Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

This is a prior information notice (PIN) only: publication and call for competition will be conducted once scope of work is fully defined and approved. Early Market Engagement event to be held on 27.10.2016 in London. DFID is proposing to invest 19 900 000 GBP over 8 years in forming a global ‘what works’ evidence hub to answer key research questions such as: What works to spread and scale education technology (Ed Tech) interventions to deliver better learning outcomes for the poorest children in developing countries? Which Ed Tech interventions present the greatest value for money? This research would seek to create a global multi-disciplinary research hub, which brings together technological, educational and research perspectives across sectors. This would embed better impact and financial evaluation into current programmes whilst developing, iteratively adapting and evaluating new and/ or promising small scale innovations that could be taken to scale. This hub would then lead two strands; 1. ‘At scale’ Ed Tech Research and Evaluation in at least three DFID priority countries (indicative budget 13 500 000 GBP) and; 2. ‘Innovation, Acceleration and Horizon Scanning’ for small-scale, new Ed Tech approaches (indicative budget £2 million). A diagram — Figure 1 — is available on the DFID Supplier Portal under the additional documents for this Prior Information Notice. The hub would: — foster a culture of innovation by creating a space for users, technology and education experts to come together, identify priority problems and collaborate to craft potential Ed Tech solutions — be responsible for sharing tools, approaches, best practice and evidence — be led, in partnership with DFID, to ensure it works closely with DFID in-country advisors, is aligned with our broader Ed Tech programmes and serves as a resource more broadly to DFID; supporting learning and innovation in Ed Tech across the organisation. DFID envisage that the leadership of the hub would consist of several thought leaders and influencers, with at least one operational/ implementation Ed Tech expert, and one education research expert; and a management function within the hub would lead the governance and reporting mechanisms and assessment and selection processes for Country Research Teams. The geographical focus of the research will be in DFID focus countries. We are particularly interested in education technology interventions to improve individualised learning for all children and education technology to recruit, develop, motivate and retain teachers. The intended impact of this research will be: a. A robust body of evidence on ‘what works, in which contexts, why, how and for whom’ through research on the impact of education technology programmes on learning and teaching b. The spreading and scaling of successful interventions: Decision makers will have access to and use evidence that enables more effective and value for money education technology programmes to be implemented at scale c. Acceleration of small-scale innovations supported by iterative and adaptive design and evaluation, trialling of new technologies and insights on the long term opportunities and risks of emerging technologies d. A global shift in the education technology sector towards multi-disciplinary working and a culture of innovation. Early Market Engagement (EME) Event: DFID would like feedback from prospective bidders and will host an early market engagement event in London on Thursday 27th October, where we will present the research concept as well as a set of key questions to stimulate discussion. Following the DFID EME event, the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at the Brookings Institution will also be holding a separate presentation and panel discussion on how we can accelerate progress in education to ensure that more children around the world are learning. The hour-long event will include an overview of findings and recommendations from CUE's recently released report, Millions Learning: Scaling up quality education in developing countries. If you are interested in attending one or both events you must register no later than Thursday 20th October. For more details, and how to register attendance, please ensure you register interest to contract ID 7749 on DFID's Supplier Portal https://supplierportal.dfid.gov.uk/selfservice/ where you will be able to access documents with further information. You can register on the DFID Supplier Portal to monitor this opportunity, submit any questions and provide feedback via a survey even if you are unable to attend the EME event. All information shared at the EME event, will be shared on the DFID Supplier Portal, to ensure that those not attending the event are not disadvantaged. Only those registered on the portal as instructed above will have access to any additional information. Depending on demand we may also host a remote session (dial-in) via the South Asia/Africa Research Hub in November 2016. All communications regarding this opportunity will be communicated via the DFID Supplier Portal and interested suppliers should check the DFID Supplier Portal for updates on this programme.