. WUSC reserves the right to evaluate and engage applicants prior to the closing date of this call. Submission link: https://wusc.bamboohr.com/careers/155

Use the Budget template in the BambooHR for your financial proposal by clicking on the link