GCRF Africa Catalyst: Capacity-building of Professional Engineering Institutions in sub- Saharan Africa

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GCRF Africa Catalyst: Capacity-building of Professional Engineering Institutions in sub- Saharan Africa Deadline for submissions: 2 nd March 2018 at 4pm

1 GCRF Africa Catalyst: Capacity-building of Professional Engineering Institutions in sub- Saharan Africa Deadline for submissions: 2 nd March 2018 at 4pm All submissions to be sent to: louise.olofsson@raeng.org.uk The Royal Academy of Engineering Prince Philip House 3 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5DG 1

2 The Royal Academy of Engineering As the UK s national academy for engineering, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers for a shared purpose: to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society. Our vision is to position engineering at the heart of a sustainable and prosperous society, improving lives and opportunities. We are a national academy with a global outlook. The Academy have three strategic objectives, each of which provides a key contribution to a strong and vibrant engineering sector and to the health and wealth of society: Make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation and businesses Address the engineering skills crisis Position engineering at the heart of society The Academy s role is to provide leadership for the profession, in the UK and internationally, harnessing Fellow s expertise to provide authoritative policy advice, driving engagement with and communication of engineering and delivering programmes that support engineering excellence for societal benefit. The values of the Academy are integrity and openness, excellence and continual improvement, inclusivity and equality of opportunity, and partnership working. To find out more, please visit our website: Invitation to tender This invitation to tender invites proposals to address the research objective of GCRF Africa Catalyst: To identify how professional engineering bodies can best promote the profession and better understand the current engineering landscape in east, west and southern Africa. The Academy is expecting the appointed UK researcher(s) to work with local researchers, professional engineering bodies and other relevant stakeholders in sub-saharan Africa to map the current engineering landscape, explore which interventions are having the greatest benefit, and build on existing research to evidence the role robust professional engineering bodies can play in driving social and economic development. The full scope of the project is outlined below. 2

3 Background and requirements 1. Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) The Academy launched GCRF Africa Catalyst in September 2016 under its remit as a delivery partner for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The aim of the GCRF is to ensure UK science takes the lead in addressing the problems faced by developing countries, and to increase research capacity and capability in the UK and in developing countries. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the strategy for the fund (link above). 2. GCRF Africa Catalyst The overall aim of GCRF Africa Catalyst is to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-saharan Africa so that they can effectively promote the profession, share best practise and increase local engineering capacity, to help drive development. This is to be supported by high quality research focusing on expanding the evidence base for the importance of robust engineering institutions and the role they play in delivering sustainable growth, and mapping engineering capacity and diversity in the countries where grant funding has been administered. A cross-cutting objective for the programme areas is diversity, and this is an important aspect of the research. To find out more about how the Academy define diversity in engineering, please visit our website. GCRF Africa Catalyst has two objectives, the first one is focused on capacity building of professional engineering bodies as outlined above this is something the Academy is striving to achieve through the grant giving aspect of the programme. After completing 15 pilot projects in July 2017, eight larger scale projects have been awarded grants please see more information about the current grants in Annex A. The Academy is expecting to award further grants in 2019 and The second objective is relating to this tender: Objective 2: To identify how professional engineering bodies can best promote the profession and better understand the current engineering landscape in east, west and southern Africa. The Academy is expecting the appointed UK researcher to work with local researchers, professional engineering bodies and other relevant stakeholders to build local research capacity, map the current engineering landscape, explore which interventions are having the greatest benefit, and build on existing research to evidence the role robust professional engineering bodies can play in driving social and economic national development. 3

4 Through GCRF Africa Catalyst, the Academy is promoting collaboration between countries in sub-saharan Africa and the UK. In addition, the Academy is encouraging further collaborations, both locally, regionally and internationally. This is an open tender for UK researchers working in collaboration with one or more researchers based in sub-saharan Africa. The Academy expects the researchers to engage with professional engineering bodies in the programmerelevant countries in sub-saharan Africa, benefitting through objective one*. * Currently Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. 3. Project Management The Academy is the body responsible for commissioning the report, and Louise Olofsson is the GCRF Programme Manager who will be the main point of contact for the Researchers, with support from Meredith Ettridge, Senior International Development Manager. Their role is to provide input to the researcher, help ensure the quality of the study by reacting to work plans, methodology, initial findings and reports as well as making introductions to relevant stakeholders. 4. Research Expectations a. The researcher should engage with all grantees under objective one of the GCRF Africa Catalyst programme (introductions will be made by the Academy), as well as other relevant stakeholders. Suggestions for guidance to grantees on monitoring and evaluation will be viewed favourably. A two day kick-off meeting will take place in April 2018, where the Academy is expecting the appointed researcher to host a workshop. The Academy will cover the expenses for this, but would expect the researcher to budget for their time in the proposal. b. The successful researcher or research team is required to involve researchers from sub-saharan Africa to ensure cost-effectiveness and to gain local knowledge whilst building research capacity. c. There would be an expectation that existing data would be mapped, fact checked and incorporated into the research. d. All proposals should reflect how they intend to work with existing regional structures in Africa, such as The Federation of African Engineering Organizations (FAEO) and other regional structures that might be useful for the research. 4

5 e. The Academy would expect that the research will map the current status of engineers, professional engineering bodies and engineering capacity in east west and southern Africa, with a focus on regional insights. f. There is also an expectation that a capacity baseline of professional engineering bodies receiving grants under the second phase of GCRF Africa Catalyst is carried out, the impact of interventions measured, and an analysis of the importance of robust professional engineering bodies in terms of local engineering capacity and socio-economic development provided. 5. Schedule, Deliverables and Reporting Task Time The researchers prepare an inception report, including April 2018 work plan, methodology etc. Meeting with Academy staff Early April 2018 Host a workshop at kick off meeting with grantees April 2018 Updates to the Academy Monthly 3 regional reports: east, west and southern Africa 1/year 3 deep dive reports 1/year The intended start date is 3 April 2018 and depending on satisfactory reports and good working relationships with the Academy and the grantees, the contract will run until March There will be an annual review in March 2019 and March Upon decision on termination of the contract, there will be a one-month notice period and the contract should seize in April, after the following the payment. Please prepare your proposal assuming a three-year appointment, clearly outlining what would be delivered in each year. The budget is up to 150K per year, paid in two instalments (October and April). All reports must actively consider diversity and the impact this has on the findings. The regional reports of the current engineering landscape should include information on the capacity, quality and number of professional engineering bodies and how they contribute to improve engineering and progress towards the SDGs. It is important that those reports provide insight to why the region is in its current situation, the impact of the situation and recommended actions. The Academy is open to suggestions from the researcher on themes of deep dives. Those should be outlined in the tender and approved during the inception meeting in April We are however looking for one of those deep dives to be a comparative analysis on depth of impact in the projects supported under objective one. It is important that none of the deep dives overlap with the projects being implemented under objective one but rather complement those. We are 5

6 suggesting that the deep dives are focussing on how professional engineering bodies in sub-saharan Africa help address issues such as for example infrastructure, water or energy and how they are, or could, help drive change to contribute towards the social and economic development, as well as the achievement of the SDGs, but are as previously mentioned, open to suggestions. Regarding the capacity building element of local researchers and other activities outside of the report writing, the Academy expects to find out about progress in the monthly updates. The reports should include an executive summary and are to be submitted to Louise Olofsson. The Academy is responsible for approving the reports. 6. Academic Publication Rights The Academy, as the funder, will have rights to publish all reports in its standard format. We also reserve the rights to publish executive summaries without including the full reports. Authors will be acknowledged on the inside cover. As a publicly funded body, the Academy will also make the report available on an open access basis. The work may be used by the authors to create academic outputs. 7. Submissions of Proposals Respondents must provide an electronic copy of the proposal to louise.olofsson@raeng.org no later than 4pm 2 March In the interests of consistency and to enable an efficient and fair evaluation, responses to this ITT must: include an executive summary providing an overview of the response and highlighting the most important points include a company/organisation profile be self-contained include terms and conditions Tender documents should: outline the researchers understanding of the proposal provide information on the proposed approach provide a proposed timetable of activities and a schedule against key deliverables provide the names and information on the experience and suitability of staff who will be involved in the project, including information about the sub- Saharan researchers and previous collaborations identify the tasks each member of staff will carry out provide a full budget breakdown 6

7 include two previous client contacts as references, with the addresses, and telephone number details and a brief description of the projects 8. Proposed Costs Proposals must include information about costs and state whether these do or do not include VAT or any other levies. Costs should be broken down by category and include staff costs broken down by individual FTE. By submission of a proposal, the vendor warrants that the prices in the proposal have been arrived at independently, without consultation or agreement with any other potential vendor. The Academy will pay on results, in October (up to 50K) and April (up to 100K) each year. 9. Contractual Information All tenders must remain valid for a period of 90 days from the date of submission by the vendor. This ITT and the information contained within it are deemed to be as confidential information. Vendors and/or their agents or business partners responding to this ITT, do so entirely at their own cost. The Academy operates in compliance with UK Bribery Act 2010, relevant international and local law, and require suppliers to do the same. GCRF Africa Catalyst is funded by the UK Government s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget; all activities must be ODA appropriate. 10. Selection Criteria Shortlisted organisations may be invited to discuss their proposals at an interview to be held at the Academy. In selecting a researcher/research team, the Academy will use the criteria below (please note that the order of this list is not significant and does not imply the order of importance and that this list is indicative only and is not exhaustive). A key criteria will be the cost-effectiveness of the proposal. understanding of the objectives and requirements proposed methodology and quality of the solution relevant experience of similar projects ability to meet the timetable overall value for money balance between UK/sub-Saharan African researchers 7

8 11. Questions Any questions in connection with this tender should be directed to: Louise Olofsson GCRF Programme Manager The Royal Academy of Engineering Prince Philip House 3 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5DG Tel:

9 Annex A Federation of African Engineering Organisations (Nigeria) UK Partner: Red R Project country: Nigeria Project length: 21 months This project is designed to strengthen the Federation of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO), a professional engineering body based in Nigeria, so that they can effectively promote the profession, share best practice, and increase local engineering capacity, to help drive development in the country and region. Founded in 2012, FAEO currently has 26-member countries. In order to better support its members, this project seeks to establish FAEO as an effective and selfsustainable organisation with sufficient staff. FAEO, with the support of RedR UK, will build up its own capacities to contribute to the overall objective and general impact that this project aims to achieve: Professional Engineering Institutes (PEIs) across Africa are better able to work towards international standards of education and accreditation through the support of the FAEO. WomEng (South Africa) UK Partner: Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership Project countries: Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe Project length: 35 months The aim of this project is to assist engineering bodies in Malawi, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Tanzania set up women in engineering chapters within respective engineering bodies leveraging off WomEng s skills and experience in developing and running women in engineering programmes across 13 countries. WomEng will assist in training and development of body members; this will include leadership and entrepreneurship training, continuous relevance amongst engineering professionals, diversity training and develop an execution plan of critical programmes pioneered by WomEng, which include high school STEM awareness programs and university employability, entrepreneurship and skills building programs for female engineers. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of registered female engineers in sub-saharan Africa Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers UK Partner: Engineers for Change (SL) Project countries: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria Project length: 36 months The aim of this project is to upgrade engineering training and practice in Sierra Leone. It has five different project areas: Part 1 - Young Engineers Corp 2, which looks at developing and further rolling out the soft skills development and work placement programme. Part 2 Raising standards at USL s Engineering Faculty, aiming to address the issues around the standards of the facilities and teaching resources available at Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone (USL). 9

10 Part 3 Attaining international academic accreditation, which involves expanding the Civil and Electrical Engineering degree course content to meet standards for international accreditation. Part 4 Improving professional training and developing CPD and supplementary training. Part 5 Promoting innovation in research to deliver commercial outcomes. SAICE Professional Development and Projects (South Africa) UK Partner: The Institution of Structural Engineers Project countries: South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Madagascar Project length: 36 months The intention of this project is to develop an easily customisable web tool that will allow professional bodies to develop their own websites, build up their own databases, advertise and manage events, share news, issue invoice notifications, and generally enhance and grow the services they currently offer. A toolkit of options and activities which should be put in place will be made available from which organisations can select to build up their services. Strengthening engineering networks and facilitating knowledge sharing and best practice will create opportunities for economic development, community and business engagement, leading to new and improved processes, business opportunities and service delivery. Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers UK Partner: The Institution of Engineering and Technology Project countries: Uganda Project length: 24 months The objectives of UIPE include promoting the general advancement of the practice of engineering and its applications and to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas. UIPE collaborates with universities and institutions on education and training in engineering science and practice. This project has the following objectives: a) Increase the services and benefits to members that will lead to more members joining the institution with a particular focus on female engineers, technologists and technicians. b) Promote and strengthen sustainability of capacity building initiatives for professionalism in the engineering sector. c) Support retention of engineering professionals in the engineering industry with a particular focus on female engineers, technologists and technicians. The overall goal of the project is to support UIPE in building capacity and skills of women engineers, technicians and technologists thus equipping them with the skills that can enhance their professionalism thereby contributing to national 10

11 development. The project will also enable UIPE crystallise lessons and learning into a Diversity and Inclusion Policy for UIPE. Institution of Engineers Rwanda UK Partner: Engineers Against Poverty Project countries: Rwanda Project length: 24 months This project aims to promote the training and development of engineers in Rwanda. The project will support: The development of a professional engineering institution that can effectively support and promote professionalism. Engineers as direct stakeholders to achieve the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy in Rwanda, with a high standard of professionalism. The capacity building of young graduate engineers by bridging the gap between universities or academic institutions and engineering practice through the development and delivery of an internship system. South African Institute of Agricultural Engineers UK Partner: Institution of Agricultural Engineers & Harper Adams University Project countries: South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria Project length: 12 months Food, water and energy insecurity are widespread throughout Africa. Technologies to promote food, water and energy security can be developed by Agricultural Engineers, hence there is a significant need to grow the Agricultural Engineering profession in Africa. The establishment of AfroAgEng will promote and grow the profession of Agricultural Engineering in Africa, which is necessary to provide the skilled human resources and technology for improved and sustainable water supply, food production, food processing, food storage and environmental management. This will promote the food, water and energy security required to meet the growing population, both in Africa and internationally, and thus support the reduction of poverty in rural marginalized societies. The project will also develop a strategy to promote collaboration between agricultural engineering societies and academic institutions in Africa and the UK, and thus provide a platform for joint projects and professional activities in the future. The Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers UK Partner: Engineers Against Poverty Project Countries: Nigeria, Ghana Project length: 12 months The NIMechE Innovation Challenge 2.0 builds on the success of the recently concluded NIMechE Innovation Challenge to deepen and expand the capacity of 11

12 undergraduates and young mechanical engineers in providing home-grown innovative solutions in agriculture, power supply, renewable energy and automation and to develop an effective system of knowledge sharing, collaboration and internship amongst mechanical engineers in Nigeria and Ghana. The NIMechE Innovation Challenge 2.0 is a 3-prong development programme dedicated to building the capacity of mechanical engineering students in Nigeria and Ghana through a comprehensive system of targeted learning in engineering development and entrepreneurship. 12

Higher Education Partnerships in sub- Saharan Africa Applicant Guidelines

Higher Education Partnerships in sub- Saharan Africa Applicant Guidelines Introduction Eligibility criteria Programme objectives Programme expectations Submission deadline Monitoring and evaluation Contact