Consultancy - Final Evaluation

Consultancy Announcement

 
Final Evaluation of the Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance Project- Funded by European Union, NRC Palestine- Gaza Office
 
NRC seeks a qualified individual(s), group(s) or company to execute an evaluation of the ICLA Gaza project funded by European Union.

COUNTRY: Palestine, Gaza
PERIOD: November 2015 – December 2015
REPORTING TO: ICLA Project Manager, Gaza


Background

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) provides humanitarian assistance to residents of the Gaza Strip in a number of different areas including; (1) Shelter, (2) Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA), (3) WASH, (4) UDOC (Urban Displaced Out of Camps), (5) Education, (6) GBV/Child Protection.

As part of NRC’s aim to prevent and address forced displacement and promote security of tenure throughout Palestine, NRC’s ICLA programme works in the Gaza Strip focusing primarily on Housing, Land and Property (HLP) rights. Established in 2009, the ICLA Gaza programme has quickly become a key resource for information and legal advice on HLP rights.

Purpose of Evaluation and Intended Use

The main purpose of the final evaluation is to measure through independent evaluation the changes produced by the current ICLA Gaza project -funded by EU- titled “Promotion and Improvement of Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Rights for Women in the Gaza Strip”. The evaluation results will inform and influence the future work of the ICLA programme in Gaza and the local partner Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict resolution, and possibly other NRC ICLA programmes.

This evaluation examines the project during the final stage of the project’s lifecycle, which started in 1 Jan 2014 and continues to 31 December 2015.

The evaluation team should provide NRC and PCDCR with useful information, analysis and recommendations, thereby enabling the organisation to engage in effective policymaking, planning, programming and implementation.

The evaluation’s findings and conclusions shall be shared with the NRC Palestine staff, donors, PCDCR, NRC Headquarters in Oslo, external consultants engaged in ICLA programme setup, assessment and phase-out and other interested partners and stakeholders.

Scope of Work and Methodology

The evaluation should review all aspects of the current ICLA-PCDCR project in the Gaza Strip.

The evaluation methodology will include:

-Desk Study and Document Review: The evaluation team shall examine independent country reports, topical/thematic reports produced by the NRC, prior evaluations, NRC global and country strategy documents, grant agreements, proposals, donor and internal reports, internal legal assistance guides/documents, training documents, and any other relevant materials.
-Field Visits: The evaluation team will make field visits to study the work of ICLA Gaza and PCDCR field offices, including direct observation of project activities.
-Stakeholder Interviews: The evaluation team will conduct interviews with all relevant stakeholders, namely, ICLA Gaza staff, PCDCR staff, beneficiaries, family members and traditional leaders.
-Beneficiary focus groups and surveys: The evaluation team will conduct at least 10 focus groups and 100 individual community/household surveys by phone or in person with both ICLA and PCDCR’s beneficiaries who have received their legal services (Information sessions; counselling sessions at the office and through mobile legal counselling in the field; legal representation before the court and through traditional leaders (mukhtars); HLP trainings; training placements at the legal Aid Centre; community sharing workshops and policy events) throughout the Gaza Strip. 
-Case Studies: The evaluation team will conduct at 10 case studies with women who have received positive/negative outcomes through the NRC’s partner PCDCR interventions.

Additionality: The evaluation should assess whether there were any measurable results/changes in the lives of project beneficiaries that are directly attributable to project interventions. Outcomes and additionality should be quantitatively assessed as far as possible, using methods specified by the evaluation team and agreed to by NRC. Qualitative methods are also encouraged and should demonstrate whether outcomes are grounded in the context of the intervention as well as providing an explanation of why and how the project affects change.

Evaluation principles: The evaluation as a whole will be guided by the following ethical rules/ considerations:

-Openness – of information given, to the highest possible degree to all involved parties
-Publicity/public access – to the results whe
n there are no special consideration against this
-Broad participation – the interested parties should be involved where relevant and possible
-Reliability and independence – the evaluation should be conducted so that findings and conclusions are correct and trustworthy

Issues to be Covered

The evaluation shall aim to identify any changes resulting from ICLA EU project intervention, establish a connection between the change and the project inputs and measure magnitude of the change. In doing this, it should address the following questions:

-What positive and/or negative effects (intended/unintended) are produced by the project’s intervention?
-What were the processes involved that let to particular results?
-Is the project producing the most impact, given the context and resources available?
-Has the project produced an objectively measurable impact on the legal empowerment of women beneficiaries?
-What change in individual outcomes for women can be measured as a result of PDCR involvement with reference to the initial situation of the beneficiary and the final outcome following dispute resolution?
-Is the overall situation of women in relation to HLP rights being improved as a result of project activities?
-Has the project developed the capacity of the PCDCR in improving women’s access to their HLP rights through informal justice mechanisms?
-Are beneficiaries or others being harmed as a result of the project?
-What are the most effective mechanisms for assessing the impact of the project in a complex legal environment?
-What is best practice in the project design to both NRC ICLA and PCDCR?
-Is the ICLA project work with partner organizations effective

Relevance/appropriateness
-Does the project properly assess ongoing beneficiary need? Is the methodology used in assessments appropriate?
-Is the project sufficiently responsive to the changing legal situation and the needs of beneficiaries?
-Is beneficiary participation in designing project activities sufficient?
-Do quality/quantity indicators properly measure the relevance of the project, and are there indicators missing?
   
Effectiveness

-Has the project defined criteria for selecting beneficiaries in accordance with its objectives? If these exist, have they been applied consistently?
-Are HLP disputes and violations being handled in an effective and efficacious manner?
-Are there sufficient tools in place to assess whether objectives are being achieved?
-Is the project perceived as being effective by relevant stakeholders, including beneficiaries, implementing partners, national and international organisations?

Efficiency

-Is the use of the NRC ICLA partner PCDCR in the project the most appropriate and cost-effective modality?
-Are the HLP trainings provided by PCDCR to female traditional leaders a good use of resources, consistent with the long-term objectives of the program to effect positive change?

Impact

-What intended and unintended, positive and negative effects are produced by the ICLA project as a whole, both on the beneficiary group and others who are affected such as family members?
-Has the involvement of female mukhtars contributed to resolving more HLP disputes in favour for women?
-Did the project contributed to change the acceptance of the community towards having female mukhtars?
-Has the policy events organised under the project by PCDCR contributed to a positive change to improve women’s access to HLP rights?
-Has the project contributed to the resolution of HLP disputes for women, taking account of social and cultural considerations and human rights issues?

Connectedness/sustainability

-How are capacity-building activities, both for NRC staff and external stakeholders, including female traditional leaders and legal practitioners, enhancing the durability of the results?
-To what extent has the project contributed to a different approach to dealing with women’s inheritance and HLP issues in the Gaza Strip?
-What are the possible long-term effects of the ICLA project, including those likely to be observed beyond the project’s life?

Evaluation Team

The evaluation team should be led by a person with competence in legal assistance, human rights and protection principles, and who has worked with justice systems and the development of the rule of law in both a humanitarian and development context. This individual should have knowledge of and experience with both formal and informal justice systems. Prior experience with the Palestinian conflict is helpful, as is experience in relation to gender issues faced by female beneficiaries.

Ability to produce a quality written analysis in English is required.  Fluency in Arabic is required to carry out the field interviews and focus groups.  Prior evaluation experience and familiarity with the logical framework approach is required. The team leader will be responsible for organising and/or conducting all field and research activities, and for writing the inception and final evaluation reports. Support staff should be hired for the duration of the project to assist with document collection, scheduling, research, interviews as necessary.

All evaluation team members should be gender aware.  Given the nature of the ICLA and PCDCR project activities, female field staff must be available to conduct female focus groups, interviews and home visits.   If there are differences of opinion between team members regarding conclusions and recommendations, these should be reflected in the report, and result in a final product with a discussion of each of the conclusions and recommendations that follow.

Time Frame and Budget Considerations

All field interviews and the entire evaluation must be completed and submitted by 25 December 2015.

In the event of serious problems or delays, the team leader should inform the ICLA Project Manager immediately. Any significant changes to review timetable shall be approved by the ICLA Project Manager in advance.

Deliverables and Reporting Deadlines

The evaluation team will submit two reports to the NRC’s ICLA Gaza Programme Manager and Project Manager.

-Draft report (03 December 2015): A draft report should be submitted to the ICLA Project Manager, who will review the draft and provide feedback to the evaluation team by 10 December 2015.
-Final report (15 December 2015): A final report should be submitted to the ICLA Project Manager, with the evaluation team having addressed NRC’s comments as appropriate.

The final evaluation report must systematically review the programme, offering factual support, analysis of activities and synthesis of all information received for purposes of conclusion/recommendations. A final report offering a mere repetition of facts and activities will not be approved.

The evaluation report should consist of:

-Executive summary, including recommendations
-Table of contents
-NRC mandate, vision, values
-Methodology
-Main findings (to include commentary and analysis addressing evaluation purpose and outputs, including a section dedicated to the issue of particular lessons learned)
-Conclusion and recommendations
-Appendices, to include evaluation terms of reference, maps, a record of interviews and focus groups conducted and a bibliography.

All material collected during the assessment process should be handed over to the relevant ICLA programme staff prior to the termination of the contract.

Follow Up/Management Response

A management response, including any plans for incorporating recommendations into the ICLA Gaza programme, should be prepared no later than two months after receipt of the final report. It is the responsibility of the ICLA Project Manager to ensure that the realization of these plans are monitored and documented.
 
Application Deadline: 03 December 2015, COB (applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration)

لتصلك اخر برامج التشغيل والوظائف في غزة على جوالك وبدون رسوم  ارسل حرف  غ  للرقم 37953

All applications must include the following:

-CVs for each proposed team member
-A plan for the evaluation and an outline of its methodology and timeline, maximum 10 pages in total; 1-2 pages of this plan should be dedicated to a cost efficiency approach and 1-2 pages should be dedicated to additionality (the approach/approaches to be undertaken)
-Proposed budget for the evaluation, covering all consultancy fees, including the number of expected working days, travel, per diem, insurances and communication.

 

Applicants may submit completed bids in sealed envelopes to NRC Gaza office, fifth floor, Hejji building, Rasheed Street, Gaza, Al Mena.

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