Mid-term Review Consultant at Plan International

Plan International is an independent child-centered international development organization committed to advancing the rights of children and fight against poverty. Plan has no religious, political and government affiliation. Plan International has supported girls and boys and their communities around the world to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights, free themselves from poverty and live positive fulfilling lives. Plan International commenced operations in Nigeria in 2014 and in 2015 started the BLOOM+ project in Cross River State. Plan International Nigeria works with communities, civil society organizations, development partners and governments to bring hearts and minds together for children.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Mid-term Review Consultant

Location: Cross River State

Background
Plan International Nigeria in partnership with Mothers Against Child Abandoment (MACA) and Africa Community Development Organisation (ACDO) is implementing BLOOM+ in Cross River State (CRS).

CRS has seen recent economic growth in agriculture and service sectors (tourism and hospitality), but this growth has not led to significant reductions in unemployment in the State. In fact, unemployment of young adults aged 15-24 in Cross River State in 2012 was 35.9% compared to 23.9% in Nigeria, and the rate increased each year from 2009 to 2011 in all categories (male, female, rural and urban).

The unemployment rate is said to be higher for females than males in both rural and urban areas and the Cross River State government acknowledged the challenges of school dropouts and unemployed youths. The government is currently focused on attempting to tackle these challenges with several youth-focused projects, including a microfinance enterprise fund.

However, these projects could be described as a drop in the ocean of employment opportunities when compared to the number of unemployed youths in need of jobs in the State. The State Government is actively seeking new partners to help address these challenges, build youth skills, and stimulate interest in its programs.

Through the BLOOM+ project Plan International Nigeria intends to help the state mitigate and reduce these identified youth challenges by targeting young people ages 14-16, in two adjoining Local Government Areas (LGAs): Odukpani and Calabar South by building critical life skills and peparing young people for work.

Project Summary

• The Better Life Options and Opportunities Model (BLOOM) is a non-formal education program developed in 1987 that has since been adapted and applied in more than fifteen countries.
• The model is focused on gender-transformative delivery of life skills and empowerment of adolescents, and particularly girls.
• The project in Nigeria was first implemented in Akwa Ibom State from 2006-2011 reaching more than 600 out of school youth (51% of beneficiaries) re-enrolled in formal or vocational education.
• Plan International Nigeria is working to implement BLOOM in Cross River State, where the levels of school dropped-outs and unemployed youths are high and the government has shown interest to support youth development.
• One of Plan's additional strategies is to reinforce curricular content and place priority emphasis on locally relevant, age appropriate, transferrable employment-relevant skills (now BLOOM+) for the target populace.
• The goal of the BLOOM+ project is to help 1,200 adolescent girls (80%) and boys (20%), aged 14-16, envision and attain productive future, through:
  • Improving youths’ life skills and capacity to make healthy choices;
  • Building youths’ capacities in transferrable employment-relevant skills;
  • Fostering community and government support for personal and career development opportunities for adolescents.

Consultancy Assignment
Length of Assignment:

• 10 days

Dates of Assignment:
TBD

Reporting to:

• BLOOM+ Project Manager and Plan International Nigeria Head of Programmes and Business Development

Key Working Contacts:

• Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor, and Project Manager

Project:

• BLOOM+ Project

Responsible Persons for TOR:

• Plan International Nigeria- Monitoring & Evaluation Advisor

Purpose/Objectives of the Consultancy

• To evaluate the progress and quality, of the BLOOM+ project implemented by Plan International Nigeria and its partners in Cross River State, through a mid-term review and make recommendations to improve implementation in the remaining second half of the project.
• It will be important for the consultant to consider the findings of a previous baseline evaluation conducted in 2016 to determine the level of progress made since the beginning of the project.

Objectives
The objectives of this mid-term evaluation are:

• Relevance - How well is the BLOOM+ Project suited to the context of the target group and how consistent are the outputs with the project’s aims and objectives?

The Effectiveness of the Programme:

• To what extent are the objectives of the programme as reflected in the programme log frames being achieved?
• Are the activities sufficient to achieve the objectives, outputs and outcomes in the current phase and were they in the previous ones?
• What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?

The Progress  of the Project

• Is the project on course in delivering on what is set out to achieve based on the overall goals and targets as in the indicators?
• What positive changes are observed in the lives of the target group as a result of the implementation of the programme?
• What are the unintended positive and negative effects of the implementation of the programme? What measures have been and can be taken to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts?
• The success of the programme in mainstreaming accountability and gender equality.
• Are there mechanisms in place for feedback from beneficiaries and target communities?
• What are best practices and lessons learned?
• Community ownership - The consultant will measure whether the community has owned the project and whether the community is ready to sustain aspects of the project after the project is completed. In assessing this, consider and identify factors that have (or could) contribute to the continual ownership and continuity of this project.
• Equality and Inclusion - Assess how the project was able to promote inclusion of marginalized groups (young women and girls, people living with disabilities, and other relevant individuals and groups)

Methodology:

• The consultant will submit a draft methodology to Plan international for approval.

The methodology will include but will not be limited to:

• Review of previous evaluation report
• Focus group discussions
• Key stakeholder interviews
• Programme staff interviews
• Literature review
• Analysis of existing data

Expected Roles of the Consultant
This includes:

• Desk review of project documents including reports
• Hold Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries, guardians, facilitators, TAG/PSC members ad partner/Project staff
• Conduct key informant interviews with above persons.
• Hold a meeting with TAG/PSC/Staff to share feedback.
• Document process and submit report to Plan International Nigeria.

LOE/Expected Deliveries/Time frame:

• The consultancy will be for nine days – inclusive of reporting period. Project staff will arrange for all meetings with community members and project beneficiaries.

Expected Deliverables:

• Days allocated

Desk Review of Project Documents and Reports:

• 2 days

Hold Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries, guardians, facilitators, TAG/PSC members and partner/Project staff:

• 4 days (2 days per LGA)

Conduct key informant interviews with above persons:

• 1 day

Hold a meeting with TAG/PSC/Staff to share feedback:

• 1 day

Document process and submit report to Plan International Nigeria:

• 2 days

Selection Criteria for Consultant

• Advanced experience in evaluating gender equality, youth development and or youth focused projects, preferably in the field of youth life skills and development programmes. 
• This includes previous experience conducting Focus Group Discussions and Interviews.
• Ability to conduct meetings with senior persons at government, Bi-lateral and NGO level
• Ability to work on own initiative and to meet deadlines
• Attention to produce and present high quality accurate presentations/reports
• Ability and willingness to travel to very remote areas
• Excellent command of written and spoken English

Desirable:

• Good skills in documentation and reporting
• Familiarity with youth unemployment issues in Cross River State
• Experience/understanding of  Child Rights Programming and development
• Resident in Cross River State

Application Closing Date
26th June, 2017

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: [email protected] stating the job title as the subject of the email providing the details below:

• Provide curriculum vitae detailing knowledge/experencice in the above areas.
• Provide a report showing work on similar previous assignments.
• An outline of how he/she intends to go about the consultancy.
• Propose an expected consultancy fee.
• Possible dates he/she will be available to commence the consultancy.
• Provide name of two references that can attest to the consultant capability to conduct the consultancy.
• A team from Plan International Nigeria will score the documentations provided by the potential consultant based on their technical “know how” and expected fee on the bases of 75% and 25% respectively.