Short-Term Consultancy: Final Evaluation of Enhancing Job Opportunities and Employability for Youth and Women (EnJOY) Programme, Ethiopia

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Short-Term Consultancy:
Final Evaluation of Enhancing Job Opportunities and Employability for Youth and Women (EnJOY) Programme, Ethiopia

Since February 2020, CARITAS Switzerland as lead organization of a consortium joined by ECC-SDCO, Vita and VIS, is implementing an EU co-funded employment promotion program in 2 regions of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The program will be phasing out January 2024. As foreseen in the contracts, Caritas is required to organize a final evaluation and, therefore, wishes to contract a team of consultants, ideally one international and one national expert, tasked to implement an assessment of the “EnJOY” programme. In line with the contracts underlying the action, the evaluation will be arranged as an external, independent assessment consisting of a desktop (literature/ document) study and a field phase with interviews, focus group discussions and site visits involving key stakeholders. The evaluation approach will be compatible with EU / OECD-DAC standards.

• The final evaluation will cover the full implementation period and all the activities carried out in the context of the project, at all intervention sites. Site visits, however, will be carried out in selected areas considering time, budget and security-related restrictions.
• The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable, and useful. The evaluation team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with the local organizations, experts, project partners, the project and management team, final beneficiaries, and other key stakeholders.

The evaluation team is expected to:

• Measure / evaluate the level of achievement and quality of the activities, of the results obtained as well as the effects produced as compared to the objectives of the project
• Provide recommendations on how the approach / intervention logic could (have been) improve(d)
• To assess the quality, efficiency, and relevance of the action strategy
• To feed the organization with clear recommendations on the implementation process and the mobilization process of the beneficiaries and the different actors and stakeholders - To highlight strengths and weaknesses of the implementation and monitoring processes.
• The EnJOY program follows a systemic and multi-level approach which includes support measures with government partners at different levels (regional, district, kebele), promotion of an enabling environment for a strengthened private sector and direct investments to support the creation of micro and small enterprises. Apart from the usual “achievements against defined indicators” evaluation, the consortium is interested to benefit from a comparative analysis which assesses the relative cost-benefits of the different approaches combined in the EnJOY program
• In addition, the evaluation team must consider to what extent and how gender, environment and climate change were mainstreamed and addressed by the intervention and the effects – desired and undesired – on different types of target groups.
• Delivery of draft evaluation report until December 14, 2023
• Delivery of final evaluation report until December 28, 2023

Requirements

• Ideally, the evaluation shall be carried out by a team of experts, one international and one national, with an academic background at MSc level in a field related to the project. The evaluation team will comprise the best available mix of skills that are required to assess the project, and as a whole, will have expertise in all the following subject matters: Rural Development, Local Economic Development, TVET, SMEs Development, Youth and Women Affairs, Employment/ Job Creation Strategies & Policies
• A strong theoretical and practical background in aid delivery modalities and evaluation methodology is indispensable.
• The international expert/team leader must have a proven record of 10 years of experience at senior level with development cooperation projects focusing promotion of micro- small & medium enterprises including national youth employment policies and have a good understanding of rural-urban migration dynamics and employment promotion particularly for youth and women.
• The international expert/team leader must have extensive work experience in Africa including work experience in Ethiopia (2 years' minimum). He/she must have strong experiences as an evaluation teamleader in related sectors in Eastern Africa, preferably in Ethiopia
• The national experts must have an MSc in a related field and minimum of 5 years of proven and strong experience in designing, analysing and/or implementing market system development (MSD) programs and the development of national youth employment policies and / or national migration and internally displaced people policy. He/she should be capable of contributing the necessary specialized local (Oromia, SNNPR) know-how to the team. Expertise in data analysis, particularly for analyzing data provided by the program’s MEAL system, would be a strong asset

Other requirements:

• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English is mandatory for the international expert/team leader and the national expert. In addition, the national expert must be fluent in Amharic; being able to communicate at a basic level in afan oromo is a must; mastering the language would be strong advantage
• A good understanding of migration dynamics and issues related to youth task force development in Ethiopia is needed including the knowledge of the administrative set-up of the respective government sector
• Experiences in communication and facilitating learning workshops
• Availability in line with the defined mission calendar and ability to deliver as per the agreement

Details are provided here in the Terms of References

Applications by interested firms or associated individuals are welcome. The application should be handed in before November 16, 2023 and include:

• 1-page expression of interest, highlighting relevant experience and knowledge of the context, daily rate and availability for travel to and in Ethiopia;
• A technical proposal detailing your approach to evaluation of the project, including methodology proposal (maximum 5 pages) and team organization.
• A detailed implementation plan, showing timing and duration of tasks for all team members
• A detailed financial proposal
• Updated CV(s)
• Contact details for 2 references
  

For further enquiries, applicants may contact: Frank Sandvoss, Project Manager, fsandvoss@caritas.ch

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