Job Opportunity at Reaching the Unreached Tanzania (RUT), Mid-term Evaluation Consultancy

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Location: Dodoma Region, Tanzania

Application Deadline: 28th February 2021

Type of Contract: Individual Contract

Languages Required: English

Expected Duration of Assignment: 21 Days

Expected Starting Date : 8th March 2021

Background

Reaching the Unreached Tanzania (RUT) is a national voluntary based non-governmental, non-profit making and non-partisan organization working to address sexual and reproductive health and rights and promoting access to justice in Tanzania.  RUT is dedicated to protect and promote the dignity, well-being and rights of marginalized groups particularly adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), women, and children. It is committed to improve the social, economic, political, legal, and cultural status of such groups, defending their interests and eradicating all forms of discrimination and violence against them.

In 2020 RUT rolled out the urban legal empowerment project funded by Legal Services Facility (LSF). The project addresses issues of access to justice among urban dwellers. The initiative intends to sustain, support, and build capacities of local government and ward authorities in enforcing environmental laws and policies. But also, increasing community awareness on existing environmental laws, by-laws and policies.

Summary of the Project to be Evaluated 

• Title: Promoting Urban Poor’s Rights to Clean and Healthy Environment in Dodoma City Council
• Start: August 2020
• Duration: 17 months
• Donor: Legal Services Facility (LSF)
• Project beneficiaries: Poor urban dwellers in Dodoma city council
• General objective: To increase urban poor’s access to justice by promoting their rights to live in a clean and healthy environment through enforcing solid waste management initiatives (ie. Environmental policies, by-laws and regulations) in Dodoma city council by 2021. 

Specific Objectives:

• To increase community awareness by 20% on existing laws, by-laws, policies and regulations that promote their rights to live in clean and health environment by 2021.
• To strengthen capacities of local government and ward authorities in enforcement of environmental laws, by-laws and regulations that address solid waste management by 2021.
• Target population of the project: 8,000 beneficiaries

General Objective of the Evaluation

• Objective: To make an assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of the above-mentioned project, its design, implementation and results. 
• The aim is to determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. The evaluation should provide information that is credible and useful, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decision-making process of RUT.

Principles underpinning the approach to the evaluation are:

• Impartiality and independence of the evaluation process from the programming and implementation functions;
• Credibility of the evaluation, through use of appropriately skilled and independent expert and the transparency of the evaluation process, including wide dissemination of results;
• Usefulness of the evaluation findings and recommendations, through timely presentation of relevant, clear and concise information.

Specific Objectives of the Evaluation

• Result 1: The project activities are evaluated trough the following criteria; relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact.
• Result 2: Recommendations for improving each of the criteria are shared (especially for the next phase of the project).
• Result 3: A suggested action plan corresponding to each recommendation is included in the evaluation report.

The evaluation report should then provide conclusions and recommendations on the following questions:

• Effectiveness: To which degree did the activities meet the objectives and results set out in the project (as outlined in the logical framework)?
• Matching needs: Did the project/activities meet relevant needs of the beneficiaries?
• Relevance: Was the project designed in a way that is relevant to reach its goals?
• Efficiency: Was the project run in an efficient way?
• Sustainability: Are the results achieved so far sustainable?
• Internal coherence: Were the result indicators and their means of verification adequate?
• What possible adjustments would the consultant recommend?
• Gender mainstreaming: To what extent did the project succeed in including a gender perspective?
• Impact: Where there any unforeseen positive/negative effects of the activities?
• Synergies: to which extent were synergies achieved with other activities implemented by other NGOs, as well as with local initiatives?
• Which unmet needs did the evaluator identify that would be relevant for RUT to look into in an eventual continuation of the project?
• Identify lessons learned and provide recommendations.

Methodology

Overall evaluation approach and data collection methods proposed:

• Preparation phase: Secondary data review, briefing with RUT personnel at headquarter (Dodoma), writing an inception report for evaluation stating the sources of information, tools for collection. The methodological proposition of evaluation must allow a mutual understanding between the RUT teams and the consultant, regarding the objectives, scope, time and expected results of the evaluation.
• Field phase: Meeting key stakeholders, especially local authorities, beneficiaries and other relevant people (from Department of Environment at Dodoma city council, local organizations and NGOs) using individual questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions (FGD).
• Analysis and debriefing phase: The results and preliminary conclusions will be presented to the RUT teams and partners at field level. A debriefing in the headquarter will be organized (if necessary via Skype) to discuss the results and the recommendations.

Deliverables

All deliverables are to be submitted to RUT programs director and project coordinator for this specific project at HQ.

Deliverables include:

• An inception report, to be submitted one week after the beginning of the evaluation, explaining the methodology and work plan for the evaluation.
• A final report to be submitted at the end of the evaluation.
• Profile of the Consultant

Competencies:

• Excellent communication (spoken and written) skills
• Excellent writing, analytical and research skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines

Qualifications & Experiences

• Minimum 5 years proven experience in project evaluation
• Fluent English and good writing skills (the report should be in English)
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations, critical issues, and draw forward-looking conclusions and recommendations.
• Familiarity with Tanzania environmental laws, policies and regulations

Application

Interested candidates should submit:

• A technical proposal
• A financial offer including of a detailed budget in columns (fees, other costs)
• An up to date CV
• Technical sample of an evaluation report done by the applicant/consultant

Only complete applications will be considered.

The applicants must send off requested documents electronically to info@rut-tz.org 

The deadline to apply is 3rd March 2021

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing to the e-mail indicated above.