Evaluation Consultant-‘Advancing Psychosocial Support And Child Protection Of Syrian Refugees’ Program

Program Description: In collaboration with UNICEF and five local partners, Mercy Corps has been implementing Advancing Psychosocial Support and Child Protection of Syrian Refugees (APSCP) since 1st July 2013. The aim of APSCP is to improve the psycho-social well-being and resilience of Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees, and host community children, adolescents and families, through the provision of psycho-social support and strengthening of community and national capacities for child protection in emergencies. The program has five components: To improve the emotional and social wellbeing Syrian refugee, Palestinian refugee and Lebanese children (ages 5-9 years; girls and boys), adolescents (ages 10-19 years; girls and boys) and their families through structured and semi-structured community-based psychosocial support activities; To provide vulnerable children and their families direct psychosocial support and improved access to services; To build team member and local partner organizations' capacities for prevention, identification and response to child protection and GBV cases; To support the development of strong national child protection in emergencies coordination and minimum standards through technical support and research; To address the winter needs of families living in vulnerable shelter conditions through the provision of clothing vouchers. APSCP is working in North Beqaa, West Beqaa, Nabatiyeh and Weavel Camp. The exact locations are as follows: North Beqaa: Baalbek, Douris West Beqaa: Jeb Jennine, Kamed El Loz Nabatiyeh:, Doueir, Habbouch Palestinian camp: Weavel Palestinian Camp –Beqaa Evaluation Objectives: To analyze the program implementation for lessons learned and best practice recommendations in order to help guide and inform future program design and operations To review local implementing partners’ contribution to APSCP To assess Mercy Corps’ current contribution to a sector-wide systems approach to child protection and child and adolescent psychosocial programming, and recommended future strategy Consultant Core Activities: The Consultant will focus on three main areas of APSCP’s objectives and activities, specifically: Responding to child protection issues in  refugee and host communities Level of child, caregiver and community satisfaction with the process and results of the program activities; Community participation in project implementation; Relationships and coordination with stakeholders: municipalities, beneficiaries, local partners, donor, etc; Set-up and utilization of Child Friendly Spaces according to minimum standards; Utilization of “gateways” identified by UN, including Social Development Centers, community centers, schools, etc.   Quality and effectiveness of child protection intervention methodologies: Adherence to international best practice standards for CPiE Program achievement of targets to date, catalysts or impediments affecting their achievement, including any external constraints; Scale, quality and impact of the following activities: i.             Comfort for Kids and Moving Forward methodologies; ii.            Accessing vulnerable Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees and Lebanese in their communities; iii.            PSS mobile activities and outreach activities with caregivers, schools, community leaders, and       children/youth     iv. Dissemination of awareness materials;     v. Community awareness raising sessions;     vi. Caregiver support groups;     vii. Self-care sessions for Outreach Workers, partners, and community actors;     viii. Direct support to children and families, and effectiveness of referral systems;     ix.  Distribution of winterization vouchers to vulnerable children in West, Central and North Beqaa.   Capacity building and partner performance Quality and effectiveness of training provided to field-teams, including coaching and follow-up; Contribution to sustainability; Review the performance of local partners, specifically: i. Selection and training of local partners; ii. Implementation of psychosocial support programming; iii. Adherence to Mercy Corps’ compliance standards, policies and procedures.   Consultant Deliverables: The Evaluation Consultant will initiate the evaluation by developing a detailed workplan along with the schedule of fieldwork, specifying how the information will be collected, organized and analyzed according to the information needs specified in this scope of work. The consultant will submit the final evaluation report and will present the findings to the Mercy Corps Lebanon team.  Mercy Corps reviewing team will provide comments within three days of submission.  The Evaluation consultant will incorporate comments and submit the finalized report one week after receiving the comments. The final evaluation report will contain the following: Executive Summary (a clear and concise stand-alone document that gives readers the essential contents of the evaluation report) Methodology (schedule of activities, constraints and limitations of the evaluation process and rigor, and detailed description of data collection techniques used throughout the evaluation). Results (organized as per the evaluation objectives) Synthesis, Recommendations and Lessons Learned (concrete and practical recommendations for future programming in the Lebanese context, organization lessons learned.  Everything presented in this section should be directly linked to the information presented in the Results section of the report. Also include recommendations that are not directly tied to Results in such a way to give the Evaluator Comments)  The Consultant will work closely with: Child Protection Program Manager Child Protection teams Area Managers for Beqaa and the South Syria Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor Director of Programmes Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Team UNICEF Child Protection teams Local implementing partners  Evaluation Methodology Rapid appraisal techniques including key informant interviews, reviews of project documents, site observations, focus group discussions with staff and beneficiaries are recommended for collecting information. The evaluation consultant, however, should develop an appropriate methodology to address the evaluation scope of work according to Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. This SOW will be updated once the methodological details have been finalized by the evaluation team, including external consultant. Team Composition & Participation The evaluation team will consist of one consultant in addition to the Lebanon M&E team. Consultant: S/he will have a background and experience in child protection, psycho social programming, and monitoring and evaluation. The consultant should also be familiar with UNICEF’s approved child protection standards and wider global standards.  In addition, the consultant should understand community based approaches to child protection and psycho social programming.  S/he should have strong command of Arabic and English, excellent writing skills, experience in writing reports and conducting field research. S/he will conduct field assessments as assigned and will lead the data analysis and report writing.