Protection International Africa (PIA) is registered as a legal entity in Kenya and is recognised as a non-governmental organisation. PIA is the regional hub for all of Protection International (PI)’s work in Africa, with the office in Nairobi hosting the hub as well as PI’s Kenya office, otherwise referred to as PIA in Kenya (PIA-Kenya/PIAK). Additionally, PIA has direct engagement with the PI Country Office in DRC, a focal point in Tanzania and projects across the African region in East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa.
PIA’s objective is to increase the agency of human rights defenders (HRDs) and contribute to the creation of safe spaces for HRDs to continue advocating for the promotion and protection of the right to defend human rights. This objective is achieved through capacity building in physical and digital security; monitoring, documentation and reporting of human rights violations; national, regional, and international advocacy; emergency response to HRDs at risk and network strengthening.
PIA is seeking the services of a qualified and experienced consultant for our USAWA project.
The consultant will carry out the following specific duty: undertake the evaluation of the project to unpack its achievements, challenges and lessons learnt to effectively communicate to the implementing partners and/or donors, and for future programmes’ development using the following evaluation criteria and key questions.
A) Relevance
- Do the various parties involved in the project think that the project was appropriate in the context of the minority HRDs in the intervention areas?
- Did the project team use the most appropriate strategies in relation to the context? Specifically analyse the following strategies:
- Stronger and more structured HRDs network and coalitions
- Engagement (dialogue) with state authorities and key actors
- Empowered HRDs are able to carry out their work safely and without fear of attacks
- Were there any major risks that were not taken into account by the project team?
B) Effectiveness
- Assess what has been achieved in relation to the planned activities and outcomes.
- Check whether the activities carried out have contributed to achieving the desired results.
- Assess the strategic importance of the project’s success.
- How effective are the training methodologies used by the project?
- Are the facilitation/training methods and training materials adapted to the target groups? In particular, women HRDs, key and vulnerable populations, land and environmental defenders and persons with disabilities?
- Is the training material adapted to the needs of the trainers/facilitators?
C) Efficiency
- Have the project resources (budget, staff, materials) been well utilized in relation to the results achieved? Do they meet the criterion of cost-effectiveness?
- How did the team monitor the project and adapt to the findings?
- What does an in-depth assessment of the project team’s working relationships with each other and with the partners and other parties involved reveal?
- What synergies exist with other organisations working in a similar field with similar objectives?
- What challenges has the project faced that have impacted its implementation under normal conditions?
D) Gender and diversity
- To what extent has the project fostered the equal participation of women, promoted women’s rights and increased the protection and safety of women HRDs, persons with disabilities, land and environmental defenders and key and vulnerable populations?
- Has project data been disaggregated by gender?
- Has monitoring adequately measured progress in achieving gender equity results?
- Were gender-related risks and constraints adequately monitored?
E) Sustainability
- What is the degree of acceptance and ownership of the project by the communities where it was implemented?
- Has the project contributed to sustainable changes within the community and on specific behaviours of HRDs?
F) Impact
- To what extent has the project helped to create conditions conducive to improving the working environment for HRDs?
- To what extent has the project achieved its objectives (see objectives in the introductory section)?
- What was the project’s theory of change and do the results support this theory?
- Were there any positive or negative unintended effects?
- What has been the project’s greatest success in protecting human rights defenders in Tanzania?
- Document the most relevant success stories from all the four target groups.
Key evaluation stages
As part of this evaluation, the consultant will use various methods to gather information: examination of key project documents; direct observation in the field; interviews with target partners and focus groups discussions.
The consultant will also use data collected by the project teams:
- Project document,
- Project baseline,
- Protection manual,
- Activity reports
- Interim report, and
- Any other documentation useful for its work.
Management and timeframe
The consultant will be supervised and guided directly by PIA.
The consultant will present an initial layout (inception phase) document and one (1) report.
PIA will be responsible for the following duties:
- Holding an entry meeting with the consultant;
- Sharing relevant PIA background organizational information with the consultant and providing contacts and HRDs who are PIA’s partners;
- Reviewing, discussing and improving the drafts produced by the consultant;
- Providing the consultant with specific feedback within the stipulated period;
- Validating the final evaluation report.
Deliverables
The consultant will report to and liaise with PIA for support as needed. Mobilization of various respondents will be supported by PIA and THRDC. This includes setting up interviews and meetings with project beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
The selected consultant should deliver the following:
- An inception report which should include 1) A proposal on ethical and feasible evaluation methodologies to respond to the evaluation questions, 2) a proposal on data collection tools to be used, 3) a schedule of evaluation activities and tasks.
- A draft report:
- Zero draft evaluation report: the draft report will provide preliminary findings and recommendations, and provide tangible evidence (information and data) as per the study objectives.
- Timely feedback on the zero draft will be provided by PIA.
- Revision of zero draft report: the revised report will synthesize all data, findings, conclusions and recommendations, considering all comments and additions from the PIA team following the submission of the zero draft report.
- Validation meeting / oral presentation: PIA will organize a feedback meeting. The consultant will make a presentation to PIA on the preliminary findings of the study, conclusions, recommendations and lessons for programs improvement. The meeting will be an opportunity to clarify outstanding aspects of the study before the finalization of the report.
- Production of a final report: the consultant will be expected to produce a final report, including the main issues discussed and all comments provided by PIA during the validation meeting. The consultant shall determine the substantive content of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report. The final report must be formatted (edited, content layout and design) and ready for publication (in a printable final version of approx. 30 pages).
- The report is subject to the final approval by PIA in terms of whether the report meets the conditions of the ToRs and expected standards.
Duration of assignment
The assignment will take maximum 30 days preferably starting on 13 January 2025 and ending on or before 13 February 2025 in the countries covered by the project.
Application requirements
Qualified individuals/organizations are invited to apply for this consultancy by submitting the following documents:
- Expression of interest with a clear understanding of the TORs;
- Proposed methodology and timelines for this assignment;
- Reference letters/materials from previous assignments;
- CV of the individual(s) who will undertake this assignment. For organizations, please provide your organizational profile and portfolio on similar assignment;
- A budget quotation for the costs of the assignment.
Interested parties are requested to submit their technical and financial proposals including:
- For independent consultants:
- A detailed CV (including three referees and areas of expertise)
- A letter of motivation
- One previous similar evaluation report written by the applicant.
- For consultancy firms:
- Profile of the organisation
- Letter of motivation
- CV of the team that will be involved in the evaluation.
- Previous similar evaluation report written by the consultancy firm.
- In both cases:
- An explanation (understanding) of the ToRs
- An explanation of the methodology and the main tools to be used in the evaluation
- A realistic budget for the evaluation (make a clear distinction between structural costs – air tickets, accommodation, etc. – and the cost of the service).
Application details
All applications should be addressed to the Regional Human Resources Officer at recruitment.africa@protectioninternational.org. The email subject should read “USAWA Evaluation Project”. All applications will be received by email only. For heavy documents, please provide a link to access them.
This call for consultancy closes on 3 January 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Africa Time.
ToR