Terms of Reference for Endline Evaluation

ENDLINE EVALUATION TERMS OF REFERENCE

FOR 

Accelerating Change to Abandon SGBV/ FGM 

A project funded by EU

Date: December 2023 

Candlelight for Environment Education and Health (Candlelight) 

Hargeisa, Somaliland

1.0  Background or Context

Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) remains one of the most serious threats to the health and safety of women and girls globally. The situation is terrible in Somalia including Somaliland where women and girls are at more risk of rape, early and forced marriage and FGM. The Gender Inequality Index for Somalia is 0.776, placing Somalia at the fourth highest position globally. Despite being internationally recognized as a human rights violation, globally, FGM has been performed on more than 200 million girls and women alive today. Each year, more than 3 million girls worldwide are at risk of undergoing FGM, with most girls cut before the age of 15. In Somaliland FGM/C prevalence stands at 98.9% which is the highest percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM. Today, there is an alarming trend of medicalization of FGM/C, where the procedure is carried out by medical personnel. Medicalization not only violates medical ethics; it also risks legitimizing the practice and giving the impression it is without health consequences. No matter where or by whom it is performed, FGM is never safe. FGM/C is a deeply rooted social norm attached to culture, religion and marriageability, making it had to eliminate. The costs of SGBV including FGM/C are enormous. Apart from individual, family, community and society costs, it also has huge economic consequences at all levels. The practice is aggravated by its attachment to culture and religion, weak and non-existent laws, the largely patriarchal society and insecurity among others. To respond to the above, Candlelight, has received funding from the European Union to implement a project titled “Accelerating change to abandon SGBV/FGM/C”

2. Project Summary

The global objective of the action is to contribute to reinforcing rights-based social change, and inclusive policy-making in Somaliland. 

The Specific objectives are:

1. Increased awareness of people in Somaliland, especially women and girls, of their rights and how to access justice and other support;
2. CSOs and other stakeholders empowered to lobby and advocate for Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C) policy adoption;
3. Rights of women and girls promoted and all forms of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) including Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C) are reduced.

These objectives are achieved through a rights-based stakeholder engagement and capacity building, awareness raising, civic education, and community-led attitude change approaches. This project will also seek to support adoption of a legal framework to eliminate FGM/C in Somaliland, while the other interventions will augment and complement past and ongoing activities designed to raise awareness, educate, and advocate against the practice of FGM/C and SGBV. 

3 Geographical Coverage of the project and targets for the evaluation

In addition to producing impact on a national scale, there exist specific geographical pockets where the project is implemented and these include selected areas of Maroodjeex Region (Hargeisa district/ City), Sool and Sanag Regions as highlighted below.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required; the candidate should have:

·         Master’s degree in Social Sciences or other elated disciplines.

·         At least three years of experience in conducting similar assessments in Somaliland or East Africa in the past ten years.

·         Excellent skills in quantitative, and qualitative data collection approaches, and statistical analysis  

·         Possess knowledge of electronic data collection (i.e Open Data Kit, Kobo)

·         The consultant must be able to provide evidence of past performance in his/her CV or proposal.

·         Fluent in written and spoken English language is required, Somali is an added advantage.

·         Knowledge and understanding of the social and cultural context of Somaliland is an added advantage. 

·         Ability to make clear presentations and disseminate findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.

9 BASIS OF AWARD

1)    Technical Evaluation (60%)

·      Design of the proposal in reference to the advertised ToR (30 points)

·      CV of the lead consultant with master’s degree in Social Sciences or other related disciplines (15 points)

·      Samples (at least 2) of recent reports with public disclosure authorized, final version, that has been submitted and accepted by clients (15 points) NB. The reports MUST be prepared by the consultant – Candlelight will conduct a reference check on this and wherever deemed necessary.

2)    Financial Proposal (40%)

·      Financial: The lowest financial proposal will get 40 marks. NB. Candlelight will select the most advantageous bidder.

A financial proposal with a detailed breakdown of costs for the study quoted in United States dollars. Applications should be submitted electronically to [email protected] on or before Wednesday 20th December 2023 with a subject line Financial and Technical proposal for the Endline Evaluation. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Thank you for your consideration.