Company Profile

SEND GHANA, a policy research and advocacy organization, was founded in 1998. The vision of SEND Ghana is “A Ghana where people’s rights and well-being are guaranteed” with a mission “to promote good governance and equality of men and women in Ghana”.  It is headquartered in Accra, with network offices in Tamale and Salaga.

Job Description

SEND GHANA is implementing a two-year project titled; “Addressing Inequality Through Pro-poor Budget Advocacy” with funding from the Ford Foundation. The goal of the project is to reduce poverty and inequality in 6 poor districts in Ghana by influencing budgetary allocations and disbursements to pro poor interventions through the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Program (LEAP) implementation by 2018. The project proposes to create an enabling environment for citizen government constructive engagement in the national, sector and district budget processes. It is expected that citizen’s involvement in budget process at the national, sector and district level will help address the needs and concerns of the most vulnerable.                                      

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to provide baseline information to measure the programme results, impact and long lasting change in the lives of the beneficiaries at the end of the project.

The major objectives of the survey are to;

1. To establish a baseline on the key project activities and outcomes
2. To provide benchmark information for measuring project achievements and impact at the outputs and outcome levels

Scope of Assignment

During the baseline study, the Consultant will be required to support the Project Management Team to design, establish and implement a comprehensive monitoring strategy, including a data collection strategy, to support the implementation of the baseline study and final/impact evaluations. The baseline will collect information on the indicators outlined in outcome 1, 2 and 3.  This information will be collected across the 6 project districts (3 districts in Greater and 3 in Upper West).

The baseline study is expected to provide an insight into the current status of the key indicators in order to provide information against which changes can later be measured.  It would also determine the strength of the indicators and make recommendations about any indicators that may be weak or hard to evaluate to determine and recommend indicators that should be researched.

A needs assessment of strengths and capacity gaps of the DCMC/PM&E Networks will also be conducted to enable SEND effectively provide support on organizational development and strengthening where required. The results will be used to inform activities and monitor indicators in project districts. This will entail identifying lessons learned and collecting information about the progress so far achieved by the Project.

The specific activities of the consultant are:

1. Study secondary materials including the review of existing literature and other documentaries including the Project Paper, reports, and operational guidelines among others to gain some understanding of the Project.
2. Design of baseline instruments/tools and work plan in consultation with the leadership of SEND Ghana for review, feedback and approval
3. Pretesting and finalisation of instruments
4. Data collection/Fieldwork
5. Analysis of data
6. Reporting
7. Validation of draft report

Expected Outputs

1. Inception report indicating the baseline instruments and a work plan
2. Draft Baseline report
3. Final Baseline report

Reporting

The consultant will report to the Country Director of SEND GHANA on all issues related to the Consultancy.

Required Skills or Experience

• At least 5 years experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies &/or skills and experience in completing evaluation and baseline studies, preferably social protection interventions
• Good understanding of poverty, social and inequality issues
• Proven experience in conducting similar assignment