TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR)

1. Introduction/Background

Kohistan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), has some of the weakest education indicators in Pakistan. According to the 2019–20 Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey, Kohistan has the highest proportion of out-of-school children in KP, and girls make up about 72% of them. Exclusion is concentrated early in schooling, with dropout beginning between the ages of nine and eleven, and female literacy in Lower Kohistan is as low as 2.95%. Steep terrain and scattered settlements, a shortage of female teachers, schools without basic facilities, household poverty, and deeply rooted socio-cultural norms on girls’ mobility and early marriage all keep girls out of school.

Pak Mission Society (PMS), with funding from Kindermissionswerk (KMW), is implementing the 36-month project Inclusive Education Recovery and Girls’ Empowerment Initiative in Kohistan (August 2026 – July 2029) in Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas Kohistan. The project establishes 20 Community Learning and Reintegration Centres (CLRCs) for 2,000 out-of-school children aged 6–14 (about 65% girls), improves 20 surrounding government primary schools, trains 150 government teachers, forms 20 Girls’ STEAM Clubs and 20 Mothers’ Groups (200 mothers), and strengthens 20 School Management Committees. It also works with the district education authorities and the KP Elementary & Secondary Education Department (E&SED).

As CLRC graduates move into government schools, a critical question is whether girls can stay in education beyond the primary level. Communities have told PMS that, with no middle school within safe walking distance, adolescent girls often stay at home. The project therefore includes a Participatory Action Research (PAR) activity on the barriers to girls’ transition to middle school, with focus groups of girls, mothers, teachers and Jirga members. The findings will also inform one policy brief covering two themes: barriers to girls’ transition to middle school in Kohistan, and cost-effective community-based education models for remote areas. The brief will be submitted to KP E&SED and the district education authorities and presented at the Provincial Conference (“Kohistan Girls’ Education Summit”). The research thus supports Outcome 3 (evidence-based advocacy and a stronger enabling environment for girls’ education) and the project’s adaptive management.

PMS intends to engage a qualified consultancy firm, with demonstrated experience in similar assignments, to design and conduct this participatory action research.

2. Objectives

The overall objective is to generate participatory, evidence-based understanding of why girls in the Kohistan and surrounding districts do not progress from primary to middle school, to test practical community-led responses, and to provide actionable recommendations for the project and for education authorities.

The specific objectives of the consultancy are:

1. Identify and analyse the social, cultural, economic, institutional and supply-side barriers that prevent or delay girls’ transition from primary to middle school, as perceived by girls, mothers, fathers, teachers, School Management Committees (SMCs), elders, religious leaders and education officials.
2. Understand the transition pathways of CLRC graduates and other girls aged approximately 10–14, including who drops out, when, and why.
3. Map the availability, distance, accessibility, safety and capacity of middle schools, including the availability of female teachers and gender-appropriate facilities.
4. Engage girls, mothers and community structures in co-designing, trying out and reflecting on practical, locally owned solutions through at least two action–reflection cycles.
5. Document cost-effective community-based education models suited to remote mountainous settings, drawing lessons from the CLRC model, including cost per learner and the institutional arrangements that make such models workable.
6. Provide clear, practical recommendations for PMS and the project, and policy-ready evidence for the project’s policy brief to KP E&SED and the district education authorities.
7. What are the main barriers to girls’ transition to middle school, and how do they differ by valley, village, household situation and age?
8. At what points and for what reasons do girls leave education or fail to progress, and what is the experience of CLRC graduates / ALP and government reintegration center?
9. What is the overall experience of the ALP/ CLRC center if previously established by Government, CSO or education authority, best practices and learning of failure, if any?
10. Who influences the decision on a girl’s continued schooling (parents, extended family, Jirga, religious leaders, teachers), and how?
11. What is the situation of middle schools in terms of distance, route safety, facilities and female teachers, and what would make them accessible to girls? Schools’ facilities, such as WASH, segregated toilet, MHM facilities etc.
12. What solutions do girls, mothers and communities themselves propose, and which tried-out actions prove feasible, acceptable and low-cost?
13. What do community-based education models cost per learner, what makes them effective in remote areas, and what could government systems absorb?
14. What changes in policy and programming are recommended at project, district and provincial level?

Key Research Questions

3. Scope of Work

The consultant/firm will perform the following tasks:

Inception and Research Design

• Review relevant documents: the project proposal and logframe, baseline and KAP survey data, conducted by other organization, CLRC attendance and assessment data, school records, KP E&SED and district education data, and literature on girls’ education and school transition in KP and Pakistan.
• Conduct an inception meeting with PMS to confirm objectives, target villages, expectations and links to the policy brief and Provincial Conference.
• Develop the PAR design (action–reflection cycles), sampling approach, data collection tools, ethics and safeguarding protocol, and a detailed field work plan that accounts for seasonal access (winter closure, landslide-prone months).
• Prepare tools in English and Urdu with local-language guides (Shina and Kohistani where required); recruit and orient a gender-balanced field team that includes female researchers; pilot-test the tools.
• Conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) with girls, in separate groups by age and status (CLRC graduates, in-school girls, dropped-out or never-enrolled girls), and with mothers (including Mothers’ Groups), fathers/male guardians, teachers and CLRC facilitators, SMC members, and Jirga members, elders and religious leaders.
• Conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) with District Education Officers and district education staff, head teachers, and KP E&SED representatives.
• Use participatory tools such as problem trees, barrier ranking, seasonal calendars, mobility and distance mapping, girls’ life-path/transition mapping, and community scorecards.
• Map and assess middle schools serving the target villages (distance, route safety, facilities, teachers, female staff, enrolment).
• Document selected girls’ transition stories as case studies, only with proper consent/assent and safeguards.
• Facilitate community action planning workshops in which girls, mothers, SMCs and elders prioritise barriers and select practical, low-cost actions (for example safe group travel or escort arrangements, engagement with elders, links with the nearest middle school, role-model mentoring).
• Support PMS field teams and existing project structures (Mothers’ Groups, SMCs, STEAM Clubs, dialogue forums) in trying out the agreed actions. Actions must stay within the project scope and approved resources and be agreed with PMS beforehand; the consultant facilitates and documents, while PMS implements.
• Observe and document what worked, what did not and why, through reflection sessions with participants.
• Using PMS cost and enrolment data, together with secondary data from government schools and comparable community-based models in remote areas, analyse cost per learner, resource needs and institutional arrangements.
• Identify enabling conditions, risks and the aspects of the CLRC model that district or provincial education authorities could adopt or absorb.
• Validate key findings with community representatives (in local languages) and with PMS.
• Hold a validation workshop with district education officials, PMS and other relevant stakeholders to test the recommendations.
• Analyse and triangulate qualitative and quantitative data, disaggregated by sex, age, valley and village where possible.
• Prepare the draft and final research reports, a policy-ready evidence summary, and anonymized datasets and records.
• Incorporate feedback from PMS and KMW into the final deliverables.

Cycle 1 – Participatory Field Research (Diagnose & Plan)

Cycle 2 – Action, Observation & Reflection

Cost-Effectiveness of Community-Based Education Models

Validation and Stakeholder Engagement

Analysis and Reporting

Note: the policy brief and its translation will have strong link in of this assignment. The consultant will provide the evidence on which the brief is based and respond to PMS queries while it is drafted.

4. Timeframe

The estimated working days for each activity are shown below. Fieldwork must be planned around the winter shutdown (December–February)..

5. Deliverables

The following are the expected deliverables, with indicative timelines and estimated working days:

The final report (maximum 40 pages excluding annexes, in English) should include, at minimum:

• Executive Summary
• Background, Purpose and Research Questions
• Methodology, Ethical Considerations and Limitations
• Study Area and Participant Profile
• Findings on Barriers to Girls’ Transition to Middle School (by category, valley and village)
• Girls’ Transition Pathways, including CLRC Graduates
• Middle School Availability, Access and Safety Mapping
• Community Decision-Making Dynamics and Role of Key Influencers
• Action–Reflection Cycle Results and Lessons Learned
• Cost-Effective Community-Based Education Models (including cost per learner)
• Gender, Inclusion and Child Protection Considerations
• Conclusions
• Prioritised Recommendations for PMS/Project, District Education Authorities, KP E&SED and Partners
• Annexes: tools, list of participants (anonymized), field schedule, consent/assent forms, and ToR

The policy-ready evidence summary (3–4 pages) should present key findings and evidence-based recommendations organized under the two policy brief themes, with anonymized quotes and case examples.

6. Methodology

The consultant will adopt a participatory, qualitative-led mixed-methods approach following the plan–act–observe–reflect cycle, including:

• Desk review of project, education sector and policy documents.
• Focus group discussions with girls, mothers, fathers/male guardians, teachers, SMC members and Jirga members, elders and religious leaders. Separate groups will be held for women and girls, facilitated by female researchers.
• Key informant interviews with education officials, head teachers and CLRC facilitators.
• Participatory exercises (problem tree, barrier ranking, seasonal calendar, mobility mapping, girls’ life-path mapping, community scorecards).
• School and facility mapping, and transition case studies.
• Community action planning, tried-out actions and reflection workshops (at least two action–reflection cycles).
• Cost analysis of community-based education models using project and secondary data.
• Triangulation across respondent groups and sources, and validation with communities, PMS and district stakeholders.

Indicatively, fieldwork should cover at least 30 - 40 villages, representative of the valleys of Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, with roughly 30 FGDs and 25 to 30 KIIs, including Provincial level.

Bidders shall propose a refined sampling plan with justification. Structured data should preferably be collected digitally (for example on KoBoToolbox), in line with the project’s M&E system.

7. Ethical, Safeguarding and Security Requirements

• Compliance with KMW child protection requirements and the PMS Child Safeguarding Policy; all team members must sign the PMS code of conduct and safeguarding commitments before fieldwork.
• Informed consent from adults and parental/guardian consent plus child assent for girls; participation is voluntary and participants may withdraw at any time.
• Female researchers must lead FGDs and interviews with girls and women. No researcher may be alone with an individual girl (two-adult rule). Photos or recordings of girls require explicit consent.
• Community entry will follow local protocols through the Jirga and PMS field staff; the principles of do no harm, cultural sensitivity and confidentiality apply. Findings must not expose individual girls, families or communities to risk.
• Compliance with PMS security procedures, including required clearances/NOCs, and immediate suspension of fieldwork on PMS instruction during high-alert periods or tribal tension.
• Data protection: secure storage of recordings and notes, anonymization of datasets and reports.
• All data, tools and reports are the property of PMS and KMW. They may not be published or shared without PMS’s written permission.
• Provide project documents, baseline/KAP and CLRC data, and relevant cost information.
• Facilitate introductions to communities, Jirgas, SMCs and district education offices through the PMS field team (Pattan Field Office), and coordinate security clearances.
• Review and provide feedback on draft deliverables within five working days of submission.
• The consultant is responsible for its own staff, travel, accommodation and logistics, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

8. PMS Support

9. Selection Criteria

Preference will be given to registered consultancy/research firms. Individual consultants will be considered only if they can demonstrate a team with the required capacity. The firm should meet the following criteria:

• Registered consultancy/research firm in Pakistan (SECP or other relevant authority) / individual with a valid CNIC/NTN and active taxpayer status.
• Minimum seven (7) years of experience in social or education research, evaluation or assessment.
• Having relevant education and studied research as major subject and completed research on similar topic during the master’s degree – eligibility requirement
• Successful completion of at least three (3) similar assignments in the last five years, such as participatory action research or qualitative research on girls’ education, out-of-school children, school dropout/transition, child protection, or education sector assessments. Proof (contracts, completion certificates or reference letters) is required. eligibility requirement
• Demonstrated experience in participatory and action research methods and in producing evidence for policy advocacy or government engagement.
• Experience working with NGOs, INGOs, donors and government education departments.
• Experience in remote, conservative or hard-to-reach areas of KP (Kohistan, Hazara, Shangla, Swat or merged districts) will be preferred.
• A gender-balanced team including female researchers with the ability to work in Shina/Kohistani, Pashto and Urdu.
• Team Leader with at least a master’s degree (MS/ MPhil/PhD preferred) in education, social sciences, gender or development studies, and at least ten (10) years of research experience. Eligibility requirement
• Understanding of child safeguarding and ethical research with children and women.

10. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated on a combined technical and financial basis (technical 70%, financial 30%). the financial proposal fall within the acceptable threshold will be selected for technical evaluation.

11. Desired Competencies, Technical Background, and Experience

• Strong knowledge of participatory action research and qualitative research methods.
• Expertise in girls’ education, gender and social norms, and education in fragile or remote contexts.
• Experience facilitating community and girl-centred participatory processes, including with women and adolescent girls.
• Ability to analyse costs and cost-effectiveness of education models.
• Strong qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills.
• Knowledge of the KP education system and the local context of Kohistan.
• Strong stakeholder consultation and facilitation skills.
• Excellent report writing skills, including producing policy-oriented evidence.
• Commitment to child safeguarding and ethical research standards.

12. Technical Proposal

Following documents should be submitted in the technical proposal

-       Understanding of the assignment.

• Proposed methodology and PAR design, including sampling and the action–reflection cycles.
• Detailed work plan with timeline, showing how seasonal access constraints will be managed.
• Data collection, analysis and quality assurance approach.
• Ethics, child safeguarding and security plan. Submit the one-page document which can demonstrate the ethical consideration during the assignment
• Firm profile, registration documents (SECP/NTN) and relevant experience.
• List of at least three similar completed assignments (client, year, scope, contact) with supporting proof.
• Profiles/CVs of the proposed team, including the Team Leader and female researchers, and their language capacity.
• Three samples of similar research work (anonymized, if necessary).
• At least three references from similar past assignments.

13. Financial Proposal

The financial proposal should provide a detailed budget in Pakistani Rupees (PKR), including professional fees by team member and day, field costs (travel, accommodation, enumerators/facilitators, community workshops), translation, data and reporting costs, and all applicable taxes. The proposal must be all-inclusive and should not exceed 10% of the available budget.

14. Payment Terms

• Payments will be linked to approved deliverables: 30% on approval of the inception report and tools; 40% on approval of the draft report; 30% on acceptance of the final report and policy-ready evidence summary.
• Taxes will be deducted as per government rules.

15. How to Apply

Interested firms/induvial should submit their cover letters, profiles, registration documents and CVs along with technical and financial proposals on or before 20^th Nov 2026 by the close of business, quoting reference of assignment.

For any query, please share the email via email at [email protected]:

Procurement Manager

Pak Mission Society

House # 90, Street 34 - Sector G-14 / 4 - Islamabad

+92-51-8446166