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Consultant to undertake Final Evaluation of Educate A Child-funded “Assisting Conflict-affected Children Enroll and Stay in School (ACCESS)” project

: Save the Children International

: Nonprofits / องค์กรไม่แสวงหาผลกำไร

: 3035

: 30 September 2016

14 October 2016

Save the Children International is looking for a Consultant to undertake Final Evaluation of Educate A Child-funded “Assisting Conflict-affected Children Enroll and Stay in School (ACCESS)” project

JOB TITLE:  Consultant to undertake Final Evaluation of Educate A Child-funded “Assisting Conflict-affected Children Enroll and Stay in School (ACCESS)” project

TEAM/PROGRAMME: ACCESS Project                LOCATION: Thailand

Consultant to undertake Final Evaluation of Educate A Child-funded “Assisting Conflict-affected Children Enroll and Stay in School (ACCESS)” project

 

1. Background

 

Save the Children’s three-year project, Assisting Conflict-affected Children Enroll and Stay in School (ACCESSS), started on January 1, 2014 and will continue until December 31, 2016 with support from Educate A Child (EAC). It aims to address key barriers to education in three areas – eastern Myanmar, seven refugee camps in Thailand and migrant communities in Bangkok and Mae Sot, Thailand through partnerships and collaboration with four other organizations including Karen Teacher Working Group (KTWG), Right to Play (RTP), Foundation for Rural Youth (FRY) and Help without Frontiers (HWF) respectively.

In conflict affected areas in Myanmar, the Karen Education Department (KED) has historically overseen the standardization, structuring and monitoring of the educational activities for the Karen people in Myanmar. Its principal collaborator is the Karen Teacher’s Working Group (KTWG), one of the principal partners for this project. Communities in eastern Myanmar suffer from poverty, illiteracy, poor health, food insecurity, landmine contamination and security issues which contribute to poor student performance and absence from school and severely limit their capacity to support their teachers, students and schools.

The conflict in Myanmar has also resulted in mass movement of populations into Thailand, and currently over 100,000 refugees live in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, with children making up half the camp population. Camp school enrolment rates cannot be calculated with accuracy due to the lack of data on the exact ages of children, but the secondary completion rate is low. The reasons for dropout are related to a combination of factors, including, the fact that camp schools often charge fees which some families cannot afford.

Despite the “Education for All” policy adopted by Royal Thai Government in 2005, in some migrant communities only 10% of children attend school and obstacles to accessing education still exist. Barriers to education for many migrant families include fear of arrest, inability to afford school uniforms, text books and transportation, language barriers between teachers and students and Thai schools’ reluctance to accept non-Thai students. As a result of these challenges, migrant communities and community-based organizations set up MLCs. These schools are not regulated by the Ministry of Education (only “listed”), and therefore students receive no recognition of their learning attainment, and quality of instruction, curricula, materials and language used varies. There are also little training and development opportunities and a lack of pedagogical recognition among migrant teachers.

2. Project Overview

Project Goal:  Increase access to and enrolment in education of children affected by conflict in eastern Myanmar, including asylum seekers, undocumented migrants and refugees living in Thailand (Results Framework is attached in Annex I)

Key components of the project include:

1. Sustaining and stimulating interest in and demand for education, including;

• actively identifying out-of-school children (OOSC) and supporting their enrolment in formal education
• helping communities to understand the nature and type of education on offer
• engaging parents and communities in the development and delivery of educational services

2. Increasing the supply of and access to education, including:

• providing financial support to families to offset direct and opportunity costs in accessing education
• providing pre and in-service teacher training
• supporting teacher employment through salary subsidies
• providing learning materials and school supplies
• supporting school system managers and leaders

3. Implementing partner organization’s capability and previous experience

The project activities, evidence and learning will also inform potential future expansion or replication of activities that can improve access to education for minority populations, enabling Save the Children to reach more OOSC within the country, regionally and globally.

 

3. Purpose and scope of this consultancy:

The objectives of this consultancy include:

• Evaluating the progress and achievements towards project goals and objectives
• Assessing efficiency, relevance and sustainability of the project
• Consolidating key success stories and lessons learned
• Providing reflection on project design and activities and recommendations for future programming

The evaluation should consider these particular areas of learning:

• To what degree have project outcomes been achieved and have there been any unexpected outcomes or unforeseen spillover effects?
• How has the project utilized learning and evidence to improve intervention, to influence policies related to OOSC and to learn about what works in reaching/retaining OOSC?
• Sustainability of the project outcomes in terms of demand/supply of education in different context and how the project has worked towards ensuring sustainability (i.e. setting up OOSC referral system within the camp and use of OOSC data for policy-influencing)
• Change in practices and awareness at the school, parents and community levels as a result of community engagement and trainings
• Cost-effectiveness/value for money of delivery platform and data collection system
• Successes and challenges of mobile technology
• Analysis of cross-cutting issues (gender and other social inclusion issues)

 

4. Approach and methods

Save the Child requires a participatory methodology, whereby the work engages all key stakeholders should be provided with an opportunity to provide input and comment to the evaluation team. The evaluation methodology will be comprised of:

• A documentation review including activity and progress reports, assessments together with any other documentation Save the Children considers important for the evaluation
• Analysis of beneficiary numbers over time with mapping to project intervention timeline
• A series of interviews and focus group discussions with beneficiaries, NGOs and local partners, ACCESS coordinator, and other persons that Save the Children and the evaluator agree as necessary
• Visits to the field to observe project activities and assess the impact on the intended beneficiaries through series of consultations with OOSC, parents and teachers. Particularly visits to Eastern Myanmar areas will be obligatory.

As consultations with remote communities in Eastern Myanmar are obligatory, the consultant(s) is encouraged to seek local research assistants who are able and willing to travel in Eastern Myanmar and can support to coordinate necessary travel clearances. Direct consultations with beneficiaries are required to be conducted in the mother tongue of the respondents or with appropriate translation support.

The consultant(s) is encouraged to propose their methodology and suggested timeline for the evaluation.  This is subject to Save the Children’s approval and must be in line with Save the Children’s evaluation guideline and ethical guidelines (Annex II).

Timeframe

The consultant(s) will be required to dedicate an estimated 35 days’ time to the evaluation during October 2016 – January 2017, subject to the requirements and agreements with Save the Children.

5. Deliverables

 

Deliverables	Timeframe	Remarks
Inception report and work plan -          Draft of evaluation framework -          Draft of evaluation tools	7 days after confirmation of contract	Desk review
Kickoff meeting with partner	October (TBD)
Detailed visit plan for each partner	2 days after Kickoff meeting	Partners’ preferred available time in Annex III
Visit to partner offices/communities and consultations with beneficiaries -          At least 3-5 interviews/FGDs per partner -          Number of schools in Eastern Myanmar to be visited TBD (considering logistics and weather condition)	Nov 2016 - Jan 2017
Presentations of preliminary findings to Save the Children -          Presentation file shared with Save the Children at least 5 days prior to the presentation	20 January 2017 (tentatively)
First draft of reports with recommendations in English	3 days after preliminary finding presentation	Save the Children will provide comments within 5 working days
Final draft of reports -          Evaluation summary report (1-2 page in English and Thai -          Full report (25 pages maximum excluding appendices) in English and Thai	30 January 2017	The report should meet Save the Children’s Evaluation Report Checklist (Annex IV)

 

6. Management

The consultant(s) will report to Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator, with technical support from Education Specialist and Program Development and Quality (PDQ) Director.

 

7. Consultancy Fee

The consultant(s) is asked to propose the budget. The financial competitiveness of the fee will be considered in the selection process. Costs involved in the research, such as materials and travel, will be covered by Save the Children.

 

8. Submissions for the consultancy The submission must address the terms of reference and include:

 

• The resume of the candidate
• A cover letter explaining the candidate’s interest and suitability
  • Experience in conducing evaluation in conflict-affected area like Eastern Myanmar will be an asset
  • Statement of willingness and ability to work and travel in high-risk areas
• Evaluation plan and proposal including a research methodology and timeline (5 pages maximum)
• A detailed budget in $US (including travel and other costs)

 

9. Close date for submissions: 14 October 2016

Submissions should be addressed to: hr.thailand@savethechildren.org

 

Annex I Results Framework

 

GOAL: Increase access to and enrolment in education of children affected by conflict in eastern Myanmar, including asylum seekers, undocumented migrants and refugees living in Thailand

Outcome 1: 80,287 out of school children in eastern Myanmar have access to education
IO 1.1 Increased demand and support for education from parents of out of school children
IO 1.2 Improved supply of education through the provision of pre-service teacher training
IO 1.3 Improved supply of education through teacher employment and better terms and conditions of employment
IO 1.4 Improved supply of education and increases in its quality through the provision of continuing professional development to teachers
IO 1.5 Improved supply of education through provision of learning materials to out of school children
IO 1.6 Improved supply of education through provision of training in and support for school management

Outcome 2: 1,500 out of school children and youth in refugee camps in Thailand gain access to education
IO 2.1 Increased knowledge and recognition of importance of education among parents and their children
IO 2.2 Provide articulated pathway into formal education through provision of informal peer supported preparation for learning
IO 2.3 Improved participation in education with direct support to low income families to meet the financial costs of formal education

Outcome 3: 2,350 out of school children and youth in migrant communities in Thailand gain access to education
IO 3.1 Improved knowledge and understanding of the extent of OOS problem among Myanmar migrant communities in Thailand
IO 3.2 Increased knowledge and recognition of importance of education among migrant parents and their children
IO 3.3 Improved supply of education through teacher employment and retention
IO 3.4 Improved supply of education and increases in its quality through the provision of continuing professional development to teachers
IO 3.5 Improved supply of education through provision of learning materials for newly enrolled out of school children

 

Annex II Ethical Guidelines

Before undertaking any monitoring and evaluation activity with children or adults an ethical assessment should be undertaken by the Country Office. Where appropriate, approval for an activity should be obtained from all relevant ethical or institutional review boards in-country prior to the commencement of the activity.

As per the minimum standards, at each of these stages the responsible individual or office must:

• Make sure the information gathering activity is necessary and justified:
  • Make sure that the purpose of the activity is clearly defined
  • Use the minimum sample size required to get statistically significant or valid results
  • Consider carefully the ethics of using a comparison or control group
• Adopt informed consent and voluntary participation procedures:
  • Participants must give their informed consent (either written or verbal) to participate. When children are involved consent must also be granted from an appropriate adult. Consent forms should be field tested before use. Save the Children’s Practice Standards for child participation can give more guidance.
  • Ensure that participants are well informed on the purpose of the activity and how the results will be disseminated
  • Make sure that individuals are informed that their participation is voluntary and that they have a choice to opt out
  • Confirm that participants understand the limits of the activity, in terms of benefits, and the next steps
  • Consider very carefully the use of incentives for participation and try not to use incentives where possible
• Adopt appropriate confidentiality procedures, sensitive to children’s needs
  • Ensure that all persons involved in the activity, including data gatherers, data input staff, translators etc have received training on the confidentiality procedures and signed an appropriate confidentiality agreement
  • Confidentiality may need to be breached to provide immediate protection to a child. Children and adults must be made aware of the confidentiality procedures before being asked to provide any information.
• Ensure that the costs to children of participating in activity do not outweigh the benefits, and ensure their safety at all times:
  • Adhere to Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding Policy
  • Ensure that participation is in the children’s best interests and does them no harm
  • Ensure that information gathering with children is appropriate to their age and stage of development
  • Anticipate adverse consequences and develop appropriate responses
  • Be cautious and protective and undertake ethical checks as you proceed with any activity
  • Be sensitive and flexible; if situations change you must be prepared to stop or change an activity if ethical issues cannot be resolved
• Be consultative
  • Determine whether local permission from community stakeholders or authorities is needed to proceed and adhere to any locally established institutional policies or guidelines for conducting research.
  • Information about the activity must be provided to all stakeholders
  • Prepare local communities and explain the purpose and aims of the activity
• Be sensible and prepared
  • Researchers have a responsibility to be mindful of cultural, religious, gender, and other significant differences within the research population in the planning, conduct, and reporting of the study findings
  • Ensure that those gathering information from children and/or vulnerable communities are adequately trained and ready to follow up or refer children who might need special attention as a result of research/investigation in sensitive themes.
• Respect the dignity and autonomy of those participating in the activity
  • Ensure children and/or vulnerable communities are not simply used as a means to achieve research objectives
  • Know that study participants have a right to remain anonymous.
• Be accountable
  • Adhere to the International Accountability Charter
  • Make sure that a complaints and feedback mechanism is in place for children and adults participating in the activity
  • Ensure accuracy of information during analysis, interpretation and reporting. And remain open to the findings of any study and do not allow vested interests to interfere
  • Make sure that proper acknowledgement is given at all stages, as appropriate.

 

Ethical issues

 

Every data gathering exercise involving children and vulnerable communities is theme or context specific therefore you must review all ethical considerations before undertaking a new activity.

 

Whenever we conduct research on people, the well-being of research participants must be our top priority. The research question is always of secondary importance. This means that if a choice must be made between doing harm to a participant and doing harm to the research, it is the research that is sacrificed.

 

In some cases you may decide that you cannot proceed with a monitoring and evaluation activity because of ethical issues.  In this case you may need to re-design the activity or cancel it altogether if an ethical solution cannot be found.

Annex III: Preferred schedule of partners

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjq5eu28mb19ppz/Work%20plan_ACCESS.pptx?dl=0

Annex IV: Evaluation Report Checklist

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l3n0y54018qsjvn/evaluation%20checklist_draft.docx?dl=0

Close date for submissions:

Please send your application by 14 October 2016, to email address:hr.thailand@savethechildren.org

“We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.”

Contact : hr.thailand@savethechildren.org

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