Plan International

About Plan International Somalia

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination – and it is girls who are the most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 77 countries.

Plan International opened an office in Somalia/Somaliland in 2019 and has started programmes that focuses on child protection, education and youth economic empowerment programming, working with/through partners and providing technical support to INGOs, local NGOs  in Plan’s areas of expertise.

Terms of Reference  

1. PROJECT BACKGROUND

The history of Somaliland civil society organizations is founded on filling the governance vacuum of the central government’s collapse. Ever since, CSO continued to play a pivotal role in peacebuilding, democratization processes and providing humanitarian aid.  With that history, CSOs are often perceived as service providers, and the few who engage in policy/advocacy platforms are seen as interfering in public affairs. In the wake of the regional authorities gaining power and introducing laws, CSOs are grappling with creating an enabling environment that promotes and protects people’s rights to freedom of expression, democracy and public accountability.

There is growing concerns on spiking GBVs, formulation of violent laws against the rights, agency and bodily autonomy of girls, recurrent delays of elections, armed conflict, arrests and corruption.  However, due to mixture of challenges including limited capacity, shrinking civic space and disarray among CSOs, many CSOs either button their lips or engage in haphazard campaigns.

 2. PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION

Plan International Somalia has laid its foundation on challenging cultural norms that perpetuate gender inequalities by advocating for the prevention of violence against girls (VAW/G) and gender transformative policies. However, to catalyze large-scale transformative change for children, particularly girls, Plan International Somalia needs to build strong and credible civil society organizations. The purpose of this work is to  understand the operational context of the civil society in Somaliland, build a coalition of partners/CSOs for influencing and advocacy, but also to identify the capacity needs of the CSOs in this regard. Most of the CSOs in Somaliland have significant gaps in advocacy and influencing. We need to identify the gaps and develop strategic partnerships with CSOs to join forces to produce collective outcomes.

Furthermore, with strong influencing and advocacy together with our strengthened CSOs we will fill this identified gap. Our engagement will immensely add to Plan International Somalia/Somaliland’s scope and ability to best build upon solid foundations already laid.

3. ASSIGNMENT SCOPE
4. Analyse the operational context (political, Social, economic, legal and governance) of the civil society and how power dynamics shape their strategic direction and engagement in Somaliland.
5. Map out potential influencing partners/CSOs that have contributed to the protection and prevention of women and girls against Gender Based Violence (GBV), their role, areas of work and target locations.
6. Identify the capacity scope and gaps of CSOs, milestones and lessons learnt  in the delivery of their advocacy and influencing  work.
7. Recommend best strategies for engaging CSOs to achieve a vibrant and repost civil society

Methodology

Plan International is open to further discuss with the consultant to purpose methodology that suites the assessment objectives.   Given the sensitive nature of the topic, Plan International places the emphasis on research ethics in designing, and conducting the assessment.  The expected methodology for such a assessment would include direct and indirect data collection, analysis, cross-referencing and formulating recommendations. Data collection will be done through targeted locations and should involve relevant CSO including youth groups. All data, qualitative and quantitative, collected through the assessment must be disaggregated by sex, age, disability and disaggregated data. Desk literature review of existing documents

• Desk review of existing literature and history of civil society organizations in Somaliland
• Training of any staff or enumerators if required by the methodology
• Field visits to collect data through the agreed methodology and timeline
• Validation workshop in country presenting initial findings, key recommendations and lessons to allow discussion and input from the team

4. DELIVERABLES

The assignment will result in the following outputs/deliverables:

• Inception report with the design of detailed assessment methodology and tools for data collection to complement the already existing data available (as identified in the desk review); including suggestions on selection of key informants and FGD composition. Done in close collaboration with Plan and is a more detailed plan than the inception report 5 days after the contact is signed.
• Draft report with the executive summary addressing all objectives, evaluation questions, clear recommendations and lessons learned, submitted for input and feedback to Plan
• Final evaluation report including all of the above incorporating feedback from Plan along with all relevant appendices
• Dissemination: Presentation of the key findings, lessons learnt and recommendations through a dissemination workshop online or in person as feasible
• A capcity development plan based on the assessment findings
• All collected data sets including reports and transcripts.

5. TIME FRAME

The whole program evaluation process is expected to take 30 working days including: preparation, field work with partners and stakeholders, and report drafting, feedback and finalization. The expected date for commencing work is on the 17^th of May 2021 and will follow the agreed work plan and deadlines based on that submitted with the application and discussed between the selected evaluators and the Plan Evaluation Management Team.

6. ETHICAL AND CHILD PROTECTION STATEMENTS

Child protection is a term used to describe the responsibilities and activities undertaken to prevent or to stop children being abused or ill-treated. It is Plan’s duty and responsibility to reduce the risks of abuse to the children who we have contact with and keep them safe from harm. Plan’s Child Protection Policy, “Say Yes to keeping children safe”, is Plan’s overriding framework to protect children who come into contact with Plan employees, volunteers, partner organisations and individuals, including consultants, who are working on behalf of Plan.

The consultant should include statements in the proposal on how he or she will ensure ethics and child protection in during the commencement of the assignment and during the field works. Consultant/s should also specify other ethical protocols to be followed during the due course of the evaluation. Consultants are expected to take consent of the respondents or children’s guardian before taking photographs and ask if their photographs, verbatim or case stories could be used in report and for public dissemination. Such consent must be documented and submitted to Plan International Nepal along with the final report.

Confidentiality of all issues discussed either with communities or Plan staff shall be safeguarded by the evaluation consultant/s.

7. REPORTING LINE AND LOGISTICS

12.1. The consultant shall work under the joint supervision of Plan International Somalia Programme Manager and Advocacy & Influencing Manager

12.2. The evaluation management team composed from Plan Somalia staff will play an advisory role in the planning and implementation of the evaluation.

12.3. The consultant/s and the evaluation management team will meet as per the agreed timings, particularly at stages in the evaluation process when deliverables are produced.

8. SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

The desired specifications and qualities of the consultant(s) are:

• University degree in political science, sociology, international relations, anthropology, public administration, development studies, gender studies or other relevant fields.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in carrying out impact evaluations, demonstrable relevant academic and practical experience in qualitative and quantitative research methodology, evaluation design and implementation; experience undertaking similar evaluations in Somalia would be an advantage.
• Proven consultancy experience within the field of organizational capacity assessments and capacity building.
• Knowledge and understanding of the Civil Society environment particularly in Somalia is mandatory.
• Good understanding of participatory methodologies with proven background in evaluating sudden-onset emergency response and recovery projects with in-depth knowledge of Child Protection, Protection, and Gender Sensitive programming; knowledge of humanitarian response programming in Somalia is a plus
• Strong analytical, facilitation and communication skills, especially with regard to working with young and adolescent girls and boys.
• Knowledge of child protection procedures when working with children and youths and adolescent girls in particular, as well as experience with implementing child and/or youth friendly evaluation methodologies.
• Experience of effective interaction with local and national organizations, government departments, and marginalized communities in rural and urban areas.
• Conversant with gender transformation and analysis, child rights and advocacy.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English
• Proven experience of using participatory tools, appropriate for different vulnerable groups including boys and girls especially adolescents, as a means of data collection for project evaluation.
• Somali nationals ts are welcome and encouraged to apply

9. BID REQUIREMENTS

Applicants are required to submit the following:

1. Letter confirming that the applicant can carry out the MEAL Services in the timeframe given in the Terms of Reference (ToR);
2. An Expression of Interest detailing their interpretation of the TOR, proposed methodology including an initial sampling framework and work schedule.
3. Succinct top-line work plan
4. Clear budget (in USD) detailing all proposed costs needed for undertaking the evaluation (travel, accommodation, transportation etc.) including ALL taxes liable to be paid or any exemptions and including the daily fee rates and number of days for each team member.
5. Copies of all relevant Curriculum Vitae (CVs). Only CVs for the specific individuals that will form the proposed evaluation team should be included.
6. Details of three references (with two no older than two years old) for the Bidder entity ;
7. Three samples of outputs from previous relevant work delivered (with at least two by the proposed team leader).

DEADLINE: proposals should be submitted no later than 17^th of May 2021 addressed to Som.Procurement@plan-international.org

Submissions to this call for proposals will be assessed based on the technical quality and the proposed budget. For technical quality, the following will be considered: understanding of the ToR, published requirements, strength of proposed approach and work plan. The overall budget for this work cannot exceed 14,000 USD.

It is expected that this work will be contracted by May 2021, with interviews taking place week commencing 23^st May 2021.

N/B: The entire bid should be a MAXIMUM OF seven (7) pages including the budget. Bids not meeting this requirement will not be considered

10. APPLICATION PROCEDURE

15.2. The closing date for this post is 17^th May 2021

15.3. The shortlisted 3-4 candidates may be invited to submit modifications or make a short presentation for the final selection.

15.4. We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organization.

15.5. Qualified women are highly encouraged to apply

15.6 Plan International procurement policy and procedures will be followed which may require additional checks or provision of information

11. PAYMENT

Forty percent of the agreed contractual amount, inclusive of all necessary Tax and VAT requirements or retentions, will be paid after signing of the agreement, thirty percent will be paid after submission of preliminary findings in the format outlined in the inception report and remaining thirty percent amount will be paid after submission of final report.

12. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

17.1. All documents and data collected will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis. All guidelines under GDPR must be followed.

17.2. Where necessary, the respondents will not be quoted in the reports without their permission.

17.3 All those contracted by Plan must agree to sign and abide by the Global Policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People