ThaiNGO

1. Background

The Basic Education Support towards Transition (BEST) project, funded by European Union, is being implemented in nine refugee camps in Mae Hong Son, Tak, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi Provinces along the Thailand-Myanmar border in its second phase (January 2015 – 30 June 2017). The overall objective of BEST is to establish durable education solutions and support the provision of quality basic education for students in the nine refugee camps along the border. The three-year project is currently in phase three and targets at least 37,000 students in 82 basic education schools, managed and administered by the Karen Refugee Committee for Education Entity (KRCEE) and the Karenni Education Department (KnED). This includes at least 600 teachers in 9 camps.

The first expected result of BEST is to ensure that students in these 82 schools have access to basic education services which provide a conducive and protective learning environment, including teaching and learning materials and staffing to ensure optimal student-teacher ratios. The second expected result is to improve the overall quality of education in primary, middle, and secondary school classrooms, within a school system that faces a multitude of impediments to sound pedagogy. The third expected result is to strengthen cooperation and collaboration among key stakeholders that will result in concrete strategies and action plans to prepare for transition towards durable education solutions.

A consortium of NGOs is implementing BEST: Save the Children International (SCI) is leading the project, and partner organizations including RTP, JRS, and ADRA are responsible for project activities in the camps in cooperation with the KRCEE and the KnED. RTP is working in seven predominantly Karen camps, whilst JRS is in two predominantly Karenni camps. ADRA addresses infrastructure needs and manages tendering and procurement for textbooks and other teaching and learning materials in 7 Karen camps. As the project lead, SCI has managerial oversight and is ultimately responsible for partners’ outputs and activities.

At mid-term of Phase II, an internal evaluation was conducted to learn from the project’s progress and its topline results. During the mid-term and final evaluation of Phase I, Quality Learning Environment (QLE) assessment were conducted to be utilized as baseline for project final evaluation and baseline for PREPs and EAC project where relevant.

Preparing for Reintegration through Education and Participative Solutions Project (PREPS) is being implemented in the same geographical area as BEST project, in the seven refugee camps, except the 2 Karenni camps in Mae Hong Son where JRS is the only agency working with KnED (June 2015 – June 2017).  PREPS is funded by Australian Aid. The project aims to respond to educational challenges in the refugee education system and prepare students, teachers and families for repatriation, Save the Children, with partners the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Right to Play and Karen Women’s Organization seeks to improve continuity and quality of the education system in 66 targeted basic education schools, and develop and implement an education convergence plan in collaboration with the KRCEE and the KnED. 

The PREPS project has been designed to co-fund and complement BEST Project’s activities, as well as add value to these efforts through an enhanced process of education convergence, further support to research, and addressing educational barriers for children with disabilities and others with limited access. Goals and targets have been designed to include the original BEST outcomes, as well as additional outputs and outcomes designed for, and funded only by, PREPS.

The main components of the project are:

1. Support School age children in the camps to access basic education
2. Improve the Improved quality of basic education provided in schools in the camps by providing teacher training and support to camp based teachers  
3. Ensure that progress towards education convergence (repatriation) from Thailand to Myanmar is achieved, including the recognition of students’ academic achievements, and accreditation of teachers skills and knowledge

BEST and PREPS Project Logical Framework

2. Purpose and scope of this consultancy:

SC intends to conduct a final (external) evaluation of the BEST and PREPS projects to generate substantive evidence based knowledge by identifying good practices and lessons learned from intended and unintended impact of the project interventions (Result Framework in Annex I). This evaluation is intended to disclose the nature of the change that has taken place in the lives of targeted children, community and local level government agencies and to determine its significance on the well-being of those people. It is expected to assess partnerships among Save the Children, partner organizations and community-based authorities. The results from this assessment exercise will be highly useful to provide recommendations for future project strategy (BEST phase III) and implementation that aligns with Save the Children’s country strategic plan and global breakthroughs. 

The overall objectives of this consultancy include:

• Evaluating the project performance, including progress and achievements towards project goals and objectives (i.e. progress/outcome assessment), strengths and weaknesses, and overall impacts of the projects (intended and unintended, positive and negative);
• Consolidating key success stories and lessons learned from the projects including most significant change stories related to education convergence objective;
• Establishing relevant baseline data for the next project phase;
• Assessing to what extent the project has made impact to change at policy level and/or advocacy on education solutions in light of transition in refugee camps.

The evaluation should include assessment and discussion around relevancy, effectiveness, efficiency, impacts and sustainability as per the suggested framework and learning questions:

Relevance

• What are the socio-cultural barriers to the approach adopted by Save the Children in delivering project outcomes, and how has Save the Children worked to identify and address these barriers?
• To what extent have SC integrated broader gender and other social inclusion concerns and child safeguarding issues into the design and implementation of its interventions?

Effectiveness

• To what extent has the project been effectively achieving its goal and objectives? To what extent have the stated project outcomes been achieved? In particular Determining the effectiveness of education partnerships and education models in supporting the outcomes of both teachers and students in preparation for convergence, including teacher training, as well as Primary education program structure and implementation

Impact

• What changes in policies, practices, knowledge and attitudes have occurred in specific institutions, groups and individuals with the support of the project?
• How have the needs of ‘most vulnerable’ communities been addressed from the project?

Efficiency

• How efficiently have human, financial, administrative and time resources been used in achieving the project objective?

Sustainability

• How are the changes made by the project in children’s, women’s, men’s, lives likely to be sustained?
• What are the challenges and factors which positively or negatively impacted the sustainability of the project?
• What needs to improve to ensure stable and durable education solutions /models are established in the camps and linked with solutions in Myanmar to ensure a smooth transition in the convergence process

Design and methodology:

An independent team of consultants will be recruited to lead this evaluation. The project is being implemented in 9 refugee camps in 4 provinces along Thai-Myanmar border namely Tak, Mae Hong Son, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces. This evaluation expects to collect information to adequately represent all project locations. The evaluation design should be in line with ethical considerations in Annex II.

It is anticipated the methodology for this evaluation will be comprised of:

• Both qualitative and quantitative data for addressing each of the evaluation criteria. Data will be collected through both secondary and primary sources and will be presented as per sex/age/people with disabilities;
• Methodology will be comprised of the following critical stages: Literature/ Desk review and preparation of evaluation framework; Secondary data collection; Primary data collection; Data analysis; Discussion of findings with groups of expertise; Formulating recommendations.

Literature/ Desk review

• Literature review of relevant documentation;
• Desk review of Save the Children project level documentation, including MEAL reports;
• Preparation of evaluation framework based on desk reviews and workshop with project implementation and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) team;
• Prepare the primary data collection tools and method through a peer review process;
• Design secondary data collection process.

Secondary data collection

• Collection of secondary data from various sources including project level beneficiary data, government data etc.

Primary data collection

• Survey of project staff in Save the Children and its partners’ offices;
• Interviews and Focus Group Discussions with relevant key informants, including community representatives in project locations (including children boys/and girls, people with disabilities), government officials, community-based authorities, Save the Children staff, relevant technical and policy advisors, INGO representatives etc.;

Data Analysis

• Data will be analyzed using qualitative and quantitative data analysis software. Quantitative data analysis will be limited to descriptive statistics analysis (descriptive summaries, frequencies, and cross-tabulation etc).
• Quantitative data will be segregated as per sex/age/people with disability
• Data validation to ensure that the information gathered from different data sources is clean, accurate and in a standard format.

Discussion of findings with selected experts

• Findings will be discussed with selected experts in Save the Children and outside of Save the Children before formulating the recommendations.

3. Timeframe

The consultant will be required to dedicate an estimated 35 days’ time to this consultancy work during April-June period, subject to the requirements and agreements with Save the Children.

4. Schedule and deliverables

 All materials collected in the undertaking of the consultancy process should be lodged with the MEAL team focal point prior to the termination of the contract.

5. Management of the consultancy:

The consultant(s) will report to Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Coordinator, with technical support from Education Specialist and Program Development and Quality (PDQ) Director who will provide inputs throughout the evaluation process including on the proposed methodology and data collection tools, analysis and interpretation and recommendations. Furthermore, BEST/PREPS Project Coordinator will support logistics and arrangements for field work. Support requirements for tasks such as translation and data entry will be discussed with the successful applicant.

The consultant/s will be responsible for

• Coordinating the evaluation
• Developing the evaluation framework, processes and tools
• Training the data collection team
• Overseeing the data collection
• Data entry and analyzing data
• Compiling and submitting the evaluation report including documentation of findings, learnings and recommendations for programming
• Facilitating dissemination events and action planning session together with PI and MEAL team

6. Name of partners and stakeholders involved

• Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)
• Right to Play (RTP)
• Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
• Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) and Karenni Refugee Committee (KnRC)
• Karen’s Women Organization (KWO) and Karenni’s Women Organization (KnWO)

7. Consultancy Fee

The consultant(s) is asked to propose the budget. The financial competitiveness of the fee will be considered in the selection process. Costs involved in the research (such as materials, travel and applicable taxes) should be included in the proposed budget.

8. Qualifications

• At least master’s degree in education, research, social sciences or other related field
• Expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Strong qualitative and qualitative data analysis skills
• Experience conducting large scale surveys or similar
• Expertise in issues related to child protection and education is an asset
• Experience in the refugee camp and Thailand-Myanmar border context is preferred
• English language proficiency
• Ability to work within strict deadlines

9. Submissions for the consultancy

The submission must address the terms of reference and include:

• The resume of the candidate and team members
• A cover letter explaining the candidate’s interest and suitability
  • Experience in conducting evaluation in multicultural, and sensitive context like refugee camps will be an asset
• Evaluation proposal including suggested methodology and operationalization plan (5 pages maximum)
• A detailed budget in THB (including travel, taxes and other costs)

10. Close date for submissions:

Applicant should submit their interest by 3^rd April 2017. Submissions should be addressed to: hr.thailand@savethechildren.org

Please indicate in the subject as “Apply for a_Consultant to undertake Endline/Baseline Assessment and FinalEvaluation for BEST Phase II and PREPS Phase III Projects_(Name of candidate)”

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

“We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.”