1. Context
Turkana County with a population of 1,011,235 in 2014 is one of Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) counties situated in the northwest part of Kenya. The county’s livelihood zones are pastoralism (62%), agro-pastoralism (14%), fishing (8%), urban/peri-urban (16%) {County livestock development plan for Turkana, West Pokot, Samburu and Baringo 2013-2017}.
Agro-pastoralists are found mostly along rivers Turkwel and Kerio, while formal employments/casual waged are found in towns mainly Lokichoggio, Kakuma and Lodwar.
Turkana is a drought prone area that experiences frequent, successive and prolonged spells of drought and malnutrition rates in the county are among the highest in the country.
Traditional unsound beliefs have greatly impacted negatively on health seeking behavior of the people: most hold beliefs that disability is caused by evil spirits or curse from the gods.
Children and adults with disability are enclosed in their homes and thus prone to missed opportunities such as schooling and health due to social stigma against people living with disability.
Many people living with disabilities in Kenya in general and in Turkana County in particular live in poverty and have limited opportunities to access education, health, suitable housing and employment opportunities {Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Kenya Fact Sheet, 2009}.
In addition, conflicts and insecurity has led to needless loss of lives, displacement of households, and loss of livelihoods, trauma and physical disabilities.
The project to be evaluated is a disability mainstreaming project that started in January 2014 and that is a continuation of similar projects that have been implemented in Turkana County since May 2012 with funding from Christian Blind Mission (CBM).
This project that aimed at improving the lives of people living with disabilities in Turkana County, Kenya, by leveraging on Save the Children on going health and nutrition projects is coming to an end on February 28 2015.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to improvements in the quality of life of people with disabilities in Turkana County while the specific objective is to ultimately increase access of people with disabilities to interventions that can improve their quality of life by:
Sub-objective 1: Prevention of physical impairments arising from avoidable and vaccine preventable childhood diseases, through facilitation of health education, nutrition and immunization programs.
Sub-objective 2: Provision of direct support and referral services to children living with disabilities.
Sub-objective 3: Developing awareness among health care providers within the project areas on the unique needs of PWDs and how to effectively address these needs.
Sub-objective 4: Increasing the capacity of the MOH and DPOs to address the needs of people with disabilities
Sub-objective 5: Increasing awareness levels on disability issues aimed at creating an inclusive society.
Sub-objective 6: DPOs are engaged in disability-specific initiatives that build their resilience and reduce vulnerability of PWDs
Sub-objective 7: Establishing and promoting child friendly environments for children living with disabilities in schools and health facilities
2. Scope of the evaluation
The evaluation will cover Save the Children interventions in the disability mainstreaming project in in four sub-counties of Turkana County.
The specific project sites within Turkana to be covered during the field phase of this evaluation will be proposed and selected during the planning meetings with the consultant but a sample of key sites from the 4 sub-counties where the project was implemented will be selected.
The selection criteria will be agreed upon with the field teams.
3. Purpose of the evaluation
The primary purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the results obtained by the project compared to the goal and purpose that were defined for it and assess the relevance, impact, sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of the project that will be important for informing future similar interventions in Turkana County.
The results of the study will facilitate decision making regarding improvements to be made in future actions and to establish lessons learnt to be shared with partners and health authorities.
4. Outputs
The outputs of the evaluation are:
A completed report in hard and soft copies
Providing feedback/debrief to the project team at Turkana office once the exercise is completed at the field level.
Meeting with country management team prior to drafting the evaluation report to discuss preliminary findings and recommendations;
5. Key questions for the evaluation
5.1. Specific Questions for the Evaluation
To what extent has the project addressed the needs of people with disabilities (PWDs), disabled people organizations (DPOs)
What is the level of mainstreaming of the project and linkages with other programmes implemented by Save the Children in supported health facilities in Save the Children operation area?
What is the level of sustainability for the project results? What is the capacity of health facilities to incorporate support to people with disabilities into their routine work? What linkages have been created and / or exploited by the project to sustainably address disability and rehabilitation needs among the target communities?
What lessons have been learnt through the implementation of the project?
What challenges were met during the implementation for the project and how did the project adapt? The consultant shall also be required to give recommendation of addressing the challenges.
5.2. Core Evaluation Content
In addition to the evaluation questions above, the following aspects will also be assessed:
A. Output to Purpose review (OPR)
A review of the reported and observed outputs of the project against the planned and stated purpose to assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which Save the Children has implemented project activities
B. Assessment against OECD-DAC criteria
An analysis of the project against the following OECD-DAC evaluation criteria will be necessary:
Relevance / Appropriateness
Connectedness of interventions
Coherence of the project and its components
Coverage both in beneficiary numbers, technical aspects and geographically
Efficiency of programme operations
Effectiveness of interventions
Impact (intended and unintended)
Refer to the ALNAP’s guide for humanitarian agencies ‘Evaluating humanitarian action using the OECD-DAC criteria’
C. Assessment against agreed standards and policies (internal and external)
CBM inclusion made easy
Save the Children Kenya Country Strategic framework
D. Assessment of cross-cutting themes
Participation of primary stakeholders/beneficiaries
Beneficiary accountability and feedback
Gender equality
Protection and child rights
People in Aid standards
6. Methodology
Save the Children and the selected consultant shall refine and agree on the tools, techniques, selection of project sites and approaches that this evaluation will use but primarily they will include the following:
Consultative meetings with staff, management and key stakeholders
key informant Interviews
Focus group Discussions especially with beneficiaries and community stakeholders
Documents/literature review
Data/Records review and analysis
Unless otherwise stated or because of mitigating circumstances (security), the evaluation will be conducted with participation of all relevant stakeholders enabling the evaluation purpose to be communicated in an accessible way assuring the communication of the reporting and follow-up protocol.
7. Report
The Evaluation will be reported in a format with clear recommendations and action points highlighted and at the minimum it should include the following sections:
Cover page
Table of contents
List of key terms and acronyms
Executive Summary
Context
Findings
Conclusions and Recommendations
Annexed ToR
Annexed Costs and Effectiveness Analysis data
Annexed Recommendation Action Plan
Annexed List of People Consulted
8. Profile of the Consultant
The consultant should preferably be a holder of a post graduate degree in public health, sociology, anthropology and/or related discipline.
A reputable consultant with documented experience implementing disability mainstreaming projects in developing countries is not a requirement but can be an asset
Strong analytical and report writing skills
Strong interpersonal and communication skills
Knowledge/understanding of the national (Kenya) and local (Turkana) context
Knowledge of Christian Blind Mission [CBM] regulations/policies (preferable)
Ability to undertake extensive travelling and work with minimum supervision
Ability to work in an area with harsh climatic conditions and of varying security levels
9. Time Frame
The evaluation exercise will take a maximum of 15 days to complete and time frames for activities will be based on mutual agreement following discussions and negotiations between Save the Children and the consultant.
Key Reference Documents
ALNAP Guide for evaluation
Project Documents (Proposal; Workplan, Budget; etc.)
Project Reports (Quarterly reports, biannual report, field trip reports, project progress review meetings reports, Rapid assessment reports, Monthly updates, reports; Financial Reports)
People in Aid standards
Save the Children Kenya Country Strategy
CBM inclusion made easy: A quick program guide for disability development
National Health Strategy
All interested Individuals/firms are requested to express interest following the attached EOI format ONLY (CLICK HERE to download) by email to: Kenya.jobapplications@savethechildren.org with a copy to Abraham.afeworki@savethechildren.org by 16th February 2015.
Please indicate ‘Disability Project End Evaluation’ on the subject line.