Terms of Reference for GiE final evaluation

Terms of Reference GiE final evaluation

Introduction                             

Oxfam in Somaliland/Somalia and Oxfam Canada work together as part of the international Oxfam Confederation, networked in over 90 countries as part of a global movement for change. Our mission is to build lasting solutions to poverty and injustice with a focus on improving the lives and promoting the rights of women and girls. We work directly with communities, partners, and women's rights organizations to challenge the systems that perpetuate inequality and keep people poor. Together we seek to influence those in power to ensure that women trapped in poverty have a say in the critical decisions that affect them, their families, and entire communities.

Description of the project Background

This project is built around highly complementary interventions in three countries Bangladesh, Somaliland and South Sudan with the understanding that increasing women’s voices in humanitarian decision-making is essential for any response to adequately address the needs of women and girls. Working with Women’s Rights Actors (WRAs) at different levels and across borders, is intended to generate context specific as well as regional learnings that have the potential to more effectively address the similar issues that women and girls in these settings may be facing.  This Somaliland component of this project will target two districts of Ainabo and Eil-afweyn which are in the Sool and Sanaag regions. The two districts are among the worst drought affected areas in Somaliland. In these regions, drought has continued to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities particularly among women.

Programming vision and approach

The central vision of the Gender in Emergencies project is strengthened women’s leadership and women rights in humanitarian situation in Somaliland focusing more in Sool and Sanaag regions. The project has inter-linked intermediate outcomes that contribute to address barriers to gender inequality in humanitarian settings. In one dimension, the project will seek transformational changes towards women leadership in all cycles of humanitarian programs. This means women would be empowered and given platforms so they can make quality and informed decisions during program

design, implementation, and closure. As there is limited knowledge & learning on how best this can be achieved, the project will invest in facilitating to generate learning and knowledge.

The two-year project has the following expected outcomes:

·         Intermediate Outcome 1100: Increased participation of women in decision making groups/platforms in the humanitarian program cycle

·         Intermediate Outcome 1200: Increased access to feminist knowledge, including best and emerging practice on gender in emergencies, by humanitarian actors (including WRAs).

With a view to achieving the expected outcomes, all project activities were gender sensitive, responsive, and transformational to prioritize vulnerable women and girls. In addition, the project was also led by Oxfam's Transformative Leadership for Women's Rights Framework and the Gender in Humanitarian Leadership Framework.

Project partners:

While Oxfam in Somalia and Oxfam Canada are accountable for the overall management of the project in Somalia, Women Rights Organizations (WROs) at national, regional and district level will play a key role.  The project will specifically empower community-based organizations. Further, the Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Family of the Republic of Somaliland (MESAF) will play a national advocacy role. Each of the partners will have specific and context-based knowledge that will contribute to the overall objective of the project.

Objectives and use of the evaluation

Following the completion of the project, Oxfam is initiating a mandatory final evaluation of the entire GiE project as described in the project document. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an in-depth assessment of the results against the two outcomes of the project and performance in terms of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, impact, inclusiveness, participation, equality, and how the project integrated transformative and gender policies of Oxfam. It should identify lessons learned, good practices, and factors that facilitated/hindered achievement. Through this, it aims to contribute to accountability, learning and decision-making on future programming, including practical recommendations to inform future design of other similar initiatives on GiE. The evaluation will be undertaken with the following key users and target audiences in mind:

-          Relevant Oxfam staff

-          Target beneficiaries community and individuals

Specific objectives of the evaluation

Specifics objectives of the evaluation survey includes:

ü  To document and assess the outcomes and immediate changes achieved through the implementation of the project.

ü  Collection of quality data required to inform outcome level indicators.

ü  To understand the effects of the project on gender roles, power dynamics, decision-making, and resource accessibility

ü  To document opportunities and challenges of WRO and other humanitarian actors towards access to knowledge of feminist principles.  

ü  Provide a more thorough study of the ways in which women's voice, decision-making role, and power impact have changed in relation to humanitarian actions.

ü  Identify and capture significant and planned and unplanned changes resulting from the interventions, as well as the actors and processes that contributed to these changes.

ü  To capture key lessons learned, best practices, and areas for improvement in the response.

ü  To provide recommendations for future programming and policy development in similar contexts.

Scope

The final evaluation will be conducted specifically targeting the regions of Sool and Sanaag in Somaliland, where the GiE is being implemented by Oxfam. All the project sites (Ainabo, Barwaqo IDP, Caweys IDP, Habari-Heshay, Eil-Afweyn, Lasdomare, and Huluul) of project sites will be visited during the data collection.

Methodology

The consulting firm or team will propose a participatory, evidence-based evaluation using qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.

Key steps include:

        i.            Desk review: Conduct a comprehensive review of relevant project documents, reports, and available data covering project components.

1. Key informant interviews: Conduct interviews with key stakeholders, including community members, implementing staff, local authorities, and beneficiaries, to gather qualitative data on the outcomes and changes achieved.
2. Field visits: Undertake field visits to selected project sites to observe the implementation of interventions, interview beneficiaries, and collect visual evidence.
3. Data analysis: Analyze the collected data to identify patterns, trends, and key findings related to the outcomes achieved, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the response.
4. Report writing: Create a comprehensive report analyzing evaluation findings, lessons learned, best practices, improvement areas, and recommendations for future programming.

The project’s performance will be assessed with strict regards to the following 4 evaluation criteria and should mainstream gender:

Results achieved: The evaluation report will assess the overall performance of the GIE project against selected OECD DAC criteria and the Core Humanitarian Standards, ensuring accountability towards the donor, GFFO, and the beneficiaries of the program. The consultant is expected to work with Oxfam & partners to gain insight into the achievement of targets.

Gender: Evaluate to what extent the project influenced gender and power dynamics, as well as the women’s voice, decision-making process, power influence and access to resources.

Learning: Evaluate to what extent the adaptive management system and learning strategy of the project was effective towards the project’s influence on women’s leadership in humanitarian programming

Accountability to affected populations: Evaluate to what extent relevant information on the project has been shared with the communities; to what extent communities were able to participate in all phases of the project cycle (from design up to evaluation processes); to what extent communities were aware and have made use of feedback mechanisms and to what extent were able to close the feedback loop.

The consultant is expected to come up with the relevant guiding questions of any of the suggested key evaluation areas.

Key activities and deliverables

The project evaluation will start upon signing of the contract between Oxfam and the successful consultant(s) or an otherwise agreed upon date. The exact due dates for all deliverables will be finalized with Oxfam prior to submitting the inception report, so long as the dates continue to fall within the broad start and finish dates of the consultancy. Various stages of the consultancy are discussed below:

Ethical considerations

The consultancy team is expected to adhere to Oxfam's ethical guidelines and ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and protection of information and data collected. Informed consent should be obtained from individuals participating in interviews or providing information.

Payment conditions

Remuneration is based on submission of deliverables provided that the report meets the specified requirements as stated in this ToRs an in accordance with the approved inception report. The proposed budget should include all expenses and applicable taxes. Costs for accommodation and meals, transport should be included and estimated

Interested consultant(s) should submit and EOI to [email protected] on 24th of March given that the following information has been provided:

-          Brief CV along with a solid technical proposal detailing of how the consultant or consultant team meet the requirements above (max. 5 pages)

-          Proposed brief work plan for how the work will be undertaken and a proposed schedule (max. 1 pages)

-          Indicative budget including daily rates in USD for each team member, as well as estimated costs for transport, accommodation, meals.

-          Contact details for two referees for similar types of work.

-          Confirmation of availability to undertake this work, including field visits in project operational areas.

Note: application will be assessed on rolling basis and shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview