Contact Family Counselling Centre (CONTACT)

Deadline: 2 April 2021

About the organisation and the project

The evaluation is commissioned by Contact Family Counselling Centre (CONTACT) Consortium operating in Matabeleland South Province implementing a UN Women funded Spotlight Initiative under pillar 6 titled: Strengthening and coordinating movements to end violence against women and girls in Matabeleland South Province. There are five (5) Consortium members comprising of Contact Family Counselling Centre (CONTACT) the lead organisation, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) in Umzingwane District, Youth Edutainment Services Trust (YES) in Bulilima, Maranatha Orphans Care Trust (MOCT) in Matobo District and South Western Region Gender Network (SWRGN) that operates in Matabeleland South Province. The consortium strategically structured itself recognising the mandates and comparative expertise of each member organisation in light of the objectives of the Spotlight Initiative. The project is a transformative advocacy campaign of leaving no-one behind in strengthening a movement of ending violence against women and girls in three (3) Districts and 11 wards of Bulilima, Matobo and Umzingwane.

Project outputs

Output 3.1.14: Community advocacy platforms are established/strengthened to develop strategies and programmes, including community dialogues, public information and advocacy campaigns, to promote gender-equitable norms, attitudes and behaviours, including in relation to women and girls’ sexuality and reproduction, self-confidence and self-esteem and transforming harmful masculinities (SI3.2).

Output 3.1.17: Women’s rights groups and relevant CSOs are better supported to use social accountability mechanisms to support their advocacy and influence on prevention and response to VAWG, including SGBV/HP, and GEWE more broadly (SI 6.2).

Output 3.1.13: Women's rights groups and relevant CSOs representing groups facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination/marginalisation have strengthened capacities and support to design, implement and monitor their own programmes on VAWG, including SGBV/HP, and promote women and girls’ SRHR (SO6.3).

Objectives of the assignment

CONTACT Consortium would like to conduct an externally facilitated end of project evaluation for its Spotlight Project ending on 31 March 2021. It is a 15 months project from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2021. The target groups include provincial, district and community stakeholders, Women’s rights groups and relevant CSOs, duty bearers, CBOs, IAGs, People living with disability, youth, HeforShe champions, gender activists and champions, CONTACT Consortium management and project staff and the funding partner UN Women.The project geographic coverage is Matabeleland South province, covering 11 wards, in Umzingwane district wards 3, 5 and 14, in Matobo district wards 14, 15 and 17 and in Bulilima wards 10, 11, 13, 14 and 22.

Project purpose

The overall purpose for this end of term project evaluation is to assist CONTACT Consortium and UN Women to learn from the project implementation so that lessons could be drawn that can be the basis for instituting improvements to further project planning, design and management. Furthermore, the purpose of the evaluation is to measure progress towards achievement of the expected outcomes and to assess the measures that the project has put in place in order to create positive impact in the future.

More specifically the purpose of the evaluation is to: Assess the relevance and design of the project; Provide a detailed, constructive, independent assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented project; Determine the effectiveness of the implemented activities and assess strengths and weaknesses in programme design and implementation; Review outputs and outcomes of the project; Assess the efficiency of the project implementation strategy and processes, focusing on the allocation and utilization of available resources for the project; Assess project impact and effects; Assess the sustainability of the project and its interventions; Document findings, suggestions and recommendations for good practices identified and strategic lessons learned; Make recommendations towards current and future CONTACT Consortium projects.

Evaluation design / methods

The evaluation should include but not necessarily be limited to the following methods: A start-up meeting with CONTACT Consortium staff, to present inception report, plan the evaluation and get initial information and get consensus on the final evaluation plan; Desk review of relevant documents (project documents, quarterly, semi-annual and annual project reports, reports on project activities, project review reports and any other relevant documents); Contextual analysis; Individual and/or group interviews with beneficiaries and partnering and networking stakeholders; Key informant interviews & in-depth interviews; Focus group discussions with target groups; Debriefing workshop to present & discuss draft report findings, conclusions and recommendations; Writing and submission of final report.

Roles and responsibilities of the consultant

Ensure that the evaluation is done as elaborated in the ToRs; Review relevant documents; Seek clarifications to ensure fully understanding of the processes and Contact Consortium’s expectations; Conduct field work and give feedback on progress made in the evaluation process; Ensure confidentiality on any information collected about Contact Consortium and with regard to this evaluation assignment; To guarantee availability throughout the duration of the assignment; To ensure strict adherence to timely and quality delivery of the desired outcomes and deliverables.

Roles and responsibilities of CONTACT consortium

Preparation of the contract; ensuring timely signing by both parties and paying the consultant as per the agreed terms and deliverables; Timely provision of necessary documents for review and contact details for those to be consulted; Providing logistical arrangements for the field work and validation meeting; Reviewing of inception report, draft and final report and provision of feedback to the consultant.

Expected deliverables

Briefing meeting to agree on the whole evaluation exercise – scope, timelines, clarify open questions; agree on the logistics of the evaluation as well as on data collection tools; Submission of detailed inception report and to contain information on: the selection of key informants, focus group discussion participants, and the draft questionnaires and interview guides to be used during field visits; the proposed sample sizes, the (refined) methodology to be applied; the evaluation schedule; the roles and responsibilities of the evaluator/evaluation team and those of CONTACT Consortium; Reports: Draft evaluation report and Final Report after effecting comments.

Duration of work

Consultancy assignment work should be completed within a period of three weeks after the contract has been awarded.

Qualifications and competencies of the consultant

The evaluation will be conducted by an experienced and qualified M&E consultant. The consultant should possess qualifications, skills and experience as follows: A Master’s Degree in a relevant field, e.g. Social Sciences, Development Studies or any other relevant discipline; Demonstrated experience of at least 3 years in monitoring and evaluation, evaluation design, implementation and data analysis and evaluation report writing; A track record in conducting evaluation consultancy assignments; Demonstrated knowledge and experience in evaluating/assessing gender and women empowerment projects/programs; Excellent writing and communication skills in English and locally spoken languages; Extensive experience in service provision community development programs; Experience in the use of participatory research methods; Experience in NGO work; Knowledge of the Zimbabwean situation (social and political); Upholding of rights.

Expression of interest should consist of: a detailed technical offer including understanding of the TOR; a suggested methodology to be applied; a proposed time schedule; CV of the Consultant and if it’s a team, CVs of also the persons involved in the Evaluation Consultancy with their specific roles & responsibilities; Provide 3 traceable references and 3 written reference letters from clients stating Evaluation consultancy assignments conducted, where and when; Detailed budget for conducting the consultancy work.