Eritrea: Innovation Development ,Eritrea

Request for Proposal

1)Introduction

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is the largest Finnish development cooperation Organisation and the second largest provider of humanitarian aid. We operate in over 20 countries, where the need is most dire. We work with the poorest people, regardless of their religious beliefs, ethnic background or political affiliations. Our work is based on rights, which means that our operations are guided by equality, non-discrimination and responsibility. To this end, FCA is committed to working until the people in need can secure their livelihood and satisfy their basic needs independently.

FCA specializes in supporting local communities in three priority areas: right to livelihood, right to education and right to peace.

Finn Church Aid (FCA) has entered into a three year agreement with the Eritrean national Commission for Higher Education to form an educational partnership aimed at revitalizing the education system in Eritrea. The agreement will run until December 2017.

2)Background

Innovation is vital to economic and social development and challenges never been more complex, such as lack of employment opportunities for youth, impact of climate change on food security, overstretched and under-resourced education systems, etc. In recognition of the need for home-grown, efficient and dynamic solutions, the Government of Eritrea invited Finn Church Aid (FCA) to work alongside Eritrean partners to support innovation development within Eritrea.

In May 2015, FCA led a two-day workshop with 30 diverse actors from government, local NGOs, youth groups, and UN agencies to develop a vision for Eritrea’s first innovation hub and to determine how to create an innovation ecosystem that will foster innovation in the long-term. Numerous consultations innovation hubs in Finland and East Africa were also conducted to further inform the vision and strategy. The report Revised Roadmap for National Innovation Support Center of Eritrea was produced to consolidate learnings and provide concrete steps for moving this initiative forward.

Purpose: The goal of the innovation hub is to engage youth and bring together diverse actors to creatively address the complex challenges facing Eritrea today.

What: The innovation hub will focus on these core activities:

· Amplify the innovations happening across Eritrea to stimulate learning and exchange through multimedia, expos, and community events [1] Competition challenges will also be held to recognize individuals or teams of innovators who have found practical solutions to a development challenge in their community.

· Learn and deepen essential skills for innovation through specialized, hands-on courses designed to help young innovators adapt core skills such as critical thinking, creativity collaboration, and “design thinking”, a methodology for designing and testing new solutions. Training will also be available on other topics to help youth scale up their solution, such as self-employment, financial management, and other topics identified by participants.

· Connect young innovators to resources (such as funding, hardware) and mentors within Eritrea and globally to bring their ideas to life.

· Explore innovations outside Eritrea and find ways to adapt them to Eritrea’s specific context and needs.

The hub will focus on engaging youth who are eager for change and have enormous creative capacity to chart the path for sustainable development. In line with government priorities, particular attention will be paid to ensuring gender equity is promoted throughout the all hub activities. However, innovations can also come from age groups that do not neatly fit within the definition of youth and given scale and complexity of current issues, it is essential that the youth definition does not exclude passionate innovators outside the youth definition.

3)Activities for the Consultant

The sought consultant/s will work with FCA Regional Education Specialist and the Eritrea team on the following activities.

August

· Design and launch first “Design for Change” innovation course for 40 youth entrepreneurs (include designing and testing prototypes). Participants will be selected through a competitive application process, where applicants submit an idea to a design challenge (TBD). The seven-day course will use experiential, learner-centred methodology to help learners break develop their idea and develop a plan for prototyping their innovation.

September:

· Conduct “Impact Accelerator” pilot for select graduates from “Design for Change” course. In this x day course, participants learn strategies to refine, scale up and market solutions, and are linked to local and international design experts who will continue to mentor the participants after the course.

· Facilitate development of Innovation Hub mandate, objectives, and target activities for 2016-2017

4)Key Skills Required

· Proven experience in social innovation, with extensive experience working in the East African context.

· Proven expertise in designing tailored courses and learning opportunities for youth in social innovation in development/humanitarian contexts.

· Has established networks with social innovations hubs internationally and in the East African region.

· Has proven expertise in organizational and strategy development in the innovation sector.

· Fluency in oral and written communication in English.

5)Application Process

The Consultant/Company shall work in good cooperation with FCA staff in the ESARO field office.

Timeline: July 15^th– October 1st

Requirements:

· Profile of the consultant or consultancy firm

· Interpretation of the Terms of reference

· Solid evidence of how the application meets the TOR requirements

· Proposed Methodology

· Proposed Work Plan

· Proposed Budget which should include travel and accommodation costs and other expenses pertaining to the proposal

Deadline for submission of full and final proposals is 15 June 2016 by 12 pm. All bids should be received in a sealed envelope through Finn Church Aid Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office; AACC Building, Church Road, Waiyaki Way, P O Box 35635 ,00200 Nairobi Kenya OR via email to recruitment.esaro@kua.fi

All bids to be marked”Innovation Development, Eritrea”.