Burundi: Consultant Final Programme Evaluation (YEP)

Position: Consultant Final Evaluation Youth Engagement Programme

Location: Burundi, Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), South Sudan

Application Deadline: 24 February 2016

Duration:March-April (2 months)

SPARK is looking for ashort term consultant to undertake a final programme evaluation of their Youth Engagement Programme funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This evaluation concerns the complete 4 years of the programme (2012-2015), the activities of project partners, and the results at the level of outputs and outcomes that have been achieved during this period.

YEP Programme summary

The Youth Engagement Programme focuses on creating an (enabling) environment for youth to advocate for and improve their socioeconomic position, by strengthening youth and relevant organisations from the government, the private sector as well as civil society organisations targeting youth. Key to this process is the involvement of youth, political parties and other stakeholders. Together with its local partners from Burundi, OPT and South Sudan, whose lobby and advocacy capabilities are being strengthened, SPARK has been implementing several awareness and advocacy campaigns which aim at increasing youth participation in the public and private sector, influencing government and political party policies, and the public and political agenda on socioeconomic issues for youth.

Socioeconomic development reduces poverty but importantly it also increases citizens’ confidence, trust and their involvement with state and public institutions, further leading to stability and possibly sustainable peace. It is young and ambitious people who need to be at the heart of this process.

Objectives of the final programme review

The final programme review, which will cover the implementation period from January 2012 – December 2015, is meant to assess whether the programme has adhered to its original plan. In other words, it will assess the results of the programme against stated outputs and outcomes, as well as identify successes and recommend lessons for learning. It will also highlight issues and challenges which affected effective and efficient implementation of outputs and their contribution to project outcomes and impact and will recommend whether results obtained warrant a continuation of this type of programming in the future. The final programme evaluation will assess the Youth Engagement Programme according to standard evaluation criteria listed below.

· Relevance

· Effectiveness

· Efficiency

· Sustainability

· Impact

· Lessons learned

· Conclusions

Deliverables

The consultants will produce the following specific deliverables after signing the contract. The consult shall provide regular briefings to SPARK and will report his/her preliminary findings before leaving the field. The draft and final report will have the following structure:

· Executive Summary (max. 2 pages)

· Introduction.

· Methodology, including sampling.

· Analysis and findings of the study.

· Conclusions, recommendations, lessons learned and best practices.

· Annexes

Methodology

The consultant shall use mixed methods such as desk review, key informant interview, sample survey, and observation using simple but numerically sensitive tools to collect data. In the event a survey is conducted, the sample size should be statistically representative of the population. The analysis will also involve statistical and content analysis using appropriate packages as deemed fit by the consultant.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities:

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

· Conduct meetings with key project staff of SPARK and partners;

· Design the evaluation, including data collection tools for the project and relevant program indicators and sampling technique and size;

· Conduct desk reviews of secondary information and project documents including the project proposal (including log frame), implementation and M&E plans of the project, donor regulations, project financing agreements, project baseline survey, progress and financial reports, existing data collection and monitoring tools and any other relevant documents;

· Obtain feedback on data collection tools from key SPARK and partner staff and finalize draft data

· collection tools to be tested;

· Field research: minimum of 1 of 3 countries (Burundi, Occupied Palestinian Territories, and South Sudan) will be included for field research. International consultants will be conducting research in a team with local consultants (as part of the consultant’s team). Collect data from a representative sample of individuals from the target groups and key stakeholders (local partners and beneficiaries). Research conducted will utilize information gathering tools including but not limited to key informant interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs);

· Assess progress on and quality of implemented project activities;

· Data processing (data entry, verification and analysis); Report writing and submission of first draft report; Short presentation of first draft report to SPARK.

· Finalize the report incorporating feedback and submission of final report.

Requirements and Skills:

The evaluator should be an experienced and independent consultant with the following expertise:

· Advanced university degree in International Development, Social Sciences or any other related field with a minimum of 5 years of professional in international development and project evaluation.

· Previous professional experience in one or more of the three project countries is desired;

· Excellent understanding of youth socio-economic development in fragile states and feeling for relevant political actors and policy influence regarding local governance and peace building.

· Demonstrated experience in youth community development and local political engagement.

· Have an understanding of operating conditions in an insecure environment.

· Demonstrated experience in assessments and/or evaluations of interventions using participatory Methods.

· Advanced analytical and report writing skills.

· Be willing to travel to one of more of the working areas of the project (Burundi, Occupied Palestinian Territories and South Sudan).

· Fluent in English (both reading and writing).

· Understanding of French and/or Arabic is an advantage.

How to Apply:

The deadline for submission of applications is 24 February, 2016. All applications should include the following, incomplete applications will not be considered:

· Cover letter (maximum 1 page) stating the candidate’s availability during the months of March and April 2016 and updated CV’s of all study team members, including three references with contact details.

· Technical proposal: Which should include:

(i) Brief explanation about the Consultant with particular emphasis on previous experience in this kind of work.

(ii) Profile of the Consultant to be involved in undertaking the evaluation.

(iii) Understanding of the TOR and the task to be accomplished, including clear explanation of all qualitative and quantitative methods the consultant is proposing to use and a clear plan for data analysis.

(iv) Draft work plan.

· Financial Proposal: Which should include consultancy fees but excluding: accommodation and

living costs; transport cost; stationeries, and supplies needed for data collection; and costs related to other persons that will take part from consortium partners and government authorities during survey process, workshops.

Interested consultants or firms should submit their applications to: vacancy[at]spark-online.org Please indicate “YEP Final Program Review” as the subject heading. Further information such as the ToR may be requested. '