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Terms of Reference for Project Final Evaluation Consultancy:
1. Background and rationale
Young people in Nigeria face growing pressures from rapid social change, including social media influence, cyberbullying, body image concerns, and high unemployment. The education system focuses heavily on exams while neglecting student well‑being. Many university students especially those from rural or low-income backgrounds struggle with culture shock, financial hardship, and pressure to succeed. Yet most universities lack mental health support, and suicide is now one of the leading causes of death among young people. The school systems are rigid and more than often do not provide the relevant supports and accommodation.
Cultural norms and stigma worsen the situation of abuse. Young people often have limited decision-making power, remain dependent on parents longer, and fear seeking help due to judgment, dismissal, or harmful responses like being taken to prayer houses. Mental health services are scarce and stigmatized, with only about one psychiatrist per million people. With few support systems, some youth turn to substance and other unhealthy coping methods. Suicide rates among students continue to rise, and attempted suicide remains criminalized, deepening stigma.
To address this, the Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) implemented the Bridging the Gap Project, funded by Comic Relief through CBM Global. The project strengthens MANI’s institutional capacity and directly supports young people in Lagos, Imo State, the FCT, and online nationwide. Its goals included reducing stigma, improved mental health literacy, and expanded access to youth-friendly services. To achieve this, the BtG project employed several strategic approaches aligned with the following result areas:
Key Result Areas
Strengthened organisational capacity of MANI, including core systems, structures, and personnel.
Improved mental health literacy across four universities, driven by Student Mental Health Advocacy Network (STAN) members serving as mental health champions.
Reduced stigma surrounding mental health among students and their support networks in the three project states.
Improved nationwide access to quality mental health services for young people through MANI’s digital and community-based interventions.
2. Purpose and Deliverables
The purpose of the final evaluation of the BtG project is to assess the overall results and approaches of the project for accountability purposes, donor reporting and organizational learning of the project.
Specifically, the objectives of the evaluation include:
To assess the achievements or otherwise of the project objectives and the contributing factors.
To examine the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, partnership and sustainability approach of the project and the degree to which the project has set a foundation for community and government ownership.
To document lessons learnt from project planning, implementation, monitoring and learning that would guide future programming and national policy influencing.
Organizational Systems Strengthening: Applying appropriate tools for organizational change assessment
Effectiveness and Sustainability of the Itunu App: An evaluation of its performance and long-term sustainability.
Cost–Benefit Analysis of the School Mental Health Programme: An assessment of its effectiveness and overall impact.
Policy Influencing: A review of advocacy efforts and their outcomes.
To what extent Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) specifically organizations of persons with lived experience were meaningfully involved in the project.
This evaluation is planned as part of CBM Global’s programme development requirements. Its outputs will be used by CBM Global and MANI to document lessons that will be used for future programming, to confirm what structures, capacities, and commitments are in place to keep results alive and possibly grow them, to understand the impact of the project on the project participants, systems and institutions and to communicate results to a range of stakeholders, including donors, national and state governments, and project participants as part of accountability practice. Below are the timelines and documents expected to be developed by as final products (in English Language) of the evaluation:
Evaluation Commissioning – 1st April 2026
Inception meeting – 6th April 2026
An inception report (including methodology, data collection plan, and evaluation matrix before the field data collection) produced by 10th April 2026
Acceptance/approval of inception report – 15th April 2026
Data collection (including tools pre-testing) and data analysis – 16th April 2026
A stakeholder workshop to validate the findings of the final evaluation and discuss the recommendations with the selected stakeholders on 30th April 2026
A draft evaluation report produced by 6th May 2026.
A final evaluation report produced by 15th May 2026.
Data sets for all collected data, transcribed for CBM Global’s future use 15th May 2026.
PowerPoint presentation summarizing the key findings from the evaluation, Policy briefs with compelling stories submitted together with the final evaluation report by 15th May 2026.
The results of the evaluation will be shared with the project stakeholders (including government, partners, adolescents and young people, especially those with lived experience of mental health conditions
who were involved in the project, organizations of persons with disabilities, etc.) through accessible formats, such as circulating soft and hard copies of the report via online and face-to-face methods, which will be agreed with the project stakeholders.
Both the Inception report and the Final Evaluation report should be presented in the standard evaluation report format to be shared by CBM Global.
3. Scope
The evaluation will be conducted in 4 universities in FCT, Lagos and Imo States (University of Abuja, University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Yaba College of Technology Lagos, for a period of 35 working days. CBM Global Country Office will engage an external consultant to lead on the evaluation of the project. The evaluation should provide practical guidance to the project partner (MANI), and the key government line Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs)- Ministry of Education (Lagos District IV, SEB, SUBEB), Ministry of Health, LagosMind regarding possible replication of the project approaches as a model.
The evaluation will cover the period of project implementation, from 1st July 2020 – 30th June 2026. The evaluation will include an assessment of how the project engaged with Mental Health stakeholders (federal, state, and local government, health, education, Universities, Colleges, healthcare workers, mental health specialists, civil society organizations, community-based organizations, persons (especially young people) with lived experience of mental health conditions, opinion leaders, the media, etc.) at the project sites throughout the project cycle management process and explore how the project engaged marginalized groups broadly. The consultant will ensure that the evaluation process takes a participatory approach with the involvement of a variety of the project stakeholders, especially the primary beneficiaries of the project to document lessons learned and case studies from participating in the project.
The evaluation consultant will contribute to reflection and learning from the implementation of the project throughout this process including good practices, and challenges from delivering similar youth-focused mental health projects. Findings and recommendations will be disseminated and used to improve the overall quality and impact of CBM Global’s work. This will contribute to organizational learning for the project partner (MANI) and CBM Global, create institutional knowledge, gain support among stakeholders, promote understanding of the project evaluated and inform plans for influencing education and health sector policy and practice in Nigeria. The staff of MANI will play a strong role in supporting the evaluation process.
The consultant will incorporate a feedback process with project stakeholders into the data collection and communication aspects of the evaluation to document key learnings and actions for follow-up in terms of the sustainability of the project.
To a best extent possible, disability-friendly venues and communication methods will be used to accommodate persons with various forms of disabilities. It is intended that the final evaluation products will be circulated in soft and printable versions that are in accessible formats to a wide range of project stakeholders.
4. Methodology
The consultant is expected to use a mixed-methods approach, including but not limited to:
Desk review of project documents, reports, and relevant literature.
Interviews with key stakeholders, including project staff, participants, and partners.
Field visits to project sites to gather qualitative data.
The final evaluation must meet the principles of being inclusive, participatory, and interactive, involving both male and female beneficiaries and persons with disabilities.
Regarding confidentiality or data protection, the consultant must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the respondents are not adversely affected by taking part in the project evaluation. S/he must keep the responses from respondents confidential, unless their permission is granted, and must not do anything with their responses that they are not informed about at the time. Care must be taken with children and teenagers by ensuring permission is granted by a parent or responsible adult, such as a teacher, for interviews with children aged under 18. It is expected that the consultant will commit to the CBM Global Child and Adults-at-risk Safeguarding and Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) policies in conducting this evaluation.
5. Timeframe and duration
This project evaluation is expected to be conducted over 35 working days; The deliverables and their expected time frame are highlighted under item number 2 ‘’Purpose and Deliverables’’ above.
6. Place/ location of service delivered
The consultant’s will be expected to travel to FCT, Lagos and Imo State for this task.
7. Required Expert Profile
The final evaluator will be a consultant. S/he will be an experienced evaluator, who will be responsible for the overall evaluation process and the production of the final evaluation report and related products.
The consultant must sign the CBM Global Safeguarding and PSEAH policies before embarking on field work. S/he should be familiar with disability-inclusive approaches in evaluations in line with international standards.
The consultant will be selected based on the following criteria:
Seven (7) to 10 years of proven experience in programme design, implementation, and evaluation with three (3) to five (5) of those years in evaluating public health, advocacy and youth-focused programmes.
Advanced degree/MSc degree in Public Health, Clinical Psychology, Social sciences, International Development, or other relevant fields.
A strong background in mental health programming and in disability inclusive development is desirable.
Knowledge of disability-inclusive practices is an added advantage.
Ability to draw practical conclusions and to prepare well‐written reports promptly and available during the proposed period.
Ability to provide strategic recommendations to key stakeholders.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including ability to facilitate and work in a multidisciplinary team.
Analytical skills, proven through submission of a past project evaluation report.
Submission of references to include clients and other team members.
Ability to deliver high-quality outputs independently while working in close collaboration with CBM Global staff.
Applicants with lived experience of mental health conditions/psychosocial disability, or other disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
8. Copyright
Any data collected related to this assignment, including the draft report, will be full property and copyright of CBMG, and may not be published or distributed to a third party without explicit permission.
9. Compliance with CBM Global Policies
The consultant will be expected to adhere to CBM Global’s policies and standards throughout the assignment. This includes signing and complying with:
CBM Global Code of Conduct
CBM Global Safeguarding Policy
CBM Global Conflict of Interest Policy
These documents will be provided at the time of contracting.
10. Payment schedule
The consultant will be paid upon presentation of invoices after each milestone under this consultancy has been completed. At the point of contracting, CBM Global will provide the Consultancy Invoice Information form, which gives the requirements for the formal content of such invoices. CBM Global will only settle invoices in the agreed currency.
The schedule of payment for this consultancy includes:
Signing Contract: First advance – 25%.
Submission and acceptance of inception report and data tools: Second advance – 25%.
Submission and acceptance of final report, datasets, transcripts, policy briefs, case studies, knowledge products, and PowerPoint Summary by CBM Global and MANI: Final payment – 50%.
How to apply
Qualified and interested evaluation consultants should submit via email: [email protected]
A cover letter expressing their interest.
Curriculum Vitae for individuals and corporate profile for firms. For corporate organizations applying for this evaluation, they must include the CVs of the members of their team and their defined roles to perform in the evaluation of the project.
A short summary of their understanding of the Terms of Reference (ToR).
Three previous project evaluation reports.
A technical offer, which must include the technical requirements and the final evaluation approach/methods, and the work plan and the timeframe to address them. It would also be an opportunity for the consultant to challenge the ToR and offer options.
A financial offer, including a budget for the evaluation. This should include the evaluation team’s daily rates for the assignment, detailing professional fees and per-diems. CBM Global will negotiate with them the final fees in line with the budget available for this evaluation and based on the experience of the chosen candidate.
Submit on or before 18th March 2026.