Consultant/ Evaluation

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF FINAL EVALUATION

The purpose of this evaluation is to give TRDP and Save the Children the chance to evaluate whether both the organizations have achieved the defined objectives of the grant. The evaluation will also investigate the extent to which the grant has had an impact at implementation (direct work to reduce child labor) and institutional level (strategic organizational change in TRDP). In assessing the impact of the grant against its objectives, the evaluation will also take into account the evolution in the focus of the grant, which has shifted from building the capacity of TRDP to become a child rights organization to a more focused attention to the direct work on child labor.

2.1 EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The evaluation should seek to answer the following specific questions across the two major components of the grant:

Direct work to reduce child labor

• What impact both positive and negative, intended and unintended - has the grant had on protecting children from hazardous work in the target districts?
• How effective have the education,vocational training and livelihood supports been in contributing to a reduction in child labor?
• What principles for defining what qualifies as hazardous child labor were developed, and what impact had the processes put in place for the detection/withdrawal and monitoring of children in hazardous labor on the children targeted by the grant?
• Has TRDP facilitated sustainable livelihoods for artisan producers of working children and enabled them to generate resources for themselves (Step Change 3)?
• What impact has the grant had on the wider protection (contributing to creating a protective environment and addressing various protection concerns) of children within families and communities?
• What impact has TRDPs Advocacy and campaign strategy as part of the grant had on law, policy and practice around child labor and child protection both legislative and customary law and policy?

Were there any adverse impacts on children's lives resulting from the implementation of this grant and how effective were mechanisms for early detection as well as appropriate measure to mitigate against such adverse impact?

• What can we learn about successful approaches to reducing harmful child labor in this context and the replicability of these approaches?

Strategic institutional capacity building of TRDP

To what extent has TRDP integrated child rights into its work on tackling child labor, and developed a Child Rights Unit with a high level of technical expertise (Step Change 1)?

Has TRDP developed experience and expertise to become one of the leading organizations in the field of child labor and primary education in arid zones of Sindh (Step Change 2)?

• Has TRDP become a key actor in child labor, poverty and education debates, influencing decision making at all levels (Step Change 4)?
• Has TRDP become an umbrella organization supporting a strong network of community organizations who implement the majority of interventions(Step Change 5)?
• To what extent has TRDP become more strategic, innovative, effective, efficient and transparent (Step Change 6)?

• Assess how effectively the Child Rights Unit worked with TRDPs HRD section ensuring appropriate level of skills and staff development in all programmes; in setting outcomes and related indicators around mainstreaming;accountability and also tracking these outcomes and impact at all levels.
• What has been the role of the Child Rights Unit in:

• 1. mainstreaming a child rights approach in tacking child labor in its work and applying an integrated approach in bringing lasting change tackling hazardous and bonded child labor;
  2. tracking change at all levels;
  3. ensuring quality control including staff development;
  4. coordinating monitoring, evaluation and learning; and,
  5. decision making and accountability related to coordination ensuring lasting change around hazardous and bonded child labor.

• What were the obstacles encountered by TRDP in achieving the objective of mainstreaming child rights in its work on child labor and becoming a child rights focused organization?
• How was the measurement of the impact on children, families and communities of mainstreaming child rights in its work and the training of front line staff reflected in TRDPs capacity building plan and actions?

The final evaluation should also assess the management and operational effectiveness of the grant including:

• The effectiveness of the partnership model used and ways of working between Save the Children and TRDP, taking into account how such a partnership evolved during the course of implementing this grant
• The usefulness of the strategic, management, education, finance, monitoring and evaluation and technical support provided by Save the Children to TRDP, taking into account how this support evolved during the implementation of the grant;

• The effectiveness of the monitoring and evaluation and learning framework and processes for the grant, including documentation, reviewing tools,processes, information flow, decision making in tracking outcomes/step changes linked with direct benefit to children and use of monitoring information in Save the Children and TRDP
• The response and mitigation steps taken after the internal audit and midterm evaluation action points.
• The impact of two consecutive and devastating floods in the project area on the overall progress and expected changes and how challenges were tackled.

The final evaluation should also keep in view, across all components, the assessment of the following factors: relevance; efficiency; effectiveness, outcomes; and sustainability.

2.2. METHODOLOGY

The following provides a guide on the methodological process expected for this evaluation. A final methodology will be proposed by the selected evaluators and presented to the Steering Committee overseeing the evaluation for their endorsement.

Desk review

The evaluator(s) will review the existing programme documents and relevant empirical literature, to be provided by Save the Children, including the milestone document and LFA; yearly work plan; TRDPs Child Rights Strategy; Child Rights and Child Labour Policies of TRDP; Child Participation and Protection Model; Child Rights Policy Implementation Plan; Education and Advocacy Strategy of TRDP; NFE mainstreaming plan; MoUs signed with district governments; Save the Childrens audit recommendations and internal review report; Midterm Evaluation report; four annual narrative and financial reports and one six monthly narrative and financial report submitted to donor; meeting minutes; TRDPs emergency implementation plan and transition plan; field notes; capacity building plan; baseline report and monitoring data collected to date (including total reach data, progress reports, child profiling data etc); and other documents like workshop reports of programmes.

Inception Report

The evaluator(s) will develop an inception report that outlines the following:

• Outline the overall approach of the evaluation, highlighting the conceptual model(s) adopted
• Risks and limitations
• Detailed methodology, including data collection tools, key data sources, sampling and analysis methods
• Work plan, including time frames, budget and travel schedules.

This will be presented to the Steering Committee for their review and endorsement, prior to commencing the field process.

Data collection

The evaluation must include a mix of quantitative and qualitative data collection methodologies.

• Quantitative data
  

Secondary data will be collected and analyzed from Save the Childrens monitoring system, case management system, government and other service providers. Primary data may need to be collected through the use of survey tools at community level, if deemed feasible and appropriate by the evaluators and Steering Group.

• Qualitative data
  

Primary data will be collected through the use of carefully designed and documented key informant interviews, small group discussions, participatory methodologies (such as body mapping, risk analysis with children) and observation. The quality of the collection, documentation and analysis of qualitative data will be paramount and will be carefully monitored by the Steering Group.

• Sampling

The evaluators must develop and present a sampling plan for all types of primary data collection quantitative and qualitative - in the inception report, to be agreed with the Steering Group.

Feedback

A debrief sessions at the end of the fieldwork should be held to provide initial feedback on findings and recommendations. These de-briefs will be used to guide the development of the final report. The de-brief will be presented to Save the Children and TRDP and to Steering Group members joining by telephone or Skype. Following the de-brief, the evaluators will jointly conduct data analysis and draft a report.

Recommendations

The evaluation recommendations should be action-oriented, describe clear follow-up and should be owned (i.e. should clearly identify who is responsible for each action). The recommendations should cover how Save the Children and TRDP could build on the project in future work, improve delivery, efficiency and cost-effectiveness to achieve greater child protection results and improve monitoring and evaluation.

Reflection of all the principal stakeholders of the grant, i.e. children, parents, teachers, community members, district and provincial government officials, NGOs and the media, and where appropriate gender based desegregated information / age group of children.

NOTE: Applications will be assessed on regular basis due to short time frame, therefore interested candidates are advised to apply at the earliest on first come first serve basis.