End-line Evaluation Consultant at Christian Aid

Terms of Reference

Improving Maternal and New-Born Health (MNH) Outcomes for Vulnerable Women and Babies by Increasing Demand, Access, and Uptake of Quality MNH Services in Isiolo County, Kenya

Consultancy Overview: With funding from DFID, Christian Aid Kenya has been implementing the project entitled “Improving Maternal and New-Born Health (MNH) Outcomes for Vulnerable Women and Babies by Increasing Demand, Access, and Uptake of Quality MNH Services in Isiolo County, Kenya” (UKAM MNH/Tunza Mama na Mtoto Project).

The three-year project (2015 – 2018) is implemented in partnership with Anglican Development Services Easter of Mt. Kenya East (ADSE MKE) which is responsible for service delivery activities; and Center for Education and Awareness (CREAW) who are responsible for advocacy and demand creation activities.

In order to inform the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) component of this project, Christian Aid Kenya seeks to engage the services of a qualified and experienced consultant (s)/consultancy firm to implement the end-line evaluation for the project in Isiolo County.

Overview of the Project: The overall goal of the project is to “Improve Maternal and New-Born Health (MNH) Outcomes for Vulnerable Women and Babies by Increasing Demand, Access, and Uptake of Quality MNH Services”.

The specific objectives of the project are:

• To empower women and girls to make health MNH choices
• To remove barriers that prevent access to MNH services
• To expand the supply and quality of MNH services
• To enhance accountability at all levels

Purpose and Scope

The objectives of the end-line evaluation will be two-fold as follows:

•  Provide a complete review of the project achievements which shall include an assessment of project progress in achievement of project outputs and outcomes as per the log-frame, and related delivery of inputs and activities and factors (internal and external) that affected overall project implementation and result achievement and
• Provide qualitative information by developing 2 case studies to back-up the end-line evaluation findings.

Responsibilities

The end-line will be conducted in Isiolo County. The consultant (s) will be expected to:

• Review relevant project documents including but not limited to project proposal, project log-frame, Endline survey report (February 2016); Mid-Term Evaluation Report (March 2017) and any other documents that will aid in developing a robust endline evaluation methodology.
• Participate in briefing and consultation meetings to discuss the assignment, become familiar with the UKAM MNH/Tunza Mama na Mtoto Project and collaborate with the CA project and partner staff on the development of the end-line evaluation design and implementation plan.
• Develop in collaboration with CA and partners a detailed end-line evaluation and analysis plan, including plans for pre-testing tools, recruitment and training of research assistants, meaningful participation of partners and community, sampling methodology, implementation of data collection in the field; qualitative and quantitative data analysis and reporting.
• Develop in collaboration with CA and partners, rigorous and robust, qualitative and quantitative data collection tools that can gather reliable and replicable data on each of the project indicators (sample tools to be developed, shared and approved by CA prior to data collection).
• Provide detailed indicator protocols describing the data collection methodology for each indicator.
• Lead data collection in the field including: designing and leading key informant interviews and focus group discussions; designing and leading surveys as needed; training research assistants/enumerators; monitoring and ensuring data quality and research ethics of research assistants.
• Analyze data in a rigorous, robust manner using appropriate statistical and qualitative analysis techniques.
• Draft a high-quality end-line evaluation report. The report must be written in good quality English and must include robust and detailed analysis of data findings.

Methodology

The end-line evaluation will be conducted in Isiolo County and should use a mixed methodology approach, combining use of secondary data, primary quantitative and primary qualitative data.

The study must collect detailed demographic data on target beneficiary groups (both direct and indirect beneficiaries) in the project locations. All data, both qualitative and quantitative must also be disaggregated by location, age, sex, disability etc.

All data and analysis developed must be handed over to Christian Aid at the end of the study.

All outputs must be in English.

Triangulation of information gathered during the quantitative and qualitative research will be a critical aspect of this study. The analysis must provide a clear explanation of how the different data sets relate to one another and how they relate to the findings in the secondary documentation.

The complete project log-frame detailing the process, output and outcome indicators will be provided to the selected consultant prior to evaluation initiation.

Time frame

The consultant is expected to carry out the exercise within 20 working days with the exercise starting by End of March 2018 and concluding not later than Mid-April 2018.

Consultant Profile

The consultant (s)/consultancy firm must have the following qualifications and experience to be eligible for this assignment:

• The lead consultant must have a technical background in health or other related disciplines including Public Health, Medical Anthropology or Social Sciences, (at a minimum of Master’s Degree level).
• The lead consultant (s) must have demonstrated experience and expertise in designing and managing evaluation (end-line) studies for similar projects and in delivering agreed outputs on time and within budget.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in implementing rigorous research using Quantitative and Qualitative evaluation methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in evaluation of public health interventions with a focus on Maternal and Neonatal Health programs
• Demonstration of good knowledge of the context in Kenya and Isiolo County is an added advantage.

 Other Tasks / Deliverables of the Consultancy

In addition to deliverables outlined in sections above, the consultant is expected to also undertake the following tasks:

• Develop an inception report that should include data collection tools to guide field interviews and final schedule of field work.
• Develop and submit an acceptable draft report after the analysis of data for CA staff feedback following an agreed upon format. The report should be comprehensive and provide detailed specific findings within each result area and considerations/recommendations.
• Lead the analysis and synthesis of evidence to develop key findings; Present and discuss findings with Christian Aid and implementing partners and incorporate
  feedback to generate the final report.
• Develop and submit to Christian Aid offices in Nairobi 3 hard copies and a soft copy of an acceptable final report of no more than 40 pages (excluding references and annexes) following an agreed upon format. The case studies (3 pages each) should be included as annexes to the final report.
• Summary of the findings in (MS PowerPoint) to be used for subsequent dissemination.
• The final cleaned data set used for analysis and production of the final report in an acceptable electronic format (Excel, SPSS, MS Word) depending on methodologies used. All raw data (quantitative data files, transcripts from In-depth Interviews, FGDs etc should also be submitted to Christian Aid offices in Nairobi for reference and future use