Terms of Reference (TOR) for evaluation of project “EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ROMA WOMEN”,
2021-2024
For evaluation
Made externally
In Kosovo
ToR for EVALUATION were reviewed by M&E team?
Signature of M&E:____________
Context: Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians people are trapped in a vicious cycle of exclusion. They do not enjoy their rights and lack opportunity, without adequate health, social protection and care. They are not empowered to be part of societal decision making. All of these are sustained by discrimination and anti gypsyism which leads to disengagement, demotivation and disinterest - again reinforcing exclusion.
Overall Goal of the Project: The project aims to improve the rights and status of Roma women and girls in Kosovo, focusing in particular in the employment and employability. At the same time, the project increases the capacity of the local partner and civil society in gender mainstreaming.
Theory of Change: In a nutshell, the project’s theory of change is that Supported employability and increased awareness of minority rights among rights holders and duty bearers increases the self-determination and equality of Roma women in their communities and in society. The details of ToC are described below.
Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women face multiple discrimination due to their gender, ethnicity and economic situation. Kosovo RAE are still living according to strong patriarchal rules and traditions, resulting very limited rights and opportunities for women and girls: they are only supposed to take care of the children, maintain the household, and hold together the extended family and quite often hard physical labour. RAE girls are disadvantaged as a result of their early marriage. There are Roma girls who go to school, but irregularly and even they often drop out at age of eleven or twelve. The amount of Roma girls that do not finish even primary school is 41%. Families do not value schooling, because the most important thing for a girl is to start a family and take care of it. This also leads to a poor level of employability later.
Therefore, the project aims at addressing the specific educational and employment needs of both Roma girls and Roma women. This is done by implementing some measures to the most vulnerable in both groups, but also through capacitating the authorities and other CSOs to better address and assist vulnerable Roma women in their education and employment. In addition, the project challenges CSOs and political parties to advocate for Roma inclusion.
2. Purpose and scope
Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation is to provide the project partners with external views and insights about the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of key project interventions and advise on possibilities on how to best build on, sharpen and prioritize them, to work as effectively as possible towards the long-term goal and outcomes of the project in next period.
The specific objective of the evaluation is to examine and answer the following questions under the programme:
How has the employment rate progressed within the RAE communities because of the constant work of the project (together with the employment agencies)? What is the impact of the project's intervention?
Target audience: project partners, HDF, donors and in addition, information can be shared with other civil society actors and relevant line ministries of the Kosovo Government.
The purpose of this evaluation is for both accountability and learning purposes that will in turn serve for strategic project steering. However, given the potential application of the findings for the next project phase, learning is prioritized in the evaluation processes. Therefore, the evaluation is mainly formative and the results will be used to develop the next project phase.
Evidence Base: The evaluation shall take into account existing evidence on social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups in Kosovo, which is available through the yearly governmental reports on the implementation of the National Strategy for the Inclusion of Roma and Ashkali, studies conducted by other donors, the MICS from 2020 (which was used for some baseline data by the project) as well as the Anti gypsyism Baseline Study conducted in 2021.
3. criteria and questions
The evaluation questions were developed by the project team and address the DAC criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability/
4. Methodology and process
The overall approach is expected to be based mainly on a mix of qualitative methods for data collection and analysis but making strategic use of internally and externally available quantitative data for the analysis and interpretation. The evaluation can build on existing project monitoring data.
The evaluation team is expected to use methods such as: analysis of documents and of existing statistical data and budgets, structured interviews, semi-structured interviews face-to face or by phone, focus group discussions (FDGs), etc.
Selection strategies for the different project components are to be defined as part of the inception phase.
The evaluation will be divided in three components with thematical focus requiring specific qualifications. The project consortium encourages applicants to put together a team or to jointly apply with other consultants so that all qualifications can be covered. In case two or more consultants apply together, coordination needs to be clarified.
The process should follow the following steps:
Contract and Kick-off meeting: Signing of contract discussion of the assignment with the Consortium partners. First documents, including available data, are provided to the evaluation team.
Inception phase: forms part of reaching final agreement on methodological tools and procedures, including selection of interview partners / sampling strategy. Includes desk study and key informant interviews (by phone/skype) with key project staff, and possibly additional external stakeholders to be agreed on in the kick-off meeting.
A template for an inception report, including an evaluation matrix, is attached as annex 2. The inception report will be reviewed by all consortium partners.
Field visits and consultation workshop: Primary data sources and secondary data sources are used to generate necessary information for the evaluation. Conducting primary data collection using various methods defined in the inception report. Secondary data is generated from respective project documents, project data basis and external key documents. It is expected that the evaluation results will be gender sensitive, and that gender issues will be looked at along exclusion issues (intersectionality).
The evaluators will organize one-day workshop where key findings and first conclusions should be discussed with key staff of the consortium and SDC.
Report writing: Submission of draft final report, inclusion of comments by consortium. The subsequent drafting process may go through additional feedback rounds until the final report is approved. The conclusions have to address the evaluation questions in the TOR, taking into account also unexpected finding. It is expected that the evaluation/review team will present concrete recommendations which are addressed to the specific stakeholders.
Data triangulation and quality control are very important and need to be discussed in the inception report. The field visits will only take place upon official approval of the inception report by the contractor.
The following table shows the evaluation questions and specifies to which project outcome (and in some cases outputs) each question refers. The methodology for addressing each cluster of questions should be developed by the evaluation team as part of the inception phase.
5. Deliverables
The evaluator(s) is expected to produce the following deliverables:
6. Schedule and budget
The bidder is free to propose the number of days he/she needs for the evaluation; however, we wish to recommend that the total working days for the whole should not exceed 30 days in total. If the different assignments are done by the same evaluator, it is suggested that respective field phases for the different assignments are conducted in parallel by different team members.
Action |
Responsible |
Date |
Submission of bid (Electronically) | Contractor | 13rd of September, 2024 |
Contract signed and documents provided | Contract signed between Consortium and consultant | 1th of October, 2024 |
Kick-off meeting by skype | Meeting between Project representatives, and consultant | 5th of October, 2024 |
Desk study/Inception interviews, submission of draft inception report | Consultant | 18th of October, 2024 |
Approval of inception report by Consortium | Consortium, | 23th of October, 2024 |
Field visit, interviews, data analysis, etc. | Consultant | 7th -11th of November, 2024 |
Submission of draft report | Consultant | 22nd of November, 2024 |
Feedback and reflection workshop | Consultant in consultation with consortium partners | End of November |
Inclusion of feedback (incl. written) in final draft report | Consultant | |
Submission of final evaluation report | Consultant | 10of December |
The consultant is expected to submit his / her daily rate, including VAT (if applicable), as part of the application. The consultant may apply together with a local/international partner/consultant. In this case, the daily rates of all team members should be indicated. Accommodation, travel and related costs will be reimbursed.
7. Management roles and responsibilities
The evaluation is mandated by the project partners – VoRAE and Helsinki Deaconess Foundation. The overall coordination of the contract is in the hands of VoRAE as an implementing partner. For VoRAE, the responsible person is Vesa Batalli, the Program Director, for Helsinki Deaconess Foundation is Johanna Tuominen.
The partners will assign a contact focal point to liaise with the selected consultant. This person will be responsible for:
The consultant has responsibility for:
The consortium will:
8. Follow up of the assessment
Upon finalization of the evaluation report, a management response will be developed by the Project partners. The management response will respond to the recommendations and outline a plan of action for implementing accepted recommendations from the report.
As part of the evaluation process, the consultant is expected to facilitate a feedback and reflection workshop for the Project Partners. Results and findings from the evaluation will be used in the development of the next project phase and will be shared with the project design team for consolidation.
9. List of documents
10. Assessment team / qualifications
The bidder can apply individually or propose an evaluation team qualified for evaluating the questions according to the, of skills and experience mix to adequately deliver on these ToRs.
11. How to Apply
Interested candidates should present:
Applicants should send the complete documentation in electronic form to [email protected] (cc to [email protected] and [email protected] ) by 13rd of September 2024.