Consultant to Conduct Evaluation of Civil Society and Governance in Timor-Leste Project

Hivos seeks qualified candidates for the position of Consultant to Conduct Evaluation of Civil Society and Governance in Timor-Leste Project.

About the Project

The Civil Society and Governance in Timor-Leste project is a project supported by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is currently in its fourth phase. It is a continuation of a previous Hivos initiative which supported gender based violence (GBV) victims and governance issues in Timor-Leste from 2014-2016, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019. This project aims to strengthen the capacity of five local CSOs in Timor-Leste to better and effectively advocate for the rights of its citizens. The project has two expected results:

Increased awareness of and commitment to the gender based violence survivors groups and the promotions of women leadership and good governance among communities and key stakeholders.
Improved the capability of four CSOs in the area of public outreach and organizational sustainability.

In regards to the project above, Hivos wishes to assign a consultant to conduct an end-evaluation of the current phase of the project using a participatory process that will help realize the impact of the project to the community and beneficiaries, the achievement of project objectives and results, gather lessons learned, and provide possible recommendations for future phases.

The final evaluation has the following objectives:

The general objective: To evaluate the performance of the Civil Society and Governance program using a standard evaluation criterion, such as its overall effectiveness and efficiency, its relevance and appropriateness to current context, impacts (the changes at personal, relational, structural and cultural), and sustainability of the intervention. Lastly, it should also include external factors that might contribute or impede the program. The assessment will only cover the fourth phase of the project from 2019-2020 (one year).

Specific Objectives

Gather information from the beneficiaries on the impact of the activities that were conducted and whether or not project outcomes were met. It will be important to include what could be done better in order to make a bigger impact to the beneficiaries.
Gather information from staff of partner organizations about organizational and program management, efficiency and effectiveness of activity implementation, problems and difficulties encountered during the implementation of the project and how they dealt with it.
Identify and provide recommendations based on the findings of the evaluation, achievements, lessons learned, gaps and challenges for future projects within the same scope.

Important note: Please note that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is possible to conduct this assignment remotely, as there may be restrictions for any travel or offline/face-to-face meetings. If this is the case, this should be reflected in the proposal and in the proposed budget.

Scope of Work

The consultant will be expected to:

Prepare evaluation criteria based on initial meeting with Hivos.
Conduct a group meeting with representatives from all four partner organizations to discuss the evaluation procedure, expectations, and requirements partners need to fulfill.
Conduct individual meetings with each partner organization. Namely, the director and program staff must be present at this meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to gather information about the implementation of the project during the one year.
Hear from several beneficiaries to see impact of the work. This may include government officials, if possible.
Produce an evaluation assessment based on the consultant’s findings.

Qualification & Experience

Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in conducting baseline or end-evaluation types of assignments;
Proven experience with logical frameworks and other strategic planning and M&E methods and approaches (including quantitative, qualitative and participatory);
At least 3 years’ experience in gender and human rights issues, especially working with communities in rural areas or settings.
Good program design skills, including capacity to prepare logical, coherent and consistent documents;
Ability to work rapidly, both in person and remotely, with team members in various locations;
Must be able to speak Tetun.

Format of Evaluation Assessment

The report should be written in English. The sections found in the assessment should not exceed the following:

Executive summary (1/2 page)
Introduction (1 page)
Objectives and Methodology (1 page)
Findings (5 pages)
Conclusion and Recommendations (2 pages)
Any photos or documentation
Annexes

Timeline

The consultant should not exceed a maximum of 15 working days to conduct the entire evaluation. The final version of the report must be approved by Hivos before the 23^rd of October. The consultant will be required to submit a timesheet to validate the number of working days.

Budget

The consultant should propose a budget for a maximum of 15 working days to conduct the entire evaluation. This budget should include honor fees and/or any logistical expenses to conduct meetings with implementing partners. The gross amount is subject to deduction of withholding tax article 21 to be paid to the Indonesian tax authority.

How to apply?

Interested applicants should send a CV/resume, proposed budget, and a writing sample (in English) to [email protected] by September 25, 2020 with “Civil Society and Governance TL Evaluation” as the subject of the email. An application with a missing component will not be reviewed.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted and interviewed.

For more information about Hivos Southeast Asia, visit https://www.hivos.org/