Consultant - Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation with and for Children in Southeast Asia


Aug 10, 2018 | Plan International
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Plan International Germany is a Non-Governmental Organisation based in Hamburg, Germany. As part of the Plan International federation, Plan Germany supports development projects with Plan offices and local partners in over 50 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The purpose of Plan International is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

Background and intended change of the project “Climate Change Adaptation with and for Children in Southeast Asia” (4CA-Project)

Reflecting the severe impact with which climate change is affecting countries in Southeast Asia, the goal of the 4CA-Project is that children and youth in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand have increased adaptive capacity to address the negative impacts of climate change. The aim is to enhance understanding of the causes, impacts and climate change adaptation opportunities and to increase resilience. This will be done by integrating these topics in the educational systems, in local development planning processes and in national and sub-national adaptation strategies.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the implementation phase is from October 2015 until December 2018.

Purpose of the Evaluation

The main purpose of the final evaluation is to measure the achievement of outcome indicator targets for the project in the three target countries.

The results and recommendations will also be utilised for designing follow-up projects and for revising programme approaches on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) for future projects. The critical review of the steering and coordination of the project will be a learning for the structure of future multi-country programs from Plan.

Focus of the Evaluation

The evaluation shall limit its focus on 2 of the OECD-DAC criteria, namely effectiveness and sustainability of the project.

In addition to that Plan International Germany is also seeking for a review of the overall planning and steering quality of the project, esp. regarding the coordination and communication between the different levels of the Plan federation which were involved in the management of the project (National Office, Regional Office, and Country Offices).

Key evaluation questions

  1. To which degree are the defined project outcomes achieved?

Sub-questions:

  • Which were the enabling and hindering factors for indicator achievement?
  • To what extent was adaptive capacity and resilience built – at individual, household, community and local government levels?
  • What unexpected outcomes or changes were brought about as a result of program activities?
  • What participatory methodologies and processes were used by the program? Which ones were found to be successful, and why?
  • Can the positive impacts of the project be sustained?

Sub-questions:

  • To which degree is the project's impact verifiable even after the end of the project?
  • To which degree do the beneficiary / project partners have the technical, economic and political capacities of sustaining and continuing the positive results of the project after the project has ended?
  • To which degree are the project's outputs used or activities that lead to outputs continued by the beneficiaries?
  • How embedded are approaches promoted by the project in the institutional set-up in the project area?
  • Were the employed planning and steering processes appropriate for reaching the project’s goals?

Sub-questions:

  • To what degree was the project planning by Plan Germany, Plan Asia, the involved Country Offices, and local implementation partners of good quality?
  • To what degree was the steering of the implementing agency, the partner organization and the project management team of good quality?
  • Did the coordination and communication structure between Plan Germany, Plan Asia, the involved Country Offices, and local implementation partners support the successful implementation of the project?

Intended Users of the Evaluation

The intended users of the evaluation results are:

  • The donor BMU will request a detailed indicator tracking for the final report and might use the results for external communication
  • Staff directly involved in implementing the programme activities in the 3 countries
  • International staff from Plan International involved in the conceptual design of CCA programming
  • Local government stakeholders

Methods to be used in the data collection and analysis

It is expected that the evaluator develops a detailed methodology and appropriate methods to respond to the above mentioned key questions. The methodology should answer the question of how the outcomes can be measured with comparable data across all three countries while at the same time reflecting the local contexts of the projects in each country. The data collection itself will be followed up by local consultants which will be hired separately by Plan in Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. Close coordination between the evaluator and the project team from Plan as well as the field data collectors in each of the countries involved will be crucial to facilitate data collection serving the purpose of the evaluation. The evaluator will be responsible for the overall contextualisation and consolidation of the data collection tools and the data analysis.

Involvements of and Feedback from Stakeholders and Target Groups

Representatives from stakeholders and target groups in the three countries should be given the opportunity to provide feedback on the programme to the evaluator(s):

  • Participants of trainings aggregated by age group[1] and gender
  • Participants of awareness-raising events aggregated by age group and gender
  • Government Officials/ local authority staff
  • Beneficiaries of seed grant activities on school and community level aggregated by age group and gender

In addition, the evaluator(s) may approach the project teams on various levels within the Plan federation and local partners (only applicable in Indonesia) to inquire on and evaluate the steering and planning processes of the project.

Outputs and Deliverables

Inception report following the desk study phase including detailed information on/ confirmation of methodology and methods of data collection and analysis, information on software for data analysis, suggested instruments, child protection measures as well as stakeholders to be involved in the evaluation, confirmed timeline and budget, etc.

  • Final version of data collection tools
  • Submission of raw data (on hard drive)
  • Draft of evaluation report
  • Final version of evaluation report

All reports and data collection tools to be submitted to Plan International Germany should be in English. The raw data can be submitted in its original language if no English translation exists. The standard type to be used is Arial, 11Pt.

In addition to this, the participation in a learning workshop which is planned to take place in Indonesia in Dec 2018 to present the evaluation results is preferred.

Tentative Timeline

Deadline for questions and clarifications

13/08/2018

Deadline for submission of proposals

22/08/2018 24:00 hr (CET)

Selection of award

29/08/2018

Desk research phase

10/09/2018 - 21/09/2018

Design of data collection tools with local consultants in close consultancy with Plan

24/09/2018 - 08/10/2018

Submission of inception report to Plan

08/10/2018

(approved by Plan until 11/10/2018)

Data collection phase

15/10/2018 - 02/11/2018

Data consolidation and Q&A between local and international consultants

02/11/2018 - 16/11/2018

Submission of first draft of evaluation report to Plan

23/11/2018

(reviewed by Plan until 07/12/2018)

Submission of final version of evaluation report to Plan

12/12/2018

(reviewed by Plan until 14/12/2018)

Indicative Budget

The maximum budget for the evaluation is 22.000 Euro. The evaluator’s proposal should include a detailed budget breakdown including fees, number of working days, social and medical insurance, translation and interpretation, software licenses, electronic devices, travel and VISA costs (if applicable), costs for the development of data collection tools, and all output-related costs.

All other costs needed for data collection in the target countries will be covered by the local Plan offices. Each country office (Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia) has a separate budget for hiring data collectors.

The payment is in instalments and subject to the delivery of outputs and their formal approval by Plan International as follows:

  • Pre-financing (following the signature of the contract): 20% of total budget
  • Second payment (following approval of the inception report of Plan International Germany): 35% of total budget
  • Third payment (following approval of final version of evaluation report of Plan International Germany): 45% of total budget

Ethical and Child Protection Statements

Ethical and child protection issues need to be taken into consideration by the evaluator(s) when carrying out the evaluation. The evaluator’s proposal should clearly and in detail explain how appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. Also, the evaluator should explain in the proposal how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed. A child protection risk assessment, primary caregiver assent and informed consent of minors prior to data collection is obligatory.

Qualifications of the Evaluator/Evaluation Team

The evaluator/ evaluation team should have the following experience and formal qualification:

  • Proven experience in carrying out evaluations of regional programmes
  • Proficiency in qualitative research methods
  • Proficiency in quantitative research methods
  • Proven experience with data collection and data analysis
  • Proficiency in statistics
  • Thematic expertise in the project’s impact area(s)
    • Climate Change Adaption
    • Children’s participation
    • Advocacy
    • Disaster Risk Reduction
    • Experiences on Plan’s cross-cutting issues such as gender, inclusion as well as awareness on child protection and child rights issues.
    • Excellent command / highly proficient in spoken and written English
    • Proficiency in spoken and written German is an asset