External Evaluation of the “Community Music Program”

Background

Taawon (Welfare Association) is an independent non-profit organisation established in 1983. Taawon strives to make a distinguished contribution toward furthering the progress of the Palestinians, preserving their heritage and identity, supporting their living culture and building civil society in the different working areas it serves: the West Bank (including Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip, the 1948 Areas, and the Palestinian communities in Lebanon.

Taawon works closely with local, grassroots organisations to address the specific needs of the Palestinian refugees living in difficult circumstances throughout the country. We support the implementation of a range of initiatives under three specific programs: Education, Community Development (including health and relief), and Culture.  We work in close partnership with more than 25 local partners and touch the lives of more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees annually.

About the Music Program

Taawon supports the provision of musical education to children, adolescents, and youth across different Palestinian refugee camps.  A total of 80 children and youth aged between 9 and 20 years are enrolled in the program for this year; they are distributed over four Palestinian refugee camps in the north, south and in Beirut (Beddawi, Shatila, Burj El Barajneh and Burj Chemali).  The program has been running for more than ten years working in collaboration with four partner organizations namely: Beit Atfal el-Soumoud, Joint Christian Committee, Al-Kamanjati and Prima Materia.

The objective of the program is two-fold: 1) build capacity of the children and provide them with the means to enhance confidence, well-being and increase their opportunity for a healthier and more fulfilling life; and 2) promote the Palestinian musical and cultural heritage among the young Palestinians living in exile and away from their homeland.

External Evaluation Objective

The objective of the external evaluation exercise is to review and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the music project over the past five years.  This entails looking as well at relevance, sustainability, participation while providing recommendations for improvement and lessons learnt.  More specifically, the evaluation should answer the following questions:

1. What impact have the project made in the lives of the beneficiaries, their families and the community at large?
2. How relevant, effective, efficient, sustainable, and participatory was the project design and implementation?

• Relevance: To what extent is the project focused on the target group and how well does it respond to their needs and priorities? Are the activities relevant to the problems faced by the beneficiaries?
• Effectiveness: To what extent are the objectives of the project being attained (or likely to be attained?)? To what extent were the projects effective in bringing change? To what extent did the project build on existing knowledge and was sensitive and adaptive to the local context? Did the project achieve the objectives?
• Efficiency: Is the relation between input of resources and results achieved appropriate and justifiable (cost-benefit ratio)?  How efficient is the project’s organisational, management and supervision structures?  Was the project implemented proficiently and in line with the set work plans and time frame? Were resources used efficiently? Were there any factors – external or internal – that affected the implementation and impact?
• Sustainability: To what extent can activities, results and effects be expected to continue after Taawon involvement has ended? What are the prospects of the concerned stakeholders and partner NGOs for sustaining impacts after termination of Taawon intervention? Has the capacity of the implementing partners / beneficiaries been developed? 
• Participation: To what extent are stakeholders (beneficiaries, partners, etc.) involved in the design, planning and implementation of the project components? How was the relationship – at the operational and managerial level - between the project staff and the implementing partners, targeted beneficiaries and other concerned stakeholders?

3. Was Taawon involvement inclusive and did it ensure appropriate gender balance and gender mainstreaming in the implementation of activities? Did it take into consideration the rights of the disabled or any other special groups?  
4. What lessons can be drawn from the past and how the evaluation outcomes can help improve and develop the program further?   
5. What recommendations can be made to yield better outcomes and impact?  Any recommendations for a shift in the way the program is functioning (how and why) at different levels?

Scope of Work

The consultant will lead the evaluation exercise in coordination with relevant Taawon staff, his/her tasks will include:

• Plan the evaluation’s design, methodology and work plan (including timeframe)
• Conduct a desk review; going through the different relevant documentations (including, regular progress reports, previous assessments or project evaluations, studies, awareness material and audio visuals produced, etc.) and any other relevant information.
• Plan, design, and coordinate the data collection process
  • Identification of the major stakeholders associated with the project to be interviewed, such as parents, children, partner NGO staff, Taawon staff, etc.
  • Agreeing on the type of information to be collected relevant to each stakeholder
  • Preparation of checklists (interview questionnaire, FG guides) and other tools for data collection in coordination with Taawon.

• Collect data and provide in depth analysis of findings.
• Prepare first draft of the evaluation report and share with Taawon for review and feedback. 
• Deliver a final edited evaluation report (both hard and soft copy) based on final feedback of Taawon.

Expected Deliverables

• Evaluation methodology and plan.
• Data collection tools including guides for interviews and focus group meetings – to be submitted two weeks after approving the work plan, to be approved by Taawon
• Final narrative report in English language presenting the evaluation’s findings and recommendations in addition to 2-4 pages of executive summary in Arabic and any relevant appendixes (interview questions, list of interviewees, etc.)
• A power point presentation in both English and Arabic summarizing the evaluation findings and report’s content.

All deliverables to be provided in both soft and hard copy.

Timeframe

The expected time frame for conducting the evaluation is estimated between eight to ten weeks after signature of contract.