Sierra Leone: Endline Consultancy

Endline Evaluation Consultancy Opportunities

Plan International UK is looking to recruit two independent consultants (or consultancy teams) to conduct the endline evaluations of two projects focussed on supporting marginalised girls and children with disabilities in rural Sierra Leone stay in school.

Programme Background

Funded by UK Aid and Plan International corporate partners, Plan International is leading a consortium of five organisations in implementing the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC) project in Sierra Leone.

GEC1: A 3-year programme providing integrated support to 21,600 marginalised girls and children with disabilities in rural Sierra Leone to enrol and to learn in school. The obstacles to achieve this have deepened greatly as a result of the Ebola outbreak in 2014. In the face of an unprecedented epidemic, the consortium re-phased and modified the GEC programme to respond to the educational needs of the GEC beneficiaries during the Ebola crisis. The GEC “Education in Ebola” (EiE) was designed to support the government of Sierra Leone’s response to the Ebola outbreak in the country as well as respond to the needs of our target group during the emergency.

GEC2: A 14 month programme to support primary school girls and children with disabilities in the context of the Government’s Ebola Transition and Recovery Plan. Building on the successful model of GEC1 the programme supports 7,477 children to: attend school, receive a quality education following school closures due to the Ebola outbreak, and ensure that girls are in a safe learning environment.

Summary of position

Plan International UK is seeking to procure the services of two consultancies:

1.Endline Consultancy to design, plan and conduct an endline evaluation for the GEC1 project

2.Endline Consultancy to design, plan and conduct an endline evaluation for the GEC2 project

The Consultants will each provide an independent and rigorous evaluation and research function, designing and implementing frameworks which will assess the delivery, effectiveness, VfM, and impact of the two projects and report the findings and lessons learnt through these processes.

For each endline evaluation, the Consultant will be required to develop an evaluation approach that enables them to report to DFID, partners and stakeholders against the following overarching questions as a minimum:

• Was the project successfully designed and implemented?

• To what extent has the GEC reached and affected marginalized girls?

• What impact has the project had on marginalised girls’ learning?

• What impact has the GEC had on enabling marginalised girls to be in school?

• What has worked, why and with what effects?

• How sustainable are any changes the project has led to?

The Consultants will collect qualitative and quantitative data to assess the project’s progress against indicators in the logframe, and undertake a participatory review with staff and beneficiaries to assess their perspectives of the effectiveness of the project against the planned outcome and outputs. We expect the consultant or consultancy firm to employ qualified and experienced national staff for data collection.

Skills and experience required– you may want to do “essential” and “desirable”

Essential

• Degree in social sciences, development studies, or related field

• Extensive skills in evaluation design and research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative research methods and using experimental or quasi-experimental techniques

• Experience in leading endline studies;

• Experience working in the education sector;

• Knowledge of VfM assessment of education projects;

• Experience in participatory and gender-sensitive M&E methods;

• Information management: design and manage data and information systems capable of handling large datasets for M&E purposes

• Excellent analytical and writing skills;

• Fluency in spoken and written English.

• Excellent teaching, coaching, facilitation and co-ordination skills

• Ability to work to tight deadlines

Desirable

• Experience of the design and implementation of similar evaluation activities

• Experience of working in Sierra Leone

• Knowledge/ Experience of working on or evaluating large and complex DFID programmes

Plan International UK invites individual consultants or firms with the experience and skills described above to submit a relevant CV and covering letter to: Chido.Chirimuuta@plan-uk.org