External Evaluator - Consultant

Term of Reference End of Project Evaluation           Lost Generation Initiative: Addressing the Education and Protection Needs of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon   Role The identified evaluator will conduct the end of project evaluation to the “Lost Generation Initiative: Addressing the Education and Protection Needs of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon” as per the objectives, methodology data collection tools and explicitly specified assignments described in this document. Supervisor/s MEAL Manager and Education/CP Technical Advisor         Time Frame of Assignment 15 working days         Location Bekaa Project Background The project “Lost Generation Initiative: Addressing the Education and Protection Needs of Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon”  addresses critical education and child protection needs of Syrian and host community children in Lebanon by protecting development objectives achieved prior crisis. The project started in September 2014 and is ending in October 2015 and will target 1100 children. The desired impact from the project is improving wellbeing of vulnerable children and youth by Syrian crisis in Lebanon.   The project outcome is to strengthen local and national education and child protection systems in Lebanon. The project will achieve its outcomes through strengthening education and child protection services for refugee and host community children. And through strengthening education and protection formal systems and policies that will support refugee children and adolescents. And through increasing community capacity that will supports education and protection mechanisms for refugee children.   Key project activities included:   -          Delivering of community-based NFEP for 1250 out-of-school children aged between 6 and 14 and community volunteers on child protection -          Providing more than 800 children with Psychosocial Support (PSS) services -          Training of 61 teachers on positive discipline, child safeguarding and active learning -          Forming of 10 Parent Community Groups (PCGs) and providing them trainings on positive parenting and child protection issues -          Establishing of 10 Child Protection Networks (CPN) -          Building accountability systems for parents and communities to feed back -          Conducting up to 12 meetings with Ministry of Education and Higher Education to strengthen and expand education programs Responsibilities of the consultant -          To assess the relevance[1] and effectiveness[2] of the education programs (including those implemented by the partner[3]) and PSS services provided to children; -          To assess the relevance and effectiveness of the tested curriculum for life training, English, IT, literacy and numeracy classes adolescents and youth; -          To review the relevance and effectiveness of parenting trainings and activities; -          To assess the impact of the program in terms of improved wellbeing[4] of vulnerable children and youth affected by the Syria crisis in targeted locations of Lebanon. -          Asses the strengths and weaknesses of the project’s methodology and implementation procedures, with a view to increasing impact and sustainability that will feed similar projects or a new phase of the project. Deliverables Inception presentation and evaluation plan The consultant will conduct the inception presentation to MEAL manager, operations director and education & CP technical advisors before the commencement of evaluation activities. This presentation will highlight the refined methodological approach (incl. evaluation tools) to the assignment, the work-plan and any issues related to the ToRs that may require discussions and adjustments.   The inception phase will also include the evaluation plan. The consultant will develop the tools and instruments (questionnaires, focus group discussion guide, interview questions, desk review, etc.) to be used during the evaluation. Data will be captured electronically to expedite the data collection process and minimize data entry error (ODK and tablets provided by SCL).   The consultant will also outline the evaluation strategies to be used for sampling and FGD technique. Sampling procedure for the quantitative and qualitative samples should be of sufficient size and representativeness to allow reasonable levels of confidence and reasonable ability to generalize findings. The consultant will be required to provide clear and specific sampling methodology, sample size, and the rationale behind the decisions for sampling methodology and the sample sizes.   The consultant will also outline the qualitative and quantitative data analysis methodologies that will be used. Analysis should integrate findings from the different sources of data. Presentation of findings should include triangulation and verification of the data captured. A complete set of tools and procedures for summarizing and analyzing qualitative data needs to be made available.   The consultant will highlight the Ethical Considerations that will be taken into consideration during the evaluation process. The rights of respondents must be protected at all stages of the evaluation process. The consultant will ensure the appropriate, safe, and non-discriminatory participation of all respondents in the survey. This includes obtaining free and informed consent and withdrawal, and ensuring that data is kept in a secure and confidential manner and the anonymity of respondents is protected in the presentation of findings. Where data is collected on protection topics, specifically Gender-Based Violence, additional considerations to ensure confidentiality and respect for respondents will be ensured, in addition to enumerators being provided with specific training on protection sensitivity. The consultant will provide a statement within their proposal on how they will address ethical considerations in the process of data collection, analysis and presentation. This should include consideration of any risks related to the study and how these will be mitigated.   Raw data   The consultant will be expected to submit soft copies of all qualitative and quantitative raw data captured during the study   Draft of first report for revision by MEAL Manager/TAs.   Workshop on findings The presentation is expected to be finalized within 3 days after the completion of the last assessment activity. The presentation is to be delivered to selected key stakeholders. It should include the preliminary findings of the evaluation, conclusions and recommendations. Final report The final report will be presented within 5 days after the delivery of the presentation of findings, and should include the clarifications that were required during the presentation. It should include: Executive summary; Introduction to the context; Overview on methodology used; detailed findings (including clear evidence based responses to the queries outlined in the ToR); Recommendations; Tools developed for evaluation purposes (annexes); List of persons met during the evaluation process and salient points of the meetings.   Essential competencies required   -          Master’s Degree in Social Studies from a reputable university (preferably education or child protection related) -          Proven experience in education and PSS programme design, implementation and monitoring -          Experience in education and PSS programming for vulnerable groups in Lebanon and in the rest of the MENA region -          Excellent written and spoken English language skills -          Evidence of experience in leading participative evaluations and designing evaluation tools -          Understanding of Lebanon social and political context -          Experience in study design (both quantitative and qualitative methodologies) and in assembling and managing field teams -          The selected candidate will submit a one page proposal specifying the rate in addition to CV and cover letter [1] A local partner was in charge of implementing education activities for around 500 children. This was a first time partnership [2] A local partner was in charge of implementing education activities for around 500 children. This was a first time partnership [3] A local partner was in charge of implementing education activities for around 500 children. This was a first time partnership [4] Can refer to QLE previous results or can use this tool to conduct this type of assessment