Meta-Assessment of an Independent Evaluation of Projects at HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya

• HIAS Kenya is seeking an experienced consultant(s) to conduct a meta-assessment for all evaluation reports (baseline, mid-term and endline) and other project reports conducted in the period 2020-2023 and triangulate with secondary sources. The consultant will review these evaluations and conduct a meta-analysis of their results and methods. This will involve critically assessing the robustness of the evaluations, analyzing the results obtained and drawing out key recommendations and lessons learned from the findings.

The Main Purpose Of The Meta-Assessment Is To

• Carry out an extensive literature review from HIAS reports, journals, periodicals and online reviews.
• The assessment will involve identifying gaps among refugees across the HIAS signature programs and localization.
• Synthesize evidence from the evaluations conducted in the past to determine the effectiveness, relevance and impact of HIAS work and areas of strengthening.
• Determine the overall quality, credibility, and use of evaluations to provide advice on improvements and adjustments to existing and future evaluations.

Objective Of The Meta-assessment

• To what extent these evaluations carried between 2020 and 2023 fulfil widely accepted standards in terms of quality and develop recommendations on what aspects to improve and how to increase the usefulness of HIAS Kenya project evaluations?
• What are the key findings, recommendations and lessons learnt to improve the performance of HIAS institutional capacity-building and productive capacity enhancement projects?
• Provide a consolidated assessment on the performance of HIAS projects, particularly in relation to its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability.

Methodology

• The meta-assessment will be guided by the OECD criteria of evaluation (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, sustainability, and impact). It will assess the relevance of the objectives of HIAS Programs. It will assess the effectiveness of the project in line with the respective program objectives. It will assess efficiency in relation to cost-effectiveness or the Value for Money. Conversely, sustainability, particularly through capacity-building, should be assessed to gauge the continuity of program objectives once HIAS Programs end.

The selected consultants will conduct.

Document review:

• An extensive desk top review of existing from reports, journals, periodicals and online reviews
• A document review of baseline, mid-term reviews, final evaluations and project completion reports and other HIAS strategic documents.
• Survey and interviews:
• For each selected project evaluation, staff of HIAS implementing the respective projects and partners will be consulted through interviews or surveys to ascertain the perceived usefulness of HIAS Kenya project evaluations as well as support functions, challenges, and constraints.

Deliverables
The Consultant Is Expected To Deliver The Following

• Inception report (including a work plan and timeline).
• Data collection tools as appropriate
• Draft meta-evaluation report.
• Finalize the draft report after receiving comments HIAS Kenya
• Submit the final report HIAS Kenya Country Director.
• Presentation of the final meta-evaluation report (the final report must contain an executive summary and a list of recommendations made by the consultant. It should not comprise more than 30 pages, excluding annexes)

These tasks are indicative for understanding the meta-evaluation. They will be adjusted and elaborated in the consultant's Inception meeting and as agreed upon by HIAS Kenya.
Managing the evaluation process

• HIAS MEAL Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination of the Meta-assessment with the consultant to ensure timely and quality outputs. In addition, the Program Managers, Program Director, Regional technical advisors, and Country Director will provide all the necessary technical and operational support required throughout the process.

HIAS Will Provide

• Relevant documentation and background information.
• Contacts of relevant stakeholders.
• Consolidated feedback/guidance on draft reports.

Qualification And Experience Of The Evaluator/Consultant
In accordance with these TOR and the Inception Report (to be produced by the winning consultant), the consultant will be responsible for the evaluation's overall conduct, including submitting/presenting all evaluation deliverables in a timely manner.
HIAS is looking for a consultant/team with the following skills and qualifications.

• The team leader should possess a postgraduate degree in research-oriented social science or a related discipline.
• Extensive MEAL expertise and experience (at least ten years), including leading global program evaluations in displaced people/refugee programming.
• Demonstrable expertise and a good understanding of refugee operations especially in Kenya, refugee protection risks, and relevant international /regional refugee frameworks
• Extended experience in conducting meta-evaluations and in developing analytical protocols (Consultant to submit work related previously done)
• Excellent and demonstrated understanding of ethical issues in research
• Experience in developing data collection tools using KOBO
• Excellent verbal and written communication in English is required
• Knowledge of institutional issues related to development programming (including funding and administration and the role of donors, and partnerships).

Other Skills

• Strong analytical skills and ability to work independently.
• Excellent report-writing and editing skills.
• Excellent data presentation and visualization skills.