Terms of Reference - Nairobi, Kenya - Rescue Dada Centre

Description

Rescue Dada Centre's legal holder is the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi.

The Centre was established in 1992, as an organization doing street work to get to understand the circumstances of the girls living on the streets while operating a walk-in Centre where street connected children could come to share about their life experiences with the social workers.

Within a short time, the organization realized that the girls on the streets were exposed to so much abuse and they needed to be rescued from such an environment before a more comprehensive strategy of addressing their plight was found.

Therefore, the two roomed rescue operation in Mathare slums would soon expand to a Centre rescuing, rehabilitating and reintegrating street connected girls.

Summary

The evaluation will assess the performance of RDC in implementation of the project considering aspects of the following dimensions: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability and make recommendations for the future plan.

The main stakeholders involved in the evaluation are:
RDC staff
Representative from Archdiocese of Nairobi
Street-connected Girls, who are rescued from Nairobi and its environs and are either undergoing rehabilitation, in sponsorship (secondary and vocational), or reintegrated into the community
The families – caregivers and siblings, of street-connected girls supported by Rescue Dada Centre.
Girls and vulnerable mothers who are attending/attended RDC`s cosmetology training.
Caregivers supported through the empowerment programme to start income-generating activities and vocational skills training.
CCIs and other children actors including teachers trained in the last 2-years in "Good Practices for Reintegration and Child Protection against Child Sexual Abuse" training
Government institutions and NGOs and other children actors that RDC cooperates with.

Objectives
The key question of the evaluation is to determine whether the project has achieved its long-term objectives which are:


Objective 1:

By the end of 2024, 210 street connected girls that were rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated have embarked on a life away from the streets where their rights are met.

Objective 2:

The livelihood security of 195 caregivers, 120 vulnerable girls & mothers in cosmetology, 15 girls in vocational sponsorship improved by the end of 2024.

Objective 3: 42 Child protection actors and 3 local government representatives transfer acquired Child Rights and Child protection knowledge within their institutions and/or target groups by the end of 2024.

And to determine to what extent has the project contributed to the overall project goal of reducing the number of street-connected children within Nairobi, with a specific focus on street-connected girls, by increasing self-reliance of caregivers, families and enabling children to realize their full range of rights.

The evaluation will consider the following aspects:
To assess the relevance of the project to the needs of the target groups, and context.
To what extent do the interventions, objectives, set respond to the problems and needs of RDC target groups and as such relevant to be included in the future RDC projects?
How relevant was it to the target groups' needs and priorities?
To what extent are the objectives of the project still valid?
How can the project be replicated in other contexts?
Key lessons the target has learned.

To assess the effectiveness of the RDC project in achieving the objectives and (long term) outcomes expressed in the project proposal within agreed timelines and budgets.

To what extent were the originally defined objectives and RDC intervention realistic? To what extent were the planned objectives achieved / are likely to be achieved by the end of the project period?
How effective were the intervention strategies used in the implementation of the project?
What difference did the interventions make in the life of the target groups (negative / positive, intended/unintended)?
To what extent did the planned activities contribute to achieving the objective and the expected accomplishments?
What (internal and external) factors were crucial for the achievement or failure to achieve the objectives so far (indication of strengths and weaknesses)?
To what extent is the target group reached?
What are the future intervention strategies and issues?

To assess the efficiency of RDC operations by determining to what extent the least costly resources (including financial, human capital, assets) possible have been used in order to achieve the desired results.

Were the resources sufficient for achieving the results?
Were the results commensurate with the resources? Did the actual or expected results (outputs and outcomes) justify the costs incurred?
How did the project financial management processes and procedures affect project implementation? Were the results achieved on time?
Were all activities organized efficiently and on time?
To what extent the resources were used economically? How could the use of resources have been improved?
Where there any alternatives to achieve the same results? If yes, which ones?
Was the project implemented in the most efficient way compared to alternatives? In particular, how do the costs and use of resources compare with other similar projects?

To assess the positive and negative impacts produced by RDC interventions, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.

Does the RDC project contribute to reaching higher level development goals including the sustainable development goals? To what extent have overall goals of RDC been achieved so far?
What are the positive and negative changes produced directly or indirectly, intended or unintended?
What is the impact of the intervention in proportion to the overall situation of the target group or those affected?

To assess to what extent RDC activities contribute to sustainability:

Which mechanisms have been put in place over the period to contribute to financial sustainability of the project?
To what extent are the benefits of the projects likely to be sustained after the completion of this project?
What is the likelihood of continuation and sustainability of project outcomes and benefits after completion of the project?
How effective were the exit strategies, and approaches to phase out assistance provided by the project including contributing factors and constraints?

Describe key factors that will require attention in order to improve prospects of sustainability of Project outcomes and the potential for replication of the approach.

Methodology

The evaluation will focus on a participatory, mixed method approach, ensuring that the views of all key stakeholders are taken into account.

This will include (at a minimum) a briefing meeting with RDC management, participatory information gathering, and a debriefing meeting with RDC management and representatives of different key stakeholders to check that the draft report findings and recommendations are representative of the stakeholder views.

The consultant will develop a draft design and plan for the evaluation methodology based on the briefing with RDC management.

The RDC management will have the opportunity to review the design prior to finalization.

Secondary data sources to be taken into account during desk study:

Internal Documents

Project proposal
Project theory of change
Project reports 2022 and 2023
Programme Database 2022 and 2023
Beneficiary files
Relevant policies including programme policies and procedures and organizational structure
Audited financial reports from


External Documents:
National Care Reform Strategy for Children in Kenya
National Guidelines for Transitioning Child Care System in Kenya 2023.
New Children's Act 2022.
Child Welfare Programmes Guidelines 2023
Guidelines for the Alternative Family Care of Children in Kenya

During the evaluation the team must consider the OECD/DAC evaluation quality standards. The familiarity with these standards is absolutely necessary to ensure that evaluations meet the international standards and requirements.
Key Tasks, Time Frames and Deliverables
The consultant will undertake the following key tasks to address the objectives outlined in 4 above:

Design the methodology to conduct the evaluation including establishing the sample size, develop tools, plan data collection and define analysis needs.

Review related documents including the project proposal and documents outlined
Develop a timeframe for the data collection.
Collect and analyze the data.
Write a draft evaluation report detailing the findings to be discussed in the stakeholder debriefing;
Conduct a stakeholder debriefing,
Finalize the draft report following the debriefing.

The consultancy is expected to take a maximum of 15 days beginning 1st March 2024 (this includes data collection phase, validation workshop and draft report).

The final report arising from the evaluation should be handed over to the Director latest 26th March 2024.

The following are the expected deliverables for the evaluation:

Inception report outlining the whole plan and the Methodology framework (evaluation plan) for discussion with RDC at the outset of the review;

Conduct tasks 1-3 above
Planning meeting on methodology and timeframe for data collection.
Data collection phase


Data Collection:
field visits

Raw data

Analysis and draft Report

Verified data and Draft report

Review phase

Validation workshop:
Verification with key stakeholders

Documentation of Verification meeting

Final Report
Writing of final report

Final report

The format & required content will be agreed upon with the consultant prior to commencing the assignment.

Report validation

The consultant will disseminate the report first to the RDC management and thereafter to other staff involved in the review.

Comments arising will be addressed before the report is finally shared with partners and other stakeholders.

RDC support team

RDC will support the consultant throughout the process with relevant information, suggestions and logistics.

The core team will consist of:
M&E Coordinator as key contact person
RDC Management

The ideal consultant(s) shall fulfil the following requirements:
Preferably a Master's Degree in a relevant field of study
Evaluation experience of at least 5 years.
Excellent written and spoken English.
Excellent reporting and communication skills.
Being sensitive to issues affecting children and families living and/or working on the streets.
Of advantage is experience in working with CCIs