Terre des hommes is seeking a qualified evaluator or evaluator team to conduct a final project evaluation on the PRECISION 2.0 project (2023-2025).
Terre des hommes (Tdh) is the leading Swiss organization for children’s aid. Through our health, protection and emergency relief programmes, we provide assistance to over four million deprived children and their families in more than 40 countries each year through innovative and sustainable solutions. In Europe, Tdh helps children who are affected by migration, who come in contact with the law as a victim, witness or offender, and who need general protection including from the risk of abuse, trafficking or exploitation. In 2021, more than 68,820 children and their communities benefitted from Tdh`s support through 81 projects implemented in Europe.
Tdh concentrates its work in Albania, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, and Greece, while together with local partners, it also reaches children in 14 other European countries. Tdh’s Access to Justice programme in Europe focuses on the following key areas:
• encouraging states to provide effective access to justice for children in contact with the law;
• supporting the implementation of non-custodial measures for children and of stronger procedural safeguards;
• promoting the use of restorative justice processes in cases involving children, either as victims or suspects/offenders;
• engaging with children using participatory methods to ensure that we understand their views and priorities; • sharing of best practices and learning, awareness-raising and advocacy for child-friendly justice;
• supporting the creation of the Barnahus multi-disciplinary service that provides care for child victims and witnesses of violence and abuse.
PRECISION 2 builds on the project PRECISION (2020 – 2022), which focused on the rehabilitation of minors and young people deprived of their freedom, in order to give them a chance in life. Based on the previous project results, PRECISION 2 was drafted to continue to offer Children and Youth deprived of liberty in Romania the necessary support aimed at decreasing recidivism and successful rehabilitation in society.
Objectives:
• Children and young people deprived of liberty will develop resilience capacities (internal emotional self-regulation capacities, feelings of connectedness to their community, reduced perceived vulnerabilities), which will enable them to deal with and transform the shocks in their life.
• Children and youth deprived of liberty will have skills, capacities and resources which contribute to valued roles, strengthening self-efficacy and improved livelihood.
• increased meaningful protective networks will be achieved, which empower children and youth to increase their resilience while in detention.
Target groups:
• Direct: At least 250 children and youth deprived of liberty in 4 detention centres will participate in and benefit from the new holistic proposed model based on Terre des hommes’ Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) intervention to enhance children and young persons’ Psychosocial Resilience and Wellbeing. In addition, approximately 80 justice professionals will increase their knowledge about child-centred justice and how to implement child-friendly work practices.
• Indirect: Approximately 600 children and young people deprived of liberty – Any child or youth who enters and stays in the detention system will benefit from the holistic model.
Duration of implementation: March 2023 – February 2025
The project is implemented with solid support from the National Administration of Penitentiaries and the four Educational and Detention Centres in Romania:
• Craiova Detention Centre (South-West)
• Brăila Tichilesti Detention Centre (East)
• Târgu Ocna Educational Centre (North-East)
• Buziaș Educational Centre (West)
The main project activities include:
• Psycho-social aid for C&Y in detention through social assistance.
• Psycho-social aid for C&Y in detention through sports activities.
• Psycho-social aid for C&Y in detention through mentorship with formerly detained C&Y.
• Training of detention staff in new methodologies and ways of working.
• Creative activities for C&Y in detention.
• Vocational education for C&Y in detention.
• Creation and maintenance of a FabLab in CD Braila-Tichilesti.
• Advocacy for C&Y in detention, particularly in regard to employment and vocational education. The expected results of the project are:
• C&Y deprived of liberty develop resilience capacities (internal emotional self-regulation capacities, feelings of connectedness to their community, reduced perceived vulnerabilities), enabling them to deal with and transform the shocks in their life.
• C&Y deprived of liberty have skills, capacities and resources which contribute to valued roles, strengthening self-efficacy and improved livelihood.
• Achieve increased meaningful protective networks which empower C&Y to increase their resilience while in detention.
The intended beneficiaries of the project are:
• C&Y currently serving time in detention / education centers, and who are under a freedom depriving measure
• Staff of detention / education centers
• Professionals of the justice system (particularly ANP, the National Administration of Penitentiaries)
Monitoring: The project’s Monitoring and Evaluation plan includes output- and outcome-level indicators tracked at regular intervals and/or at the end of the project (as relevant). For training activities, post questionnaires are conducted to assess training outcomes and changes in level of capacities as well as gather participant feedback. It is foreseen that this evaluation will help further inform progress towards the project’s outcome-level indicators.
Objective of the evaluation:
The final evaluation is a necessary deliverable to ensure lessons learned, impact and future strategy.
The objectives of the evaluation are three-fold:
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Accountability and credibility: to the donor, to the project team and the corresponding organizations, and ultimately to the beneficiaries (professionals and children). It will also ensure transparency and openness about the performance and quality of the project.
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Organizational learning and knowledge: to conclude all important lessons learnt from the way the project was set up, implemented and managed; and how it has succeeded or, potentially, not succeeded to achieve all its intended (or unintended) results.
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Informing operational decisions: Resulting from the lessons learnt, the evaluation will help to reveal what the project team and the corresponding organizations can take further and/or may need to change in future programming.
Scope of the evaluation:
The final (external) evaluation will cover the entire PRECISION 2.0 project, including all partner organizations. Geographically, it will cover the the 4 areas where the centers we are partnered with are (CE Tg Ocna, CE Buzias, CD Craiova, CD Braila-Tichilesti), in Romania.
The evaluation will be conducted during the final two (2) months of the project, thus it will focus on the project activities carried out and results achieved up to the time of the start of data collection.
Limitations:
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As the timeframe for the conduct of the evaluation is quite tight, and project partners are still focusing on the final project activities, their involvement in data collection (for consultation) must be well planned to avoid conflicting schedules.
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Some travel to the 4 centers is foreseen in this evaluation. This must be taken into consideration during the planning of the methodology (and later during the conduct of data collection).
The results of the final evaluation will be used by the:
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PRECISION 2.0 project team: to reflect on and learn from how the project has performed and how it can inform the follow on future initiatives.
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The broader Access to Justice programme team within Tdh Romania: to learn from the findings, build institutional knowledge, and assess how findings can generally inform future programming in this field.
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Senior management of all implementing organizations as well as Tdh Regional and HQ: to assess how project learning can inform future programmatic portfolio decisions and strategy-making, and what effective and corrective actions might need to be taken going forward in similar or continuation projects.
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the donor MEDICOR: to assess how its support and funds have contributed to delivering project objectives and positive changes for child victims of crimes.
The evaluation should respond to the following questions (combining selected OECD DAC and Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) evaluation criteria):
Relevance:
To what extent has the project adequately targeted the real needs of the population?
Did the project respond to the specific needs of the following target groups, including age, gender and diversity-specific ones, if any:
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Children deprived of liberty
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Detention/Re-education Staff
What are the main lessons learned and recommendations suggested for increasing the relevance of future interventions in this field?
Effectiveness:
To what extent has PRECISION achieved the objectives set and the expected results? What have been the reasons for achievement and lack thereof?
Focus on:
1. The knowledge, skills and competences of professionals in detention and education centres on the organisation of psychosocial activities for children and young people are strengthened.
2. Children and young people benefit from improved detention conditions and strengthen their emotion management by participating in psychosocial activities organised by professionals in the penitentiary system.
3. Children and young people included in the mentoring programme, are better prepared in the pre-release programme, which addresses individual factors and aims to increase self-esteem, improve mental well-being and change behaviour to manage the social reintegration process.
4. Young people's knowledge and skills are strengthened through vocational training sessions, in order to be able to access the labour market after release.
5. Children and young people are empowered through pre and post detention support services to be agents of their own change by finding employment and housing.
6. Professionals in detention and education centres work in a more inclusive way, participating in the implementation of a model based on individual case management, which consists of a package of services to meet the reintegration needs of young people in detention and education centres.
7. The attitude of professionals and policy makers towards an approach focused on the rehabilitation and reintegration needs of young people in detention and education centres is improved.
What overall lessons can the management team of the project learn from the implementation of the project?
What overall lessons can the organization learn for increasing the effectiveness of any future intervention in this field?
What recommendations are suggested for increasing the effectiveness of the management team and the organization’s initiatives focused on children deprived of liberty?
Lessons learned
The transversal element of the evaluation is what are the main lessons learned and how do they inform any following interventions in this field.
Sustainability/replicability:
- How sustainable are the project results for both professionals and children who were involved?
Partnership and project management:
- How effective was the project’s way of working including the coordination mechanism, management structure and cooperation between partners?
Interested applicants are invited to propose their methodology for the conduct of the evaluation. Ideally, a mixed-method approach will be followed balancing suitable quantitative and qualitative methods to draw on different sources and triangulate information.
Existing M&E data and collected quantitative and qualitative information (via the comparative research at project start, post- event/post-training questionnaires, project meeting reports) will also be available for the evaluator.
The PRECISION 2.0 project team members should be closely involved in the data collection (for consultation). They typically include one regional or local coordinator per organization. Tdh and partners will be able to facilitate contact with the professionals and C&Y in detention.
Generally, a participatory approach should be followed throughout the evaluation. Due to the limitations described above, any methodology proposed should be feasible in an online format.
The evaluation methodology should keep in mind the following underlying principles:
- equality and non-discrimination of any individual involved in the data collection and consultation process;
- participation and inclusion of different diversity groups to the extent possible, while ensuring that participation and inclusion does not cause any harm or distress to the individual;
- transparency and accountability throughout the evaluation process towards all organizations and individuals involved;
- empowerment of marginalised children whenever children are involved at any point of the process e.g. communication of evaluation findings;
- confidentiality must be preserved and names and personally identifiable information should not be collected or, if they are necessary, they should be duly coded and encrypted;
- informed consent and assent: should be sought from all participants, including providing them with information on the objective of the evaluation and how data will be used as well as ensuring the opportunity to ask and confirm questions before agreeing to participate;
- child safety: whenever children are involved, the evaluator(s) and anyone affiliated with the evaluation (assistants, translators) must sign the Tdh Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct and adhere to its principles.
The evaluator will be required to submit the following deliverables (all in electronic version):
- Inception report – in English that includes the following: results of the initial desk review, the proposed methodology and data collection tools, an evaluation/analysis plan (in Tdh’s template to be shared after contracting), and overall work plan for the assignment.
- Draft final report – in English, with the preliminary results of the analysis for the project team’s review and feedback. Tdh will share its template after contracting. The final report shall include an executive summary, narrative report, summary table with main conclusions and recommendations and lessons learned. The report shall also contain all usual annexes such as terms of reference of the evaluation, data collection tools, consent forms and protocols, tables, graphics, list of desk review references, survey data, interview, focus group etc. transcripts, and a PPT presentation of the findings (see below).
- Presentation of the draft report and preliminary findings – in English in a dedicated meeting, attended by the evaluator and the project team.
- Final report – in English, with full and final analysis results and incorporation of the feedback received on the draft report. The final report will be prepared in Tdh’s template (to be shared after contracting).
- The evaluator is also expected to be available for regular and brief check-in calls, as necessary, throughout the assignment to share updates on the progress.
The foreseen timeframe and number of working days for the assignment are as indicated. The final schedule and number of days will be mutually agreed between Tdh and the selected evaluator, also taking into consideration the proposal in the Technical Offer:
Steps/phases & deliverables
Timeframe/deadline:
(tentative)
Starting date of contract/assignment: 08 Jan 2025
(tentative)
Desk review of available documents: 5 - 7 days
Development of data collection methods and tools
Inception report
Data collection phase: 8 - 10 days
Data analysis and drafting of the final report: 5 days
Presentation of the draft report and preliminary findings: 1 day
Finalization of the final report: 3 days
Closing date of contract, final administration and payment
(upon approval of the report by Tdh): By 15 Feb 2025
Tdh will designate an Evaluation Manager who will be the main focal point vis-à-vis the evaluator. The key roles and responsibilities of the Tdh Evaluation Manager will include:
- Managing the administrative tasks of the process (from advertising to contract closure) and internal liaison within the project team.
- Sharing all key project documents for the desk review and facilitating access (together with local coordinators) to key individuals (professionals and CAB members) selected for data collection.
- Consolidating and sharing team feedback on the deliverables (reports). Communication will mainly take place via e-mail, and online chat and conferencing platforms (MsTeams, Zoom etc.). Face-to-face meetings are only expected to happen in case the evaluator is based in any of the implementation countries, but even in that case they would be kept at the minimum given the risk of new pandemic waves and to also save time and costs.
- Acting as a focal point for the evaluator in case of any queries and sharing updates if any. Communication will generally take place in English (no separate translation services will be provided by Tdh and the broader project team).
Roles and responsibilities of the evaluator:
- To deliver the assignment as per the signed contract, Terms of Reference and the Technical and Financial Offer and relevant annexes, including Tdh policies where applicable (e.g. those related to Data Protection and Child Safeguarding). To submit all required deliverables as per the agreed deadlines.
- To ensure that all the underlying principles (described in the methodology section) are respected throughout the evaluation.
- To ensure that the Evaluation Manager is regularly informed in case of any questions and issues (particularly, delays and blockages) that may emerge during the assignment and may require mutual discussion/planning.
- To be available for quick updates, whenever requested, on the progress of the assignment.
- To generally ensure the confidentiality of the process as well as the information and documents received from the Evaluation Manager and the people involved at any stage in the evaluation.
- To immediately inform the Evaluation Manager in case of any risk of not being able to comply with any of the above points.
Tdh will accept applications from both individuals, teams, academic entities, NGOs and companies as long as they are officially registered with a European tax number (i.e. are able to issue an invoice) and have evaluation, research, impact study or similar and/or consultancy as their object of activity, which can be proven by legal documentation. In case the evaluation is conducted by a team, the team should ideally be diverse and gender-balanced.
Required experience and skills:
- At least 3 quality evaluations/impact studies prepared for 3 different projects. Examples can be annexed unless confidential. Previous experience in conducting evaluations of projects in the area of access to justice, juvenile justice and/or restorative justice is a significant asset.
- Proven skills in using quantitative and quality data collection and analysis methods.
- Strong understanding of diversity and inclusion incl. age, gender and diversity sensitivity aspects.
- Strong writing skills and ability to convey technical and complex information in a structured, logical, clear and concise manner for different audiences.
- Full written and oral proficiency in English for data collection and production of quality reports. Knowledge of the local language in the implementing countries is an asset, but not strictly required.
- Strong computer proficiency to prepare quality written reports with clean data visualization and presentation of findings.
- Experience in the countries of implementation (i.e. Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania) is an asset.
- Master’s degree (or higher) in social sciences, economics, public policy, law, research and evaluation, management or other related field(s) from an accredited university.
- Capacity to issue invoices with tax registration in Europe (UK and Switzerland included).
The evaluator(s) must not have been involved in the design, implementation or monitoring of the CLEAR-Rights project at any stage.
The proposed budget for the evaluation will be provided by the consultant in the Financial Offer. Upon the review of the Financial and Technical Offers, Tdh may choose to negotiate the final price with the preferred evaluator in light of the Financial Offer and Tdh’s available budget. Tdh may also go with an offer different from this (incl. much lower) depending on the combination of the quality and competitiveness of the Technical and Financial offers.
As noted earlier, for this assignment, Tdh will require some travel and field data collection. Therefore, it will not cover any travel and logistical costs, this has to be taken into consideration in the final offer received.
Questions relating to the assignment, the project or the application process can be submitted to the Evaluation Manager, Ana Vladescu at ana.vladescu@tdh.org. Answers that may concern all applicants will be shared with everyone as deemed necessary.
Interested applicants shall submit their application via e-mail to the following e-mail address: ana.vladescu@tdh.org The e-mail should have the subject-line: PRECISION 2.0 final evaluation.
The deadline for submission is: 23 December 2024 (23:59 RO TIME).
The application package shall include:
- Technical Offer – max. 10 pages;
- Financial Offer – with a detailed line item budget, indicating costs in EUR. The indicated prices should be net amounts, VAT is payable by Tdh.
- Up-to-date CV of the evaluator(s) – max. 3 pages/CV;
- Example of previous work carried out (if any, unless confidential or if it can be anonymized);
- Contacts of 3 professional references;
- Confirmation of legal registration (e.g. tax number, EU VAT number) of the applicant for providing evaluation services and the ability to issue an invoice.
- Declaration of impartiality (in the applicant’s format).
- Applications – incl. all annexes – must be in English. Other languages will not be accepted.
- Applications must be submitted as a single application package. Documents sent separately will not be accepted. Tdh will confirm the receipt of each application within 2 working days.
- The Technical and Financial Offer must be signed on the first and last page and stamped (if an official stamp is available). Both offers shall contain the name and contacts of the evaluator (or the representative if it is a team, company or similar).
Applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:
Assessment criteria
- Technical Offer (40 points)– based on:
1) the understanding of the nature and objectives of the assignment;
2) understanding of the ToR;
3) data collection methodology proposed;
4) specific schedule, plan and approach proposed for the data collection.
- Financial Offer (40 points) – based on:
1) price-value ratio and demonstration of maximum value for money;
2) completeness of information;
3) consistency with the technical offer and approach.
- Profile and experience of the applicant (20 points) – based on:
1) submitted CV(s);
2) submitted previous work.
All applicants will be informed of the outcome of the selection process by e-mail after the contract is concluded with the selected applicant.
