Individual Evaluation Consultants at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Individual Evaluation Consultant for Mid-term Evaluation of the Expanded Institutional Capacity Strengthening (ICS) Project

Location: Abuja
Employment Type: Contract
Duration of the Consultancy: The assignment will last for a period not more than 20 days

Scope of Work

• This Terms of Reference (TOR) provides the description and work to be done planning, collection, analysis of qualitative data in respect of the evaluation of the ICS project.

About CRS Nigeria

• CRS has been supporting program activities in Nigeria for over 30 years and has long-standing relationships with Church and non-Church partners and communities throughout the country.
• The Nigeria country program has a diverse funding base with projects in health, nutrition, food security and agricultural livelihoods, microfinance (SILC), emergency response and peacebuilding. CRS/Nigeria currently has over 210 national and 8 international staff.
• With an FY22 annual budget of over USD $100 million, coupled with strong donor interest in supporting CRS’ work in the country, significant growth opportunities exist for the CP. The CP has been supporting emergency activities in the NE states since 2015 with offices in Damaturu, Maiduguri and Yola.

About Expanded ICS Project

• The Expanded Institutional Capacity Strengthening Project is a 5-year follow-on project funded by CRS to enable Caritas Nigeria lead Catholic Provinces and Dioceses in Nigeria in a participatory organizational self-assessment, action planning and capacity-strengthening process, towards ultimately capacitating the Catholic Church in Nigeria to implement high-quality development interventions that would advance the wellbeing of all Nigerians.
• The Institutional Capacity Strengthening (ICS) project was conceptualized to strengthen the capacity of Catholic Church organizations to respond to the plight of the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria.

Summary and Purpose of the Consultancy

• In compliance with CRS MEAL policies and procedures as well as fulfil ‘donor’ MEAL requirement of the Expanded ICS project, the CRS and Caritas Nigeria team will be conducting a mid-term evaluation(MTE) of the Institutional Capacity Strengthening Project Expanded Project.
• The MTE seeks to gain understanding of the midterm status of the project, including a description of what it has achieved; analysis of the effectiveness of its partnership arrangement, as well as efficiency and timeliness of its implementation and an evaluation of its lessons learned so far. The MTE will target three (3) dioceses that have been actively supported by the project’s first two years as sites for data collection, and it will focus largely on qualitative methods.
• Key informant interviews (KIIs); focus group and participatory learning and action discussions will be conducted for diocese-level respondents as well as caritas Nigeria stakeholders at its headquarter. These include JDPC diocesan project team focal points, ICS unit staff at Caritas, Church and Society Education, Health and Family and Life units. CRS staff involved in the project will be interviewed as well.
• The MTE will also involve diagnosis of the strength of partnership arrangements through social network analysis by electronically deploying Microsoft form to Parishes, Dioceses, and members of Caritas Internationalis.
• The purpose of the consultancy is to provide data collection and analysis support to the lead evaluator.
• The successful consultants will facilitate collection of qualitative data through key informant interviews, focus group discussion or participatory learning and action techniques from designated respondents or stakeholders.
• S/He will also support the transcription, coding, and analysis of transcripts in preparation as part of the evaluation process.

Objectives of the Consultancy

• To coordinate implementation of the data collection plan for assigned locations.
• To facilitate collection of accurate and reliable data for answering the evaluation questions
• To prepare interview/discussion transcripts in textual formats in readiness for analysis. This may also include validation of codes generated by peers.

Main Tasks / Deliverables

• Hold an inception meeting with Lead Evaluator and ICS project team to fully understand the Project's vision and the evaluation objectives.
• Co-design a field itinerary or data collection plan with the lead evaluator and project team
• Attend an orientation training on evaluation methodology, processes, and tools.
• Facilitate/co-facilitate Key informant interviews, focused group discussions and participatory learning and action sessions.
• Write and submit qualitative field activity report detailing the context and process of data collection that can be referenced during data analysis phase.
• Transcribe, code, and sort the qualitative data derived from the field in readiness for data analysis and interpretation.

Mode of Reporting:

• The Consultant will report to the CRS Country Program MEAL Coordinator with support of the Partnership and Capacity Strengthening Coordinator, ICS Project Manager, and Caritas MEAL staff.

Key Working Relationships:

• CRS Procurement and Finance team, ICS Project Managers and Officers, JDPC ICS Focal Points and staff,

Required Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification in Development Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation, Sociology, Anthropology, Demography, or International Development.
• Extensive knowledge of qualitative research evaluation methodologies including participatory research approaches.
• At least 3 years experience in leading or facilitating qualitative research or evaluation on complex constructs, particularly human behavior, or capacity building. Experience in facilitating participatory learning and action sessions is highly desirable and will be an added advantage.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and fluency in English, and Pidgin English
• Experience in verbatim transcription of recorded conversations is required.
• Experience in qualitative data analysis using Atlas. Ti or QDA Miner is an added advantage.
• Must be resident in one of the data collection Locations (Jos, Abuja or Nsukka).

Application Closing Date
20th April, 2023 at 1700HRS (West Central Africa).