Background

About the SURE Program

Background on your office, what your mandate is, to whom your report and how this relates to this exercise

Requirements
Intent
In general, an in-depth understanding of the nature, operations and locations of skills acquisition centres in Nigeria is required to aid in the definition of effective intervention programs by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). Thus, the services of a reputable research company are required to assist in conducting an assessment of existing skills acquisition centres across the nation, to facilitate the achievement of this programs objectives.

Program Objectives
The overall objectives of this engagement are to enable us: Provide a holistic view of the number of skills acquisition centres across the nation; their locations, in terms of geographic spread; and the types of programs that they run. Assess the effectiveness of the skills acquisition programme from the national, regional and state perspectives by determining the degree of impact these centres have had on its students Develop insights into the critical success factors for operating these centres in Nigeria towards determining strategies to be implemented that would significantly boost the productivity and effectiveness of these centres with limited financial intervention

Scope of Work
Based on the foregoing, the scope of this engagement is set out below:

Identification and classification of skills acquisition centres across the nation: The research company would be required to identify all skills acquisition centres, year of commencement of operations, specify location and current address, including details of key contact person for each Centre, specify ownership structure of each Centre (i.e.State, Federal, Individual or NGO); if owned by the Government, the research company must specify the relevant Ministry Department or Agency (MDA) that owns the Centre. The research company would also be required to classify the skills acquisition centre along the following parameters:

Foundation Training Centre: Basic training curriculum, basic facilities requiring fundamental technical competence to operate, qualification requirement for faculty members does not exceed foundation technical education (or its equivalent) Intermediate Training Centre: Intermediate training curriculum of higher technical content, use of more technical equipment/ facilities, higher qualification requirement for faculty members i.e. above foundation level (or its equivalent) Advanced Training Centre: Advanced training curriculum, advanced facilities requiring in-depth technical competence to operate, qualification requirement for faculty members is at an advanced level (or its equivalent)

Assessment of programs offered by each Centre: The research company would be required to collate the list of courses/training programmes offered at each Centre, the duration of each course, course fees (cost), average class size (per session), certification obtainable, frequency of each course in a year, target audience (student age, sex and demographics) Detailed assessment of the administrative and operational structure of each Centre: This would require a detailed assessment of the size and qualifications of faculty for each Centre, types and quantities of facilities in each Centre; breakdown of the annual throughput, in terms of the total number of students annually, details of the key operating expenses/ annual budget for each Centre Assessment of Student/Graduate Profile: The research company would be required to describe the typical class composition for each Centre (specifically average age and sex), assess the success rate for each Centre (i.e. total number of students they have trained and the percentage of students that completed their programs and graduated), assess the career path of the students after they complete the program i.e. further studies, labour market or entrepreneurship, determine if the trainees are earning an income and the source of income (labour market or self-employed) Assessment of improvement opportunities: A summary of the core competencies for each Centre, the key challenges commonly facing the Centres and the opportunities for improvement and upgrade of the Centres.

Deliverables
The deliverables required for this engagement are set out below: 1. An Inception Report submitted within two weeks of commencement of this engagement that includes but is not limited to: A comprehensive schedule of all skills acquisition centres including the location and classification as described above (this schedule should be presented in editable MS Excel format) Survey questions and other information gathering templates submitted for vetting and approval prior to administration of these surveys A list of resource requirements to facilitate successful delivery of the program objectives Report templates for final report; Template for report on each Centre and Template for summary report for all the Centres A work plan for the engagement highlighting key milestones and high-level activity schedules 2. A mid-term report and presentation submitted within eight weeks of commencement of this engagement that includes but is not limited to: Preliminary findings Status report and key achievements Key issues impacting progress A schedule of outstanding deliverables 3. A Draft report and presentation submitted within 14 weeks of commencement of this engagement that includes but is not limited to: An Executive Summary Overview of the assignment and its Objectives Research methodology Key findings Performance reporting Recommendations and conclusions

Methodology, Approach and Timelines

The overall methodology to be adopted for the assessment will be left to the discretion of the research expert. This must however be agreed with the Client prior to commencement. The market assessment is expected to be concluded within sixteen (16) weeks at the end of which the research company shall submit the deliverables in line with the approach outlined above.