Endline evaluation FOR EU-INTPA-Strengthening Civil Society to Enhance Education for All in Northern Nigeria. Full Time

Background Information on Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child, but this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination, and its girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years and are now active in more than 75 countries.

Plan International Nigeria was registered as a National Organization in 2014 in Nigeria. Our intervention is currently focused on basic education; improving community health services, youth and citizens’ participation in governance, creating economic opportunities and livelihoods for the neediest people and building resilient communities through our emergency and humanitarian response in the Northeast. Plan Nigeria works with communities, civil society organizations, development partners, government at all levels and the private sector.

Project Background

In Nigeria, education policies have long been central to addressing challenges in the sector, spanning access, quality, and equity. The government has historically crafted various initiatives, including the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act, the National Policy on Education (NPE), and more recently, the Education for All (EFA) initiative and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are pivotal players in Nigeria’s education landscape, engaging in advocacy, monitoring, and grassroots initiatives. They collaborate with diverse stakeholders to influence policy reforms prioritizing access, quality, and inclusivity. Their efforts extend to community outreach, raising awareness, and empowering citizens to demand quality education. Additionally, CSOs offer training and capacity-building support to education stakeholders.

However, the persistent challenge of inadequate funding and infrastructure undermines progress. From urban centres to rural villages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings persist, exacerbating underperformance among students and teachers. The lack of essential resources, including clean water and functional toilets, further compounds the issue.

Also, systemic issues such as corruption and political instability hamper effective policy implementation. Mismanagement of education funds fosters a lack of accountability and transparency, worsening conditions for schools and students. Meanwhile, inconsistent policymaking due to frequent changes in government leadership impedes long-term planning and progress in the education sector.

Evaluation Focus:

Overall Evaluation Objectives:

I. To improve Learning for future intervention: It is intended that the outcomes of the End line review will provide useful and relevant information, explore why implemented actions and interventions is successful or not, and provide guidance on how to better implement subsequent similar work;

II. Accountability: The End-Line Evaluation is also an accountability instrument for the project. Consequently, it will be used to assess whether project plans have been fulfilled and determine the extent to which the project’s resources has been used effectively and in an efficiently manner.

III. Sustainability: The outcomes of the End-Line should assist the Donor and PLAN in assessing the sustainability (or otherwise) of the activities, approaches, and structures initiated or supported by the project, and crucially, provide recommendations for the future for implementation.

Other specific objectives of the Evaluation are to:

1. Determine the extent to which the project and the associated actions are relevant to the existing needs of the beneficiaries and the communities in which they have been implemented;
2. Evaluate the outcomes of the project achieved
3. Identify key ‘lessons learned’, particularly about strategic processes and the mechanisms chosen to achieve the project’s objectives.
4. Determine to what extent the project objectives meet the priorities of beneficiaries and other stakeholders
5. Determine the extent to which the intervention has achieved its objectives and outcomes, including differential outcomes between groups.
6. Determine to what extent the benefits of the intervention are likely to last
7. Formulate relevant recommendations to improve the Future implementation of projects.

Collect data for the outcome indicators to have end-line data comparable to data that has been generated for the baseline at the start of the project and the Midterm data. The list of indicators is provided in this dossier and forms an integral part of these Terms of Reference.

Evaluation Criteria and corresponding questions

The final evaluation addresses the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, sustainability as well as impact and is meant to answer the following evaluation questions:

Relevance

• How well does the project align with and address the educational and socio-economic needs of Tsangaya students and the community, including gender-specific challenges?
• Does the project incorporate gender-responsive approaches effectively, ensuring equal access, engagement, and benefits for both male and female participants?

Effectiveness

• What were the achievements of the project against the baseline set at project inception?
• To what extent has the project achieved its intended results? Has there been any differential results across group and if so, why?
• What were the direct contributions of the EU funded project activities to each of these, where and how have project activities created synergies and interactions with other projects stakeholders?

Sustainability

• To what extent are the project results likely to be sustainable beyond the project’s lifetime (both at the community and government level) and which are the main supporting factors for this?

Impact

• To what extent has the intervention generated significant positive or negative, intended or unintended, higher level effects and to what extent has the project indirectly contributed to these?
• What are the immediate and long-term effects of the measures to prevent and respond to the economic trend.

Identification of Lessons learned

• What are the key lessons learned and good practices identified considering both the management and the programmatic aspects of the project?
• To what extent were MERL, existing lessons learned and feedback data used to improve the implementation of the project?

Child rights, gender and inclusion

In line with Plan International’s values and organisational ambition, all evaluations should seek to prioritize a focus on child rights, gender and inclusion and trying to understand the extent to which the project or programme applied gender and inclusion sensitive approaches and explicitly aimed for results that improve the rights of children and young people and gender equality.

All other evaluation questions prioritised should also seek to mainstream child rights, gender and inclusion considerations as a part of their enquiry.

Intended Users of the Evaluation

The intended users of the final evaluation are the staff from Plan International Ireland, the European Union, Federal and State Ministries of Education, Women affairs, Religious affair, National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children, as well as Plan International Nigeria. It is expected that the evaluation report will serve as a guide for stakeholders and partners in the implementation of future projects.

Methods for Data Collection and Analysis

The methods and tools originally used at baseline collect data on the indicators must be considered. To answer the evaluation questions and assess the evaluation criteria, new methods and tools will be required, to be developed by the consultant.

It is therefore expected that the consultant develops a detailed overall methodology, appropriate methods and specific tools to respond to the key evaluation questions mentioned above.

The Consultant shall outline the reasons for selecting the methods proposed and depict the skills/ experience the consultant has in applying them. It is recommended to apply a mixed method approach. The Consultant will also be responsible for piloting the new tools, ensuring that they are gender-sensitive.

The proposal must contain a description of the envisaged data validation, quality assurance and data analysis techniques.

In addition, the team will receive all the necessary information, specifically the existing tools, to conduct the end-line data collection for the indicators as shown in Annex 1 of this ToR.

The consultant will conduct a detailed review of available project documents such as proposal, updated log frame, baseline including indicator data, Complaints and Response Mechanism reports, learning reports and M&E frameworks, taking into consideration beneficiaries reached through activities conducted in the interventions disaggregated by age and sex as specified in the project log frame.

Sample

The consultant shall propose a sampling strategy for the primary data collection to answer the evaluation questions as part of the final evaluation, including how they will identify respondents. More specifically, the intended sample strategy shall include a description of the:

• Sample size
• Necessary respondent disaggregation (this will be provided to the consultant)
• Number and type of locations
• Sampling approach (stating the reasons for the approach selected)

For the data collection on indicators the sample needs to reflect the sampling strategy, size and selected respondents used in the baseline data collection. Relevant information will be made available to the consultant upon signature of the contract.

Participant selection and recruitment

The target population to be considered includes project participants that benefitted directly or indirectly from interventions of Plan International in the targeted States Sokoto and Adamawa.

Ethics and Child Safeguarding

The team that will interface with children will be required to provide a statement within their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child safeguarding in the process of data collection and visits in compliance with Plan International’s Global Safeguarding Children and Youth People Policy. Details on the adoption of gender-balance amongst interviewers, focus group discussion (FGD) facilitators and observers shall be provided. The consultant shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed. This is because the EU intervention is keen on giving opportunities for girls, boys, women and men to provide feedback on the project intervention. Gender lens would be used to analyze results for girls and boys in comparison to their situations.

Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy represents a serious commitment by the organization to hold ourselves accountable to children and young people, ensuring that they feel safe and protected with us and those who represent Plan International at all times. Everyone working with and associated with Plan is expected to adhere to the provisions of the policy. This means always acting appropriately with children and young people, assessing and reducing risks to children and young people in all our operations and activities including research and studies, and taking appropriate action in line with global and local procedures to report and respond to concerns about a child or young person’s welfare. Plan International takes stringent measures against any Plan staff, associate, or visitor who breaches this policy.

Other Ethics that the team should adhere to include the following;

• All terms/conditions stipulated in the contract agreement.
• Conducting them in a respectful manner, while undertaking assignment, this includes not making any commitments to communities and any other persons, on behalf of Plan International Nigeria.
• Time-frame and conditions outlined in the TOR and consultancy agreement

Key Deliverables

• Inception report including:
• an updated timeline
• an evaluation matrix
• a detailed methodology including draft sampling methodology and size
• draft data collection tools
• ethical and safeguarding considerations and risk assessment
• consent forms for any primary data collection
• draft methods for data analysis and quality control
• brief justification of the methods and techniques envisaged (including relevant underlying values and assumptions/ theories) with a justification of the selection made.
• Final data collection tools
• Final Sampling methodology (including unit of sampling and sampling frame) and size
• Draft evaluation report, including cleaned data files (e.g. Excel, SPSS), transcripts of qualitative data syntax/ code books etc. and completed consent forms (including for children and their caregivers and adults if any
• Final evaluation report including Executive Summary

The team is expected to lead, accomplish and submit the following deliverables within the agreed timeframe and budget:

Submission Requirement.

• Technical proposal showing the approach to addressing the evaluation objectives.
• Detailed Financial proposal with a breakdown of activity cost.
• At least 2 samples of past research or evaluation reports conducted (It should not be more than 5 years)
• Reference/commendation letter from the past organization you have worked with.

Values of Plan International Nigeria

You confirm you are familiar with and committed to the following values of Plan International Nigeria:

• We strive for lasting impact – We strive to achieve a significant and lasting impact on the lives of children and young people and to secure equality for girls. We challenge ourselves to be bold, courageous, focused, and innovative.
• We work well together – We succeed by working effectively with others, inside and outside the organization, including our sponsors and donors. We actively support our colleagues, helping them to achieve their goals. We come together to create and implement solutions in our teams, across Plan International, with children, girls, young people, communities, and our partners.
• We are inclusive and empowering – We respect all people, appreciate differences, and challenge inequality in our programs and our workplace. We support children, girls, and young people to increase their confidence and change their own lives. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential.
• We are open and accountable – We create a climate of trust inside and outside the organization by being open, honest, and transparent. We hold ourselves and others to account for the decisions we make and for our impact on others while doing what we say we will do.

Ethics and Child Protection

Plan International Nigeria places a high premium on CHILD PROTECTION issues in all its working relationships with its partners and associates and mandates all its working partners and associates to adhere to its CHILD PROTECTION Policy.

As such, the activity must ensure appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation; a process of free and un-coerced consent and withdrawal; and confidentiality and anonymity of participants. Consultants are required to provide a statement within their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the development process. This must also include consideration of any risks related to the activity and how these will be mitigated.

Disclosure of Information/Child Protection

It is understood and agreed that the Consultant(s) shall, during and after the effective period of the contract, treat as confidential and not divulge, unless authorized in writing by Plan, any information obtained in the course of the performance of the Contract. Informationwill be made available for the consultants on a need-to-know basis. Any necessary field visits must be budgeted for in your proposal. Plan staff under the coordination of the National Program Manager will support the consultant in facilitating all necessary engagements required by the Consultant. The selected consultant will commit to respecting Plan International’s Child Protection Policy to prevent any harm to participating children and youth.

For additional information regarding this consultancy, including all relevant annexes, kindly follow the link below: Endline Assessment EU INTPA