Evaluation and Strategic Plan Development Exercise of SEND Sierra Leone Tender, Sierra Leone - 87211412

Procurement Summary

Country : Sierra Leone

Summary : Evaluation and Strategic Plan Development Exercise of SEND Sierra Leone

Deadline : 01 Sep 2023

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 87211412

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Financier : World Bank (WB)

Purchaser Ownership : Public

Tender Value : Refer Document

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Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Evaluation and Strategic Plan Development Exercise of SEND Sierra Leone.

Closing Date: 1 Sep 2023

Type: Consultancy

Terms of Reference for the Evaluation and Strategic Plan Development Exercise of SEND Sierra Leone

(2024-2029)

Background

The Social Enterprise Development, SEND-Sierra Leone, stands as a registered national non-governmental organization with a mission to foster good governance, accountability, and equality for both women and men. As of mid-2023, SSL has been operational in 15 of the 16 political and administrative districts and numerous chiefdoms and communities across Sierra Leone.

Over the past four years, SEND-Sierra Leone has contributed to Sierra Leone's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement, employing two comprehensive programs. Firstly, SEND-Sierra Leone prioritized enhancing the organizational capabilities of youth and women-led grassroots networks, empowering them to advocate for inclusive political and administrative institutions that uphold their rights to development and governance participation at all levels - chiefdom, district, and national.

The governance program also focused on equipping vulnerable groups, including women, youth, and persons with disabilities (PWD), with essential skills and platforms to hold the government accountable in planning and delivering vital public social infrastructure and services such as water, hygiene, sanitation, education, and healthcare.

Additionally, SEND-Sierra Leone's second program aimed at empowering women, farmers, and other marginalized groups to attain livelihood, food, and nutrition security. It involved implementing various strategies, including micro-financing through village savings and loan associations and credit union development, providing small business development training, supporting food production while educating women and young children about nutrition, and promoting the adoption of climate change mitigation agricultural practices.

Through these initiatives, SEND-Sierra Leone strives to create lasting positive impacts in Sierra Leone, fostering a brighter, more equitable future for all its citizens.

The Strategic Plan for the period 2019 to 2023 has been guided by five key directions, closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

Strategic Direction 1: Promoting livelihood security in rural communities, contributing to SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hunger), and SDG 10 (Decent work and economic growth).
Strategic Direction 2: Strengthening access to quality education for girls and marginalized groups in rural communities in support of SDG 4 (Quality education) and SDG 5 (Gender equality).
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Strategic Direction 3: Improving health facilities and services in difficult-to-reach and rural communities, fulfilling SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) and SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation).
Strategic Direction 4: Promoting women's political empowerment to realize SDG 5 (Gender equality), SDG 10 (Reduced inequality), and SDG 16 (Peace, justice, and strong institutions).
Strategic Direction 5: Establishing a regional program in collaboration with other affiliates of SEND West Africa.
The governance of SEND-Sierra Leone is overseen by a 7-member Board of Directors, responsible for policy-making and providing administrative direction. The Senior Management Team implements programs led by the Country Director in collaboration with various target groups, stakeholders, and donor partners. Key implementing partners include district councils, civil society organizations, chiefdom and traditional authorities, media, and community groups, focusing on women, youth, and persons with disabilities (PWD).

The current strategic plan's programs have been funded by over 16 donor partners, including prominent organizations such as the Irish Embassy in Sierra Leone, Christian Aid, Trocaire, Welthungerhilfe, Engineers Without Borders- Denmark, UNDP, EU, Care International Sierra Leone, UNWomen, Trust Africa, Solidaridad West Africa, TERRA TECH Förderprojekte e.V. and BMZ of Germany.

Through these concerted efforts, SEND-Sierra Leone aims to substantially impact the lives of those in rural communities, furthering progress towards the SDGs and creating positive change in Sierra Leone.

Objectives of the assignment

This assignment aims to evaluate the outcomes and impact of SEND's performance over the past four years in collaboration with individual donor partners. Internal reviews and project evaluation exercises have already confirmed significant results. Therefore, this assessment focuses on the development outcomes achieved in delivering the Strategic Plan 2019 to 2023, which will serve as a foundation for preparing the Strategic Plan 2024 to 2029. The assignment comprises several objectives:

Conduct an assessment of the implementation of the Strategic Plan 2019 to 2023, highlighting and describing the critical developmental changes, outcomes, and impacts realized in the lives of the beneficiaries under each strategic direction outlined below.
Undertake an organizational assessment to identify SEND's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Develop a comprehensive strategic plan covering 2024 to 2029, including establishing milestones to guide the organization's future endeavors.
Through this assessment and planning process, SEND aims to build upon its accomplishments, address shortcomings, and strategize for more significant impact and positive changes in the lives of its beneficiaries and communities in the coming years.

Scope of assignment

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Conduct a comprehensive review of all programs and projects implemented under the previous Strategic Plan, including project proposals, implementation reports, monitoring data, end-of-project evaluations, and internal review meeting reports.

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2. Review relevant national development policies and program documents during the life of the Strategic Plan, including government plans and program reports related to gender, health, education, water, climate and sanitation aimed at achieving the SDGs. Additionally, examine country reports by UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank, FAO, and international NGOs operating in Sierra Leone.

3. Assess the policy environment for civil sector involvement in promoting good governance, women's economic empowerment, political participation, and increasing livelihood and food security for underserved communities. Identify policy enablers to support the Strateic Plan 2024 to 2029 and challenges that must be addressed.

4. Collect and analyze primary data from target groups and implementing stakeholders under each Strategic Direction. This includes women's network members, youth groups and leaders, village savings and loan associations, GMFs, credit union boards and members, political party leaders, and beneficiaries of infrastructural health, education, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition projects, and climate change mitigation activities.

5. Collect and analyze data from key implementing stakeholders, especially local district councils and departments, such as district health management committees, civil society consortium partners, traditional authorities, leaders of youth groups, and members of community health insurance schemes.

6. Review the effectiveness and relevance of organizational systems and procedures, including human resources, management, communication, monitoring, and evaluation. Assess key policy documents related to HR, M&E, communication, and board and Senior Management Team (SMT) meeting minutes, followed by interviews with their members.

7. Evaluate the strategies and effectiveness of SEND-Sierra Leone's promotion of women in development and governance and its climate change mitigation mainstreaming approach.

The consultant must carry out these tasks diligently to provide valuable insights to inform the organization's future planning and impact.

Methodology for undertaking the assignment.

This assignment's consultant must employ a participatory, intersectionality, and gender-sensitive evaluation framework. This approach should combine quantitative and qualitative data collection methods to ensure the findings and recommendations that inform the strategic plan are well-founded and robust.

The adoption of an Intersectionality approach in this context entails considering the complex interplay of various factors, such as gender, demographics, religion, economic status, education, women's network membership, location (rural and urban), and political party affiliation, which influenced beneficiaries' participation and ultimately shaped how the Strategic Plan impacted their lives.

To commence the assignment, the consultant will design an evaluation framework, which will undergo review and approval by SEND-Sierra Leone management. This design should encompass an evaluation planning workshop, data collection tools, guidelines, protocols, and a validation workshop for key findings and recommendations. Additionally, the consultant will specify the digital software intended for quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.

Deliverables for this assignment

The assignment will yield:

1. An Outcomes and Impact Report of the Strategic Plan (SP) 2019 to 2023, which will be 25 to 30 pages long and will include:

2. i) A summary of the methodology and tools used. ii) Assessing Sierra Leone's progress towards achieving the SDGs prioritized by SEND-Sierra Leone. iii) Analysis of the

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development outcomes achieved for each strategic direction, supported by quantitative and qualitative data. iv) Identification of key strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. v) Key recommendations for the Strategic Plan 2024 to 2029, including revisions to previous strategic directions and strategies for youth and climate change mainstreaming.

3. A Strate

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