Consultancy Firm or Individuals to Conduct the Final Evaluation of the Project MREplus

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES – VIETNAM PROGRAM Terms of Reference CONSULTANT FOR FINAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT “MINE RISK EDUCATION FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS” 15 th Feb 2020 – 30 th Aug 2020 I. INTRODUCTION I.A. Project Background Since 2001, CRS has contributed to the reduction of risk of injury and death from the unexploded ordnance/landmines (UXO/LM) in high-risk communities in Quang Tri, Quang Binh, and Quang Nam provinces. According to the Vietnam Ministry of Defense, the central provinces from the former demilitarized zone (DMZ) southward is most affected, including Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Da Nang, where almost 100 percent of communes are contaminated. A core problem is that, even after 30 years, children continue to be injured or killed from UXO/LM explosive devices in many districts within Vietnam. Since the end of the war, children have been disproportionately affected by UXO/LM-related accidents, of which 38% resulted from children aged 0-14 playing with UXO/LM. Building off the success of its former project “Responding to the social/economic effects of Landmine/UXO in Vietnam: Reduce the LM/UXO risks for children and communities in high risk areas”, CRS Vietnam currently implementing a U.S Department of States granted four-year project entitled “Mine Risk Education Plus for Primary and Secondary School Children (MRE+)” from October 2016 to September 2020 with the total funding of 957,000 USD. The project is being implemented in four provinces including Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, and Da Nang to ensure students in the most UXO/LM contaminated areas are able to protect their lives from UXO/LM accidents. The strategic objective of the project is that children aged 6-14 in high risk UXO/LM contaminated areas reduce their exposure to UXO/LM accidents. The immediate results expected from this project are: (1) to ensure children aged 6-14 in four project provinces demonstrate UXO/LM-related safe behaviors; and to assist national and provincial governments in those provinces to institutionalize MRE. Within this project, CRS further reinforces in-class and extra-curricular exposure to key MRE messages in new provinces while embedding MRE curricula to sustain outcomes well after MRE+ ends. CRS improves upon the existing MRE curriculum for grades 1 through 5 and MRE integration guidelines (MREIG) for primary teachers, while developing a new secondary school equivalent. All four provincial DOETs have issued official decisions to include MREIG in the compulsory curriculum for all primary and secondary schools. This project integrates sustainability measures at the school, provincial, and national levels throughout each intervention to ensure that impact is maintained and replicated beyond the life of the project. By the end of the project, DOETs will require MREIG in both primary and secondary schools in all project districts. A total of 29,232 teachers will be equipped and trained on MRE curricula and tools to provide lessons at primary, secondary, and TTC levels. Through these teachers, 397,567 boys and girls will learn life-saving MRE messages. This project will deepen the institutionalization of MRE within the formal education system as well as build the capacity of the national coordination bodies for mine action in Vietnam, enabling a significant scale down and exit in 2020. By March 2020, all project activities are expected to be completed, and it is appropriate time to conduct the project final evaluation. I.B. Evaluation Overview By the end of the project “Mine Risk Education Plus for Primary and Secondary School Children (MRE+)”, in accordance with CRS’ MEAL policies and procedures and donor requirements, a final evaluation (FE) will be conducted from 15 th February to 30 th August 2020 to assess its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability; contribute to the Agency and global learning by identifying potential good practices or lessons learned; and make recommendations for future programming. The FE team consisting of staff members from the Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) department as well as hired consultants will develop tools, collect and analyze data, and write up the report. Partners and related stakeholders will be involved throughout the FE process at different extents. FE results in the form of PowerPoint presentation, summary report, and full written report. II. PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION The purpose of the MRE+ Project’s FE is two-fold:

Assess the project’s relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability, but focus on the three latter;
Contribute to Agency and global learning by identifying potential good practices or lessons learned from the MRE+ Project (Knowledge)

III. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES The specific objectives of the FE are:

To assess and document the extent to which CRS/VN has achieved the project objectives at different levels, especially strategic objectives and intermediate results (Effectiveness) and contributed to the project goal;
To determine key outcomes including intended and unintended, positive (major successes/innovations) and negative ones resulting from the project (2a. Impact) as well as challenges to the project implementation, thereby developing project good practices and lessons learned (2b. Learning);
To appraise the relevance (3a) and efficiency (3b) of the project interventions;
To analyze the potential or level of sustainability as well as replicability of the project’s interventions;
To make recommendations for CRS/VN and its key implementing partners regarding sustaining project interventions and future programming.

IV. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY IV.A. Evaluation Design IV.B. Sources of Data and Data Collection Methods IV.C. Sampling Strategy IV.D. Data Collection Tools IV.E. Data Collection Training IV.F. Data Collection and Data Management IV.G. Data Analysis Procedures IV.H. Limitations V. CONSULTANT’S ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES This is an internally led FE with the participation of the UXO program team and MEAL manager, and consultant(s) in coordination with provincial and district DOET staff. The consultant’s role and responsibilities are described as below:

Review project documentation;
Participate in designing qualitative assessment tools;
Participate in qualitative data collector training;
Conduct qualitative data collection in the field;
Develop reflection facilitation guides and co-facilitate two participatory reflection events along with CRS staff;
Analyze qualitative data;
Develop and finalize the FE report.

VI. REPORTING VI.A. Evaluation Report The total FE report should not be more than 25 pages excluding title page, table of contents, and annexes. Moreover, this report should use CRS branding template.

Title page;
List of acronyms and abbreviations;
Table of contents, including a list of annexes;
Executive summary (2 pages);
Introduction describing the program’s background and results framework (1 page);
Statement of the purpose of the FE (0.5 pages);
FE objectives and a statement of the scope of the evaluation, with information on limitations (0.5 pages);
Overview of the FE approach and methodology and data sources (1 page);
Description of the FE findings (17 pages);
Recommendations based on the FE findings (1.5 pages);
Lessons learned and good practices based on the FE findings (1.5 pages);
Appendices

VI.B. Key Reference Documents and Resources Below is the list of project documents to be made available for FE team to review:

Project Results Framework and Theory of Change;
Project Proframe;
Project MEAL Plan;
Project updated Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT);
Project proposals and project agreements with implementing partners;
CRS quarterly donor reports;
Partner quarterly progress reports;
Participant Service Delivery Indicator reports;
Baseline survey report and Mid-term review report and their respective tools;
National and sectorial policies related to MRE;
Award Provisions and Standard Terms and Conditions of US Department of States;
Donor Requirement Compliance Checklist.

VIII. REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSULTANT VIII.1 Consultant Deliverables

Work plan for data collection, data analysis, and report writing subject to approval by CRS/VN and partners;
KII/FGD notes and expanded field notes as per CRS’ template, and audio records;
Qualitative data matrix as per CRS’ template;
Facilitation guides for internal CRS staff reflection and partners reflection workshop;
Presentation of preliminary evaluation findings for reflection workshop with partners;
A draft evaluation report as per CRS’ outline, for review by CRS and partners;
A final evaluation report as per CRS’ outline in English and Vietnamese, considering suggestions and changes recommended during the review/validation process;
Final PowerPoint presentation of FE to be shared with partners

VIII.2 Qualifications and Experience Required of External Consultant

Master degree in social sciences or a related field;
Strong knowledge and 5-year experience in relevant field (education, landmine) in Vietnam;
Demonstrable expertise in designing and conducting qualitative and quantitative program evaluation, impact assessment, to provide strategic recommendations for program sustainability and future programing;
Excellent and demonstrable skill in participatory monitoring and evaluation methodologies and approaches;
Strong experiences in qualitative data analysis;
Excellent report writing skill, in English and in Vietnamese;
Excellent critical thinking and interpersonal communication skills;
Ability to work under pressure, as an individual and in a team;
Ability to solve problems.

VIII.3 Period of Performance As shown in the table above, the period performance for the final evaluation is expected to be from 15 February to 30 August 2020. The fee for consultant will be negotiated and applied following CRS Vietnam regulations. The contract is expected to start from 15 February, 2020. VIII.4 Compensation CRS will pay the consultant a fixed daily rate. The rate will depend on the selected consultant’s level of experience. VIII.5 Application requirements Institutions and Individuals interested in this job are invited to submit your applications duly signed and stamped in a sealed envelope to Catholic Relief Services at: R.301-303, Building E3, Trung Tu Diplomatic Compound, #6 Dang Van Ngu Str., Dong Da Dist., Hanoi (Attn: Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang – Admin Officer) Applications should include:

Expression of Interest;
A technical proposal including a tentative work plan with indicative budget;
CVs demonstrating relevant capacity and experience;
Past evaluation report written by the applicant.

Deadline for submission: by 29 January 2020 For further information, please contact: Ms. Ta Thi Hai Yen – Program Manager Tel: 04. 37738300, ext.: 137 Email: yen.ta@crs.org CRS is an equal-opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or HIV/AIDs.

Tags: CRS