Situational Review & Scoping of Initiatives Supporting Children’s Education in Conflict and Crisis Regions in Nigeria

1.ABOUT CO-IMPACT

Co-Impact is a global philanthropic collaborative to advance inclusive systems change, gender equality, and women’s leadership through grant making and influencing philanthropy. Our partners across Africa, Asia and Latin America engage public and market systems in health, education, and economic opportunity to enable these systems to serve people more effectively, fairly, and inclusively. We do not develop our own programmatic strategies; we focus instead on supporting the strategies of our program partners who are best placed to understand their contexts and approaches needed to shift systems. Our diverse team is located across 7 countries on 5 continents. For more information kindly visit www.coimpact.org and take a look at our Handbook.

2. RATIONALE AND PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY

Across Africa, Co-Impact’s partners are strengthening education systems to make them more effective, inclusive, and responsive—ensuring that all children can access quality learning and reach their full potential. Some partners work with governments to improve early childhood education, while others use scalable, evidence-based approaches to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy. Several are addressing barriers to girls’ education, and others are integrating life skills and sexual and reproductive health education into Government curricula. Partners are also advancing inclusion for children with disabilities and other marginalized learners, ensuring that no child is left behind.

Reaching Learners Left Behind due to Conflict and Crisis:

We are exploring how Co-Impact can help strengthen education and learning for children in conflict and crisis-affected states in Nigeria, where many have experienced disruptions to schooling, trauma, and exclusion that hinder their ability to learn, heal, and thrive, and also in recovery settings where education systems are stabilizing but remain fragile.

This dual approach on protracted conflict and recovery settings seeks to identify areas where children remain acutely at risk, as well as regions where strategic investment can help sustain progress toward stability. The focus geographies for protracted and recovery settings will likely include the North East (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa), North West (Zamfara, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto), and North Central (Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory/Abuja).

In communities affected by protracted crises or still recovering from years of conflict and instability, education systems are often fragmented, under-resourced, and unable to provide inclusive or continuous learning. Local and refugee-led organizations in these contexts also face chronic underfunding and are often limited by short-term, project-based support, which constrains their ability to drive sustainable, long-term change.

A major challenge is bridging the gap between short-term humanitarian response and long-term education system strengthening. Without sustained investment, these settings risk producing a lost generation of children denied both education and healing.

Through this exploration, Co-Impact aims to identify how best to support initiatives that meet children’s immediate educational needs while also strengthening the capacity of humanitarian actors, host governments, and local organizations to build resilient, inclusive education systems that endure beyond crises and respond effectively to the needs of crisis-affected learners.

3.SCOPE OF WORK & DELIVERABLES:

The consultant will conduct a situational analysis of key institutions and government stakeholders (Federal and State level) supporting education and learning for children affected by conflict and crisis in Nigeria. They will also map the main organizations (especially local organizations), major funders active in this area, as well as major windows of opportunity—including relevant policies, government commitments, and high-potential geographies—to expand access to education and learning for conflict-affected children and host communities at scale. The consultancy will be implemented in three phases.

i). Phase 1: Situational Review (November 2025): The consultant will map and assess key actors working in education in conflict and crisis settings in Nigeria—including government agencies, NGOs, and funders—focused on learners aged 4–18 years (from early childhood to secondary school). The analysis will describe and assess the existing efforts, gaps, and point to opportunities where Co-Impact can support systems-level change.

Deliverable: A desk review report summarizing key findings and including the names of key stakeholders and organizations recommended for engagement in Phase 2 of the work.

ii). Phase 2: In-depth interviews focus groups (December '25- January '26): Conduct in-depth interviews with the individuals, organizations, and key stakeholders identified in Phase 1 to to gather information on their roles, their current work, and their perspectives on what is needed to realize access to responsive, holistic education at scale for children impacted by conflict and crisis in Nigeria. Co-Impact is particularly interested in learning about:

• Organizations providing direct education services for crisis-affected learners from early childhood through secondary school, and the specific needs their programs address.
• Organizations with proven, evidence-based models that are ready to scale effective approaches to reach large numbers of learners, rather than those still in the early innovation or proof-of-concept stage.
• Organizations already working with Government partners or agencies at different levels (Federal, State or Local levels).
• Organizations working at the policy or systems level to promote early childhood education for conflict- and crisis-affected children, integrate trauma-informed approaches, strengthen teacher training, and address other system-level gaps that conflict-affected children face in areas such as nutrition, WASH, and infrastructure.
• Organizations working with families and communities, recognizing the vital role of parents, caregivers, and the wider community in providing holistic support to vulnerable children beyond the classroom—helping them stay in school and succeed in their education.
• Organizations focused on reaching sub-groups of children who experience worse education and learning outcomes in crisis contexts.

Deliverable: A summary document capturing information on all organizations contacted, including descriptions of their work, key contact persons, and the consultant’s assessment of their strengths, the reach of their programs, alignment with Co-Impact’s goals, and overall impact potential.

iii). Phase 3: Submission of report and recommendations (By Jan 15, 2026): A comprehensive report presenting key findings, analysis, and recommendations on:

• Potential organizations that Co-Impact could partner with.
• Key external stakeholders and thought leaders contributing to education in conflict and crisis contexts with whom Co-Impact should engage.
• The final report should incorporate feedback and recommendations from Co-Impact staff.

4.QUALIFICATIONS

The consultant should bring strong experience, local knowledge, and analytical skills to this assignment. Specifically, they should:

• Be a Nigerian citizen or long-term resident with at least 10 years of experience working in the education sector, particularly in humanitarian, conflict-affected, or crisis contexts across Nigeria.
• Have a deep knowledge of Nigeria’s education ecosystem, including the roles of civil society, Government at different levels, and development partners, and how these actors interact within policy and implementation spaces.
• Demonstrate their ability to conduct desk reviews, data collection, and analysis, and to produce clear, evidence-based reports and recommendations. The consultant should be able to synthesize diverse information into well-reasoned insights and identify opportunities for systemic and catalytic change (as opposed to being based solely on experience).. We are looking for someone who can help interpret the whole and recommend decisions, in addition to presenting the options.
• Be able to understand and interpret complex education networks, identify key actors and initiatives, assess which opportunities best align with Co-Impact’s strategy, and prioritize recommendations that offer the greatest potential for catalytic impact at scale, leveraging Co-Impact’s limited resources.
• Have proven experience working on similar tasks within academic or research organizations, non-profits, or institutions with a similar mission.
• Have a strong appreciation for safeguarding, locally led development, inclusion, social justice, and equity, and the ability to apply these principles throughout the assignment.
• While not a requirement, prior experience in grantmaking or providing advisory support to philanthropic organizations would be an asset.

5. BUDGET:

The estimated budget range for this consultancy is $8,000- $10,000. While we cannot exceed this amount, we are flexible on the approach and welcome cost-effective proposals—such as virtual engagements or other strategies—that can achieve the consultancy objectives within the available budget. The budget can be prepared with an hourly or daily rate and should include any anticipated expenses related to executing the work.

How to apply

Please submit your application to wambeti@co-impact.org cc. festus@co-impact.org with the subject line: “Children in Conflict Mapping – Nigeria. Your application should include:

• A brief statement of interest covering your relevant experience and how you would approach the consultancy.
• Availability for the projected timelines listed above
• Consultant(s) rate(s) (daily or hourly)
• A proposed budget and budget narrative including approximate estimated days per deliverable
• Your CV
• A list of two references

If you have any questions, please reach out to festus@co-impact.org