Addis Ababa
Children Believe Fund
Urgent Call for Consultancy Service to conduct End-line Evaluation at Children Believe Fund TOR for End of Term Review of Children Believe Ethiopia Program and PolicyI. BackgroundFor over 60 years, Children Believe has worked globally to support children and youth who dream of a better world. Toward this end, Children Believe has focused on dismantling institutional barriers that prevent access to inclusive and quality education for girls and boys It has brought together diverse people and partnerships, driven by a common belief of valuing education as the most powerful resource for children to exercise agency and change their world.Accordingly, Children Believe has implemented its National strategic plan (FY 2020-22) and National Refresher Strategy (FY2022-24) focusing on four pathways aligned within five program priorities: dismantling the barriers to girls’ education; improving child and maternal health in thriving communities; advancing child rights & protection; enhancing gender equality; and, bolstering partnership with children and youth.During this implementation period (April 2019-March 2023), Children Believe has reached over 320,000 thousand children, their families, and key stakeholders in target communities in two regional states (SNNPR) and Oromia) and Addis Ababa city Administration in Ethiopia. Children Believe recognizes that local, regional, and international contextual factors influence its operations and capacity to effect change in the lives of children. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed extraordinary strains on the scope of its programming and policy work. Some critical measures resulted in repurposing its programs around four COVID-19 program priorities in alignment with ChildFund Alliance’s joint agreement including: (i) lowering infection rates; (ii) ensuring children are adequately nourished; (iii) keeping children safe from physical and emotional violence; and (iv) supporting teaching and learning.Children Believe also remains convinced that its strategic direction and program priorities remain relevant to the future success of children and young people in our areas of operation. Our programmes have continued to support targeted communities, families, children and women enabling them to adapt to the new normal and build back better. We have developed additional guidelines for our work in fragile contexts affected by war and extreme weather or climatic events, terrorism, and a shrinking civic space. Our country staff and local partners have adopted conflict-sensitive approaches, emergency and security preparedness plans, and flexible work modalities to operate under difficult circumstances. Children Believe has been playing significant contributions to the development of the new Education Curriculum in Ethiopia at the national level and Canadian International Education Policy Working Group (CIEPWG) globally. II. Rationale for the End of Term Review The end-of-term review offers an opportunity for CB to: Engage key stakeholders in discussions over achievements, lessons learned, and adjustments required in response to an evolving development landscape and changing national policy environment for NGOs. systematically examine the relevance, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of CB programs in advancing its mission and meeting its program priority targets across each of the programs. Inform strategic priority-setting and the development of instruments such as a refreshed organizational theory of change.III. Objectives of the Review The overall objective of the end-of-term review is to provide a neutral and evidence-based assessment of Children Believe’s programming across its country offices by analyzing the program’s effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability of its programs. Specifically, the review will:Assess the outcomes of the country program and policy influence work in advancing child rights and reducing child poverty, inequality, and injustice as articulated in the global strategy document and aligned with the five program priorities. Analyze the capacities of local partners and target communities to sustain and grow the program as well as adapt the approaches or strategies that have proven more effective. Identify enabling and constraining factors that affect the achievement of intended outcomes.Examine CB’s commitments to facilitate the Centres of Excellence initiatives and assess their contributions to thought leadership on key issue areas that affect the rights and wellbeing of children. Synthesize and leverage the lessons learned and good practices from the program implementation for future strategy development. Identify emerging issues and potential program priorities and innovative approaches for further consideration. Recommend future CB strategic development priorities and practicesIV. Scope of the ReviewThe scope of the time for the end-of-term review will cover program and policy influence activities that have been implemented under the four pathways of changes aligned within the five program priorities from April 2019 through March 2023. The geographic coverage will include all two bigger programs ( One in Oromia and One in SNNPR) in Ethiopia. The consultant will take an adequate sample size by using the appropriate sample size formula and sampling techniques from sponsored Children and their families in program operational areas. V. Methods/ Approaches and Key Issues for the ReviewThe review will adopt a participatory, inclusive and mixed methods review approach. It will apply a range of data collection and evaluation tools. As stated above, there will be a quantitative survey with samples and representatives of sponsored children and their families. This will be complemented by semi-structured in-person and virtual interviews of key informants and focus group discussions that help to listen to the voice of children, youth, women, local implementing partners, local government stakeholders as well as in-country donors that have been involved in the implementation of the strategic plan. Moreover, as part of showing impact, several case stories that depict real-life and livelihood changes will be developed and shared across four thematic areas to help support the findings generated by qualitative and quantitative studies. VI. End of Term Review Data Collection Plan and Key Issues for the ReviewThe following end of term review data collection plan is proposed, which includes a combination of existing and primary data collection as stated above. All data collected during the review must facilitate disaggregation by gender and age. The end-of-term review data collection plan shall include estimates for the number of focus group discussions (FDGs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) to be conducted. The data collection plan will be further revised at the commencement of the review. The review team is required to adhere to Children Believe’s Child Safeguarding; Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; and Data Protection and Privacy policies throughout the assignment. All secondary data, such as reports, past studies, and quantitative data will be provided by the local partners or Children Believe country offices. The key issues to be examined may include, but not limited to, the following key issues:Relevance: Have the programme activities undertaken to date addressed the needs and the rights identified in the Contextual Analysis upon which the programmes were designed? Has the context changed significantly since programme design, how has that impacted the programme? Have CB adapted activities and strategies in response to this?To what extent have children. youth, women and other programme beneficiaries participated in the programme, and how has that affected programme quality / results?Efficiency How well have CB programs been utilising the resources available with good value for money? How the efficiency of resource utilisation over the course of the programme implementation demonstrated? How well is the programme connected with other projects and initiatives and maximize impact or increase reach?Effectiveness What are the outcomes/ results of programme and policy influence work? Does the country programme on-track to meet the targets set? If not, why? How successfully has the programme been in addressing issues of (i) access to inclusive and quality education for girls and boys, (ii) increased maternal and child health services delivery and increased utilization of ‘modern’ health facilities; (iii) promoting child rights and child protection, (iv) enhancing gender equality and, (v) consolidating partnership with children and youth agencies for change.How the strategic initiatives in Center of Excellence have been designed, implemented and being achieving their intended objectives? How the strategic partnership and stakeholders’ collaborations were designed and implemented at country, regional, or global levels? How effective have they been in influencing policy and practice gaps?Impact How do the intended programs impact or the most significant changes on children, youth, women and other direct target groups have been demonstrated and changes being tracked? How the intended KPIs and unexpected consequences/impacts been explained or so far met?SustainabilityHow CB and partners program interventions address issues of sustainability in their respective areas of intervention against key program performance indicators included in the program logic/ results framework for the? Does an Exit Strategy in place for the geographic/thematic areas of interventions? if not, what needs to be put in place for the future? How has CB worked with implementing partners and government stakeholders, and has this contributed to the sustainability of current interventions? Has CB considered how to increase the likelihood of their activities being sustained after the strategic planning period?Program Influence How influential has this child centred, family focused community development programs interventions and the centre of excellence initiatives been at meso and macro levels, and how well has CB been working with other stakeholders (such as Alliance members or other likeminded organizations), such as national partners and line ministry to achieve results at this level? Has CB tried to influence policy change or to improve implementation of government policies? How successful has that been? Where appropriate, to what extent has CB coordinated with or given visibility to Canadian Government as part of our work at global, regional or national level?Innovations How innovative has the CB and its local partners’ programs been? What new innovation areas and innovative approaches can be adopted in the course of CBs/ Partners operations?VII. Principles and Ethical ConsiderationsIt is expected that the end of term review will make the following considerations:Child and vulnerable families’ participation- where appropriate and safe, children and their parents should be supported to participate in the evaluation process beyond simply being respondents. Opportunities for collaborative participation could include involving children in determining success criteria against which the program could be reviewed, supporting children to collect some of the data required for the review themselves, or involving children in the validation of findings. Any child participation, whether consultative, collaborative or child-led, must abide by the basic requirements for meaningful and ethical child participation. Inclusive-Ensure that children and their families from cross sections of vulnerable community members have the chance to participate.Safeguarding – demonstrating the highest standards of behavior towards children and adults. Sensitive – to child rights, gender, inclusion and cultural contexts. Openness - of information given, to the highest possible degree to all involved parties. Confidentiality and data protection - measures will be put in place to protect the identity of all participants and any other information that may put them or others at risk. Reliability and independence - the review should be conducted so that findings and conclusions are correct and trustworthy.VIII. Deliverables The expected outputs of the End of Term Review will be: Analytical and summarized report for QUAL data FGD/KII, Case stories (impact Stories), including an executive summary of 1 page. Analyzed and summarized data Inception report and data collection instruments, Data collection platforms preferably digital with well-developed data quality assurance mechanismsAll relevant raw data or statistical datasets (preferably in Excel or other database templates) All Raw data for KII and FGD from the field A presentation to the Senior Leadership Team of Program & Policy.Well-developed Case-stories with quality pictures depicting the impacts of the programs by four pathways.IX. Duration The data collection and review will be conducted from June 25 2023 to July 20, 2023 by engaging the global lead consultant/ that manages the global overall research across all countries. The Ethiopia Country office consultant is responsible for the data collection and report writing for the Ethiopia Country office only, however, based on the well-developed memorandum of understanding the local consultant will closely work with the Global consultant.
Addis Ababa
Children Believe Fund
Urgent Call for Consultancy Service to conduct End-line Evaluation at Children Believe Fund TOR for End of Term Review of Children Believe Ethiopia Program and PolicyI. BackgroundFor over 60 years, Children Believe has worked globally to support children and youth who dream of a better world. Toward this end, Children Believe has focused on dismantling institutional barriers that prevent access to inclusive and quality education for girls and boys It has brought together diverse people and partnerships, driven by a common belief of valuing education as the most powerful resource for children to exercise agency and change their world.Accordingly, Children Believe has implemented its National strategic plan (FY 2020-22) and National Refresher Strategy (FY2022-24) focusing on four pathways aligned within five program priorities: dismantling the barriers to girls’ education; improving child and maternal health in thriving communities; advancing child rights & protection; enhancing gender equality; and, bolstering partnership with children and youth.During this implementation period (April 2019-March 2023), Children Believe has reached over 320,000 thousand children, their families, and key stakeholders in target communities in two regional states (SNNPR) and Oromia) and Addis Ababa city Administration in Ethiopia. Children Believe recognizes that local, regional, and international contextual factors influence its operations and capacity to effect change in the lives of children. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic imposed extraordinary strains on the scope of its programming and policy work. Some critical measures resulted in repurposing its programs around four COVID-19 program priorities in alignment with ChildFund Alliance’s joint agreement including: (i) lowering infection rates; (ii) ensuring children are adequately nourished; (iii) keeping children safe from physical and emotional violence; and (iv) supporting teaching and learning.Children Believe also remains convinced that its strategic direction and program priorities remain relevant to the future success of children and young people in our areas of operation. Our programmes have continued to support targeted communities, families, children and women enabling them to adapt to the new normal and build back better. We have developed additional guidelines for our work in fragile contexts affected by war and extreme weather or climatic events, terrorism, and a shrinking civic space. Our country staff and local partners have adopted conflict-sensitive approaches, emergency and security preparedness plans, and flexible work modalities to operate under difficult circumstances. Children Believe has been playing significant contributions to the development of the new Education Curriculum in Ethiopia at the national level and Canadian International Education Policy Working Group (CIEPWG) globally. II. Rationale for the End of Term Review The end-of-term review offers an opportunity for CB to: Engage key stakeholders in discussions over achievements, lessons learned, and adjustments required in response to an evolving development landscape and changing national policy environment for NGOs. systematically examine the relevance, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of CB programs in advancing its mission and meeting its program priority targets across each of the programs. Inform strategic priority-setting and the development of instruments such as a refreshed organizational theory of change.III. Objectives of the Review The overall objective of the end-of-term review is to provide a neutral and evidence-based assessment of Children Believe’s programming across its country offices by analyzing the program’s effectiveness, relevance, and sustainability of its programs. Specifically, the review will:Assess the outcomes of the country program and policy influence work in advancing child rights and reducing child poverty, inequality, and injustice as articulated in the global strategy document and aligned with the five program priorities. Analyze the capacities of local partners and target communities to sustain and grow the program as well as adapt the approaches or strategies that have proven more effective. Identify enabling and constraining factors that affect the achievement of intended outcomes.Examine CB’s commitments to facilitate the Centres of Excellence initiatives and assess their contributions to thought leadership on key issue areas that affect the rights and wellbeing of children. Synthesize and leverage the lessons learned and good practices from the program implementation for future strategy development. Identify emerging issues and potential program priorities and innovative approaches for further consideration. Recommend future CB strategic development priorities and practicesIV. Scope of the ReviewThe scope of the time for the end-of-term review will cover program and policy influence activities that have been implemented under the four pathways of changes aligned within the five program priorities from April 2019 through March 2023. The geographic coverage will include all two bigger programs ( One in Oromia and One in SNNPR) in Ethiopia. The consultant will take an adequate sample size by using the appropriate sample size formula and sampling techniques from sponsored Children and their families in program operational areas. V. Methods/ Approaches and Key Issues for the ReviewThe review will adopt a participatory, inclusive and mixed methods review approach. It will apply a range of data collection and evaluation tools. As stated above, there will be a quantitative survey with samples and representatives of sponsored children and their families. This will be complemented by semi-structured in-person and virtual interviews of key informants and focus group discussions that help to listen to the voice of children, youth, women, local implementing partners, local government stakeholders as well as in-country donors that have been involved in the implementation of the strategic plan. Moreover, as part of showing impact, several case stories that depict real-life and livelihood changes will be developed and shared across four thematic areas to help support the findings generated by qualitative and quantitative studies. VI. End of Term Review Data Collection Plan and Key Issues for the ReviewThe following end of term review data collection plan is proposed, which includes a combination of existing and primary data collection as stated above. All data collected during the review must facilitate disaggregation by gender and age. The end-of-term review data collection plan shall include estimates for the number of focus group discussions (FDGs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) to be conducted. The data collection plan will be further revised at the commencement of the review. The review team is required to adhere to Children Believe’s Child Safeguarding; Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; and Data Protection and Privacy policies throughout the assignment. All secondary data, such as reports, past studies, and quantitative data will be provided by the local partners or Children Believe country offices. The key issues to be examined may include, but not limited to, the following key issues:Relevance: Have the programme activities undertaken to date addressed the needs and the rights identified in the Contextual Analysis upon which the programmes were designed? Has the context changed significantly since programme design, how has that impacted the programme? Have CB adapted activities and strategies in response to this?To what extent have children. youth, women and other programme beneficiaries participated in the programme, and how has that affected programme quality / results?Efficiency How well have CB programs been utilising the resources available with good value for money? How the efficiency of resource utilisation over the course of the programme implementation demonstrated? How well is the programme connected with other projects and initiatives and maximize impact or increase reach?Effectiveness What are the outcomes/ results of programme and policy influence work? Does the country programme on-track to meet the targets set? If not, why? How successfully has the programme been in addressing issues of (i) access to inclusive and quality education for girls and boys, (ii) increased maternal and child health services delivery and increased utilization of ‘modern’ health facilities; (iii) promoting child rights and child protection, (iv) enhancing gender equality and, (v) consolidating partnership with children and youth agencies for change.How the strategic initiatives in Center of Excellence have been designed, implemented and being achieving their intended objectives? How the strategic partnership and stakeholders’ collaborations were designed and implemented at country, regional, or global levels? How effective have they been in influencing policy and practice gaps?Impact How do the intended programs impact or the most significant changes on children, youth, women and other direct target groups have been demonstrated and changes being tracked? How the intended KPIs and unexpected consequences/impacts been explained or so far met?SustainabilityHow CB and partners program interventions address issues of sustainability in their respective areas of intervention against key program performance indicators included in the program logic/ results framework for the? Does an Exit Strategy in place for the geographic/thematic areas of interventions? if not, what needs to be put in place for the future? How has CB worked with implementing partners and government stakeholders, and has this contributed to the sustainability of current interventions? Has CB considered how to increase the likelihood of their activities being sustained after the strategic planning period?Program Influence How influential has this child centred, family focused community development programs interventions and the centre of excellence initiatives been at meso and macro levels, and how well has CB been working with other stakeholders (such as Alliance members or other likeminded organizations), such as national partners and line ministry to achieve results at this level? Has CB tried to influence policy change or to improve implementation of government policies? How successful has that been? Where appropriate, to what extent has CB coordinated with or given visibility to Canadian Government as part of our work at global, regional or national level?Innovations How innovative has the CB and its local partners’ programs been? What new innovation areas and innovative approaches can be adopted in the course of CBs/ Partners operations?VII. Principles and Ethical ConsiderationsIt is expected that the end of term review will make the following considerations:Child and vulnerable families’ participation- where appropriate and safe, children and their parents should be supported to participate in the evaluation process beyond simply being respondents. Opportunities for collaborative participation could include involving children in determining success criteria against which the program could be reviewed, supporting children to collect some of the data required for the review themselves, or involving children in the validation of findings. Any child participation, whether consultative, collaborative or child-led, must abide by the basic requirements for meaningful and ethical child participation. Inclusive-Ensure that children and their families from cross sections of vulnerable community members have the chance to participate.Safeguarding – demonstrating the highest standards of behavior towards children and adults. Sensitive – to child rights, gender, inclusion and cultural contexts. Openness - of information given, to the highest possible degree to all involved parties. Confidentiality and data protection - measures will be put in place to protect the identity of all participants and any other information that may put them or others at risk. Reliability and independence - the review should be conducted so that findings and conclusions are correct and trustworthy.VIII. Deliverables The expected outputs of the End of Term Review will be: Analytical and summarized report for QUAL data FGD/KII, Case stories (impact Stories), including an executive summary of 1 page. Analyzed and summarized data Inception report and data collection instruments, Data collection platforms preferably digital with well-developed data quality assurance mechanismsAll relevant raw data or statistical datasets (preferably in Excel or other database templates) All Raw data for KII and FGD from the field A presentation to the Senior Leadership Team of Program & Policy.Well-developed Case-stories with quality pictures depicting the impacts of the programs by four pathways.IX. Duration The data collection and review will be conducted from June 25 2023 to July 20, 2023 by engaging the global lead consultant/ that manages the global overall research across all countries. The Ethiopia Country office consultant is responsible for the data collection and report writing for the Ethiopia Country office only, however, based on the well-developed memorandum of understanding the local consultant will closely work with the Global consultant.