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Development Evaluation Consultant

JOB SUMMARY

Company Oxfam
Industry NGO/IGO/INGO
Category Consulting
Location Accra
Job Status Contractor/Co...
Salary GH¢ 
Education Master’...
Experience N/A
Job Expires Feb 25, 2020
Contact ...
 

Company Profile

Oxfam is a rights-based global development organization with more than 70 years of experience in more than 90 countries worldwide. Oxfam’s mission is to end the injustice of poverty and inequality through systemic change and the advancement of political, economic and social rights. Oxfam has been working in Ghana since 1986, managing programs related to food security and livelihoods, universal access to education and healthcare and transparency and accountability in extractive industries (mining, oil and gas).

Oxfam’s experience in Ghana and strong partnerships with government institutions, Ghanaian civil society organizations and NGOs supports the delivery of active and innovative programs and advocacy work seeking to improve the livelihoods of Ghanaians and strengthen citizen accountability. Oxfam in Ghana currently works in 11 out of Ghana’s 16 administrative regions.

Job Description

Terms of Reference, Evaluation of Oxfam in Ghana Country Strategy 2015-2019

 

1. Background, Rationale and Purpose of the Review

Following from the end of the 2009 - 2015 Joint Country Analysis and Strategy (JCAS) and as part of the Vision 2020 process, Oxfam in Ghana launched Oxfam Country Strategy (OCS) in 2015. During this period, Oxfam in Ghana transitioned onto One Oxfam platform bringing together Oxfam GB, Oxfam US and Oxfam IBIS under one country line management. The OCS has been in implementation since April 2016 and will end in March 2020. The OCS has a vision of contributing to a Ghana of active citizens, equitable development, and a responsive and effective state, which is setting a trend in Africa for accountable and progressive policy and practice.

The Oxfam Country Strategy was set out in three thematic program areas with change goals linked to the Oxfam Strategic Plan1. The three thematic program areas are: Program Pillar 1: Promoting economic justice, food security and agriculture governance; Program Pillar 2: Supporting extractive industry governance through CSO strengthening and engagement; Program Pillar 3: Addressing inequalities in Ghana through enhancing access to quality essential services (education and health) for the poor. Advancing gender justice, active citizenship and humanitarian action were defined and acknowledged as additional program areas and crosscutting issues particularly relevant for all the other program pillars. For the purposes of this evaluation exercise, active citizenship and gender justice will be treated as both standalone and crosscutting themes.

The implementation of the OCS was guided by Country Operational Model (COM) which focused on support to advocacy and influencing policy reform processes around investments and pro-poor budgets for agriculture and food security, essential services (Universal Health Care and Universal Access to Quality Basic Education), active citizenship and accountable governance, and extractive governance (transparency, accountability and community rights in Mining, Oil and Gas sector), at both local and national levels linked to and support Oxfam International work in the West Africa region and elsewhere. The COM included internal change management process to support Oxfam’s effort to better organize itself to deliver the strategic ambitions.

Progress toward our strategic ambition in the OCS is measured through annual output reporting and annual one program report at outcome levels, six-monthly program quality reviews, annual country learning reviews, individual program and project evaluations, organisational reviews, and partner assessments. Among the key program and project reviews and evaluations that were conducted during the implementation of OCS and COM include Democratic Consolidation and Accountable Governance (DCAG), Education for Change (EfC), Maternal & Child Health (MCH), Oil for Development, mid-term review of the Global LEAP and Climate Resilient Agric and Food System projects. Similarly, learning and knowledge products on women leadership in extractive industries, social accountability model, Complementary Basic Education (CBE), Girl Model Junior High, and renewable energy, among others were produced. An effectiveness review of the Climate Resilient Agric and Food System project was also completed. Additionally, two donors to Oxfam namely DANIDA and NORAD conducted organizational reviews respectively led by partners affiliates (Oxfam ISBI and Oxfam US) during the period under review. The European Union also conducted Systems Audit of Oxfam in Ghana during the period under review. The current exercise is aimed at reviewing and learning from the effectiveness of our work and strategic outcomes that the country program made.

As part of the process of objectively reviewing and contributing to accountability and learning, Oxfam in Ghana is commissioning an evaluation of its country strategy and operational model. Results of the exercise will support Oxfam in Ghana respond to our accountability commitments, support program management decision-making, learn to improve our program work and inform the development of our new strategic plan and ambition of becoming influencing hub going forward. The findings, lessons and recommendations from the evaluation will be used together with the outcomes/products of two other related processes, namely feasibility study and political economy analysis to shape the influencing hub model, next generation of Oxfam country strategy and operational model. These Terms of Reference (TOR) therefore sets out the key steps for the evaluation of the 2015-2019 OCS and COM.

2. Specific Object and Objectives of the Evaluation2 The main purpose of the evaluation is to:

  • Assess the outcomes and cost effectiveness within each program pillar in relation to what was planned and budgeted for
  • Identify and examine the key outcomes that Oxfam in Ghana (either directly or with/through partners) has achieved and how we are getting to those outcomes (see OCS results framework and Program Logic Models), to determine any relationship or common issues surrounding them across the change goals
  • Assess the Executing Affiliate/Partner Affiliate (EA/PA) model in Ghana, the added value of EA/PAs and the regional platform in West Africa in delivering the OCS
  • Identify key patterns, assess emerging questions, and generally analyse information emerging from additional sources of data (documents and follow up interviews)
  • Reflect on approaches including partnerships that enable Oxfam in Ghana and partners to contribute to positive changes, so that these insights can both inform the upcoming strategic plan and be improved and amplified within the context of Ghana as Influencing Hub.

Overall, this exercise will build on available information and evidence to reflect on:

  • The outcomes that Oxfam in Ghana (alone and/or with partners) has contributed to achieving across the different program pillars and change goals;
  • The effectiveness of the different approaches with which Oxfam in Ghana aims to contribute to transformational change, particularly considering shifts in power relationships, changed narratives and the ways that local initiatives connect to more systemic changes at national or global levels (if any);
  • The ways in which Oxfam and partners have evolved our understanding and development of the work in the different program pillars over the period of the OCS; and
  • The best approaches and capabilities for Oxfam in Ghana and partners to use to contribute to achieving change as Influencing Hub.

As stipulated in the OCS results framework and program logic models/theories of change, the evaluation will further assess the underlying assumptions/context and overall progress towards strategic change objectives and outcomes as planned and budgeted, and to inform Oxfam in Ghana and partners on possible necessary adjustments and future directions. The evaluation shall examine both general and specific aspects of the OCS including the underlying assumptions/context, and then based on analytical findings, propose applicable recommendations for future strategic directions including cooperation mechanisms, partnerships and funding modalities in terms of relevance to the changing development landscape in Ghana and beyond (global priorities and emerging issues).

3. Key questions of the Outcome Review

Given the broad scope of the different program pillars and change goals in the OCS and COM, the following proposed key questions have been identified to support a cross-program pillar-change goal analysis that will weave an overall, coherent narrative of what the individual program change goals – tells us about Oxfam in Ghana (and partner) work during the OCS implementation period of 2015-2019.

  • What do our outcomes – and the approaches that we used to get them – tell us about the content, capabilities, and/or directions that we need to consider as we develop the next OCS and Influencing Hub?
  • What key strategic learning questions remain unanswered?
  • What new questions have emerged?

Given the key questions of each program pillar change goal, there will be a special, focused analysis of partnership as an approach, as well as a specific analysis of how Oxfam in Ghana has organized itself to put women’s rights at the heart of all we do.

To what degree are programs transformational - fundamentally changing power relations – as opposed to being more incremental or opportunity-bound?

Are there any established or emergent patterns of working in terms of:

  • effective strategies Oxfam in Ghana has used to develop partnerships with allies, in coalitions/networks, and non-traditional actors to bring about impact through influencing?
  • ways of working together and how the relationships (whether usual or non-traditional) evolve over time?

What are the implications of these patterns in terms of developing partnerships for next generation programming?

In what ways, and how consistently, does Oxfam in Ghana put women’s rights at the heart of all we do and how do these efforts contribute to or impede achieving program and project goals?

Specifically, the outcome review will seek to address questions related to the following sub-headings guided and inspired by the OECD evaluation guidelines:

Relevance

  • To what extent and in what ways have the objectives of the country strategy been consistent with country needs, changing global priorities, and partners’ and donor policies?
  • What are the implications of the current Government Flagship initiatives and reform processes3 on Oxfam in Ghana programs?

Efficiency

  • To what extent have the country program resources produced best possible results at the lowest possible costs?
  • Are results achieved commensurate with the overall program cost?
  • To what extent have the country programs been financially sustainable compared to the results?

Effectiveness: 

  • Is the country strategy implementation delivering against the expected results? 
  • In what ways has the country strategy implementation contributed to the effectiveness of partner CSOs in executing their mandate? Using evaluations, reviews & other systematic analyses, what illustrative measures of outcome areas across the change goals, demonstrate Oxfam’s contributions, achievements and challenges?
  • What works, for whom and under what circumstances to foster transformational change (i.e. transforming power relations) across the Oxfam in Ghana change goals? 
  • To what degree are changes at community level (voice, access) making connections to more systemic changes at national and / or regional and global levels (if any)? 
  • Which changes most benefit youth, women and men across the Oxfam in Ghana change goals? 
  • To what degree are we successfully bringing Oxfam’s ‘blend’ of approaches (citizens’ rights and voice, access to and control over resources, gender perspective, influencing efforts) into our work? 
  • To what degree are these different approaches contributing to outcomes? 

Ways of working (operational model): 

  • To what degree are we linking local efforts to support/enable concrete outcomes of national/regional work?
  • To what degree is influencing and partnership approach achieving changes across the Oxfam in Ghana change goals? 
  • Where is our added value?
  • To what extent is the Executing Affiliate/Partner Affiliate (EA/PA) model in Ghana and the regional platform in West Africa added value in delivering the OCS? 

Sustainability:

  • Considering changing donor landscape in Ghana and beyond, what mechanisms in place are likely to support sustainability of the strategic outcomes? 
  • Which recommendations does Oxfam need to consider in strengthening and sustaining results? 

Accountability: 

  • Has the strategy facilitated complementarities and coherence with partners’, global priorities, and donor initiatives/policies? 
  • To what extent has the country strategy facilitated space for partners and beneficiaries to apply the dimensions of accountability?
  • How have we remained accountable on our commitment to gender equality? 
  • Have we responded appropriately to global challenges around safeguarding and how can we improve our commitments (both internally and in our support to partners) in this area? 

Lessons Learned:
Which lessons can we draw and use for the future programming, in terms of strategies to be applied, ways of working, partner relationships, gender and accountability?

4. Scope of the evaluation and approach and methods, establishing the basic methodological considerations (if applicable)

The scope of the evaluation will include all the major program pillars (projects and initiatives) as well as joint initiatives with other organizations such as with CARE4. The evaluation will be based on desk (document) assessments, key informant interviews with Oxfam and relevant stakeholders in Ghana and field visits. The field visits will assess the link between Oxfam in Ghana’s support to partner projects in the field and Oxfam’s strategic plan. The purpose of the visits is not to review the effectiveness of the specific projects and partnerships, but rather to review the projects and partnerships as illustrative cases, which will inform and validate the review of Oxfam strategies, plans and projects in practice.

Key approaches will include: literature review; consultation with a varied group of stakeholders in Ghana (INGOs, CSOs, Donors, Government); a participatory review and planning workshops; and OCS review product validation workshops. The desk assessment will conclude with an inception report, which specifies the next steps, including a refined methodology for the data collection / field visits. The evaluation will be organised in four phases, namely: Inception; Field mission/visits to project sites and partner locations for data collection; Data analysis and de-briefing (presentation of key findings and preliminary conclusions and recommendations); and reporting (Draft and Final reports).

To explore further insights, the consultant will undertake a limited number of interviews of program managers who led the different program interventions built on a broad array of Oxfam’s interventions, including programs and projects, advocacy and campaigns initiatives, and humanitarian work that falls within the OCS. The programs and campaigns team will support the development of the general line of inquiry. Further interviews may be pursued where documentation needs clarification. The commissioning manager and/or team members will provide the key contact information and appropriate introductions.

If appropriate, and supportive of decision-making, the consultant will be asked to include case examples that highlight insights into the approaches that are particularly important. Otherwise, the place of any case example in the overall report will be determined once the final shape of the report is decided.

The consultant will provide an overall assessment of the degree to which multiple voices, perspectives, and experiences are considered in the overall document (e.g., men’s, women’s, youth’s voices; staff, partners, allies, community members, etc.). This reflection aims to highlight the diversity behind the report, which is an Oxfam value. This information will be expressed in the introduction and framed as the diversity that gives rise to the richness and depth of Oxfam’s knowledge.

5. Timeline 

  • The successful consultant will prepare a work plan in consultation with the commissioning manager; the plan should consider presentation of early ideas, a first draft for circulation to a reference group and a final version.
  • The work should be finalized by end of March 2020. This deadline must be respected as Oxfam in Ghana has the commitment to finalize this phase and submit this report to Oxfam Regional Leadership by 31st March 2020.

6. Expected Output and Deliverables
The main deliverable will be a report written in clear, accessible language that will cover the following elements:

  • 2-page executive summary that should provide a brief reference to the nature of the exercise and the key questions to address, and present significant findings, lessons, conclusions, and recommendations. It is not necessary to include information about the methodology in the executive summary.
  • Evidence Analysis (types of document, geographic scope, streams of work) (updated)
  • Contextualization and brief reference to the OCS 2015-19 and COM
  • Purpose of the study: include the objectives and key questions.
  • Methodology used to generate the report, including methodological challenges and limitations that must be considered to understand and interpret findings.

Key findings, including:
Evidence of key outcomes/changes achieved related to transformational change, including extent and nature of those changes (with a focus on how women, men, girls and boys and marginalized groups have benefited and how), and considering intended and unintended outcomes (positive or negative)
Approaches including partnerships leading to outcomes/changes
Analysis of how programs and campaigns (including partnerships and projects) have made progress toward transformational change, analysis of what strategies worked and how, and information on the gaps in strategies

Articulation of strategic learning questions that remain unanswered and identification of new / emerging learning questions that should be taken forward

Conclusions, including information on good practices, limitations and/or gaps of studied projects and partnerships achieving transformational change; these should focus on what we know and what we don’t know, so as to better position ourselves to learn in future

Recommendations, including recommendations for Oxfam in Ghana on how to improve programming and partnerships to achieve transformational change as an Influencing Hub as well as how to strengthen our different approaches across all our work, beyond the current specific change goals themselves to the strategic ambition of becoming an Influencing Hub

Bibliography / References
Other aspects to consider when writing the report are:

  • The report should be written in Arial 11.
  • The title page must include the title of the report, the name of the author(s), the name of the consultancy firm (if that is separate), and the date
  • Acknowledgements may be noted on a separate page
  • Include a full list of acronyms and abbreviations
  • There should be a table of contents and page numbers
  • The footnotes should be cited at the bottom of the pages
  • The bibliography must include references to all documentation considered in the report and should be included at the end of the report
  • Each bibliographic citation must be structured in the following way: Author’s last name, author’s first name (year) Report Title in Italics. Publisher (which could include an Oxfam affiliate), month of report.

7. Evaluation Team: qualifications and skills needed, plan for organizing the evaluation team
Oxfam in Ghana will work with prospective consultants with strong record in conducting strategy reviews and evaluations, including of advocacy and campaigns. The consultants or team leader will have wide respect and credibility within the development field, excellent knowledge of monitoring and evaluation in theory and practice, and a good understanding of policy influencing work in Ghana.

Consultants: Two-to-three international development consultants with expertise in development evaluation and result-based management, civil society and organisational development, governance and political economy analysis, and gender justice.

The review team should have the following skills and competencies:

  • Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to Oxfam values and principles including pro-poor, gender-sensitive approaches
  • Demonstrated M&E experience and depth of understanding and knowledge of gender-sensitive quantitative and participatory qualitative research methods;
  • Ability to write concise, readable and analytical reports and understanding of public communications; and
  • Able to prepare high quality reports in English including excellent data interpretation and data presentation (examples required)

8. Schedule, budget, logistics and deliverables. Include outline of the evaluation report
Oxfam in Ghana invites consultants with experience and skills described above to submit expression of interest (technical and financial proposals). Joint bids are also welcome. Tenders should include:

  • A cover letter introducing the consultants and how the skills and competencies described above are met, with concrete examples
  • A 3-page outline of the proposed evaluation process including: Proposed outline methodology; and management arrangement
  • A 1-page CV/resume for each evaluator
  • A total budget/costed proposal including field trips
  • One example of a previous evaluation and strategy review

The total budget for the assignment including participatory review and validation is GHS122,000. This budget will be split in the detail planning between the different forms of data gathering as agreed with successful consultants. The main expenses anticipated are: evaluators’ time; local enumerators; data entry; travel; accommodation; translation; and other directly associated costs. The maximum contract amount for the evaluation is GHS122,000.00 and the consultants shall budget for the following in their financial proposal:

  • Fees including any work during the field trips in addition to travel time.
  • A lump sum of GHS8,000 reimbursable for logistical expenses during field work (such as local transport, domestic flights, car rentals, meeting rooms and workshop materials).

The budget should be based on a total of 35 person-days, divided by 2-3 consultants as outlined below. The exact number of days may be decreased and/or re-distributed among team members and will be decided upon during the inception phase and subject to the finalized methodology developed in the inception report.

  • 10 days for inception (desk study, inception report, inception workshop and meetings)
  • 10 days for field mission for data collection including travel days
  • 5 days for participation in review and validation workshops with partner and external stakeholders
  • 10 days for reporting (presentation of findings, drafting, review and revision)

9. Responsibilities and management arrangements
Oxfam in Ghana Country Leadership Team led by the Country Director will oversee the overall implementation of the evaluation. The Head of Programs and Campaigns, Program and Functional Leads will be responsible for the planning and facilitating information provision and partner contacts for the process. The programs and campaigns team together with the consultant plan the review’s content (agenda, process, outputs and facilitation). This team will be responsible for all issues linked to the organization of the evaluation. The Ghana team will also seek further guidance and support from the Country Governance Group and OI Regional Platform.

10. Process of the selection of the evaluator or evaluation team and expectations for evaluation proposal
The criteria for selection will be:

  • Clear, credible, structured proposed methodology
  • Excellent track record in development evaluation field and strategic planning
  • Demonstrable experience of conducting complex evaluations
  • Experience of advocacy/policy influencing work evaluation
  • Ability to manage the totality of the evaluation, including logistics and recruiting and managing other team members, where necessary
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and adaptability
  • Time available during the critical period of February to March 2020
  • Value for money (suitability of the financial proposal) for the activities laid out in the methodology, within the financial possibilities of the programme

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