Baseline Survey for GREEN+ Project, Socio-economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Children... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Austria

Summary : Baseline Survey for GREEN+ Project, Socio-economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Children and Youth

Deadline : 04 Mar 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 31202484

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : Austrian Development Agency (ADA)

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : SOS CHILDREN'S VILLAGES INTERNATIONAL
SOS Children's Villages International Hermann-Gmeiner-Str. 51 6020 Innsbruck
Austria
Email :valerie.neuhold-maurer@sos-kinderdorf.at/zerihun.endale@sos-kd.org

Tender Details

Ethiopia: Baseline Survey for GREEN+ Project, Socio-economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Children and Youth as well as their Families with Special Focus on Green.

Ethiopia: Baseline Survey for GREEN+ Project, Socio-economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Children and Youth as well as their Families with Special Focus on Green
SOS Children's Villages International
Organization: SOS Children's Villages International
Country: Ethiopia
Closing date: 04 Mar 2019
TERMS OF REFERENCES

Baseline Survey for GREEN+ Project

Socio-economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Children and Youth as well as their Families with Special Focus on Green Economy, Uganda and Ethiopia

Summary
Purpose
The purpose of this baseline data collection for a set of indicators outlined in the respective result frameworks of GREEN+ project. With some of the indicators to be refined and adapted to the project locations, the baseline study should also propose alternate indicators that are more suitable, both for the project locations, and from a monitoring and evaluation perspective.

The GREEN+ project is, at its core, a continuation of a long term Family Strengthening Program (FSP), with a successful economic strengthening component. In a bold move towards innovation, the GREEN+ project is now starting to integrate elements of environmental protection and green economy opportunities into this FSP concept. Therefore, the above mentioned purpose of the baseline study needs to take this new focus on green economy into account in the design and analysis process.

The baseline study will refine the project design (logframe indicators, detailed sub-activities, design of an innovation incubator, etc.), based on a set of analyses, studies and assessments including:

Baseline study (which is the subject of the present TORs)

Gender-diversity and inclusion analysis (to be conducted in parallel to the gender analysis; under a separate call for bids, with separate, but closely linked TORs)

Several other assessments undertaken by the implementing project teams themselves

Therefore, the successful bidder of this baseline study is expected to:

Establish baseline information that serves for before-and-after comparison with the mid-term and final evaluations; including definition of indicators, methods of data collection for monitoring, mid-term and end-of-term evaluation.

Inform the design and planning of project activities, with potential adjustments in project interventions and improvement of the project M&E system.

To attain the above objectives, the consultant(s) is expected to respond to the following key study questions:

What is the baseline status of project-s logframe indicators in terms of:

Baseline values of project-s overall objective, specific objectives and results, including both the quantity and the description/definition of nature of the reporting indicators.

Current status of FSP in project implementation areas, which may include linkages between FSP and environmental protection; supporting policies for implementation of GREEN+ project, etc.

Partners

Name of Organisation in Austria

SOS-Kinderdorf Österreich,
Stafflerstraße 10a, 6020
Innsbruck, Austria
Implementing Partners

SOS Children-s Villages International,
Regional Office for East and Southern Africa (ESAF)
P.O.Box-2491, 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

SOS Children-s Villages Ethiopia,
Bole Sub City, Kebele 03/05, House No 2/229,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

SOS Children-s Villages of Uganda Trust,
P.O. Box 27510, Kampala, Uganda

Donor Agency for the GREEN+ project: Austrian Development Agency (www.ada.gv.at)

The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is the Operational Unit of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). It is in charge of implementing all bilateral programmes and projects in ADC's partner countries and ad-ministers the budget earmarked for this. Another focus of ADA-s operations is education and information in Austria to convey the issue of development cooperation to a broader public.

The Austrian Development Agency cooperates with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and combines official development assistance with numerous civil-society initiatives. This way, government and civil society make a joint contribution to poverty reduction and improving the conditions of life in developing countries.

The strategic partnership programme for Austrian NGOs, under which the GREEN+ is implemented, is one of the various co-financing instruments in the collaboration with NGOs. (https://www.entwicklung.at/en/actors/civil-society/strategic-partnerships). The programmes are based on the NGO-s own initiatives and are directed at meeting the actual needs of the target groups in developing countries. Per definition, an ADA strategic partnership project consists of coherent and interactive programme interventions with a common strategic and development objective (see Strategic Partnership Guidelines: https://www.entwicklung.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/Zivilgesellschaft/Strategische_Partnerschaften/StratPart_Funding_Guideline.pdf).

Duration: 24 calendar days (see breakdown section below)

Estimated Dates: March 1st 2019 - March 24th 2019

Geographical Location:

SOS CV Ethiopia - Mekelle & Hawassa

SOS CV Uganda - Entebbe & Fort Portal

SOS CV International - Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESAF), Addis Ababa

Deliverables:

Inception report and tools shared at the initiation of the assignment

Draft report for review

Final version of the report, including a presentation summarising the key findings, and

All data sets in soft copy.

(See detailed deliverables‘ timeline in section below)

Methodology:
The participatory methodology of studying the baseline should incorporate, but not limited to the following approaches:

Desk review - desk research, including review of Green+ project documents, ADA funding guideline (https://www.entwicklung.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/Zivilgesellschaft/Strategische_Partnerschaften/StratPart_Funding_Guideline.pdf)), relevant SOS Children-s Villages documents, and review of related literature.

Primary data collection - primary data will be collected using a number of different approaches including Key Informant Interviews (KII - semi-structured), Focus Group Discussion (FGD), household survey based on a representative sample (approximately 10%) in each of the four programme locations in both countries.

The methodology is expected to be developed further by the applying company during the inception phase, and shared with the SOS CV for review and approval.

Assessment Management Team:

SOS CV Austria - Programme Coordinator

SOS CVI - Regional Grants Advisor

Background Information

Thematic focus areas of GREEN+ Project
The proposed initiative is an integrated part of SOS CV-s Family Strengthening Program (FSP), which, overall, aims to strengthen the families of children and young people worldwide with a focus on preventing family separation. Within this programmatic framework, the proposed action is designed to strengthen the socio-economic empowerment of children and youth as well as their families, with a specific focus on green economy, through a range of complementary measures at the individual, household, community, national and international levels around the following three thematic areas:

Thematic area 1: Sustainable socio-economic empowerment of families and youth.

Under this thematic area, the project will address the challenges of vulnerable families and youth as well as critically vulnerable families and individuals with regards to their socio-economic resilience, taking into account the specific situations that families and individuals might find themselves in, characterized by individual needs, capacities, resources, and age. For this purpose, a three-tiered support program was developed that supports (a) vulnerable families to enhance their income-generating capacities, (b) critically vulnerable families to access social protection services and support, while also preparing to launch income-generating activities (IGAs) as feasible, and (c) male and female youth as they transition into socio-economic independence. Across all three groups, the project design promotes green economic activities, be it through training, technical advice, linking participants to green economic institutions or support for youth to start-up green economic activities as individuals or groups.

Thematic area 2: Social status of marginalized groups among families and youth.

The challenges that marginalized families and individuals - including women and girls, children with disabilities, adults with disabilities, older persons, and children they take care of, members of ethnic minorities or children in general - face in terms of participating in community decision-making processes and accessing basic and social services, are addressed through two complementary components (a) to strengthen individuals- skills and self-efficacy[1] to participate in community decision-making and social accountability processes and (b) to prepare an enabling environment in the communities that is conducive to support participation of all different community members, quality of child care and child protection, allocation of community resources for social protection, advancement in terms of gender equality and inclusion, and environmental protection and green initiatives.

Thematic area 3: Awareness, knowledge, and practice about issues around a safe and sustainable environment.

The programmatic components under this thematic area are designed to contribute to enhance SOS CV and KIP-s contribution to policy dialogues on social protection and alternative care, gender equality and inclusion, and green growth at community, national, regional, and international levels, and to ensuring effective knowledge management and learning by collecting and documenting lessons and best practice examples from the implementation of the Action through participatory processes, and by further strengthening and improving knowledge management and learning processes internally and with KIPs. Documentation of lessons learnt, and best practice examples will be shared internally for continuous adjustments and improvements, and externally to support policy and program development by national, regional, and international stakeholders, including in Austria. In line with the overall thematic focus, learning, knowledge management, and policy dialogues will focus on environmental protection and green economy linked to quality child care and protection but could also cover other relevant cross-cutting topics such as social protection, alternative care, and inclusion, and gender equality.

Cross cutting themes
Cross-cutting theme 1: Green economic activities and household practices

The Action aims at empowering vulnerable families and youth to acquire green skills and resources to launch green enterprises, take-up green jobs, and participate in community and district decision-making related to environmental protection and sustainable, green economic development, and by contributing to strengthening the capacities of local stakeholders - including local/district authorities, private sector, and civil society actors - to contribute to the implementation of governmental policies related to green growth, while providing an enabling environment for green enterprises through knowledge provision and participatory, inclusive decision-making.

It is also worth noting that not all IGAs and social business supported by the project will be ‘green- and not all green practices promoted by the project (e.g. kitchen gardening, tree planting, promotion of energy efficient stoves) may generate income. While this flexibility is important to ensure that green practices promoted by the project respond to household and community needs and priorities (e.g. nutrition, children-s health) irrespective of their capacity to generate income, at a minimum all IGAs and social business ideas will be subjected to environmental impact assessment, in line with ADA requirements. Should these assessments confirm any negative impact of the business or IGA idea on the environment, the project team will engage with the respective parents/caretakers and KIPs to advise them on viable alternative options without negative environmental impact.

Cross-cutting theme 2: Gender equality and participation of marginalized persons

With regards to promoting gender equality and the participation of marginalized persons, the Action employs an empowerment methodology to activate the capacities of vulnerable women and girls to access economic opportunities and to support them as well as members of special interest groups to participate more actively in local decision-making processes. Key project component designed to contribute to strengthen the socio-economic empowerment of vulnerable community members - including business and marketable vocational skills development and establishing links to community-based saving/loan services and improving access to social protection services - are focused on women and female youth, in an effort to compensate for existing structural inequalities and to enhance gender equity in terms of access to income-generating activities. The Action also addresses the fact that vulnerable women and girls largely lack access to community decision-making processes, including those on environmental and economic issues - yet they are strongly affected by degrading environmental conditions and lack of sustainable economic opportunities.

Cross-cutting theme 3: Social protection, alternative care, and social accountability

The Action will strengthen the link between the SOS CV FSP approach and three key public policy areas: social protection, alternative care, and inclusion of persons with disabilities. SOS CV has over 70 years of experience working with vulnerable and marginalized families, youth and children around the world, and some SOS CV country teams have developed significant experience in the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Based on this experience, the organization has developed practical models on social protection, alternative care, and integration of children, youth, and adults with disabilities. They will not only inform program activities but will also form the basis for SOS CV teams in Ethiopia and Uganda as well as at the regional level to engage in technical dialogues with the respective governments at different levels to contribute to the development of these three emerging policy areas, based on best practices and lessons learnt from the SOS CV experience.

At the programmatic level, SOS CV teams will support community stakeholders with regards to building their capacities to develop and implement social protection programs, including for community-based rehabilitation (CBR), and support the formation of networks of CBOs for social protection and alternative care. To support inclusion of adults and children with disabilities, the Action will raise awareness with community members about the situation, specific needs, and rights of persons with disabilities, build the capacities of community structures to develop community-based rehabilitation (CBR) initiatives, and engage with school administrations to reduced barriers for and enhance the access of children with disabilities to education.

GREEN+ project contribution to the implementation to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Union Gender Action Plan II (EU GAP II):
By contributing to strengthening the socio-economic empowerment of vulnerable parents/caregivers and youth, with particular focus on the socio-economic empowerment of women and female youth, the project contributes to reducing poverty, thereby contributing to the realization of SDG 1. In addition, by stringing the socio-economic empowerment of parents/caregivers and by enhancing access to social protection and basic services, the Action contributes to the realization of SDGs 2 Zero hunger, 3 Good health and wellbeing, and 4 Quality education, in particular for children and youth.

By integrating measures to promote the socio-economic empowerment of women and female youth, and to enhance the capacities of marginalized groups, including women, girls, persons with disabilities and their children as well as older persons or refugees, to participate in community decision-making processes, the Action supports the attainment of SDG 5 Gender equality, and SDG 10 Reduced inequalities. In addition, these measures also contribute to the attainment of goals set within the EU GAP II focus areas 2 Promoting the social and economic rights / empowerment of women and girls and 3 Strengthening girls' and women's voice and participation.

By mainstreaming a ‘green- approach into improving households- socio-economic situation and communities- participatory planning and implementation processes, the Action supports progress towards SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation, and SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy as well as SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 12 Responsible production and consumption.

Objectives
The objectives of the baseline study are:

Establish baseline information that serves for before-and-after comparison with the mid-term and final evaluations; including definition of indicators, methods of data collection for monitoring, mid-term and end-of-term evaluation.

Inform the design and planning of project activities, with potential adjustments in project interventions and improvement of the project M&E system.

Scope of work

This study is to be conducted within the sampling target area of four project Locations in Uganda (Entebbe & Fort Portal) and Ethiopia (Hawassa & Mekelle) within the 10% of the overall project beneficiary and other stakeholders of the project. The study shall be conducted in forms of survey, key informant interview and focus group discussions will also be conducted as required. The information will be collected, analyzed and the report in English will be shared to SOSCV for consultation before it is finalized.

Methodology
The methodology needs to take into account the GREEN+ logframe indicators, as far as they refer to gender (in-)equality, diversity, disability, or have an impact on those groups.

The consultancy firm/consultant should propose a sample size representing approx. 10% of the target group according to the description of the target group under chapter 6 of the narrative project document. This needs to be spread over both countries and all 4 locations.

The methodology should incorporate, but is not limited to the following elements[2]:

Desk research, including review of programme documents and reports, secondary data research, policy analysis

Individual meetings with SOS CV staff;

Semi-structured interviews with government representatives (at all levels) and religious community leaders will be conducted, based on an interview protocol to be developed by the company/individual.

Stakeholder analysis, dependency /influence mapping; power mapping; community social and resource mapping

Intra Household decision making; income and expenditure matrices or charts, daily time use, land tenure matrix, etc. (survey based on a representative sample in each of the four programme locations;)

Role playing and stor- telling scenarios; mobility analysis,

Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) will be conducted in each of the programme locations with the target population groups.

KIIs

Quality & Ethical Standards

The consultant/s shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the survey is designed and conducted to respect and protect the rights and welfare of the people and communities involved and to ensure that the assessment is technically accurate and reliable, is conducted in a transparent and impartial manner, and contributes to organisational learning and accountability.

It is expected that the survey will respect the fundamental principles of SOS Children-s Villages.

Qualifications and Experience for Consultants
• Relevant academic degree (master-level) in one or more of the following fields: Development Studies, Monitoring & Evaluation or a relevant, or other directly related disciplines

• A minimum of five years- experience and expertise in geographically and thematically closely-related projects

Geographically: Ethiopia, Uganda, Eastern African Countries;

Thematically: Community development, gender programming, green economy, socio-economic strengthening, etc.) (written testimonials of such need to be submitted with the application; one of the most sought after requirements for shortlisting)

• Team leader and member (s) have conducted at least three baseline surveys in the last five years, ideally in a relevant field (written testimonials of such need to be submitted with the application, this is also one of the most sought after requirements for shortlisting) and ideally as team leader in at least 1 evaluation (applicable to the team leader)

• Knowledge of Ethiopia and Uganda with focus on topics such as community development, gender programming, green economy, socio-economic strengthening, etc.

• Experience in project cycle management, expertise in evaluating cross-cutting issues, and social science research methods.

• Excellent oral and written English skills, and sound MS Office and IT skills

• Experience preparing and analysing a theory of change is an asset

• Proven track record in proposal writing is an asset

Management of the Assessment
Duration: The baseline process will commence on March 1st, 2019 and end on March 24th, 2019 (24 calendar days).

Deliverables:

Inception report detailing the baseline survey design, methodology, sampling methodology & sample frame, survey tools, agreed budget and work plan. This should be delivered by 5 March 2019.

Draft baseline Report and the raw data by 18 March 2019.

Including recommendations on how to address barriers and constraints in the target group and promising methodological approaches

Recommendations on staff capacity building needs in order to enable them to implement those suggested approaches

Final version of the report, including a presentation summarising the key findings

A power point presentation highlighting key findings from the baseline study to be presented at a feed-back meeting to be held after completing the draft report on 20 March 2019

Final baseline study report by 24 March 2019

All data sets in soft copy.

The final report outline should be as proposed:

The executive summary to be written in a separate paper providing the bare essentials for decision-makers regarding the background, major conclusions in relation to the survey criteria, recommendations and lessons learned (total 1-2 pages).

The main report (max. 15 pages plus a list of abbreviations) of which a substantial part will be the main conclusions and recommendations. These should be substantiated with more detailed information only to the extent necessary. Detailed findings should be referred to the annexes. Conclusions and recommendations in the main report should have references to the relevant findings in the annexes.

The annexes should provide all information necessary to substantiate major conclusions and recommendations in the main report. The Terms of Reference, the teams- itinerary, list of persons interviewed, and list of documents used should be annexed.

Copies of original and cleaned data sets with codebook. The raw data, the database which has been cleaned (both qualitative and quantitative, including original field notes for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, as well as recorded audio material), should be submitted together with the report. A simple inventory of material handed over will be part of the record. SOS CV will have sole ownership of all final data and any findings shall only be shared or reproduced with the permission of SOS CV.

Assessment Management Team:

The assessment management team shall consist of SOS CV Austria - Programme Coordinator & SOS CVI - Regional Grants Advisor. They shall ensure that the deliverables agreed upon and approved in the inception report are achieved on time.

Role of SOS CV (SOS CV Austria & SOS CV International office in the Region)

• Lead the recruitment and survey process

• Review of study products including tools and reports

• SOS CV will organise logistics on the ground for the gender analysis team

• Avail all necessary SOS documents for desk review

• SOS CV will be the link between the community and the consultant

• Will be the custodian of all data generated from the study

• Organize dissemination forums as necessary

• Review and give feedback on all gender analysis products

• Fund the activity budget

• Final approval of the report

[1] Self-efficacy is defined as “people's beliefs in their efficacy to influence events that affect their lives.“ Albert Bandura, http://professoralbertbandura.com/albert-bandura-self-efficacy.html, accessed on 20 August 2018.

[2] https://www.care.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Good-Practices-Brief.pdf

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