(English)

Consultant’s Terms of Reference for

Project End Evaluation for Disability Empowerment and Education Project (DEEP)- KH10-001 in Samlout and Rukh Kiri, Battambang Province, Cambodia

 

1. Organisational context

ChildFund Cambodia is the representative office of ChildFund Australia – an independent international development organisation that works to reduce poverty for children in developing communities.

 

ChildFund Australia is a member of the ChildFund Alliance – a global network of 12 organisations which assists almost 23 million children and their families in 70 countries. ChildFund Australia is a registered charity, a member of the Australian Council for International Development, and fully accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which manages the Australian Government’s overseas aid program.

 

ChildFund began working in Cambodia in 2007 and works in partnership to create community and systems change which enables vulnerable children and young people, in all their diversity, to assert and realise their rights. Projects are implemented in the rural districts of Svay Rieng, Kratie, Prey Veng and Battambang provinces, focused on improving living standards for excluded or marginalised communities.

 

With a focus on child protection and resilience, quality education, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, improved local governance, water and sanitation, and youth empowerment, ChildFund Cambodia is also working to strengthen the government’s policy frameworks to improve early grade reading performance through technology interventions, and build community-based child protection mechanisms.

 

ChildFund Cambodia implements its programs in collaboration with local civil society organisations, and in partnership with the relevant ministries and government departments.

Barnfonden (Childfund Sweden) has been a child foucsed international development organization since 1991 and is part of the ChildFund Alliance. ChildFund Cambodia is one of Barnfonden’s focus countries in the Alliance where mutual focused work with ChildFund Cambodia on Education and Child protection projects has been carried out together over the past 12 years.

KHEN is a local NGO and certified Child Safe Organisation based in Battambang Province, Cambodia. KHen works to promote child rights, accessible, inclusive & quality education and protection of vulnerable children, so that they can develop to their full potential. To achieve this, their staff run comprehensive education projects with children/youth and their schools and communities in the rural districts of Battambang: Samlout and Rukhak Kiri. All of theprojects focus on education within rural/remote areas where KHEN believe most barriers to child education exist (www.khencambodia.org).

KHEN’ approach is rights-based inclusive development in partnership with target beneficiaries. KHEN focuses on those most vulnerable – the poor, the remote, those with disabilities, those from minority groups and girls/women. We follow Child Friendly School and Child Protection standards, as endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) in Cambodia. These are international standards, which are widely regarded as best practice for education and development.

 

2. Background

Barnfonden (SvEO), together with ChildFund Cambodia (supporting partner), Khmer NGO for Education (KHEN)  and Cambodia Disabled People´s Organization (CDPO) Local Partner Organization have been impleming the  “Disability Empowerment and Education Project-DEEP (KH10-001)” in Rukhak Kiri and Samlout Districts of Battambang Province, since April 2020 and will soon conclude implementation in December 2022.

The project covers  12 target schools, 22 villages and 9 communes in two districts (5 target schools, 12 village and 2 communes in Rukh Kiri and 7 target schools, 10 villages and 7 communes in Samlout). The interventions of the two projects in the district aim to build supportive and inclusive learning environments by working with children with disabilities, their families and communities, schools and government duty bearers to ensure they have improved quality of life, particularly increased access to education and are confident to make decisions about their future. The project adopts an inclusive child friendly, rights-based approach where children are supported to develop and use their own ways to transform negative social attitudes that are the root cause of disability exclusion. The project has worked at three levels – the household, service provider/school and policy/systems – to deliver an integrated approach to positive and sustainable change for children with disabilities (CWD).  From the beginning up to the present,   3,384 children (1,687 girls),  231 CWDs (84 girls) and 863 key stakeholders (550 females) 27 PWDs; 11 females) including  national and sub-national duty bearers, school directors, teachers, school management committees, parents and caregivers of CWDs,  and community people.

The project works in partnership with the Battambang Provincial Department of Education Youth and Sport (PoE),Department of Education at distric level (DoE​) and Rukh Kiri and Samlout District Government. At National level, the project works  with the Ministries of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY), Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS)- Deparment of Special Education,​ and the Department of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.  At the sub-national level, the project works with Commune Councils (CCs), Commune Committees for Women and Children (CCWC), and Women and Children Consultative Committee (WCCC) at both district and provincial levels, as well as  Provincial and District Social Affair, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Police and Health Centers at the commune level.

 

Project Goal, Sub-goals and Results Measurement Framework

The project DEEP contains the following RMF indicators.

The overall goal of the project is “Children with disabilities and their families in Battambang are empowered and able to exercise and enjoy their rights, including the rights to education”.

And the specific project goal is “ By December 2022, children with disabilities in Samlout and Rukh Kiri districts live in a supportive and enabling environment, have improved access to education and quality of life and have increased confidence to make decisions about the future.

There are 6 project goal indicators:

 

• Indicator 1: 35% of targeted girls and boys with a disability reported they lived in a supportive and enabling environment.
• Indicator 2: 30%   of targeted girls and boys with a disability report they have ability to make decisions about their future and can provide an example.
• Indicator 3: 30%  of targeted families who have positive perspectives/aspirations for their CWD future.
• Indicator 4: 25%  of targeted girls and boys with a disability who report they have access to inclusive education (either at school or home-based).
• Indicator 5: 20%  of target duty bearers have increased knowledge on how they can be disability inclusive.

 

There are  four sub-goals and associated sub-goal indicators:

Sub-goal 1: By December 2022, girls and boys with disabilities (CWD) are equipped with developmentally appropriate basic life skills and have family support to reach their full potential.

• Indicator 1.1. 20%  of targeted girls and boys with a disability with improved confidence about their future prospects.
• Indicator 1.2: 10% of targeted families who were better able to support their children’s learning.
• Indicator 1.3: 60% of trained KHEN volunteers/interns and CDPO staff reported they felt confident in using the Washington Group questions and Child and Youth Participation Methodologies.
• Indicator 1.4: 50% of KHEN policies strengthened/updated through engagement in the project

Sub-goal 2: By December 2022, girls and boys with disabilities have increased access to inclusive education, both in and out-of-school.

• Indicator 2.1: 20%  of girls and boys with a disability regularly attending school and advance to the next grade of school.
• Indicator 2.2: 15%  of girls and boys with a disability who had access to home-based education.
• Indicator 2.3: 60%  of teachers using inclusive teaching methods for CWD.
• Indicator 2.4: 50% of schools equipped with improved physical access for CWD.
• Indicator 2.5: 5 schools outside of project coverage adopting good practice disability inclusion approaches.

 

Sub-Goal 3: By December 2022, civil society is strengthened and actively engaged with duty bearers at sub-national and national levels on issues of disability inclusion, with a particular emphasis on meeting inclusive education commitments under UNCRPD, the Disability Law and current policy frameworks

• Indicator 3.1: 25%  of targeted duty bearers had increased knowledge on how to be disability inclusive.
• Indicator 3.2: 5% of issues addressed from meetings/events and budget allocated to inclusion in CIP.
• Indicator 3.3: 70% of trained CDPO team members reported they felt confident to facilitate further training sessions on inclusive and child friendly methodologies.
• Indicator 3.4: 50% of CDPO policies updated/strengthened through engagement in the project.
• Indicator 3.5: 5%  of target CWD and their families who reported increased capacity and confidence to engage duty bearers in the promotion of the rights of CWD.

3. Purpose

The purpose of the consultancy is to:

1. Conduct a comprehensive endline study against the DEEP project Results Measurement Framework (see annex) that entails collecting two sets of data a.) for endline and b.)  retrospectively collect for baseline data due to limitations from current baseline data.
2. Condut a final evaluation of the project to identify the challenges and successes (best practices) and key suggestions for ways forward based in the DAC criteria.
3. Produce 2-3 case studies of different target groups (i.e: CWD, Youth, and Government staff)and specific findings in a comprehensive report.

 

Key requirements are:

1. Have knowledge and/or experience working with key vulnerable populations in Cambodia as this project focused on children with disabilities- which requires a level of understanding and sensitivitywhen collecting data.
2. Work closely with ChildFund Cambodia and KHEN M & E team to follow ChildFund Cambodia’s sampling procedure for collecting data on target groups and to understand the selected tools to collect against the Result Management Framework (RMF) Logframe.
3. Collect high-quality qualitative and quantitative data against multiple target groups of the project for the Result Measurment Framework-RMF and evaluation.
4. Follow core information provided from ChildFund Cambodia and KHEN on terms and definitions used in the project and tools.
5. Follow the requested evaluation questions provided in annex.
6. Provide most relevant and recent literature citied in Inception report on the background of Child with disabilities (CWD) in Cambodia within the last 5-10 years. Highlight policies, or assessments made at national and sub-national level and how this project contributes to those or international frameworks.
7. Provide quality reporting and detailed description of results and methods for collecting the data for repetition and accuracy.
8. Produce three reports: A) Inception report B) endline data collection against RMF, and c) Evaluation of project.
9. Communicate the findings and recommendations from the evaluation with all parties (KHEN, ChiildFund Cambodia, and Barnfonden and key stakeholders of the project) in an evaluation presentation post-finalilaztion and approval of report.
   1. The key stakeholders of this evaluation are: a)National level: DAC, SoSVY, MoWA, and MoEYS- Department of Special Educaiton and project implementing partner – CDPO and the Sub-national: PoE, DoE, District governor, Social Affaire, Commune Committee for Women and Children (CCWC),  Commune Councils, village chiefs, school directors, school management committee, teachers, CWDs, CWD’ parents, students/ Children Council, health centre, and youths. KHEN and ChildFund has planned for a final evaluation for this project as part of a culture of learning and accountability

 

4. Scope of Evaluation

1. The project end evaluation must cover the whole project and implementation period from April 2020 to December 2022It must be carried out in line with ChildFund Cambodia’s guidelines and policies on Child Protection, ethical standards, and Covid-19 prevention measure. ChildFund Cambodia and local partner will be actively involved in and contributing to the evaluation process including providing support to access project participants and stakeholders, providing feedback on inception reports and final reports.
2. The OCED DAC Criteria should be followed: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability . The consultant will use the result of the baseline and endline for evaluation purposes and measure as the pre-designed questionnaire for this evaluation. However, there were many weaknesses in the baseline sample size which requires the consultant to assess pre-project data retrospectively against the RMF with end-line data for a complete RMF LF.
3. The evaluation needs to explore core components of the project against its objectives and assess:
   1. Buddy system and volunteer sustainability assessment exploring the key strengths and weaknesses of the model.
   2. Partnership capacity assessment of the activities assessing BAF, CFC,KHEN and CDPO in their role of the project.
   3. Indirect affects of outreach/work (i.e non-target schools applying methods due to cross-learning activities).
4. The selected consultant will then provide an inception report which will include a work plan specifying in detail the work plan. All the interactions are needed (in procedures and questions) due to the Covid-19 pandemic this must be clearly stated and reflected upon in the evaluation report.
5. The consultant cannot begin fieldwork until the inception plan has been submitted and approved by ChildFund Cambodia and Barnfonden.

 

The consultant responsibilities will be to:  

• Develop and prepare the end project evaluation schedule/plan by consulting with ChildFund Cambodia field team, ChildFund provincial manager and KHEN team at Battambang province
• Review relevant secondary data and available documents associated with the project proposal, project variations, project report (quarterly, semester and annually) including the baseline survey report and other relevant materials.
• Develop data collection tools including questionnaires, interview guides with structured questions, FGD guiding questions, and observation checklists that are in line with the project RMF indicators.
• Submit the developed tools to KHEN, CDPO, and ChildFund Cambodia for review and comments
• Data collections tools will be prepared, piloted and tested before data collection
• Collect data for endline RMF and retrospectively for baseline data against RMF indicators
• Clearly show data presentation analysis and interpretation approaches of the evaluation. Provide a LF matrix key linking tool questions to LF indicators.
• Consultant presents findings to KHEN, CDPO and ChildFund Cambodia team for discussion and feedback (fourth week of December)
• The end project evaluation final report will be produced in English with baseline and end-line report figures from the data collection, all data both soft and hard copies included noted, records, photos, case story, and attendance list which can be used as an endorsement for the work done by ChildFund Cambodia.
• Cover all field costs from the consultancy fee.

5. Methodology

• The consultant should use both qualitative and quantitative methodologies for the evaluation. As one methodology, the consultant should follow the pre-designed questionnaire used during the pre-KAP Survey. All data collected through the assessment must be disaggregated by ability, age and sex. Key definitions of CWD, and terminologies will be provided by ChildFund for consultant to follow.
• The methodologies proposed needs to be participatory, capturing the views and opinions of stakeholders including the DAC, MoWA, MoEYS-Department of Special Education, and MoSVY, PoE, DoE, Deputy governor, commune councils, CCWCs, village chiefs, Police, Social affaire, school directors, School management committee, teachers, students/children council, buddy system, health centre, youths, CwDs’ parents/ caregivers and CwDs.
• The evaluation should provide evidence included successful case stories, quotations, and high-quality photos about the effectiveness which contributed or produced by the project. Follow Annex guidelines on case stories and evaluation questions.
• The first output of the external consultant will be an inception report, which includes a thorough desk review and fieldwork plan (tools, sample and schedule). Only after the approval of the inception report, the fieldwork can begin.

 

6. Deliverables and Indicative Timetable

The consultant will provide as follows:

• 01 x inception report, which includes: the results of the desktop study; the fieldwork plan; and sampling techniques and tools. Only after the approval of the inception report can the fieldwork can begin. To be submitted by [15 November];
• 01 x preliminary findings. To be presented at a validation workshop at Battambang provincial level. To be submitted by [First week of January 2023];
• 01 x final report which documents the good practices and lessons learnt; differentiating findings and recommendations which all data will reflect and measure against the project objectives, set indicators, and baseline result. The report should pull together the key findings from the project, analyses them, successful case stories, and photos (about ChildFund Cambodia programmer objectives and make programmatic conclusions and recommendations. To be submitted by [Third week of January 2023];
• All data (raw, note-taking, and records) including interview outlines, list of people interviewed, successful stories, note, photo, consents form ..etc. To be submitted by [Third week of January 2023].

 

The evaluation process is estimated to take 21 working days from early Mid- November 2022 including preparation, fieldwork assessment, analysis, and the report should be finalized by end of End January  2023.

Indicative dates	Outputs and Activities	Number of Days
Week two of Nov, 22	·       Develop inception report indicating the detail of baseline assessment plan, desk review, data analysis, and report	3day
Week three of Nov,22	·       Conduct tools development  orientation and field testing – (consultant pilots primary data collection tools)	2days
Week one of Dec,22	·       Field data collection, coding, analysis, and presentation finding to ChildFund Cambodia	8days
Week one of Jan, 23	·       Present the preliminary findings to all key stakeholders, KHEN ChildFund and CDPO.	1day
Week two of Jan,23	·       Draft evaluation report	3 day
Week three of Jan,23	·       Final evaluation report	2day
Total number of days		21 days

 

7. Management and Reporting Arrangements

Support Team from ChildFund Cambodia and local partner as follows:

No	Name	Position	Responsibilities
1	Sandos Monika	M&E program officer	M&E Technical Support and Coordination
2	Heom Nak	Samlout projects Coordinator	Overall Coordination at  Samlout District Level
3	Ly Chamroun	Rukhak kiri projects coordinator	Overall Coordination at  Rukhak Kiri District Level
4	Khun Bunlee	Director	Quality of the evaluation

KHEN Team

 

ChildFund Cambodia

No	Name	Position	Responsibilities
1	Mr Prak Kosal	Project Officer for DEEP	Contact person for the specific information and logistic support at field level
2	Ms Keo Socheat	SEL specialist	Technical support and contact person at national level
3	Ms Thung LyA	Provincial Manager	Overall Coordination at  provincial level
4	Mr Matthew Brodie	SEL Advisor in Sydney	Technical support
5	Ms Laura Blanchard	Education Advisor in Sydney	Technical support
6	Mr Chhun Sona	MEL Manager	M&E Technical Support and Coordination
7	Mr Chan Narin	Head of Programs	Quality of the evaluation
8	Mr Prashant Verma	Country Director	Oversight

 

Barnfonden

No	Name	Position	Responsibilities
1	Ms Catherine Larrson	Project Manager for DEEP	Contact person for donor requirements of the project and management of the project oversight.
2	Ms Keeva Duffey	MEL Advisor	Technical support and contact person for MEL

 

The Consultant will report to Mr Chhun Sona, MEL Manager  of ChildFund Cambodia and Mr Chan Narin, Head of Program of ChildFund Cambodia.   All reports must be written in English and provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word).

• The inception report starts with a thorough desk review and analysis of the documentation provided. Based on the analysis, the inception report shall include the evaluation framework and plan, including suggested methodologies both to collect and analyse data for each key evaluation question and outlines for the evaluation timeline and activity plan. The consultant can only embark on fieldwork, once the inception report has been reviewed by Barnfonden and approved by K ChildFund Cambodia
• The consultant is responsible for surveying objectively. However, KHEN and ChildFund Cambodia will be actively involved in and contributing to the process. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework (MEL) in the ChildFund Australia’s Program Handbook and baseline will be followed as much as possible; and emphasis will be on learning, participation and accountability.
• The consultant will present the preliminary findings to ChildFund Cambodia and conduct one day of validation workshop with key project stakeholders included key implementing partners (KHEN and CDPO) at Battambang province. The final survey report will be reviewed KHEN, CDPO, and Banfonden and approved by ChildFund Cambodia after all comments are addressed and agreed upon among stakeholders.

 

8. Confidentiality

All discussions and documents relating to this ToR will be treated as confidential by the parties.

 

9. Child Safeguarding

The Consultant will undertake the Services to a high standard; use its best endeavours to promote the best interests of ChildFund; protect the reputation of ChildFund and work in a manner consistent with the mission, vision and policies of ChildFund (see Child Safeguarding Policy/Child Safeguarding Code of Conduct PSEAH policy and Employee Code of Conduct). ChildFund Australia has a zero-tolerance policy to abuse, exploitation and harassment in all its forms.

 

10. Counter-Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering

ChildFund Australia acknowledges its obligation under the Australian laws relating to counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering.  To meet its obligation, the consultant is obligated to provide the information required for ChildFund to undertake counter-terrorism screening before engagement.  The consultant’s name, date & place of birth and ID number will be checked against the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) consolidated list, National Security Australia list, World Banks listing and the Asian Development bank listing to ensure not engage with entities or individuals appearing on the lists.

 

 

11. Conflict of Interest

The Consultant must declare any financial, personal, family (or close intimate relationship) interest in matters of official business which may impact the work of ChildFund Cambodia and KHEN.

 

12. Fraud and Corruption prevention and awareness

ChildFund Australia has a zero approach to fraud and corruption act. The successful consultant will be required to comply with ChildFund Australia’s fraud and corruption prevention and awareness Policy and act against any form of fraud or corruption and not offer, promise, give or accept any bribes.

 

13. Insurance

The successful applicant will be required to have in place insurance arrangements appropriate to the provision of the requirement in this TOR including (without limitation) travel insurance.

 

14. Acknowledgment and Disclaimer

ChildFund, its Board and staff make no express or implied representation or warranty as to the currency, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this ToR.  Nothing in this ToR should be construed to give rise to any contractual obligations or rights, expressed or implied, by the issue of this ToR or the submission of Expression of Interest in response to it.  No contract would be created until a formal written contract is executed between ChildFund and a selected consultant.

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Selection Criteria for Consultant

• A minimum of a post-graduate degree in Humanitarian Development with sound knowledge of the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion- GEDSI, Climate Change Adapation- CCA,Education inclusion (home-base and school) and Cambodia’s context
• Excellent understanding and experience of community- based disability inclusion and Education concept, youth/children development, and gender, especially for rural and underserved areas in Samlout and Rukhak Kiri ( ex-battle areas) and hardship areas.
• High-quality presentation  and reporting skills
• Proven experience in conducting quality base/end-line, evaluations and assessing development programmes/ projects from a gender equality and disability inclusion perspective and CCA
• Thorough knowledge and experience of Disability Inclusion and Education programming in Cambodia preferred
• Experience in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research.
• High level of fluency in spoken and written English essential; local language skills desirable but not compulsory
• Cover letter and CV (maximum 3 pages; with references) of each person who would be involved in this end project evaluation.
• Company profile(s) and documentation of legal status, and registration as a Company.
• Technical proposal (maximum 6 pages) including the end evaluation questions, methodologies and proposed schedule.
• Experiencing on fields works and practical way of working with rural communities context where many issues are still their strugglings, including education and disability barriers.
• Financial Proposal:The financial proposal should provide cost estimates for services rendered including daily consultancy fees (detail of number of working day). The consultant has to cover all field related costs (i.e: accommodation, materials, per diem and transportation to the field to collect data, food and other related costs).

Interested applicants should submit their CV, proposal, and other relevant support documents to ChildFund Cambodia, Office Address: House #30, Street 228, Sangkat Chatomuk, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia or via email at careers@childfund.org.khcareers@childfund.org.kh, no later than 5.00 pm (local time) on  30^th October  2022. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

All employees and consultants are required to abide by ChildFund’s Child Protection Policy and Code of Conduct.