Evaluation for Samaria Project in Alesd (Romania), implemented by Teknia Foundation with ERIKS Development Partner support

Terms of Reference

A. Project description and context:

ERIKS Development Partner is a child rights organization working in 16 countries, in both development and humanitarian aid. ERIKS mission is to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting the rights of the child in the areas of education, health and protection. In Eastern Europe, ERIKS works with partners from Romania, Belarus and Moldova.

ERIKS has been supporting projects targeting children at risk in Romania for more than 10 years with partners working in disadvantaged communities located in western part of the country. ERIKS’ role in working with all its partners is multiannual and it covers: capacity building, core and project-based funding, as well as ensuring a child rights-based approach throughout all interventions in communities.

In Romania, one of ERIKS’ partners is Teknia Foundation, based in Alesd, Bihor County. The city has a large Roma community living in Obor neighborhood. Roma citizens living in Obor community face problems related to education, housing and infrastructure, as well as jobs and health.

The core activity in Teknia Foundation’s project is running the Samaria kindergarten, targeting the Obor Roma community and reaching a total number of 78 children, aged 3 to 6. The kindergarten program is from 8 am to 12 pm, including lessons, cultural and educational activities.

The main goal of the project is to help children be prepared for school and to advance in all levels of education: primary, secondary, high school, etc. In addition to education, the project provides food for children, washing of their clothes when needed and, in special cases, provides them with clothing items. It also includes parental awareness on the importance of education, as well as establishing partnerships with the public school and the Mayor’s office. The approximate annual budget of the project is 52.000 Eur.

B. Purpose and objectives of the evaluation:

As Samaria Kindergarten entered an accrediting process with the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-university Education, the current evaluation is meant to help draw up conclusions about the intervention so far in the community, from a child rights perspective, and to be the starting point to strategic planning. The evaluation is also expected to provide insights into the impact of the project so far and the development perspectives.

The scope of the evaluation will cover Samaria project starting 2018 and up to 2021. Activities or results that happened before 2018 can be part of the context analysis only if they are relevant for the current evolution of the project.

Specific objectives:

1. To summarize the impact of the intervention in different areas of children rights.
2. To assess the participation in programing and/or implementing activities of the duty bearers and rights holders (children, parents, public institutions and other members of the community).
3. To gather lessons learned from implementing the project so far.
4. To provide recommendations for improving and/or scaling up the intervention based on children rights approach in Alesd.

Specific questions to be addressed (but not limited to):

• How did activities contribute to a better understanding and respect of the children rights so far?
• What changes could be added in the future so that children rights are better recognized and respected?
• To what extent does the project contribute to the social inclusion of Roma children and fighting segregation?
• To what extent and with what results does the intervention target legal duty bearers (School Inspectorate, City Hall etc.)? What opportunities of development are there for these partnerships?
• What does the community perceive it changed as a result of the project?
• In what way did behaviors, actions or attitudes change among legal and moral duty bearers due to this project?
• What was the type and level of participation of children, parents and other stakeholders? What about ownership level felt by all these stakeholders?
• In what way is the project bringing sustainable development for the beneficiaries?
• What can be improved in the future for the project to be more impactful and sustainable?

C. Approach and methodology:

The evaluator will be expected to use different quantitative and qualitative evaluation instruments and techniques like documents review, in-depth interviews with stakeholders and beneficiaries, direct observation, on field visits, focus groups, most significant change stories etc.

The evaluator will be able to access all relevant documents for the initial review as soon as the contract will be signed, with the possibility to request additional information from ERIKS team.

An important aspect of the methodology is the participatory approach. Teknia Foundation team will be actively involved in all stages of the evaluation and their experience and reflections will be highlighted in the final report. Teknia Foundation will also contribute to the set-up of focus-groups, individual or group-discussion with relevant stakeholders from the community (children, parents etc.)

The child rights approach throughout all interventions is the focus of ERIKS and it will also be the backbone of the evaluation process. In accordance with the scope of this ToR, which focuses on learning and reflecting, all methods and instruments selected by the evaluator will be participatory, inclusive and adapted to the targeted groups.

The evaluation will be approached through the standard criteria: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability.

D. Timetable and budget:

The contract will be expected to run for 10 consultancy days starting September 15^th, 2021. The final report shall be delivered to ERIKS no later than November 1^st. This timetable can be subjected to changes triggered by external factors (e.g. Covid 19 situation in the targeted community etc.)

The total cost of the contract will not exceed 3.000 Euro. The evaluator will include all travel and other onsite visits expenses in the initial proposal, and they will be part of the contract. The location that will be visited is in Alesd, Bihor County and we do not expect that more than two visits will be necessary.

E. Required expertise and evaluation criteria:

The evaluator (or team of evaluators) should meet the following minimal requirements:

• Expertise in employing a large variety of evaluation/research methods and instruments.
• Relevant experience in implementing or evaluating projects that employ the child rights-based approach.
• Relevant experience in working with/in the Romanian NGO sector.
• Relevant experience in evaluations involving people in vulnerable groups, including children.
• English proficiency.

The selection will be based on the following criteria:

• The technical proposal shows a clear understanding of the evaluation scope and objectives.
• The proposed workplan includes relevant instruments.
• The financial proposal is consistent with the specifications from the Terms of reference and proves cost-effectiveness.
• The evaluator’s profile fits the requested know-how and experience criteria.

F. Report and presentation of results

The output of the evaluation will be the Evaluation Report in English, that will be presented in PDF format. The length of the Report should not exceed 30 pages in total (excluding the annexes).

The Evaluation Report should contain an executive summary, be analytical in nature (both quantitative and qualitative), be structured around issues and related findings/lessons learnt, include conclusions and recommendations.

The report/product shall include the methodology chosen, findings, case studies (most significant change stories), conclusions drawn and recommendations for a way forward. It shall also include the instruments used for data collection. All the quantitative data shall be sex disaggregated.

First draft of the report shall be submitted to ERIKS by October 20^th, 2021. Within five working days, ERIKS will provide feedback based on the draft. If necessary, the evaluator and ERIKS will hold an online/offline meeting for in-depth discussions based on findings and feedback.

The final version of the report will be submitted via email by November 1^st, 2021.

G. How to apply

Applications should be submitted via email to flavia.preda@eriksdevelopment.org no later than August 15^th, 2021.

Applications should include:

1. Curriculum Vitae of the evaluator/s
2. Technical proposal that should include a workplan and an initial evaluation calendar.
3. Financial proposal
4. Sample of previous work relevant for the current contract

Important notes:

Child Protection Policy: ERIKS Development Partner is a child rights organization that has a Child Protection Policy and a Code of conduct. Both documents will be part of the contract and the evaluator will be asked to sign a declaration to abide by them.

Provision about Covid safety measures: The evaluator will travel to the community in Alesd only if the epidemiologic situation allows it (low Covid positivity rate, vaccination status of the evaluator etc.) and with mandatory protection equipment. 

The following representatives of ERIKS are responsible for keeping the communication with the Evaluator: