Consultants at the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant for Terms of Reference for FCDO Education in Emergency Program Final Evaluation

Requisition ID: req16034
Location: Maiduguir, Borno
Employment Type: Part-Time
Total Number of Consultants: 1
Sector: Education
Employment Category: Consultant
Open to Expatriates: No
Country Program: Nigeria / Education
Proposed Dates: 20 July to 30 August 2021
Duration: 42 days

Background
International Rescue Committee (IRC):

• The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
• The IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when the organization responded to flooding in Kogi state. In February 2014, the IRC moved into Adamawa State in North East Nigeria to provide humanitarian interventions through a multi-sectoral, integrated approach for conflict affected populations. IRC Nigeria now operates a country office in Abuja and field offices in Mubi and Yola of Adamawa State, Maiduguri and Monguno of Borno state and Damatru of Yobe State. The IRC is responding at scale to the humanitarian situation across sectors including Education, Child Protec-tion, Health, Nutrition, Women Protection and Empowerment, Environmental Health, Economic Recovery and Development, Protection and Rule of Law, and Governance.

FCDO EiE Project:

• Since 2009, the conflict between the non-state Armed Oppositions Groups (AOGs) and the Gov-ernment of Nigeria has had a destructive impact on the already weak education system in the Northeast. This crisis has further exacerbated challenges for local governments and communities in Borno and Yobe States to provide access to quality education for children who have been af-fected by violence, displacement and the loss of loved ones. These educational challenges, com-pounded by cultural issues, religious constraints and the marginalization of vulnerable groups (women, internal displaced children and children living with disabilities) have created a situation where many children do not have the opportunity to access schools and heal from the trauma of the conflict, displacement and instability.
• In response to the urgent education needs, the IRC together with Creative Associates Interna-tional partnered with local civil society organization, state and local governments and communi-ties secured funding from FCDO( UK’s Foreign Common-Wealth and Development Office) and implemented a multi-year Education in Emergencies (EIE) Programme in Biu, Kaga, Konduga, Jere, and Maiduguri Metropolitan City LGAs (Borno State) and in Damaturu, Potiskum and Bade LGAs (Yobe State) from October 2017 to May 2019(first phase). During the first phase (October 2017 – May 2019), the Programme created education opportunities for 66,587(32,598M, 33,989F) out of school children (OOSC) through non-formal education/accelerated learning pro-gramme, and school children who were at risk of dropping out due to low academic performance through tutorial programmes.
• In June 2019, IRC secured a cost extension phase funding to keep implementing the Programme with increased targets until September 2021, which is also referred to as EiE+. The FCDO EiE+(sec-ond phase) aims at ensuring 54,000 9-14-year-olds have increased opportunities to learn in a safe, conducive environment which is responsive to their needs, through non-formal education/accel-erated learning programme and tutoring programme, by the end of September 2021.
• Since its inception in 2017, the EiE programme has created 400 Non-Formal Learning Centers (NFLC) in Yobe and Borno states, collaborated with more than 300 learning facilitators (LFs)(who are educated community volunteers) 600 tutors, and parents and community members for pro-gram implementation and monitoring activities; and closely worked with the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), and the State Agency for Mass Education (SAME) to strengthen coordi-nation for effective implementation of the Programme

The Purpose of Final Evaluation:

• The purpose of this evaluation is therefore to assess the overall performance of the FCDO EiE Pro-gramme throughout the full project cycle, the project’s impact, scalability and sustainability. The final evaluation report will help the IRC to improve its current and future projects through lessons learned and best practices generated from the NFLC and tutorial programs.

The Scope of the Final Evaluation:

• The final evaluation process will be structured around themes with suggested evaluation questions as below. However, the consultant shall be encouraged to review the project documents and mod-ify evaluation questions to provide detailed synthesis of the project performance.
• Impact: What difference has the project made to the lives of targeted beneficiaries? To what extent did this project achieve the intended outcomes? What is the performance against stated indicators? Are there any unplanned outcomes because of this project?
• Effectiveness: Were the planned objectives and outcomes in the project achieved as planned? Were the monitoring mechanisms effective in providing timely data to inform man-agement decisions? To what extent did the project meet its targets and deliver outputs?
• Relevance: Does the project align with humanitarian priority concerns in Nigeria? Does the project align with domestic education policies related to child education including OOS chil-dren? How relevant was the project to target groups, needs and priorities? Did the project interventions effectively reach the most vulnerable individuals?
• Efficiency: What evidence is available on cost efficiency and/or effectiveness of the interven-tions? How do intervention costs compare with other modalities in similar context, including formal schooling and educational programs implemented by government actors or non-gov-ernment actors? Were outputs delivered in a timely fashion?
• Sustainability: To what extent did the project utilise established institutions/mechanisms to ensure sustainability at the end of project? To what extend are project results (impact if any, and outcomes) likely to continue after the project? Are there elements of exit strategy to en-sure sustainability?
• Implementation challenges: What are critical challenges reported by project participants in-cluding children, LFs, tutors, coaches, and other community coalition members? What are strategies and solutions implemented and/or suggested by the project participants to address these challenges?

Evaluation Methodology, Data Collection and Management:

• The IRC recommends a desk review of project outputs, and the use of qualitative research approaches that can systematically synthesize quantitative and qualitative project achieve-ments in the past four years. These approaches need to be also adequate to delve into the scalability and sustainability of the intervention perceived by system-level actors including ed-ucation officers at state and federal ministries of education. Consultant is advised to recom-mend the most appropriate approach for the assignment.
• The IRC expects a balanced use of both quantitative and/or qualitative techniques to collect and/or analyse different types of data in addressing research needs identified above. Second-ary qualitative data may be provided if needed. Additional qualitative data for different stake-holders and specially from system-level actors will be collected by the consultant through re-mote and/or in-person interviews. All data should be carefully analysed to provide recom-mendations for strengthening effectiveness, efficiency, impact, implementation, and sustain-ability of the FCDO EiE and potentially other IRC Nigeria programs. Both direct and indirect beneficiary perspectives should be considered, examining any positive and/or negative spill-over effects.

Key Deliverables and Proposed Timeframe:

• This consultancy shall take place from 20 July 2021 to 30 August 2021. Below is the list of key deliverables.

Requirements
Profile of Consultant:

• The Consultant should have good level of understanding on education programmes, teacher educa-tion, school-based psychosocial support, and community-based child support; and experiences in project evaluation with a background in humanitarian aid, research methods, child education and de-velopment, or other related fields.

The lead consultant should possess:

• Master’s degree or higher in child education, development, humanitarian work, social work, or international relations.
• Extensive experience in conducting evaluations along OECD evaluation criteria, ideally leading an evaluation team and experience of designing evaluation methodology / tools and data anal-ysis.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible work experience in research and or eval-uations in education settings.
• Experience in conducting studies and writing reports that are gender and inclusion sensitive. o Experience of working in or evaluating projects in insecure humanitarian environment and/or Northeast Nigeria.
• Excellent analytical, presentation and writing skills in English o Fluency in Hausa / Kanuri is desirable

Working Environment and Conditions

• The consultant will be based in Maiduguri in Borno state, staying in IRC guesthouse or a hotel (IRC will cover cost), with field trips to Yobe program locations. While at the field, the consult-ant will be required to abide by IRC security protocols and guidelines. While in the field, con-sultants will be provided with security briefings by field security focal person.
• Terms of payment will be negotiated upon acceptance of the consultancy. The total budget for the consultancy will include VAT as/ and if required by national regulations. Final payment of consultant will be remitted upon satisfactory submission of agreed deliverables.
• The consultant will report to the Education Coordinator in Nigeria and the Research Advisor at IRC Headquarters.

Application Closing Date
15th June, 202 - 15 : 30 pm.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online