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SIERRA LEONE - Evaluator EIDHR Project

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External Final Evaluation

Community-based prevention and response to women’s and children’s rights violations in Kono and Western Area

Founded by European Commission

Terms of Reference

  1. Objectives

The general objective of the evaluation:

To review the implementation of the action and identify best practices that could be applied on a wider scale in women’s and children’s rights protection initiatives in Sierra Leone.

The specific objective of the evaluation:

To obtain an objective and independent analysis of the project “Community-based prevention and response to women’s and children’s rights violations in Kono and Western Area Districts” in terms of its relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.

  1. Background

2.1. Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI)

COOPI is an independent non-governmental organization, founded in Italy in 1965, committed to fight against social injustice and poverty in the global south and to build a future that guarantees everyone adequate living conditions, equal opportunities and respect of their rights.

Since 1965 COOPI has carried out more than 600 development projects and emergency interventions in 50 countries in co-operation with more than 30,000 local workers, this ensuring direct benefit to more than 50 million people.

OUR VISION

A world without poverty where diverse cultures live together sharing equal rights and equal opportunities.

OUR MISSION

COOPI is dedicated to reduce poverty in the global South through interventions of

long-term sustainable international cooperation and with advocacy activities in Italy, to fight the cause of the serious economic gap between the North and South.

2.2. COOPI in Sierra Leone

COOPI has been working in Sierra Leone since 1971 in agriculture and health. After leaving the country in 1992 because of the war, COOPI returned to Sierra Leone in 1998, and has operated continuously since then in Kono and Western Area District. In 1998 – 2004, our activities focused on assistance to victims of war and infrastructure and institutional reconstruction and rehabilitation. Since 2005, our programmes have evolved from assistance to victims of war towards support for self-reliance. In 2008, COOPI carried out a strategic review and developed three strategic programmes for 2009 – 2011 as:

  • Livelihood, Food Security and Youth Employment (to which this project contributes)

  • Women’s Rights Programme

  • Children’s Rights Programme

  • Gender, HIV/AIDS, environmental management and fight to corruption are crosscutting issues.

2.3 The Project

Total duration of the action: 24 months

Objectives of the action:

Overall objectives

– to enhance the capacity of civil society organisations to participate in building a culture of respect for human rights and to contribute to the development of common agendas for human rights in Sierra Leone.

Specific objective

– to enhance community-based prevention and response mechanisms for women’s and children’s rights’ violations in 40 communities in Kono and Western Area Districts, through capacity building of civil-society actors, strengthened institutional linkages and improved access to legal protection for victims of human rights abuses.

Partner(s)

Action Plus (partner) and Kono District Women’s Organisations Network (informal partner)

Target group(s)

4000 women and men in 40 target communities, 160 duty bearers, 30 media practitioners reached by awareness raising; 200 women from target communities part of Women Action Teams; 2 District Networks on women’s and children’s rights; 800 women and children victims of violence; 4 Family Support Units

Final beneficiaries

20,000 women and children from target communities; Human Rights Commission (Regional Offices), District Human Rights Committees and Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affair; at least 100 civil society/government agencies active in the field of human rights/gender-based violence

Estimated results:

  1. 4000 women and men from target communities, 160 duty-bearers and 30 media practitioners improve their awareness on women’s and children’s rights, including gender-based violence, and their role in promoting them.

  2. 200 women from target communities are mobilised in 40 Women Action Teams for community-based prevention and advocacy on women’s and children’s rights

  3. 40 Women Action Teams and 2 District Networks are in place, adequately skilled and resourced to provide community-based counselling and appropriate referral to 800 women and children victims of human rights abuses

  4. Stronger linkages are developed between community-based organisations and relevant institutions to monitor women’s and children’s rights and improve protection of victims

Main activities:

R1 – community mobilisation workshops, participatory production of IEC materials, awareness raising campaigns, training of duty-bearers, training of media practitioners on women’s and children’s rights

R2 – identification and mobilisation of Women Action Teams (WAT) members, development of training materials and methodology sharing with partners, training of WATs on women’s and children’s rights, leadership and advocacy training for WATs, community advocacy activities led by WATs

R3 – participatory identification of District Networks and establishment of communication structures with WATs, capacity building of District Networks, training of WATs and District Networks on community-based response to violence, victim/survivor support, referral, and monitoring.

R4 – participatory development of human rights monitoring tools workshops, training of District Networks and WATs in human rights monitoring and compilation of reports, capacity building of target FSU stations based on needs assessment, experience sharing workshops between CSOs and institutional stakeholders, production of publication capturing project learning; dissemination of publication.

  1. Focus of the evaluation

— To identify lessons learnt and best practices through the assessment of them degree to which the objectives pursued have been achieved, in terms of qualitative and quantitative results, taking in consideration the changes occurred in the lives of beneficiaries;

— To evaluate project’s relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact;

— To draw conclusions and recommendations related to the opportunities for replication and scale-up of the project methodology for other women’s and children’s rights protection programme, taking into account the particular profile and vulnerability of the target beneficiaries

The evaluation should contain conclusions and recommendations at both strategy and operational levels.

The main evaluation questions will be defined with the Evaluator at the inception of the evaluation, based on the project nature, and the strengths and weaknesses emerged during project implementation.

It is envisaged that the evaluation will cover the following specific dimensions:

Project outcomes

— Qualitative analysis of quality of the trainings delivered to the beneficiaries in order to assess the improvement of their awareness on women’s and children’s rights (including gender-based violence and their role in promoting them) and the capacity of the CATs (Communities Action Teams) in promoting prevention and advocacy activities on women’s and children’s rights at community level.

— Qualitative analysis of the quality of the trainings delivered to CATs and District Network to assess their capacity in providing community-based counseling and appropriate referral to women’s and children’s victims of violence.

— Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the access of women and children victim of GBV to legal protection through the referral network put in place in Kono and Western Area;

— Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the quality of the community-led human rights monitoring system put in place in Kono and Western Area;

Project Approach

— Effectiveness of the trainings conducted in the communities on women’s and children’s rights, advocacy on women’s and children’s rights, community-based response to violence;

— Effectiveness of the referral network for the victims of violence;

— Effectiveness of the community-led human rights monitoring;

— taking into account perceptions of beneficiaries, project stakeholders, artisans

  1. Methodology

Methodology will include a combination of data collection, direct observation and discussion with key project staff, stakeholders and beneficiaries.

Plan and calendar will be decided jointly by the Evaluator and the Project Manager.

Preparatory and briefing phase

— Review of project documents (including project plan, internal monitoring

reports i.e. and project reports)

— Briefing with Project Manager on project, and monitoring and evaluation system and definition of key questions for evaluation

— Design of data collection materials

Field work

— Interviews with COOPI staff (Project Manager and at least 2 Outreach Workers including Partners’ staff);

— Interviews with the Community Action Team, Duty Bearers and Local Authorities in at least two of the targeted communities in Western Area and Kono;

— Interviews with the District Network members and Stakeholders (MSWGCA, FSUs, NGOs,HRCSL) in Western Area and Kono;

— Interviews with few victims of GBV who received support from the project in western Area and Kono;

Write up

— Production of draft report containing systematized information and draft recommendations;

— Discussion with Project Manager/validation meeting;

— Production of final report;

  1. Evaluation Unit and Consultant’s skills

The evaluation unit will be carried out by a development projects consultant or consulting firm, specialized monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian aid and development interventions.

The following are selection criteria for the consultant:

— Solid experience and proven track record of carrying out independent evaluation of development projects;

— Relevant technical skills and knowledge and extensive work experience in evaluating projects aiming the promotion of women’s and children’s rights;

— Deep Understanding of gender-based violence issues;

— Good knowledge of Human rights international and national laws;

— Commitment to gender equality and understanding of gender issues in the context of human rights;

— Prior experience of working in Sierra Leone and understanding of the local context will be an asset;

— Fluency in the English language is obligatory;

— Excellent reporting and communication skills are essential;

  1. Responsibilities

Evaluation Manager (Project Manager — COOPI)

— Preparing and revising the T.o.R, finalizing with Evaluator key questions for evaluation

— Working with Evaluator to identify key stakeholders

— Scheduling meetings, accompany + brief/debrief team, facilitate data collection

— Ensuring dissemination of the evaluation and lessons learnt

Evaluator

— Finalising the methodology especially the methods for data analysis and gathering, and for analysis of findings

— Gathering the relevant documentation

— Planning the work and carrying out the field visits

— Writing the final report

  1. Debriefing, submission of reports and timing

— The evaluation will last no more than 30 working days. It will be implemented

within a contractual period that will begin with the date of signature of the contract and that will end with the acceptance of the final report.

— The preparatory and briefing phase will last for 2 days. During a briefing at

COOPI office in Freetown, all relevant documents and necessary clarifications

will be provided and the data collection materials validated.

— The briefing phase will be followed by a field study that will last a maximum of 15

days.

— The first draft report, in accordance with the format given below, shall be

submitted by electronic transmission (MS Word) to COOPI within 10 calendar

days after the completion of field work. COOPI will have 10 working days to make

comments, and will organise a validation meeting if necessary.

— A final report will be submitted within 3 calendar days after the comments are

received.

  1. Reporting

The evaluation will result in the drawing up of a final report written in a straightforward manner. The report should be in English. Comments and inputs from the Project Manager, Country Director and COOPI HQ should be included in the final report. The report must be drawn up in 4 copies and submitted also in soft copy to COOPI.

The following report format will be strictly adhered to:

  1. Cover page:

Title of the evaluation with the name of the operation

Consultant’s name

Date of the evaluation

  1. Table of contents

  2. Executive summary, max 3 pages

Brief description of the evaluated operation

Objectives, methods and duration of the evaluation

Main conclusions referring to the evaluation criteria and the crosscutting issues set out in paragraph 2 of these Terms of Reference. There must be a clear link between the conclusions and the supporting evidence in the main body of the report.

Main lessons learnt

Main recommendations directly and logically related to the conclusions. They must be as realistic, operational and pragmatic as possible taking careful account of the circumstances currently prevailing in the context of the operation and the resources available.

  1. Main body of the report, max 15 pages

It will provide the background to the points listed in the Executive Summary. It will contain a description of the findings and an analysis or interpretation of the operation in terms of the main evaluation criteria and the crosscutting issues set out in paragraph 2. It will include a methodological review of the evaluation exercise. Conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations should be the

subject of separate chapters.

  1. Annexes

— Terms of Reference;

— List of persons / organizations consulted;

— List of literature and documents consulted;

— List of sites visited;

— List of abbreviations

  1. Indicative budget

The indicative budget available for this evaluation is 3,750 Euro, inclusive of all

expenditures related to the evaluation.

  1. Expressions of Interest

Interested consultants should submit a CV and an outline of the proposed work in

line with the present ToRs using the following link:

http://www.coopi.org/it/lavoroformazione/offertedilavoro/lavoro/725/

The deadline for submissions of candidatures is 9 November 2011.

The successful consultant should be available to deliver the work in December 2011.

How to apply:

Send your CV trough the following link: http://www.coopi.org/it/lavoroformazione/offertedilavoro/lavoro/725/

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