Program Mid-Term Evaluation (DCA)__Deadline:30May

 

Terms of Reference

Program Mid-Term Evaluation

Country: Cambodia

Programme title: Advancing Rights In Cambodia

Programme period: 6 July 2020 – 30 June 2022

Timing of evaluation: June 2022 – September 2022

1. Background

DCA is seeking a mid-term evaluation for a four year, donor funded human rights project. The program aims to strengthen human rights in Cambodia through empowering Cambodian citizens to exercise their human rights. The project takes a multi-faceted approach, working with a consortium of local Cambodian organizations, to ensure land and property rights are protected, the rights of human trafficking victims are defended, and all Cambodians are able to exercise their right to objective, unbiased information. The program provides Cambodian citizens with the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand, pursue and defend their human rights. **

The program operates across Cambodia implementing a range of activities including:

· Awareness raising,

· Capacity and knowledge building,

· Documenting violations,

· Advocacy, and

· Direct support to impacted individuals and communities.

The program also supports and builds the capacity of local organizations and human rights defenders to ensure sustainability of their efforts. This includes support to individuals and organizations working in human rights to address their digital and physical safety and psychosocial care and support needs.

The first two years of programming has been impacted by the extended nature of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a changing legislative and operational landscape in which DCA and partners operate. A mid-term evaluation is required to not only assess progress and outcomes to date but to also identify areas for adaptation and improvement moving forward.

3. Purpose, objective and evaluation questions

3.1 The purpose

The ARC project is mid-way through the life of the project and DCA is seeking to carry out a process evaluation for learning, adaptation and accountability purposes.

The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation will provide guidance to support the final years of the project implementation and adaptations required in order for the project to be successful in achieving its objectives. It will also contribute to organisational learning both at DCA Cambodia and within implementing local partners.

3.2 The objective of the evaluation

To conduct an assessment of the performance of the project with a specific focus on achievements, outcomes, challenges and learning to date.

The evaluation should be conducted against the DAC evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability with a view to draw lessons and make recommendations for the remaining life of the project and inform future programming by DCA in this the area of fighting extreme inequality.

The evaluation is also expected to generate findings for organisational and programmatic learning on the projects approaches and thematic priorities.

3.3 Evaluation questions

Relevance

Key question:

1. To what extent is the ARC program implementation addressing the needs of the rights holders identified as targets of the program and structural causes of rights violations in the given context?

a. To what extent are project activities contributing to the project theory of change and in what way do the partners complement each other in achieving the project goals?

Effectiveness

Key question:

1. What have been the program achievements against outcome results as identified in the log frame

a. To what extent were the participation and accountability mechanisms used effective at engaging rights-holders?

b. To what extent have the interventions contributed to the empowerment of rights-holders to claim or access their rights and entitlements; and of duty-bearers to fulfil their obligations?

c. What results were achieved in terms of reducing the underlying causes of marginalization and rights violations? What were the key factors that contributed to the achievement?

d. What challenges in implementation or changes in context have been reflected in project delivery? Is there anything that needs to be modified or adapted to in light of these challenges to ensure the results or objectives of the project can be achieved?

Efficiency

Key questions:

1. Are the project’s staffing and management structures efficient and do the project staff have enough capacity to implement a high-quality project? Why or Why not?

2. How economically have resources (funds, expertise, time, etc) been converted to results? Were these resources utilised at the right time of need?

Impact

Key question:

1. What has been the positive and negative impact at rights-holders level (outcome) directly or indirectly?

a. What evidence is there that the interventions contributed to rights-holders increasing their enjoyment of their rights; of duty-bearers better performing their duties and obligations; and of accountability mechanisms being strengthened?

b. What evidence is there of changes in gender inequalities e.g. in access and use of resources, in decision-making, etc.?

c. Were there any unintended effects on groups (either included or not included in the intervention)?

Sustainability

Key Questions:

1. What evidence and knowledge has been gathered and can be further gathered to inform project learning? How have they contributed to organizational learning?

2. How have partnerships been enhanced and local (community) ownership of activities been established as a result of the ARC project? (DCA and partners, partners and rights holders, rights holders and duty bearers, and partners among themselves?)

4. Scope

The evaluation assignment should cover the ARC program period 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2022 with the evaluation taking place between June and September 2022.

The evaluation will include data collection from:

· DCA Cambodia

· 9 local, implementing partners (relevant project staff)

· A sample of relevant beneficiaries / target communities including:

o Journalists / citizen journalists

o Safe migration participants

o Victims of trafficking participants

o Participants involved in or representing communities involved in land disputes

o Human rights defender participants

· Data collection will primarily occur in Phnom Penh but may also include travel to up to five (5 provinces) in Cambodia. Travel will be based upon agreed sampling of relevant beneficiaries / target communities and geographical coverage of the project activities.

· Existing program data will also be made available to the consultants including program documentation such as the monitoring, evaluation and learning plan and the data management system which holds data collected to date against project indicators and baseline data.

There are limitations to including the following projects and areas in the programme evaluation:

· Due to the sensitivities around some project activities, locations and topics access to beneficiaries / target communities will be guided and supported by implementing partners due to risks to those who participate

· Names and identifying information will not be captured for beneficiaries / target communities – a non-identified way of data collection and management will need to be utilised for data collection

· Consultants will have supervised, time-limited access to the existing data from the project, both at DCA and with partners. This information cannot be copied nor saved outside of the shared online space designated by DCA.

It is anticipated the evaluation will equate to between 30 and 40 days effort between June and September 2022. However, the consultant should determine the overall days required and identify the number of days required for each phase and deliverable.

1. Method

It is expected that the consultants will further develop the methodology to be applied within this consultancy. However, the consultants should be guided by the DAC evaluation quality standards for development evaluation in their development of the methodology, conduct of the evaluation and drafting of the report.¹

In addition, the below key elements should guide the development of the proposed methodology. Participatory methodologies must be employed to ensure that the rights holders targeted by the programme effectively participate throughout the evaluation process. The method developed must also be gender sensitive and it must describe how it fits the purpose of the evaluation. During the data collection and analysis phase the team can use both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. It is recommended that the methodology focuses on outcomes and allows for collection of data from multiple sources, like document review, stakeholder interviews, focus group discussions, and surveys.

6. Outputs **

1. Inception report, which comprises initial findings of document review, fully developed methodology and evaluation matrix for the evaluation, and workplan for the evaluation.

2. A debriefing session on the most significant findings and recommendations to be discussed with the DCA Cambodia

3. Draft and final evaluation reports in 1-3-25 format which makes use of the suggested report structure below as agreed with the evaluation manager.

4. Presentations to implementing partners in June and September 2022, the first to outline the initial approach to the evaluation and the second to present findings of the evaluation. The final presentation of findings is to:

· Powerpoint presentation

· In-person / online presentation

· The reporting of evaluation findings can be made more absorbing by engaging visual concepts and summarising and synthesising findings through the use of graphics, drawings and multimedia emphasis techniques, the elimination of chart junk, etc.

· Accessibility considerations (language)

7. Report Structure.

A good evaluation report prepared for DCA should follow the standard 1-3-25 format:

1. Start with one page of main messages

2. Follow that with a 3-page executive summary

3. Present findings in no more than 25 pages of writing plus annexes.

Closing date: 30 May 2022, at 17.00 ICT
Contact person: Ruth Whereat
Tel: +61 4 7473 7806
E-mail: ruwh@dca.dk

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