Job Description

11           Background Information

Save the Children International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in children’s lives worldwide. SCI has been operational in Somalia since 1951. Guided by the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for 2022-2024, SCI strives to ensure the most deprived children aged 0-5 years have a strong start in life; children aged 6–14 years have a better foundation for a bright future; young people aged 15-24 years become socially and economically productive citizens; girls and women have greater voice, choice and control over decisions affecting their lives, and strengthened government and civil society capacity to sustain child wellbeing in Somalia/Somaliland. SCI Somalia/Somaliland implements a range of child-focused and thematically integrated programs across Somaliland, Puntland and Southern States through sustainable humanitarian and/or development programming which enhances both government and community ownership.

Save the Children supports local partners' capacity to deliver programs and become more responsive and accountable for children by allowing children to speak and by making laws, policies, and budgets that put children first in line with the CO localization strategy 2022-2024.

The project seeks to contribute to a strong and vibrant Child Protection system in Somalia that protects and advocates for the rights of children. This will be achieved through strengthening local civil society capacities and their involvement in coordination mechanisms to enable them take better coordinated and collective action on localization and protection issues in Somalia. Two Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that will undergo an organizational capacity assessment (OCA) will also be supported with funding to implement locally led and designed child protection (CP) projects. In addition, the project will advocate for increased leadership roles for local and national CSOs in child protection coordination mechanisms so that they are able to influence decision making at cluster level.

To ensure sustainability, the project is focused on supporting institutional and longer-term capacity strengthening for local/national CSOs. Ten child rights CSOs from the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (AoR) and localization working group (including OPDs) will undergo OCA and will be supported to design and implement capacity strengthening action plans. CSOs will be supported to strengthen fundraising through development of resource mobilization guidelines for the CP cluster, as well as in advocacy with donors for increased funding to local and national actors for locally led actions. To strengthen the overall CP cluster system, guidelines for the systematic inclusion of child consultations in joint needs assessments will be developed and piloted during the project period. Knowledge sharing among local and national CSOs involved in CP will also be encouraged with planned learning and exchange sessions on CP and localization.

The project overall objective of the project Contribute to a strong and vibrant Child Protection systems in Somalia advocating and protecting the rights of children.

• Outcome 1: Strengthened and better coordinated local civil society that takes collective action on child protection and localization.
• Outcome 2: Increased access to funding for local civil society organisations to implement locally led child protection projects.
• Outcome 3: Influential Local and national CSOs that play a leadership role in child protection

coordination mechanisms.

Save the Children aims to conduct an external end-line evaluation for the project titled "Som Localization Practice in Somalia." To effectively document project outcomes and develop recommendations

for enhancing similar future implementations, we seek to employ the services of a skilled and reputable independent consultant.

2. General Objective of The Evaluation

The overall of objective of the assignment is to evaluate whether project achieved its expected outcome in addressing outstood issue such as (lack of well-organized child project and child right government system, limited CSO capacity to advocate child right government) through strengthening local civil society capacities and their involvement in leadership and coordination mechanisms to enable them take better coordinated and collective action on localization and protection issues in Somalia.

2.1.       Specific Objectives

• Evaluate CSO capacity to advocate child protection& child right government.
• Assess capacity of the local CSO for fund raising and resource mobilization form the donor.
• Assess how CSO are well organized and coordinated among themselves to enhance CP/CRG system in Somalia.
• Evaluate how CSO leveraged locally led projects in partnership with SCI and other INGOs.
• Evaluate how the organization capacity buildings helped CSO to overcome outstood challenges face by the CSO to effectively be operationalized!
• Identify the best approach, key challenges, and opportunities to support institutional capacity for child protection and localization coordination members/partners.
• Provide a set of practical contextualized recommendations for the strengthening of the child protection system and localization in Somalia,
• evaluate project intended and unintended outcomes.
• Evaluate the project’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability. This will be measured by using DAC criteria.

3. Key Questions

The following key questions will be explored at a minimum during the evaluation:

Relevance

• To what extent were the intervention objectives aligned with the needs and priorities of the local partner and national CSOs in Somalia?

• How appropriate was the project design in addressing the specific needs for child protection and child governance system strengthening and localization?

• To what extent was the project aligned with Save the children Somalia country strategy plan for localization and partnership.

• To what extent was the project aligned with Somalia Government national development plan.

Effectiveness

• How effectively did the project achieve its specific objectives of strengthening CSO coordination, increasing access to funding, and enhancing leadership roles in child protection mechanisms?

• What successful practices and strategies emerged from the project that could be considered for replication or scale-up?

• Were the activities and outputs of the project consistent with the intended impact of contributing to a

strong and vibrant child protection system?

• How efficiently were the financial and human resources utilized to support the capacity strengthening of local and national CSOs?

• Were there any significant delays in the implementation of the project activities, and what were the causes?

• How effectively were the resources managed to support the achievement of the project's outputs?

Impact

• 
  What has been the measurable impact of the project on the targeted CSOs' ability to protect and advocate for children's rights?

• Can any short-term and long-term changes be directly attributed to the project interventions, and what are the key factors contributing to these changes?
• Document the impact of the project in the form of stories/case studies.
• Is there evidence to suggest that the project's achievements will be sustained and that the interventions could be replicated or scaled up at local or national levels?
• What exit strategies have been developed and implemented to ensure the longevity of the project's impact?

Methodology

The end-line study of the existing child protection systems and localization initiatives will be conducted with a qualitative data collection method, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the project's impact and sustainability. The evaluation will commence with an exhaustive review of all pertinent project documentation, including the baseline report, training reports, project reports, and routine project data such as the Indicator Performance Tracking Table.

In addition to document analysis, the consultant will engage in qualitative data collection through focus group discussions and key informant interviews with project key stakeholders including CSO/local partners’ staff, SCI and government staff. These discussions will be designed to capture a range of perspectives from various stakeholders involved in the child protection system. A participatory approach will be central to the evaluation, ensuring that the process is informative.

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Save the Children technical team, adhering to their guidance and direction throughout the evaluation process.

To ensure the validity and reliability of the findings, the consultant will propose and agree with Save the Children on a robust sampling methodology. This methodology will be designed to allow for accurate conclusions about the study population. The consultant will employ mixed methods of information gathering, which may include, but are not limited to, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observation methods, and other suitable approaches for the study. The chosen methods will be detailed in the methodology section of the inception report, outlining how each approach will contribute to achieving the desired results.

The evaluation process will be inherently participatory, actively involving government representatives, partner organizations, and their protection networks. This involvement will ensure that the study benefits from a wide range of insights and experiences, thereby enriching the evaluation and its subsequent contributions to the field of child protection and localization efforts.

4. Consultant Role and Expecting Deliverables

The consultant is expected to perform through 3 phases –inception, data collection process, reporting and dissemination, training data collectors, document review, data collection, analysis/interpretation, report writing, and presentation to key stakeholders.

The evaluation will have the following key phases:

Phase I - Desk study: Review of documentation and elaboration of field Study

The lead consultant/evaluation team will review relevant documents (Reference material). Based on this review, they will produce an inception report which will include an elaborate plan of the evaluation that will

include but not limited to study, methodology including (KII & FGD guides), and sampling strategy of the data collection plans etc. The evaluation will only proceed to the next stage upon approval of the inception report. An appropriate inception report format will be provided to the selected consultant.

Reference Materials

• Project narrative proposal and the logical framework

• Baseline Report

• Project monitoring and evaluation plan

• Monthly and Quarterly Reports

• Project MEAL reports

• Case management reports

• Training reports

• Project narrative reports

Phase II: Field Data Collection

This phase of the evaluation will seek to collect primary data on the key evaluation questions explained under the evaluation criteria. The consultant will use the agreed plan, methodology, tools, and sampling strategies from phase 1 to conduct the fieldwork.

Phase III – Data analysis and production of evaluation report

As a minimum, the evaluation process will include the following key steps:

• Review of relevant literature related to the project (list of reference materials provided below) and draft an inception report before the evaluation exercise in the field.

• Application of appropriate data collection tools for interviews and focus group discussions;

• Data analysis and Evaluation Report writing, and

• Presentation of key evaluation findings.

• to share transcripts, photos, GPS, and case studies.

5. Reporting

The consultant will maintain daily contact with the SCI team assigned to manage the evaluation activities. The collected data will be analyzed on daily basis by the consultant and given feedback to the collection teams.

A final report with main text of maximum of maximum 40 pages excluding the cover page, table of contents, abbreviations, and annexes. The draft report should be delivered in a soft copy in English. References should be fully cited after all important facts and figures. The report should be structured as follows:

• Front page with the title of the report, project and SC CO name, date, and authors of the report

• Table of contents

• List of abbreviations used.

• Executive summary (3-4 pages) that presents the key points of the different sections.

• Brief background and description of project

• Objectives and the intended use of the evaluation

• Methodology and limitations of the evaluation

• Findings, including a table presenting the progress of the project objectives and results and their respective indicators against the baseline data.

• Conclusions & Recommendations

• Challenges, lessons learnt and suggested actions for the way forward with timelines and responsible.

Experiences and Qualifications

Skills Required

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