Summary
Date Posted: Friday, January 12 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
This document outlines the Terms of Reference (ToR) for consultancy work required to produce a final evaluation for phase 2 of Right to Active Parenting programme delivered in partnership with Bread for World and Uganda Society for Disabled Children.

Bread for the World is a Global Christian Community Organization focusing on food security, health promotion and Education, access to water, strengthening of democracy, respecting human rights and keeping peace and the integrity of creation. The work of Bread for the World primarily focuses on supporting projects in the countries of the Global South through working with local, often church related partner organizations. Bread for the World works to implement equal opportunities for all persons and gender equality in its own structures as well as keeping environmental awareness. These are achieved through core principles of transparency, accountability, and assumption of responsibility in the handling of power and resources.

Uganda Society for Disabled Children (USDC) is a Ugandan Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and is committed to recognizing and equalizing the rights of children with disabilities. USDC uses an innovative model of working through a national network of Parents Support Groups (PSGs), which enables parents to be more involved in changing the lives of their children. USDC also runs Child Rights Clubs (CRCs) and a comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme. USDC’s mission is to provide equal rights and equitable opportunities for Children with Disabilities through inclusive learning and parenting.

Background
Bread for the World and Uganda Society for Disabled Children are delivering Phase 2 of Right to Active Parenting programme. We are now in the second phase of the programme (2021- 2024), which focuses parents’ participation in their children inclusive learning and health and government commitment to inclusive Education and Health.

The project is delivering Right to Active Parenting through a number of activities like formation of PSGs, kitchen gardening, health camps and clinics, follow-ups, inspections of government officials, support for startup kits for selected, training stakeholders in early identification, support, home based visits, equipping hospitals with essential materials and construction of Orthopaedic across the project locations.

Purpose & Scope of Evaluation
The main purpose of the Final Evaluation will be to understand and validate what the project has achieved and why and what lessons can be drawn from this for future programming.

Measurement and assessment of this overall progress will be set against the activities, outputs, outcomes, and the indicators selected to measure these elements of the project. Alongside an analysis on the delivery of project objectives, the Consultant will articulate in their analysis around the core MEL learning questions and OECD Criteria Questions.

The Final Evaluation must fulfil three key criteria:
1. Fulfil our contractual obligations with our donor.
International donors, whether they be large multilateral institutions or small trusts & foundations, have terms and conditions for how they would like the projects they fund to be evaluated. This ensures that the donor knows their money has been used in a meaningful way, for the objectives agreed as part of the project’s Theory of Change and log frame and Results Framework.
This project is funded by the Bread for the World (BftW) which represents the primary audience for the Final Evaluation report and expect to be consulted prior to and during the Final Evaluation processes Final Evaluation should include the following areas of learning:
• Provide a synthesis of project achievements, challenges and learning – to what extent have project outcomes been achieved, and for who? Have there been any unexpected outcomes? Example questions include:
o To what degree have project outcomes been achieved? Were there any unexpected outcomes?
o Who has benefited (women, men, girls and boys) and in what ways? Are those changes (outcomes) relevant to people’s needs? Are they likely to be sustainable in the long term?
o To what extent has the achievement of the changes/ outcomes been influenced by external context and other factors?
o What was the overall theory of change for this project? Has it been effective in bringing about lasting change? Were there any gaps?
• Assess and verify the quality of the information generated by the project by undertaking a quality assessment of: Project MEL systems (validity and reliability of data collection, storage and analysis; effectiveness of processes to use and sharing of information).
• Assess project delivery (i.e. was the project delivered within appropriate quality standards and according to plans, or where adaptations were made that this was done on the basis of appropriate data and learning). Example questions include:
o What have been the most effective methodologies and approaches the organization used to bring about changes to people’s lives? What has worked and what has not? What lessons have been learned? Who have they been shared with?
• Assess value for money in terms of economy, efficiency, Relevance, coherence effectiveness and equity.
• Provide an assessment of the sustainability of project activities or results.
• Present recommendations to strengthen future work.
• Gather feedback on Bread for the World ’s approach as a grant-maker: did our grant management.
approach help or hinder the project? Example questions include:
• How have BftW’s grant making policies and processes (e.g. how we define our programme strategies and outcomes, how we assess applications) helped or hindered the delivery of lasting change?
Are there any other ways in which BftW has helped or hindered the delivery of change?

2. Provide detailed project learnings for organizational development.
In addition to meeting donor requirements, it is extremely important to USDC that the Final Evaluation provides us with learnings, evidence and analysis that we can use to improve project delivery in the future and ultimately be more effective at supporting our interventions to achieve our shared goals with the finite resources we have.

The Final Evaluation should support our organizational learning by identifying the factors that contributed to any high or low levels of success, in addition to any unintended consequences of the project. From this project specifically, areas of learning that the Final Evaluation should explore are:
• The effectiveness and sustainability of the project’s specific methodologies, including the community-based approach to Active parenting and Inclusive Education delivery.
• What, if any, additional gains have been made following the phase 2 of Right to Active Parenting project.
• The role advocacy, such as with the Ministry of Education and Sports and Health at local and national level, the National, in addition to USDC’s engagement with the National Government Level Health and Education Technical Working Group, has had in creating project multiplier effects.
• The added value, of the health camps and meetings with stakeholders on Referral Pathways.
• The project’s effectiveness in terms of the way it was designed, implemented and monitored to ensure gender equality.
• The overall sustainability of the project, looking at where else the project’s Right to Active Parenting methodologies have been adopted outside of the project, in addition to the ongoing adoption in the 10 Project districts.
• The project’s suitability for scale up and/or replication, including an exploration of the project’s multiplier effects and the cost effectiveness of the project.

3. Provide MEL capacity building opportunities.
A core approach to USDC work with partnering with local structures and seeking capacity building opportunities to improve the sustainability of project outcomes but also to strengthen civil society more generally in the places that we work. We would like the Consultant to take this into consideration during the planning and design of the evaluation and ensure the process offers some genuine and meaningful opportunities for USDC to learn and strengthen their own systems through this work. This could include designing tools in a way that can be reused in future projects for inclusive data collection and collecting information in a way that it can be utilized in different projects to reduce the disability-data gap. Considerations include:
• How effective are the delivery organization’s MEL policies, processes, and practices?
• How could USDC improve their delivery?
• What tools could be repurposed for use in future projects? Any child-friendly data collection tools?
• How could both organizations improve their data collection methods?

Final Evaluation Deliverables
The Final Evaluation process is likely to be reactive and flexible according to feedback from project stakeholders. However, the overall process can be described in three phases that follow each other. Detailed deliverables are outlined below:

Phase 1
In consultation with Bread for the World (BftW) and USDC, the chosen Consultant will develop a full evaluation plan (inception report), supported by desk research, which will include:
• An evaluation framework.
• A detailed methodology to ensure the full inclusion and participation of all project stakeholders, including children with disabilities.
• A detailed work plan including the list of stakeholders to meet during field phase.
• Proposed data collection tools to use during the assignment.
This evaluation plan will be discussed and agreed with both Bread for the World (BftW) and USDC before commencing research, to guide the overall evaluation process.

Phase 2
Once contracting and an evaluation plan has been agreed, the Consultant will begin the fieldwork phase of the Final Evaluation. The Consultant will conduct an in-country (Uganda) assessment of the project outcomes, evaluating the quality and consistency of the project design, MEL systems and deliverables, including a review of approaches to inclusive data collection and implementing learnings.
The Consultant will be expected to involve the project organisation and stakeholders in the data collection to build inclusivity and maximise the capacity building opportunities available. We expect that the data needed to produce the final evaluation report will be derived through review of existing project data, field data collection and organisational documentation and systems, though some additional primary data may be needed such as interviews with staff or people benefitting. The Comic Relief Partnership Manager may be available to be interviewed by the evaluation team.

Supervision and Reporting.
The consultant shall report to the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and, Project Coordinator, under the overall technical leadership and guidance by USDC Executive Director.

Phase 3
Once the fieldwork is complete, the Consultant will be required to begin assembly of a draft Final Evaluation report. This can be a work in progress and does not need to be finalized at this early stage of phase 3. However, it is important we receive a working draft so we can assess the progress made and take corrective action if key content is missing. This will also enable Bread for the World and USDC to align their donor reports with any new data and evidence that has been collected by the Final Evaluation Consultant. The three key deliverables in this phase are:
1. A working draft of the Final Evaluation report to be shared with both organizations (BftW and USDC) to aid donor narrative and financial reporting that will be happening in tandem to the Final Evaluation. Both organizations will provide feedback on this report and then approve the Consultant to finalize it in the next step.
2. A detailed and fully designed evaluation report. The exact structure and contents of the report will be confirmed during contracting, but it is anticipated that the main body of the report is likely to consist of approximately 30 pages, including an executive summary.
3. A data set of the on the indicators on the strategic plan of USDC.
4. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation to support the final debriefing, covering the key content of the final report’s chapters “findings”, “learnings”, “challenges faced”, “conclusions” and “recommendations”, to be delivered with the final report.

Personal Specification
Required:
• Experience of evaluating complex bilateral or multilateral donor funded projects designed around outcomes, outputs and indicator targets (experience evaluating Bread for the World, GIZ, FCDO or other large grants is an advantage).
• Experience of conducting similar assignments and participatory MEL approaches.
• Excellent English language, report writing and communication skills.
• A Masters /Post graduate Diploma in a discipline in Monitoring and Evaluation to the scope of the evaluation.
• An understanding of and commitment to Bread for the World and USDC’s mission, vision, values and principles.
• Willingness to travel in the 10 project districts to conduct the evaluation.
• Experience of delivering work in compliance with international data protection standards.
• Understanding of safeguarding practices necessary for safe data collection.

Desirable:
• Experience evaluating inclusive parenting projects in Uganda.
• Experience of delivering evaluations for organizations working on disability or inclusion.
• Experience of using disability-inclusive MEL approaches.
• Working experience and/or working knowledge of disability and/or inclusive education in a Ugandan context.
• Lived experience of being a person with a disability.
• Understanding of the Project Cycle Management, Project Theory of Change and Logical Framework approaches.


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 120

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

Job application procedure
Applicants must provide a fully costed and timed package which incorporates completion of all deliverables as part of the application process. Applications should not exceed 5 pages.
Applications should include and address all the following:

• An up-to-date CV of the Consultant conducting the work demonstrating their qualifications and experience.
• Details of all the Consultants involved if you plan to work as a team.
• A detailed workplan showing your evaluation timeline and deliverables.
• Details of the methodology you would use for the Final Evaluation and why it is the best one to use in these circumstances.
• Your safeguarding approach and how you will ensure inclusive safeguarding standards are rigorously upheld.
• An overview level budget with budget notes to indicate the resources needed for your approach.
• An example of a similar piece of work you have undertaken for a different client.

Application Deadline
Midnight on Monday 15th January, 2024. Please send applications alongside CVs and any other supporting information in one e-mail entitled "Final Evaluation – RAP2 Project" to usdc@usdc.or.ug 

We are a disability friendly employer and therefore encourage anyone with lived experience of disability to apply. If reasonable accommodations are needed in order to improve your access to our application process, then please share them with us and we will accommodate.
Selection Process

USDC with BftW will use the checklists and an interview process to select the successful consultant. The guidelines require the consultant to submit a proposal explaining their comprehension of this ToR
and how they would approach this assignment. It must include a summary of their methodology, especially in terms of how they plan to meet the objectives, including the activity period and budget breakdown.


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