Consultant – Mid-Term Review of the "Rights, Respect, Resilience" Project

Consultant’s Terms of Reference to conduct a Mid-Term Review of the "Rights, Respect, Resilience" Project

Background

The IMPACT Programme

In July 2020, ChildFund New Zealand launched the Inspiring and Motivating Pacific and Asian Communities for Tomorrow (IMPACT) Programme, a five year, NZD 11.2 million funded development assistance programme in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) through its Partnering for Impact funding mechanism. This funding stream, called a ‘Negotiated Partnership’, is a new way of working for MFAT, and the New Zealand INGO sector, as they mandate a ‘Programme’ of work across a 5-year timeframe and promote concepts of adaptability, measuring for impact and engagement of the New Zealand public. The IMPACT Programme initially consisted of five project locations including Vietnam, which has already been finalised, and Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste.

Through leveraging the respective strengths and resources of ChildFund New Zealand and MFAT, and listening to local voices, the partnership aspires to protect, empower, and increase the resilience of children, youth and communities in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, better equipping them to shape safer and more prosperous futures.

The long-term expected outcomes of the IMPACT programme are:

1. Children and youth have enhanced well-being and life skills and are agents for positive change in their lives and communities.
2. Children and youth live in a protective environment.
3. Communities have enhanced resilience to natural hazards, climatic risks and Covid-19.
4. Local partners demonstrate greater self-reliance.
5. New Zealanders are more engaged and supportive of NZ’s aid efforts.

As part of the IMPACT Programme, ChildFund New Zealand partnered with ChildFund Papua New Guinea to deliver the Rights, Respect, Resilience Project in Papua New Guinea.

Rights, Respect, Resilience

Women and children in Papua New Guinea experience levels of gender-based violence (GBV) estimated to be some of the highest in the world outside a conflict zone. Studies have found that around two thirds of women report intimate partner violence and over half report being forced to have sex against their will, mostly by known perpetrators. In a 2013 study of adult males, 62% reported perpetrating some form of rape. A 2001 study found that 75% of children grow up witnessing violence between family members, mostly against their mothers. This is a concern given multi-country research showing that boys who witness violence in their families are more likely to become perpetrators in the future. GBV is largely driven by factors related to gender inequality, childhood experiences and the enactment of harmful forms of masculinity. These, along with lack of basic knowledge are the same drivers of negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as high rates of early pregnancy.

Despite the prevalence of GBV, there is no law or policy mandating comprehensive sexuality education in PNG. However, PNG’s commitments under the International Conference on Population and Development (ICDP) Program of Action obligates it to provide information and education pertaining to gender, sexuality and SRH, and there is willingness and commitment within the NDoE. In the context of recent government budget cuts, NDoE have indicated they are keen to work with partners to support innovative interventions. A Connect with Respect module has been developed for primary schools by UNICEF, and in 2017 ChildFund developed the Rights, Respect, Resilience (RRR) learning resource for secondary schools to be used within the Personal Development curriculum (funded by DFAT’s Gender Action Platform). The resource was also adapted and trialled for out of school youth. This resource was piloted in five zones in two communities in Port Moresby in 2018-2020.

The Rights, Respect, Resilience Project is a five-year project in partnership with ChildFund Papua New Guinea. It will see the social and emotional skills of young people increased to build better futures and act for positive change. An anticipated 12,204 students from 17 secondary schools and 1000 out-of-school youth from three communities in Central Province and National Capital District (NCD), Papua New Guinea will participate in training and activities to increase their confidence, knowledge and skills to think critically about, address and seek help around gender, violence and sexual health issues.

The Project’s intended goal and outcomes are the following:

Goal: Social and emotional skills of young people increased to build better futures and act for positive change

Medium-Term Outcome 1: The social and emotional skills of young women and young men are improved to enable them to positively influence their lives and relationships.

Medium-Term Outcome 2: Young women and men are active participants in schools and communities to influence positive change.

Medium-Term Outcome 3: Civil society and duty bearers are more inclusive of, and accountable to, young women and young men (both in and out of school) and actively respond to their views and priorities.

Short-Term Outcome 1: Both in school and out of school youth have increased confidence, knowledge and skills to think critically about, address and help-seek around gender, violence and sexual health issues.

Short-Term Outcome 2: Young women and men lead, participate and contribute to positive change in their schools and communities, with the support of duty bearers.

Short-Term Outcome 3: Schools are equipped to build the capacity of in-school youth in social and emotional wellbeing.

Short-Term Outcome 4: Capacity of child and youth focused CSOs is strengthened in the areas of child safeguarding, gender and protection.

Mid-Term Review Purpose

A mid-term review (MTR) of the Rights, Respect, Resilience Project will aim to gauge progress from the beginning of implementation in July 2020 until April-May 2023.

It will assess how the Project is achieving short-term outcomes and making progress towards medium-term outcomes and will feed into continuous improvement.

It will be used to inform learning and to make improvements to the design and delivery of the Project. It will also focus on the strengths and gaps of each partnership, the mode and method of project delivery, and future sustainability.

Project achievements at this juncture include the review and update of the project’s Rights, Respect, Resilience curriculum and student wellbeing manuals, both of which are now pending Ministry of Education endorsement. Training and mentoring of student leaders and community youth peer educators to implement respectful relationships peer education activities in schools and the community has also commenced. Alongside this, the project team has coordinated with service providers to provide awareness raising events in target schools and communities.

Evaluation Scope

The MTR of the Rights, Respect, Resilience Project will provide essential information to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Project and provide valuable information regarding the effectiveness of the IMPACT Programme.

Evaluation Objectives

Through the Project MTR, the independent Consultant will assess:

1. Progress and performance in delivering effectively against the identified short-term and medium-term outcomes of the Rights, Respect, Resilience Project, as outlined in the project Theory of Change and Results Framework.
2. Confirm that the Project and approaches used are still relevant to the needs of target communities, and within the capacity of the Project implementing teams. This includes commenting on how the project has demonstrated gender and disability inclusion;
3. How the established partnerships and funding have enabled or constrained success.
4. Any specific successes, risks, issues, and adjustments recommended for the final two years of the Project.

Project Evaluation Questions

As set out in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Framework for ChildFund New Zealand’s IMPACT Programme, the MTR aims to answer the following evaluation questions: 'Full details to be obtained from the TOR'

Project Evaluation Methodology

ChildFund Papua New Guinea and ChildFund New Zealand will provide a set of key documents to the consultant, to be reviewed for background and context.

These will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Grant Funding Agreement between ChildFund New Zealand and ChildFund Papua New Guinea
• IMPACT Programme Project Design Document for the Rights, Respect, Resilience Project
• Updated Rights, Respect, Resilience Results Diagram
• IMPACT Programme MERL Framework, including Theory of Change and Result Measurement Table
• Baseline documents
• Monitoring reports (quarterly, six-month and annual)

The evaluation should follow a collaborative and participatory mixed methods approach that draws on both existing and new quantitative and qualitative data to answer the evaluation questions.

Data collection methods may include the following:

Desk review of key project documents

Focus Group Discussion with students and out of school youth

Focus Group Discussion with parents and/or caregivers of out of school youth

Key informant interviews with student leaders, peer educators, teachers, SBOM, community leaders

Key informant interviews with relevant Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)

Key informant interviews with staff of ChildFund Papua New Guinea

Key informant interviews with relevant government stakeholders (NDoE)

The MTR will test assumptions and relevance of the planned project interventions by better understanding the systems surrounding youth and the challenges they face in contributing to positive change in their schools and communities. Youth are a vulnerable population and many of the issues to be raised in the review process are sensitive.

FGDs with girls and women will be facilitated, supported, and observed only by female staff. An exercise will be undertaken at the outset to build rapport and create an environment of trust where youth feel able to speak honestly about their experiences and views.

Roles and Responsibilities

Consultant’s Roles and Responsibilities:

- Secondary information analysis:

• Desk review of relevant IMPACT programme and Rights, Respect, Resilience Project documents and reports, such as proposals, assessments, project budgets, monitoring and assessment reports, and ChildFund guidelines.
• Establish working contacts with all the relevant stakeholders in the targeted communities.

- Primary information analysis:

• Field visits to target schools and communities; among other surveys, interviews and/or focus group discussions with local partners, youth, teachers, community members (adults) and other stakeholders by the Consultant.
• Submit an inception report (with detailed methodology, research tools and timeline/logistics) for review, feedback and approval by ChildFund Papua New Guinea. Youth participation is a strong focus of this intervention so participatory methods are a must and approaches that include young people in the collection, synthesis and analysis of data are desired.
• Design a set of data collection tools in collaboration with ChildFund Papua New Guinea MELC Manager and SEL Program Manager and ChildFund Australia and ChildFund New Zealand MERL and SEL advisors for feedback and approval.
• Collect data using approved data collection tools.
• Interview selected respondents during the evaluation.
• Submit draft evaluation report and finalize it based on the feedback from ChildFund Papua New Guinea and ChildFund New Zealand.
• Submission of individual recommendations for ChildFund Papua New Guinea, ChildFund New Zealand and local partners.

ChildFund Papua New Guinea’s Roles and Responsibilities:

• Briefing of the Consultant.
• Review and approve the study tools and methodology.
• Brief stakeholders about the purpose of the MTR.
• Provide all the necessary support to the consultant to ensure timely completion.
• Avail all the required facilitation and coordination.
• Assist in organizing meetings with stakeholders.
• Prepare and effect payment for the Consultant upon completion of the assignment.
• Liaise and communicate regularly with ChildFund New Zealand to ensure the MTR process and final report is in line with overall IMPACT Programme’s needs and expectations.

ChildFund New Zealand’s Roles and Responsibilities:

• Liaise and provide support to ChildFund Papua New Guinea to ensure the MTR process and final report is in line with IMPACT Programme MTR requirements.
• Upon completion of the final report, utilise review findings to prepare an Adaptive Programme Report, which will be a formal record of the MTR process and include how programmatic recommendations will be implemented in the remaining two years of the Programme.
• Provide ongoing technical support as needed.

ChildFund Australian's Roles and Responsibilities:

• In collaboration with ChildFund Papua New Guinea and ChildFund New Zealand, provide feedback and technical support as required throughout the Mid-Term Review process.

• Deliverables of the Consultancy:

• Prepare and submit an evaluation protocol in English detailing how the evaluation will be carried out. The protocol will outline the evaluation design, sampling methods to be used and questions to be answered, and detailed work plan for the entire exercise. As part of the evaluation protocol, the consultant must provide a data analysis plan showing the questions and analysis for each of the Project indicators to be investigated.

• Design and develop all required data collection tools: Draft questionnaires, interview guides and other data collection tools will be submitted to ChildFund Papua New Guinea for review and feedback from ChildFund New Zealand and ChildFund Australia before data collection starts.

• Develop the research methodology and respective tools for review and approval by ChildFund Papua New Guinea and ChildFund New Zealand.

• Conduct pre-testing of developed guidelines and all instruments and amend as appropriate.

• Conduct field level data collection based on agreed assessment and survey tools, maintain quality and accepted norms and standards, lead the data entry and analysis.

• Carry out data entry and transcribing of interview and FGD notes in preparation for data analysis.

• Present the findings and outcomes in a draft report, to be reviewed for feedback by ChildFund Papua New Guinea and ChildFund New Zealand.

• Submit a detailed final report in English outlining the evaluation methodology, findings, lessons learned and recommendations. The report shall incorporate specific simple and achievable recommendations, including the most appropriate strategies that can be undertaken and/or incorporated by ChildFund Papua New Guinea and partners to attempt to address the issues identified. The final report should address the issues and questions raised in this ToR and correspond to the evaluation objectives set out above.

• The Consultant will be expected to conduct data collection in English and Tok Pisin, as appropriate. The working language and all deliverables are due in English.

Criteria to ensure the quality of the evaluation report:

• The evaluation report shall address all questions included in the scope of work.
• Evaluation methodology shall be explained in detail and all tools used in conducting the MTR such as questionnaires, checklists and discussion guides will be included as annexes in the final report.
• Evaluation findings will assess outcomes and impact on young men and women.
• Findings should be specific, concise, and supported by strong quantitative or qualitative evidence.
• Sources of information need to be properly identified and listed in an annex.
• Recommendations need to be supported by a specific set of findings.
• Recommendations should be action oriented, practical, and specific, with defined responsibility for the action.

Indicative Timetable

It is anticipated the assignment will be undertaken in June 2023**.** The MTR will cover approximately 35 days. "Full details to be obtained from the TOR"

Required experience and qualifications

• University qualification with master’s degree in Community Development, Sociology or other social sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation or related disciplines with strong experience in community consultation and data collection.
• Understanding of issues relating to children and youth development, globally and within the Asia Pacific region.
• Connected with children and youth organisations working in the region – with knowledge on who’s doing what, their approach and reputation.
• Applied knowledge and sound understanding of Results Based Management (RBM) and theory of change.
• Proven experience in data management and analysis and report writing including use of data analysis software.
• Flexible and able to adapt to a multi-cultural environment and complex situations, with demonstrable high-level interpersonal and cross-cultural skills, such as building collaborative relationships internally and externally.
• Self-driven, strong organizational and planning skills, with the ability to work independently or in a group, as well as under pressure
• Knowledge of Tok Pisin is an added advantage for data collection.
• Excellent command of English both written and oral
• Consultants who can be based in Papua New Guinea for the duration of the assignment are highly preferred.

Management and Reporting Arrangements

The Consultant will report to the ChildFund Papua New Guinea SEL Program Manager and MEL Coordinator, with ongoing support from the ChildFund New Zealand MERL Manager and ChildFund Australia SEL Advisor. All reports must be written in English and provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word).

Confidentiality

All discussions and documents relating to this ToR will be treated as confidential by the parties.

Child Safeguarding

The Consultant will undertake the Services to a high standard; use its best endeavors to promote the best interests of ChildFund; protect the reputation of ChildFund and work in a manner consistent with the mission, vision, and policies of ChildFund (see Child Safeguarding Policy/Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct, PSEAH policy and Employee Code of Conduct). ChildFund has a zero-tolerance policy to abuse, exploitation and harassment in all its forms.

Conflict of Interest

The Consultant must declare any financial, personal, family (or close intimate relationship) interest in matters of official business which may impact on the work of ChildFund.

Remain alert and responsive to any child safeguarding or sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment (SEAH) risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills to promote strong safeguarding practices, understand the child safeguarding and PSEAH policy and procedures, and conduct yourself consistent with those policies.

procedures, and conduct yourself consistent with those policies.

Full Terms of Reference (ToR) can be downloaded from www.childfund.org.au/work-with-us

Applications closing date: 19 May 2023