Fellowship Program Evaluation Consultant at Akili Dada

Akili Dada seeks the services of a qualified consultant or consultancy firm to carry out a 5- year evaluation of our fellowship program that targets young women in the social enterprise
and social change sectors. Akili Dada Fellows are spread across the following East African countries: Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

About the Fellowship Program

Akili Dada’s fellowship program grows out of our belief that African women, especially those from underserved communities, are best positioned to design solutions to the
challenges facing them. The overarching goal of the program is to build the capacity of some of the continent’s most innovative young women change makers to drive solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing African society.

The program awards yearlong fellowships to young women leaders engaged in social change projects of their design. The program serves as an incubator providing financial, intellectual, mentoring, and networking resources to young women as they grow their projects to scale and sustainability.

The program was created in direct response to the absence of African women among the ranks of those celebrated in existing social entrepreneurship incubators.

Result Areas

Program Goal: To equip underserved young women with leadership capabilities to challenge the status quo in the spaces that are critical to them

• Outcome 1: Young women from underserved backgrounds enhance their leadership skills and experience personal growth.
• Outcome 2: Increased number of successful Social Enterprises led by Young African Women driving change in the community.
• Outcome 3: Akili Dada recognized as a pipeline for young women social entrepreneurs.

Purpose and Scope of the Evaluation

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the extent of achievement of results against the stated objectives and implementation approaches used as well as gain insights on the programs strengths and areas of improvement.

Specific objectives of the evaluation

• To assess the progress made towards anticipated key project goals as per the project logical framework and any other unintended effects of the project and how the results may have been realized.
• To demonstrate how effective key project interventions approaches have been in achieving the fellowship program outcomes.
• To highlight lessons learned and provide specific, actionable and practical recommendations for future programming

Scope and Criteria for the Evaluation

The evaluation will focus on the 3 result areas of the project based on the project log-frame. The evaluation will put emphasis on the effectiveness of the intervention approaches in delivering anticipated results, impact realized and sustainability considerations.

Evaluation Methodology and Timeframe

The consultant shall provide guidance on appropriate methodologies to be employed. Akili Dada however proposes, an outcome harvesting approach incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods. The assignment will take a maximum of 20 days with data collection anticipated to commence no later than August 2018.

Deliverables of the Consultancy

The consultant will work in conjunction with the Akili Dada Washa Program Lead with support from the Executive Director, Director of Branding, Communications and Impact, Director of Programs and other Akili Dada staff working on the project, to refine the conceptualization of the assignment, approve research tools, and validate re- search findings. The consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:

• Review relevant project documents; including project proposal(s), log-frame, budget, reports and other relevant documents with the aim of developing a detailed methodology and tools. The methodology and data tools shall be reviewed and approved by Akili Dada and other stakeholders before data collection commences.
• Data collection, data cleaning, analysis and interpretation of the findings and drafting of the report.
• Develop and submit a 20-page limit first draft of the evaluation report following an agreed upon format.
• Discuss findings with Akili Dada staff and other relevant stakeholders at a validation workshop and incorporate feedback to generate the final report.
• Submit the final 20-page evaluation report to Akili Dada offices in Nairobi in 3 hard copies and a soft copy via email. Any tools/templates used and final consolidated raw data should also be submitted together with the report.

Evaluation Report Format

The final reports should not exceed 20 pages excluding annexes of tools, list of research team among others.

Expected Profile of the Consultant

The consultant is expected to hold the following qualifications in order to be eligible for this assignment:

• A Masters level degree in international development or related social science
• At least 5 years of consultancy experience conducting evaluations/research in
• Sound knowledge of major development issues, especially. Knowledge of the context in East Africa is an added advantage.
• Sound knowledge and experience in social surveys and project evaluation methodologies with evidence of publications and reports on similar assignments.