ACTIONAID (AA) NIGERIA: CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR ENDLINE EVALUATION WOMEN’S VOICE AND LEADERSHIP-NIGERIA (WVL-N) PROJECT

Background 

Local women’s rights organizations (LWROs) are critical frontline actors central to sustaining gender transformative gains in Nigeria. However, LWROs in Nigeria have not always been able to access long-term donor funding. The Women’s Voice and Leadership Nigeria (WVL – Nigeria) project is a five-year project funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and implemented by ActionAid Nigeria . The WVL project utilizing a Feminist Approach provided flexible granting, capacity strengthening for LWRO to improve programming for women and girls, strengthen organizational systems and increase organization’s ability to influence gender related policies at all levels. This was done through the provision of multiple layers of funding (multi-year grant, Strategic Opportunity Fund (SOF), and Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)) and tailored capacity building support to these organisations.

The project has supported over 100 Local Women’s Rights Organisations (LWROs) and their movements to promote rights and equality by providing services and opportunities for women and girls. WVL project grantees tackled barriers to gender equality and provided interventions to eliminate discrimination and rights violations in policy and legislation.

Objectives of the WVL project 

The goal of the WVL-Nigeria Project is to “Increase enjoyment of human rights by women and girls and the advancement of gender equality in Nigeria”. Through multi-year grant, organizations implemented the project in 6 states (Bauchi, Cross River, Enugu, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos) and the FCT spread across the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria. Furthermore, through the SOF and SIF funding stream, the project was implemented in other states to address emergency needs and promote innovative ideas that improve quality of life for women and girls. The project has 3 expected results.

• To improved management and sustainability of local women’s rights organization in Nigeria.
• To enhanced delivery of programming and advocacy to advance gender equality by local women’s rights organisations in Nigeria.
• Increased effectiveness of sub-national, national, and regional women’s rights platforms, networks, and alliances to affect policy, legal and social change in Nigeria.

WVL-Nigeria Feminist Evaluation Coverage and Context 

ActionAid Nigeria is seeking for qualified Feminist MEAL expect firm/researcher with 360 background on the Feminist Approach to Monitoring Evaluation and Learning to bide for the Women Voice and Leadership-Nigeria (WVL-N) endline evaluation assessment. Aligned with the feminist approach of the WVL project, the evaluator/ firm is expected to model feminist principles of empowerment, inclusivity, and participation in conducting the evaluation. The evaluator/ firm will propose evaluation methods that will maintain feminist values, including collaboration, fairness, respect, confidentiality, transparency, solidarity, and diversity.

The evaluator/firm should demonstrate the alignment of their evaluation methods with the DAC Guidance on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls for Development Partners and the OECD DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation.  .

Evaluation Scope of Work

The WVL project endline evaluation will cover the entire 5 years (2019 – 2024) cycle of the project. The endline evaluation will take into consideration completed and ongoing activities on the project to ensure the evaluation is comprehensive. The evaluation will assess the effectiveness, efficiency, impact, relevance, and sustainability of the WVL project initiative in Nigeria; make viable recommendations, and highlight lessons to be learned from the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project from inception to closeout.

In addition, the evaluation will assess the achievement of final outcomes of the WVL project (i.e., WVL goals and results), and will include an updated Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) evaluation to determine the net economic benefit of the WVL project grants to Women’s Rights Organisations (WRO’s) and to assess the impact or otherwise of the participatory grantmaking in Nigeria

The evaluation will cover the primary target states (Bauchi, Enugu, Cross River, Kwara, Kebbi, and Lagos) and other locations outside these states where SOF and SIF interventions were carried out. The evaluation participants will include but not limited to AAN, Partner organizations, project beneficiaries etc.

Objectives Of the Program Endline Evaluation 

The purpose for this evaluation is to assess the overall management, implementation and performance of the WVL-Nigeria project using feminist MEAL lens to capture project achievements, challenges, and best practices for the next phase.

The endline evaluation of WVL-Nigeria project will focus on four principal objectives:

Objective 1: Evaluate AAN Management of WVL project overall, including design, implementation modalities, governance, coordination, technical guidance and support, and the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategy.

Objective 2: Evaluate WVL Partners organisational structures, policies, systems, processes, practices, and capacities as it relates to institutional capacity building processes of the Women’s Voice and Leadership.

Objectives 3: Evaluate the progress in achieving the WVL project goals, outcomes, and results.

Objective 4: Generate learnings and recommendations that will improve the second phase of the project.

Criteria for the Program Endline Evaluation 

The WVL endline evaluation will assess the project performance against effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability criteria.

• Effectiveness: How effective has the WVL project been in delivering results and in strengthening evidence-based decision making for Women’s Right Organization (WROs) in Nigeria?
• Efficiency: To what extent has the project delivered its results in a cost-effective manner?
• Impact: what are the cumulative and/or long-term effects expected from the WVL project, including contribution towards the intended impact, positive or negative impacts, or intended or unintended changes?
• Sustainability: To what extent are the project’s results likely to be sustained in the long term?

Principal evaluation questions

The following questions are suggested to guide the design to the WVL project evaluation:

Effectiveness: How effective was the WVL Project delivery?

1. How effective has capacity building trainings both online, physical, and other means delivered from the onset of the WVL project was in supporting individual and institutional capacities of the Women’s Right Organisations in advancing gender equality in Nigeria?
2. To what extent have recent WVL project adaptations supported a human right-based approach and gender empowerment in the project framework?
3. Were accepted recommendations from baseline and mid-term evaluations implemented?

Efficiency: were the WVL KPIs, deliverables and milestones delivered on time and on budget? Why/why not?

1. To what extent were the WVL project outputs being produced in a cost-effective manner?
2. Were the WVL project framework outputs and objectives achieved on time or otherwise?
3. To what extent have partnership modalities (Women’s Right Networks, Lead organizations and CBOs) been conductive to the efficient delivery of the WVL project and its achievement of results?
4. To what extent has the initiative adjusted to the COVID-19 related context?
5. How did the environmental-factors and context support or otherwise hinder the WVL project initiative?

Economic Evaluation (using Cost-Effectiveness Analyses):

The outputs of the CEA are also an important input to answering the above evaluation questions related to the criteria of ‘Efficiency’. This relates to whether the project used the least costly resources possible to achieve the desired impact compared to alternatives.

1. Was the project a cost-effective means of achieving the results by project end, as compared to the non-space alternatives delivery.
2. What is the net economic benefit of the project.
3. What lessons can be drawn on the results of the CEA to support efficient project delivery in the project context?

Impact Evaluation

Effectiveness: Extent to which project met its objectives as stated in the log frame? Why/why not?

1. To what extent have the WVL project deliverables supported government ministries in applying/scaling for women’s rights finding/policies?
2. Is there evidence that the Women’s rights platform is effective in strengthening evidence-based decision making for improved women’s rights programing and gender advancement?
3. To what extent did the WVL project meet the planned results at the output and outcome levels, and did the project reach its intended beneficiaries and respond to their needs?
4. What factors have influenced the achievement (or non-achievement) of the WVL project’s objectives?

Assessment of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women: Extent has the project been relevant for advancing women’s right and the empowerment of women to meet the needs of vulnerable women and girls in Nigeria.

• Overall, to what extent did the WVL project develop knowledge, skills and other capacities of women and stakeholders, and if so, what were the enabling or preventing factors?
• To what extent has the project increased awareness of women stakeholders?
• To what extent has the project contributed to national and sub-national “Gender Equality”?

Early indicational of impact: what are the early indications of impact of the project?

What observable end-results or organizational change (positive or negative, intended, or unintended) within key stakeholder/partner institutions have improved because of the project?

To what extent has the initiative contributed to enhanced women and girls’ rights resilience in Nigeria?

To what extent has the project generated early signs of impact, nationwide and in intervention states (Bauchi, Enugu, Cross River, Kwara, Kebbi and Lagos) in comparison to non-intervention states in Nigeria?

What real difference does the initiative make in enhancing evidence-based decision making in the project implementing states and the national level?

Early indication of sustainability: Are the project results sustainable? Will project impacts continue after GAC funding ceases?

1. To what extent are the project’s results (e.g., individual, institutional capacities, WVL-Nigeria platform) likely to endure beyond the implementation of the activities in the mid- to long-term and beyond the beneficiary communities and what factors are likely to contribute to this?
2. To what extent are there early signs that the project has supported environmental sustainability?
3. What indications are observable that show that there are resources in place in each community, LGAs and States to continue the use of the WVL-Nigeria project’s results in the short/medium term?

Methodology 

This endline evaluation should modelled feminist evaluation principles and approaches throughout the evaluation process. This is in line with the Feminist International Assistance Policy and the WVL’s MEL Workplan. The approach should be informed by a theoretical and academic framework,Footnote7 and applied using a practical, useful and empowering process. The evaluation process and its products should aim to support social change and encourage reflection and learning both internally and externally to GAC, ActionAid, implementing partners (WRO’s, Networks and CBO’s) to ensure grounded in three core feminist beliefs: 1. there should be equity among humans, 2. Gender inequity leads to social injustice and 3. Gender-based inequalities are systemic. Provides a way to think about and guide an evaluation that values the process as much as the findings. Encourages reflective, empowering, collaborative, and participatory processes that actively support social justice agendas; and aims to provide a platform for women’s voices and those of others who are often unheard.

To maximise the utilisation of the evaluation, the evaluation shall follow a participatory approach and engage a range of project stakeholders in the process, including the project partners, the AAN Country Teams, the participants, the donor, and other stakeholders. Data collection should be triangulated to the larger extent possible to ensure validity and reliability of findings and draw on the following methods: comprehensive desk review, including a stakeholder analysis; surveys; review of the log frame (reconstructed) baseline data and reconstruction of the theory of change; key informant interviews; focus groups; and field visits.

The evaluator should engage in quantitative and qualitative analysis in responding to the principal evaluation questions and present the findings qualitatively or quantitatively as most appropriate.

Through the following data collection protocols:

• Comprehensive desk review: 
• Stakeholder analysis: The evaluator will identify the different stakeholders involved in the project. Key stakeholders at the global and national level include, but are not limited to 10 Network organizations, 28 Lead Women Right Organizations, 72 Community Based Organizations
• Survey(s)
• Key Informant Interviews
• Focus Group Discussion

Field Visit 

Due to the number of cross implementing WVL-Nigeria project states, LGAs and Communities the evaluation consultant will be expected to conduct field visit to the project locations for interviews and focus groups desirably depending alongside other assistant evaluators. Observation may also be varied and useful if activities are being implemented simultaneously during the field visit. The evaluator should have demonstrative experience to undertake data collection remotely where travel is restricted due to insecurity or otherwise.

Gender Equality and Human Rights Lens:

The evaluator should incorporate human rights, gender and equity perspectives in the evaluation process and findings, particularly by involving women, girls, and other disadvantaged groups subject to discrimination. All key data collected shall be disaggregated based on sex and age grouping and be included in the draft and evaluation report.

Timeframe, Work Plan, Deliverables and Review 

The proposed timeframe for the evaluation spans from December 2023 (initial desk review and data collection) to March 2024 (submission of final evaluation report). An indicative work plan is provided in the table below.

The consultant shall submit a brief evaluation design/question matrix following the comprehensive desk study, stakeholder analysis and initial key informant interviews. The evaluation design/question matrix should include a discussion on the evaluation objectives, methods and, if required, revisions to the suggested evaluation questions or data collection methods. The Evaluation design/question matrix should indicate any foreseen difficulties or challenges/limitations in collecting data and confirm the final timeframe for the completion of the evaluation exercise. In addition, the raw data outline shall be submitted also.

Following data collection and analysis, the consultant shall submit a zero draft of the evaluation and Cost-Effective Analyses (CEA) report to the evaluation manager and revise the draft based on comments made by Project Management Team.

The draft evaluation and CEA reports (two separate documents) should follow the structures presented under the format of the report. The report should state the purpose of the evaluation and the methods used and include a discussion on the limitations of the evaluation. The report should present evidence-based and balanced findings, including strengths and weaknesses, consequent conclusions and recommendations, and lessons to be learned. The length of the evaluation report should be approximately 35-50 pages, excluding annexes. The CEA narrative report should have 8-10 pages and follow the methodology provided in this call. This report should outline the CEA process, key assumptions results, interpretation of the results, and caveats – including aspects of the project that cannot be quantified in the Excel model. The objective is to provide a compelling narrative which helps place the CEA analysis and findings, including the next best alternatives in context. This narrative will then be duplicated into the project’s evaluation report.

Communication/dissemination of results:

The evaluation report shall be written in English and other predominant local language where necessary. The final report will be shared with all partners and stakeholders and be posted on the Feminist Hub and other online repository of evaluation reports open to the public to contribute to the whole body of knowledge nationally and internationally.

Professional Requirements for Evaluation Consultant:

The lead evaluator should have the following qualifications and experience:

• MA degree or equivalent in evaluation, development or a related discipline, knowledge, and experience of implementing Feminist MEAL, GESI, System Strengthening (policy influencing), including in areas related to women economic justice and empowerment, women political participation and leadership, Gender Based Violent (GBV) in development intervention.
• At least 7 years of professional experience conducting evaluation in the field of Women Right Organizations (WROs) system strengthening, knowledge of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI)
• The firm/ researcher should have experience conducting participatory and/or feminist monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Technical knowledge of the focal area including the evaluation of women economic justice and empowerment, women political participation and leadership, Gender Based Violent (GBV) related topics.
• Fieldwork experience in development interventions in and/or out of the country is of great value.
• Excellent research and analytical skills, especially using qualitative data, including experience in a variety of evaluation methods and approaches. Experience in evaluation using the Kirpatrick method is an added advantage.
• Excellent writing skills
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Cross-cutting awareness and flexibility in women’s rights programing.
• Available and willing to travel.
• Fluency in oral and written English with good understanding of Nigerian geographical context.

Proposal Requirement 

A technical and cost proposal based on these Terms of Reference (ToR) is requested from the consultant or consulting firm. The proposal should contain:  

1. The firm/ researcher should have a minimum of eight (8) years of recent (within the last 10 years) working experience in the following areas: (i) gender equality, including working with marginalized groups and/or women’s rights organizations; and (ii) conducting participatory and/or feminist monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Applicants must explain in the Expression of Interest (EOI) how specifically their experience meets these two (2) criteria.
2. Detailed plan of action for fieldwork indicating staff days required.
3. Specific roles and responsibilities of the team leader, supervisory chain, and other core members of the assessment team.
4. Schedule of key activities preferably in a format such as a Gantt chart.
5. Detailed budget with justification.
6. Updated CV of Team Leader and other core members of the Evaluation Team
7. A profile of the consulting firm (including a sample report of similar activities conducted in the past will by an added advantage)

Note that applications that fail to abide by this requirement will not be considered for selection.

Terms of payment 

The basis for payment and payment scheduling will be determined during contract negotiations and will be contained in a separate contract. However, an interesting firm should demonstrate 50% financial capability to implement this call.

Guiding Principles and Values:  

It is essential for ActionAid staff, including our consultants and vendors to demonstrate high level principles and values given informed consent when interacting with participants for their names, images, and stories to be used. A sample consent forms, for individual and a group will be provided upon contractual agreement.

Adherence to ActionAid-Nigeria Code of conduct, Child Protection policy and confidentiality when interviewing or photographing children. HRBA is key to ActionAid-Nigeria and the donor; therefore, the lead consultant is expected to ensure that the research team is gender balanced, ensuring that females are available to interact with female beneficiaries and vice versa. The consultant will also consider principles of impartiality, independence, objectivity, participation, collaboration, transparency, reliability, privacy, and utility throughout the process of the evaluation and committed to preventing any form of sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse (including child abuse and adult at-risk abuse).

Protocol for Questions and Contact 

Any technical questions arising during the preparation of your response to this call are encouraged and should be submitted in writing via email to the Program Manager ActionAid-Nigeria, Niri Goyit (Niri.Goyit@actionaid.org), and copy the Country Programme Impact Assessment and Shared Learning Manager (Amina.Adamu@actionaid.org) and MEL Advisor, Paul Samuel Dickson (Paul.Samuel@actionaid.org).

All questions must be submitted in the following format:

• Email with subject: “WVL-NIGERIA ENDLINE EVALUATION ToR Question”
• State original TOR statement or requirement
• State Vendor question.
• Each inquiry should cite the document section, paragraph, and page number. Every attempt will be made to provide answers within three (3) working days.

Note that inquiry on the ToR is open until 10 days to the close of advert! 

Submission of Expression of Interest.  

Interested candidates/firm are invited to submit Expression of Interest (EoI) electronically in a single Zip file; in line with the requirements detailed in the “Proposal Requirement” section demonstrating their competency in conducting feminist evaluation to: Procurement.Nigeria@actionaid.org and Copy: Paul.Samuel@actionaid.org using the specific title of the ToR as subject line not later than 12/01/ 2024. Failure to adhere to instructions by applicant could invalidate your application.

Note: Only Research Candidates/Firms with the most demonstrative experience in Feminist Monitoring Evaluation and Learning is highly essential for this assessment.