Midterm review of the project: “Youth Employment Initiative of Nairobi”

Terms of Reference

Midterm review of the project:

“Youth Employment Initiative of Nairobi”

April/May 2012

Background

“Youth Employment Initiative of Nairobi” is a project which aims at improving the access of youth between the ages of 18 to 35 to the formal as well as informal labour market in Nairobi.

The project is implemented in the period between August 2010 and July 2013. The implementing organisations consist of the Danish partner Forum for International Cooperation (FIC) and the Kenyan partners Africa Youth Trust (AYT) and One Stop Youth Information Resource Centre of Nairobi City Council (OSYIRC). The project is funded by Danida.

Project objectives and success criteria (indicators):

Main objective: Improved youth access to a fair labour market.

Fair is meant both in respect of reasonable working conditions, salary, work hours etc. and in respect of equal access. Labour market includes both formal and informal sector. However, most Kenyans earn their living from the informal sector.

Indicators for the main objective:

· Cooperation between the stakeholders on youth and employment has been improved, networks operate.

· Youth organisations are active towards youth and labour market stakeholders (organisations, enterprises, authorities etc) in supporting and promoting youth employment.

· Youth have become more conscious and knowing on their possibilities at the labour market and in affecting decision makers at the labour market.

Immediate objectives:

1. Encourage and strengthen networks and cooperation between youth organisations and relevant stakeholders at the labour market, in the delivery of youth employment creation services. Advocacy activities towards youth employment opportunities and conditions are strengthened

2. Increase knowledge and skills of young people on employment possibilities/entrepreneurship and support the youth in entering the labour market, through capacity building of youth, youth organisations and development of training and networking models.

Indicators for the immediate objectives:

For immediate objective 1:

· Improved cooperation and coordination between labour market partners, authorities etc. in order to achieve improved coherence among different inventions.

· Plans for improved youth access to formal and informal labour market are implemented.

· Cooperation between youth organisations and labour market partners is improved.

· Labour market stakeholders’ perception of youth is improved.

For immediate objective 2:

· The 8 involved youth organisations perform frequent information activities on youth employment.

· 50.000 youth are informed on opportunities on youth employment, and how to access more information.

· 50 % of youth beneficiaries of the information meetings are more aware of their ability to access information on youth and employment.

· 1.500 youth have mapped their own competences and developed plans for getting a job or becoming self-employed (those who develop plans for self-employment can graduate into the BSED class).

· 1.500 youth have been trained in BSED (Business Skills and Entrepreneurship Development) and developed business plans for self-employment.

· 30 % of the 3000 youth have improved their livelihood.

· 2.000 youth have received counseling in how to get and maintain a job/livelihood.

· 2.000 youth have been supported in taking up opportunities within the enterprises.

· Models for improved qualification of youth have inspired min 5 schools or training institutions to adapt their training/education to the YEIN model

Project target group

The main target group consists of the job seeking youth of Nairobi between 18 and 35 years of age. The project estimates to involve around 3.000 youth directly in training activities. These are recruited primarily via youth organisations participating in the project and will be spread on all groups of youth differentiated by education, location/address, social status and age.

The project will seek positively to exploit the diversity among youth, e.g. taking advantage of the more resourceful youth in assisting the less resourceful. Special attention will be paid to secure equal representation by gender.

The project will through information campaigns, training activities and network activities target a wide range of youth in Nairobi, estimated to approximately 50.000 individuals.

Project organisation

The project secretariat

The local project coordinator employed on full time by AYT is responsible for the day-to-day management of the project. The project coordinator reports to the executive director of AYT. Development and implementation of all project activities are done in close cooperation and agreement with the executive director of AYT. The project coordinator is assisted by the rest of the project secretariat, which consists of: 1 person responsible for training activities, 1 person responsible for the counselling service, 1 secretary, 1 accountant, 1 IT coordinator and project interns. The persons in the secretariat report to the project coordinator.

FIC

The FIC project manager together with the local FIC coordinator in Kenya will assist the project secretariat in the daily project coordination and management of the project. Moreover, FIC will be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation activities in collaboration with the monitoring and evaluation team in the project secretariat and external consultants.

Project Advisory Committee

A joint Project Advisory Committee (PAC) will be formed composed of 2 AYT representatives, 2 FIC representatives, 2 representatives from the youth organisations involved in the project and 1 representative of OSYIRC. The committee will be tasked with providing strategic and policy directions for the project. It will review the project and activities being undertaken during the project period and give guidance to the secretariat through the project coordinator who will also be member of the PAC. It will also establish potential partnerships with other like-minded service providers and include them as stakeholders of the project. The PAC will meet 4 times year one and 3 times a year for the second and third year of the project.

Youth networks

Two networks are established during the project period.

1) Youth and the formal labour market.

2) Youth and the informal labour market.

The networks include relevant labour market partners (authorities, unions, employer-/trade organisations) and youth organisations. The two networks will prepare a plan for improving youth possibilities for entering the formal and informal labour market during the first 12 month of the project period. The plan has to be based on how the involved organisations/bodies in the network can improve their own efforts and on how cooperation between partners can be improved. The activities in the networks include advocacy and dissemination activities targeting the youth and the labour market stakeholders. The project coordinator will be responsible for coordination of the network activities and will act as a secretary to the networks. Each of the 2 networks will meet 4-6 times annually.

Training and counselling of youth are supposed to be conducted in close cooperation with OSYIRC, utilising their facilities and know how on this. OSYIRC will also take part in facilitating participation of youth from low income-earning areas and informal settlements. A Memorandum of Understanding is prepared on this securing a close and constructive cooperation.

Monitoring and evaluation

According to the agreement between AYT and FIC, both organisations are responsible for the on-going project monitoring and evaluation.

The quarterly progress report, the revised activity plan, and the activity reports from the networking groups and the project officers form the basis of evaluation of the activities and the development progress at each PAC meeting.

The quarterly progress report is designed in order to ensure that every activity mentioned in the project document is monitored and measured. The progress report includes following up on activities, outputs, indicators and sources of verification. The progress report is the basic tool for follow-up on project activities.

For activities and outputs which have already been undertaken and achieved respectively, the relevance of the indicators lies in the same outputs being compared with the indicators in retrospect and determining what corrective measures can be taken should it be found that the outputs are wanting.

In addition to the on-going monitoring and evaluation carried out by the project secretariat and the PAC an external mid-term and final evaluation will be carried out during and at the end of the project period respectively. The evaluations will include assessments of the activities and outputs compared to the outcomes in the project document and a review of the effectiveness and results of the project activities.

Monitoring and Evaluation activities includes:

• A comprehensive Project, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework to evaluate implementation of activities under the work plan.
• Quarterly progress reports and financial reports, prepared by the project secretariat
• The annual financial and audit report, including also both technical and financial information, prepared by the project secretariat
• Final report including both technical and financial information, prepared by the project secretariat

Midterm review

The midterm review will take place in April/May 2012 by an external evaluator in collaboration with the implementing partners. By the end of May 2012 the midterm review report will be completed and handed in to the Project Advisory Committee (PAC).

Objective of the midterm review

The objective of the midterm review is to assess the overall progress of the project activities as well as the methods used, and, accordingly, to capture good experiences and need for changes.

Special attention is paid to:

• An assessment of the overall progress of the project against the project objectives, expected outputs and indicators and risks and assumptions as stated in the revised LFA of the project. Are we heading towards achieving our objectives?
• The assessment of the informal and formal youth networks. Are the two networks functioning as planned and has the cooperation with the youth organisations and labour market stakeholders been strengthened?
• An assessment of the monitoring system, including the methods used to gather the necessary data and the division of roles of project staff in the execution of the monitoring tasks. Is the monitoring system functional and does it help us assess the expected outputs properly?

Methods

The midterm review will be conducted by an external evaluator in such a way that it will ensure mutual involvement and learning amongst the implementing partners of the project. In the assessment of the three overall topics, as indicated above, the external evaluator will use documents already available, including the project document, minutes of staff meetings, minutes of PAC meetings, training course reports and evaluations, the monitoring systems: LFA, Project Monitoring Framework and Risk Analysis, the quarterly progress reports and other relevant data gathered during project implementation. The evaluator should also make sure to collect relevant reports concerning youth unemployment in Nairobi/Kenya developed by state authorities and other NGO’s. Finally, he/she will conduct personal as well as focus group interviews with the members of the project secretariat and the participants, consisting of youth from the trainings, youth from the networks, youth organisations, labour market partners involved in project activities and local authorities.

The project monitoring and evaluation teams of AYT and FIC will assist the evaluator when needed and ensure that the evaluator complies with the framework stipulated in these Terms of Reference.

Contents of the midterm review report

The midterm review should include considerations concerning:

a. Effectiveness of the project team in general, including the procedures and division of responsibilities among the employees.

b. Effectiveness of the project monitoring system. This includes an assessment of the structuring of the monitoring by the project staff and the methods used in the monitoring.

c. The quality and timeliness of reporting and accounting

d. Success of activities in comparison to the project objectives, expected outputs and indicators stated in the revised LFA of the project

e. Influence of project activities on the participating youth.

f. The functionality of the two youth networks.

g. Cooperation with youth organisations, other NGO’s, international organisations, labour market partners and local authorities.

h. Assistance from other donors in related fields

i. Status of the project in relation to national issues in Kenya concerning youth and employment.

j. Major constraints to the project (organisational, legislative, structural, administrative, managerial, financial etc.)

k. Recommendations for changes and adjustments to be established in the remaining period of the project

Procedure of the midterm review

In March 2012 the project secretariat in collaboration with FIC will employ an external evaluator to carry out the midterm review. The midterm review will take place in April/May 2012, a bit more than half way through the project. The external consultant will present the results and recommendations for the way forward to the PAC members in the beginning of May and PAC members will be able to provide relevant input for the final midterm review report. By the end of May 2012, the external evaluator will hand in the final report to the PAC.

Activity plan

Below follows a more detailed plan on the timing and division of responsibilities concerning each activity of the midterm review:

Activity	Time	Responsible
Terms of Reference for the Midterm review are developed	Before January 11th 2012	Nina/Annette
The Terms of Reference are agreed upon among the project partners.	Before January 25th 2012	Festus
Announcement for an external consultant to conduct the midterm review is done	Between February 25th until March 12th 2012	Festus/Annette/Nina
Interviews with potential consultants	Week 12 (March 19th to 23rd)	Festus/Annette/Stella/Eva
Consultant contracted	Before March 25th	Festus/Annette
A plan for the midterm review is developed by the external consultant. The plan includes a list of persons to be interviewed. The list is agreed upon with the project manager	Before March 30th 2012	External consultant
All agreements with people to be interviewed are made	Before April 5th 2012	Festus
The midterm review is carried out	Between April 8th and May 4th 2012.	External consultant, the project monitoring and evaluation team and Nina/Annette/Caspar (FIC)
The main results and findings from the midterm review are presented to the Project Advisory Committee (PAC).	May 6th 2012	External consultant (PAC participates)
A project report is drafted and submitted to the PAC	By May 30th 2012	External consultant
The final report is agreed upon	Before June 15th 2012	External consultant/PAC/FIC

If you are interested email your profile and/or resumes of personnel to be used in the assignment, citing other similar assignments done, quoting the expected fees to:

The Project Coordinator,

Youth Employment Initiative of Nairobi.

Email: festus@africayouthtrust.org

By COB Friday 9th March 2012