World Vision Ireland seeks to engage a consultant(s) to evaluate its Irish Aid funded multi-annual programmes: Programme Grant (PG) II cycle and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) (2017- 2021).
Background
Irish Aid’s Programme Grant (PG) II cycle and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) (2017- 2021)
Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP)
The HPP is Irish Aid's main humanitarian funding mechanisms for NGO partners, such as World Vision. It supports humanitarian interventions in situations of protracted, predictable and recurring crises. It was introduced in 2009 and since 2017, the HPP shifted from an annual to a multi-annual funding cycle.
The objectives of the HPP are:
• Help achieve Irish Aid's humanitarian outcomes and key result areas as set out in Ireland's policy for international development: A Better World
• Strengthen the partnership-based nature of Irish Aid's humanitarian engagement with NGOs
• Support partner organisations' approach to, and capacities for, humanitarian response
• Encourage predictable and flexible financing, in line with Good Humanitarian Donorship and World Humanitarian Summit and Grand Bargain commitments.
Irish Aid promotes coherence between humanitarian and development funding for NGOs to deliver sustainable change through its aligning the programme cycles of HPP and Programme Grant.
Programme Grant
Irish Aid’s Programme Grant is a performance-based partnership arrangement with a number of major NGO partners, including World Vision Ireland. The grant has a strong focus on quality programming, understanding how positive change happens and delivering results for poor households and communities in countries of operation. The Programme Grant also recognises the role that Irish NGOs play in engaging with the Irish public on development issues and in building better understanding and commitment to development co-operation and global citizenship which has led to the inclusion of a Public Engagement component of the grant.
World Vision Ireland’s HPP and PG II
HPP
World Vision Ireland is one of Irish Aid’s six key partners for the implementation of the HPP, which for the first time in 2017 moved to a two-year funding cycle. World Vision completed the implementation of HPP 2017-2018 and after a successful proposal process, secured funding for a three-year HPP grant 2019-2021. Irish Aid moved to a multi-annual funding cycle to facilitate more strategic resilience building approaches while meeting the immediate needs of populations in fragile contexts.
HPP 2019-2021 is a follow on from the first phase of the HPP 2017-2018 grant and is being implemented in four countries- Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria. In Sudan, activities are implemented in conjunction with a local partner, CORD; in all other locations, World Vision implements the activities with community and government stakeholders. While the HPP programme in the period under review was covered by two separate proposals the overall goal of the programme and the three main objectives remained the same; outcomes, outputs and indicators were adjusted lightly from the first to the second phase and vary slightly from country to country depending on the context, approach and activities.
The three common objectives are:
PGII
World Vision is one of Irish Aid’s key partners for the implementation of the Programme Grant (PG) II cycle (2017 – 2021) and is a follow on from Programme Grant (PG) I cycle which ended in 2016.
World Vision Ireland’s Programme Grant (PG) II is called Access: Infant and Maternal Health Plus (AIM Health Plus). AIM Health Plus is a maternal and child health programme implemented in eight areas, including one district, across four countries in Africa – Uganda (2), Tanzania (2), Sierra Leone (2), and Mauritania (2).
The goal of AIM Health Plus is to reduce neonatal and under-five mortality rates by 20% and maternal mortality ratios by 15% in each of the Programme sites between 2017 and 2021.
To achieve this goal, AIM Health Plus focuses on five outcomes:
1) Children and their mothers are well nourished
2) Children are protected from illness and are managed appropriately when ill
3) Children and their caregivers' access and utilise essential maternal and newborn care (MNC) services
4) Health Governance and partnerships strengthened at micro, meso and macro levels
5) MNCH outcomes accelerated and amplified through the use of digital technology.
The programme implements the “7-11” strategy of WV International, a package of seven interventions for the mothers and 11 for children, which are high-impact and low-cost interventions to reduce mortality and morbidity among mothers, new-borns and children. The 7-11 strategy employs three core project models to bring about 360-degree behaviour change at an individual, household, community and environmental levels. These models are community health worker timed and targeted counselling (ttC), community health committees (COMMs) and citizen voice and action (CVA) to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in target communities.
In addition, the programme has been focusing on strengthening achievements made in PG I (AIM Health, 2011-2016) through:
• Embedding digital health to strengthen maternal and child health care
• Strengthening health facilities’ capacity to provide quality health care
• Delivering context-specific nutrition interventions to address the barriers faced in each programme site to improve nutrition outcomes.
Public Engagement
Included in PG II is World Vision Ireland’s Public Engagement Programme to engage the Irish public on development issues and build a better understanding and commitment to development co-operation and global citizenship. World Vision Ireland has developed a programme of work with the goal:
“To represent the voice of the most vulnerable children, families and communities by inspiring, informing and engaging the Irish public to be active global citizens in our fight against poverty and injustice and to demonstrate a sense of ownership of the work that we do”.
World Vision Ireland's Public Engagement Programme has two outcomes to achieve this goal.
• Outcome 1: Enhanced public will (defined as importance of & sense of ownership on the issue) and increased campaign-driven action among targeted Irish Public/World Vision Supporters in support of the issue: children and mothers are dying from preventable causes.
• Outcome 2: World Vision facilitates Public Engagement Champions within University and School groups to organise dialogue actions (debates, discussions) with support from World Vision and demonstrate a sense of ownership of Ireland's contribution to saving children and mothers' lives.
Engagement with the Irish public focuses on the development and humanitarian work being funded by Irish Aid, the priority being that every public engagement initiative is a communication of the experiences from the children and families in the communities where we work. Public ownership of Irish Aid’s development and humanitarian work is encouraged with public spaces, both physical and virtual, created for the public to join together as active global citizens.
Purpose
The overall purpose of this independent evaluation is to provide an evidence-based assessment of the performance of World Vision’s Programme Grant (PG) II cycle (including Public Engagement) and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) for the period 2017 to 2021 for Irish Aid and World Vision Ireland, World Vision field offices and other interested stakeholders. Furthermore, it should identify lessons learned to inform future Irish Aid and World Vision Ireland decision-making.
The evaluation will be guided by the OECD DAC criteria with a particular focus on relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability.
Scope of the Evaluation
Guided by the OECD DAC, the evaluation will examine the performance of World Vision’s Programme Grant (PG) II cycle and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) for the period 2017 to 2021, focusing on the following:
Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries. A mixed-method approach is anticipated including but not limited to:
• Desk study and review of all relevant programme documentation
• In-depth interviews to gather primary data from key stakeholders (i.e. Support Office Staff, Field Office Staff, Cluster groups, Government Agencies or AIM health managers) using a structured methodology
• Focus Group discussions with programme beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
• Interviews with relevant key informants
• Observations.
It is expected that the evaluation will consist of three main phases:
Phase I Inception
The first phase will consist of a preliminary review of documentation – programme proposals, reports, reviews, evaluations and other documents related to World Vision’s Programme Grant (PG) II cycle and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) for the period of 2017 – 2021. This phase will also involve initial interviews with key informants from World Vision Ireland and country teams. Key evaluation questions will be refined during this phase including identification of programme countries for field trips, key methodologies for data collection among others.
Phase II Documentary Review and Field Trips
The second phase will involve a further review of data collection/ documentation and a field visit to one country from each programme, as identified by the consultant in conjunction with the World Vision Ireland team. World Vision country teams will assist the consultant with logistics, including the setting up of any necessary interviews and meetings with community groups and beneficiaries. It is envisaged that the in-country field visit will take approximately three to four weeks in total (for both programme visits) and will take place before October 31st, 2020 at the very latest. The visit will cross-check the evidence arising from the documentation review and the initial analyses and gather evidence from interviews with key stakeholders. An in-field debriefing will be given to key stakeholders prior to the departure of the consultant..
Phase III Reporting
The final phase will consist of a debriefing in Ireland (or by video call) on evaluation findings, and submission of an Evaluation Brief, follow up work with World Vision Ireland staff as required and writing of a final evaluation report of PGII and HPP.
Outputs
The expected outputs are:
• An inception report – upon the review of available documents and an initial discussion with the programme management. The inception report will:
o Describe the conceptual framework that will be used to undertake the evaluation
o Elaborate on the methodology proposed in the agreed TOR with changes as required
o Detail the work plan for the evaluation, indicating the phases in the evaluation, their key deliverables and milestones
o Set out the list of key stakeholders to be interviewed.
• Preliminary findings shared with World Vision Ireland (or by video call) on evaluation findings, including a field trip.
• An Evaluation Brief summarising key findings and recommendations (Maximum of 4 pages).
• A final report that sets out methodology, findings, conclusions, and recommendations and focusses on the core evaluation questions. The report should be no more than 40 pages long excluding annexes and with an executive summary.
Timeframe
This evaluation will form part both of an overall appraisal of the effectiveness of Irish Aid’s PG/HPP programmes to date as well as evidence for a recommendation for a successor multiannual strategic
partnership funding arrangement. It will also provide input for developing World Vision’s programme proposals for Irish Aid funding for the next round of multiannual partnership funding from 2022.
The consultancy work is scheduled to start in July/August 2020 and the following milestones are envisaged:
Expression of Interest – to be submitted by 30th April 2020.
Phase 1 – inception phase to be completed in September 2020; inception report by 30th September 2020.
Phase II – documentary review and field trip completed by 30th November 2020.
Phase III – learning brief by 11th December 2020; draft final report by January 22nd 2021.
Management of Consultancy
Clodagh McLoughlin, Senior Programmes Officer - Development Programmes (PGII) and Justine Aenishaenslin, Senior Programmes Officer - Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs (HPP) (with guidance from Maurice Sadlier, Programmes Director) will manage the consultancy.
Consultant Requirements
The consultant should have strong humanitarian and development evaluation skills. In addition, they shall have the following expertise and qualifications:
• At least 10 years of experience in working with international organisations and donors
• A background in social science or similar discipline (International Development, Development Economics/Planning, Public Health) with an understanding of Government Structures, Institutions and Financing
• Extensive expertise, knowledge, and experience in evaluating complex donor country-level programmes and/or their component parts
• Experience working in fragile or conflict settings
• Knowledge and understanding of international and country-level implementation of aid effectiveness agenda
• Familiarity with evaluation guidelines of EU and Irish Aid
• Fluent in English. Working knowledge in French and Arabic is an added advantage
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Knowledge of and experience with federated NGOs would be an advantage
• Consultants shall be required to sign and abide by sexual exploitation and abuse, and child protection policies
• The context requires a flexible mindset in regard to planning, approaches, methodology, dates among others. Hence, the consultant should be prepared to respond according to changes in context
• Adherence to EU data privacy laws.
This vacancy is archived.