Life Skills & Job Readiness Trainer

Life Skills & Job Readiness TRAINER

Salalem Leadership Institute

Introduction

QADER for Community Development is a non-profit organization based in Bethlehem. Founded in 2008, QADER strives to creating innovative social models that enhances the inclusion and resilience of persons with disabilities; through influencing public policies, developing capacities of relevant stakeholders, promoting public awareness on disability rights and issues, and enhancing economic and social empowerment of People with disability “PWD”

Through generous funding from Global Affairs Canada and in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), QADER is implementing Salalem, an innovative, five-year project that focuses on improving the skills and professional networks of young women and youth with disabilities, enabling them to enter and remain in the labor market. This project further seeks to build support from key influencers in the home, workplace, and community, creating an enabling environment in which young women and youth with disabilities realize increased agency and self-reliance. Through Salalem, these marginalized individuals in Gaza and the West Bank will become better prepared for jobs, with opportunities to contribute to the well-being of their families and communities. As a part of the project, the Salalem Leadership Institute will provide young women and youth with disabilities with increased skills and the opportunity to apply these skills, while creating access to professional networks is intended to improve their sense of agency and thereby employability.

Purpose

This Terms of Reference (TOR) describes the tasks and responsibilities of the consultant services needed to deliver the Life Skills and Job Readiness training curricula of the Salalem Leadership Institute. The Salalem team expects the delivery to be disability inclusive (meaning appropriate accommodations are made for persons with various types and severity of disabilities) and gender-responsive in accordance with the Salalem Leadership Institute curriculum.

Under this consultancy: The Life Skills and Job Readiness Trainer (the ‘Consultant’) will primarily be responsible for the following activities:

• Attend Orientation Sessions on Training Curricula: The Salalem team will organize an orientation session for the Consultant to become familiar with the content and delivery of the two courses. The Consultant will participate in these sessions to ensure full understanding of the curricula (for both Life Skills and Job Readiness training courses), the project, and the specific approaches to ensure the responsiveness to the target populations, especially youth with disabilities.
• Deliver the following two trainings:
  1. Life Skills Training: The Life Skills Module is delivered in five (5), half-day sessions for a total of 20 training hours. In this foundational module, participants gain essential life and soft skills necessary to improve their employability. The Life Skills Module is expected to focus on the needs and employability of young women and youth with disabilities. Key male influencers participate in two (2) sessions where they will work together with participants (youth with disabilities) to discuss how the household will benefit from the program (e.g. joint goal setting and decision-making, sharing responsibilities in the family and home, financial planning, etc.). 
  2. The Job Readiness Training: The job Readiness Module will consist of eight (8), day sessions over a period of eight (8) weeks. In addition to training days (4 hours per week) the participants will complete an eight (8) week un-paid internship with an employer as an opportunity to apply life skills learned in a formal work environment while gaining a real-world job experience and beginning to build a network. The Salalem team will work with employers to ensure there is a clear job description and understanding of employer needs. The Salalem team will then compare these needs against participant profiles developed from the participant application and intake forms. Internships are anticipated to be four days per week for the eight-week duration. In addition to covering scheduled training topics, weekly training sessions with the consultant will offer interns the opportunity to meet together as a group to discuss challenges, learning, and further develop skills which are critical to secure and maintain employment. Illustrative skills covered in the training include the reinforcement of key life skills coupled with additional skills like resume development, cover letter writing, interview skills, networking, and job search best practices. Male influencers and employers will be engaged in key activities.

The Consultant is expected to deliver the two training courses which meet the following expectations:

1. Be accommodated to the unique needs of youth with disabilities, aged 18-35, who have graduated from university or TVET programs.
2. Be accessible to youth aged, 18-35, with various types and levels of disabilities:
   1. Training content (all activities, exercises, etc.) must consider appropriate accommodations for those with physical, sensory (seeing and hearing), and developmental disabilities. This may include activities which are fully accessible or identification of adaptations that can be made when needed.
   2. Training material must be accessible. As an example, this may include the inclusion of audio or video files to ensure accessibility for those with sensory impairments.
3. Be inclusive to participants’ households, particularly male co-decision makers as they will also engage in key sessions.
4. Training materials will be delivered to participants both through physical organized sessions and through virtual sessions and recorded videos. The Consultant should be able to work in coordination with Salalem to support the transition of key content to be delivered through virtual means.

• Regular reporting to the Salalem team: Communicate with the Salalem team on the progress and results of the implementation of the training at minimum on weekly basis and identify immediately any challenges or concerns with the curricula. CRS and/or ‘QADER staff will attend the trainings regularly for monitoring purposes; visits may be announced or unannounced.
• Contribute to Learning Event at Conclusion of Cohort 1: Following the completion of Cohort 1, the Salalem team will host a learning event to discuss the successes, challenges, and identify adaptations to the curricula to strengthen the approach for future cohorts. The Consultant is expected to participate in and contribute recommendations for strengthening the curricula in the future.
• COVID-19 Precautions and Adaptations: Due to the rapidly evolving context related to COVID-19, the Consultant will be expected to follow strict mitigation measures during delivery of the training and will work closely with the Salalem team to adapt the training delivery as needed to ensure the safety of the Consultant, staff, participants, and the community. The Consultant must be prepared and able to deliver online training through synchronous, asynchronous, and/or a mixed methods approach as detailed in the curriculum. Where in-person trainings are deemed possible in accordance with local regulations, QADER and CRS safety regulations, key mitigation measures for participants and the Consultant are listed below but are subject to change at any time during the training:
  • Use hand sanitizers* before entering the training and regularly during the day;
  • Take temperature* before entering the training;
  • Wear mask* during all times during the visits and interviews.
  • Adhere to social distancing, (2 meters) at all times, with and between participants;

*Note, all supplies will be provided by the project, but it will be the Consultant’s responsibility to ensure the adherence to these measures. Failure to adhere to safety measures related to COVID-19 will result in disciplinary measures up to and including termination of this agreement.

• Virtual Training Facilitation, Questions and Answers Sessions: the consultant should be experienced and/or have the capacity to facilitate the training through virtual sessions in case in-person training was not possible due to the COVID 19 context in WB. Following virtual synchronous sessions, the consultant should facilitate Questions and Answers (Q&A) sessions to trainees to receive their feedback, answer the questions, discuss challenges while working on building their own competitive business plans during the training 2 weeks period.

Level of Effort and Timeline:

The following activities and timelines demonstrate the time expected for the consultancy. The hours listed in this table reflect the maximum number of hours allotted under this consultancy. Hours in excess of those reflected here will require an amendment to the agreement and prior approval by both CRS and QADER.

Level of Effort Activity 2-3 Days (Up to 15 hours) Attendance of Orientation Sessions on Curricula 5 Days (20 hours) Delivery of Life Skills Training Modules 8 Days (32 hours) Delivery of Job Readiness Training Modules 1 Day (Up to 4 hours) Participation in Learning Event

* Additional time preparing for sessions is also expected.

Minimum Required Qualifications:

• Demonstrated facilitation skills and at least 3 years of experience delivering locally relevant life, soft, and job-readiness skills trainings in the West Bank.
• Experience delivering culturally appropriate, gender-responsive trainings.
• Experience delivering inclusive trainings that are adapted to and responsive to the specific needs of persons with disabilities.
• Previous experience in delivering and/or facilitating virtual training.
• Consulting / training firms must be legally registered with the PA and with any other business regulators, with supporting documentation provided upon request; this does not apply to individual consultants applying for this opportunity.
• Have Arabic proficiency (required) and working knowledge of English language (preferred).

Tentative Dates: *

• Submission deadline: 11 January 2021, 4:00 pm
• Selection decision: 20 January 2021
• Participation in Orientation Sessions: 25-29 January 2021
• Delivery of Life Skills Training: 1 February- 12 February 2021
• Delivery of Job Readiness Training: 15 February- 10 April 2021
• Learning Event: 19-20 April 2021

 **Final dates are subject to change based on Consultant selection and start date of the project.

Interested Consultant/team shall download the Solicitation Document from QADER's Website on the following link: www.qader.org/category-53/2656.html, and submit their offer accordingly to [email protected], no later than 16:00 PM on Monday 11th of January 2021.

QADER is an equal opportunity employer, where qualified women, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented populations are encouraged to apply and to seek QADER support on the application process where additional accommodation is required.