Local Consultancy Services

Services

  Adapt the existing TAHAWER ‘curriculum’ and project materials to produce a new academic curriculum that is suitable for teaching in HE (Deliverable 1)

 Write new technical guidelines and capacity development training modules for university teachers in support of the revised curriculum (Deliverable 2)

Training services– deliver face-to-face and/or virtual training sessions to first cohort of master trainers (Deliverables 3 & 4)

 Provide remote guidance and support to master trainers as they roll out first phase of training in support of new curriculum in selected universities (Deliverables 5 & 6).

Deliverables

 Deliverable 1

New academic curriculum fully developed and adapted from TAHAWER materials.

 Deliverable 2

New training modules written specifically for use with Deliverable 1

 Deliverable 3

Deliver one workshop to introduce the adapted TAHAWER curriculum to first cohort of master trainers.

 Deliverable 4

Master trainers developed as ‘trainer-practitioners’ to ensure they have the right skills to link their in-depth understanding of Iraqi civil society to peacebuilding through appropriate behaviours and use of the adapted TAHAWER curriculum.

 Deliverable 5

Support delivery of first training of trainers (ToT) roll-out exercise by master trainers to university educators in target universities.  

 Deliverable 6

Support delivery of first cascade by trained university educators to selected students in target universities.

 The methodology should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:

• Approach to curriculum adaptation.
•  Delivery of at least one face-to-face workshop in Erbil or Baghdad where key university teachers are in attendance.
• Oversight of impact… ensuring that appropriate M&E is built into the design of the training and subsequent roll-out/cascade eg. through qualitative and quantitative data collection with key stakeholders (university teachers, university students, government officials from Ministries of Education and Higher Education in Federal Iraq and in KRG)

Risk and security

 The British Council will ensure duty of care for the researcher(s) while in country by:

• Organising airport pick-up and drop-off
•  Providing a security detail throughout the period spent in Iraq
•  Providing permanent staff support
• Accommodation in security and safety assessed and approved venues

The costs related to security management as described below will be covered by the British Council. In the past, the British Council in Iraq has hosted a number of international visits and is currently running several assignments with multiple UK consultants traveling in and out of the country.

Ideal Profile of supplier

Project Timescales

11.1     Subject to any changes notified to potential suppliers by the British Council in accordance with the Project Conditions, the following timescales shall apply to this process. 

Introduction and Background to the Project

 Over the past four years, the British Council’s support for peacebuilding in Iraq through its EU-funded TAHAWER programme has supported Iraqi youth from different religious, ethnic, sectarian, class and geographic backgrounds to build self and social awareness and to develop the skills needed to engage in more effective dialogue and civic discourse. The programme has created an environment in which youth experience increased agency, are supported and encouraged to create change, are heard and represented, and engage with people of influence to effect change. This work has been supporting wider UK interests in Iraq to strengthen civil society and tackle underlying drivers of instability.

 There now appears to be real interest in extending the benefits of this programme to Iraq’s university sector. Several presidents of prominent universities have recently asked us if it would be possible to introduce TAHAWER’s peacebuilding materials (the TAHAWER ‘curriculum’) to their own faculty members and students by adapting them for academic as part a new departmental syllabus. The TAHAWER peacebuilding approach in the non-formal education sector has incorporated a multitude of knowledge dissemination activities outside the formal higher education system, aimed at: enhancing stability at various levels of society; building understanding of ‘the other’ especially amongst young people; promoting tolerance in society; and working constructively towards a more inclusive society.

 University is where formal knowledge production, reproduction and transmission take place. It is where teachers and learners interact. This initiative, namely the adaptation of the TAHAWER curriculum for academic use and training in support of this, can change the nature and quality of how university faculty members and students interact and how they interact with wider Iraqi society. It will do this through activities that promote skills, attitudes and behaviours that will prepare all involved to engage in resolving conflict peacefully and create the social conditions conducive to peace. A new generation of peacebuilders from the university sector should also help to bridge the gap that exists universities and their local communities.

 This initiative for peacebuilding in HE will be piloted at eight universities: four in Central and Southern Iraq (CSI) and four in the Kurdish Regions of Iraq (KRI). It is envisaged that curriculum adaptation will occur first followed by training of trainers (ToT) in preparation to support future cascade arrangements. The project will be implemented in partnership with the eight universities concerned and in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Federal Iraq and its counterpart in KRI, the government of Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG, to ensure alignment with the wider university sector. As a result of this, we expect hundreds of students from the age of 18-22 to be able to benefit from our TAHAWER-inspired peacebuilding experience.

Interested applicants should kindly submit applications by 19th October 2021.

Your Application should include the following:

1. . Your CV
2.  A supporting statement highlighting how your experience and skills match the requirements of the assignment

 Applications should be emailed to: Nashwan.Mohammed@britishcouncil.org

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.