INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT

1. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The Ministry of Education in Ghana, through the NaCCA and the NTC, sent a request for technical assistance to the RTIA Facility in May, 2025. Following the approval of the request, two experts from the RTIA Facility went to Accra in June 2025 to co-develop the Ghana Country Action Plan (CAP).  One component of the CAP will focus on green skills, looking at enhancing teachers’ knowledge, skills and capacities in environmental education and protection; the other component will aim at developing a policy for teachers’ mental health and wellbeing.

1.1 MAIN OBJECTIVES 

General objective

The CAP is adressing both the area of teachers’ governance and teachers’ education and professional development. The two components target teachers from KG to senior high; as both the green skills framework and the MHPSS policy include generic components for all teachers. 

Discussions during the CAP development enabled to define a broader ambition for the green skills framework. The objective is not only to enhance teachers’ green skills and capacities to deliver on green components embedded in the curriculum, but also to raise their awareness on environmental issues and the necessity to act for the protection of the environment. By transforming teachers into activists, it is hoped that they will also contribute to sensitize and motivate the young generations to act for reducing the environmental damages in their immediate environment. The inclusion of a green schools’ benchmark is a first step for identifying concrete actions to implement in the school environment. 

Overall, the CAP first component (“green skills”) responds to the implementation gaps of Policy Objective 2.2.2, which calls for “ensuring that environmental, social, and sustainability goals are integrated into all levels of education”, by aiming at equipping teachers with the skills, tools, and frameworks necessary to deliver green education effectively.

Specific objectives

The first step before defining the framework is to carry out a study to identify past and current green initiatives in the education sector in Ghana; as well as a benchmark of similar initiatives in the continent and globally. Given that the main purpose of the framework is to equip teachers with relevant environmental knowledge and skills, it is also important to consult them and know where they stand in terms of environmental issues. More specifically, the consultations of teachers aims at getting an insight of their level of knowledge, but also of their level of interest for environmental protection. These (small scale) consultations of teachers will be carried out in country by the national expert recruited for this study.

This study will not be published but will nurture technical discussions and the framework’s design.

The study will include :

1. a desk review of studies and reports on environment-related initiatives and programmes in the education sector in Ghana
2. focus group discussions with teachers (carried out by the national expert; tools to be co-developped by the international expert and the national expert)
3. a benchmark of initiatives related to environmental education outside Ghana.
   

1.2 METHODOLOGY & GENERAL APPROACH 

The general approach and methodology described below are indicative and non-exclusive. The expert must develop the methodology he/she intends to use in his/her application.

General approach:
The international expert will work remotely, but closely, with the NaCCA. A national expert will be recruited to contribute to the contextualization of tools and to facilitate the FGD with the teachers in country. Consultation and coordination between the two experts will be expected throughout the consultancy, to define the division of tasks, agree on data collection and compilation and joint interaction with national counterparts and stakeholders.
A participatory approach with the NaCCA partners is essential, to ensure that what is proposed is in line with their needs. In particular, it is recommended to the experts to co-develop the tools with technicians of the NaCCA. 

Methodology: 
To carry out the study, the expert recruited must : 

• Review the main policy documents of the Ghanean education system (in particular the sector strategy and teaching policy).  
• Participate in a scoping meeting with the NaCCA focal points, the national expert and the Facility. Following this meeting, the expert will propose a brief note describing the work to be carried out, including the methodology and an updated timetable. This note will describe precisely the specific and respective responsibilities of the national expert and the international expert, and how they will coordinate their work.
• Develop the necessary tools for FGD, and planned consultations, with the national expert and the NaCCA technicians
• Contribute to the definition of the scope and the organization of the field work carried out by the national expert
• Prepare a debriefing session with the NaCCA, before developing the report. 
  

Throughout the study, the two experts are expected to have technical discussions with the Facility. The deliverables will be validated by the NaCCA and the Facility.

1.3 STAKEHOLDERS 

The NaCCA will be the lead implementing national partner for the component on green skills framework.
The main stakeholders involved in the study will be the ministry of Energy and Green Transition, Ghana Education Services, the decentralised education authorities, the teachers themselves, as well as the school directors and supervisors. Other stakeholders might include environmental specialists and organizations

1.4 MAIN DELIVERABLES 

The main deliverables for this consultancy work are as follows

1. Inception report - methodology note including an outline of the work to be carried out (no longer than 2-3 pages). The national expert will contribute to the inception report written by the international expert.
2. Study tools: surveys, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews questions etc. The national expert will co-develop with the international expert and contextualize the tools to be used during the field work.
3. Data collection: the national expert will compile the information and data collected in the field, in a format agreed with the international expert and the NTC for further analysis
4. PP presentations: debriefing session of the first findings of the study with the NTC at the end of the field mission. The national expert will co-facilitate the debriefing session with the international expert.

The main deliverables for this consultancy work are as follows:

1. Inception report - methodology note including an outline of the work to be carried out (no longer than 2-3 pages). The international expert will agree with the national expert on respective tasks and responsibilities (to be included in this report).
2. Tools to be used for FGD with teachers (to be co-developped with the national expert)
3. Study report including:
   1. a situational analysis of the environment-related initiatives and programmes in the education sector in Ghana
   2. a snapshot of teachers’ understanding of and interest for environmental issues
   3. a benchmark of initiatives related to environmental education outside Ghana
   4. recommendations relevant to the development of the framework.
      

2. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES

The NaCCA is responsible for : 

• Providing all the documentation required for the desk review and the preparation of the field work
• Facilitating the organization of (virtual) meetings with relevant stakeholders  
• Facilitating the logistics for the field work (authorization to access schools, information shared with participants etc.)
• Commenting on and approving deliverables.  
  

The RTIA Facility is responsible for :

• Contracting and facilitating the integration of the consultant by providing all available documents and resources  
• Supporting and monitoring the consultant's work from start to finish  
• Acting as the consultant's main resource person  
• Ensuring quality control of deliverables in collaboration with the NaCCA’s focal points  
  
• Acknowledging final validation of deliverables by all parties  
  
• Evaluating the consultant's overall performance under this mandate.  
  

The expert is responsible for :  

• Reviewing and commenting on these Terms of Reference (ToR)  
• Ensuring that all deliverables comply with the guidelines set out at the scoping meeting, in line with the agreed timetable
• Informing the Facility immediately of any difficulties encountered in implementing the mission
• Ensuring that stakeholders are consulted throughout the assignment  
• Behaving with the highest level of personal integrity and committing to the required standards of conduct.