Extended deadline: Evaluator to conduct data collection and basic analysis on the impact of ChildHub in Moldova between 2015 – 2022



CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND
About Terre des hommes
Terre des hommes (Tdh) is the leading Swiss organization for children’s aid. In Europe, Tdh supports children who are affected by migration, who come in contact with the law as a victim, witness or offender and who need general protection including from the risk of abuse, trafficking or exploitation. For more information about Tdh globally and in Europe, visit our global website and European website.

About ChildHub
ChildHub is an interactive and innovative network of child protection professionals in Central, East and Southeast Europe. ChildHub promotes sharing of knowledge and good practices, offers specific professional trainings and skills development opportunities and informs and advocates with policy-makers to influence policies and practices related to child protection. ChildHub ensures a space for constant learning and communication with the opportunity for professionals to become part of a strong regional community of practice. The online platform of ChildHub is available in nine languages and is open to a range of professionals from social and healthcare workers through justice and law enforcement professionals to policy-makers. For more details about the ChildHub platform, read this project summary or visit the platform itself.

Key project information: ChildHub was set up in 2015 with funding for the first three years (Phase 1) from the Austrian Development Cooperation/Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Oak Foundation and Tdh`s internal resources, having a total project budget of EUR 1,696,000. Currently, ChildHub is in its Phase 2 (2018-2022) co-funded from the same three sources until 31 March 2022, with a total project budget of EUR 1.77million.
ChildHub has activities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary (only project coordination work), Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Serbia. The project is coordinated by Terre des hommes` Regional Support Hub Budapest (located in Hungary), with dedicated local project associates/coordinators in Terre des hommes country offices in Albania, Kosovo, Moldova and Romania, and in the external partner organizations of Brave Phone in Croatia, the Center for Youth Integration in Serbia, the Know-How Centre for the Alternative Care of Children of the New Bulgaria University, and Save the Children North-West Balkans in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
ChildHub`s overall objective (as a long-term vision) is to contribute to the realization of children`s fundamental rights across the region, in particular the right to be protected from abuse and violence.
ChildHub`s mid-term objective is to contribute, together with child protection actors, to a functional child protection system and exert influence on the development of policies, structures, and accountability mechanisms for child protection.

The project has three particular purposes, namely:

  • Key child protection stakeholders apply their competencies to prevent and address violence against children in the region;
  • Key child protection stakeholders support regional cooperation through cross-learning and exchange of experience;
  • The ChildHub community initiative and resource centre becomes increasingly sustainable and demonstrates measurable impact on the quality of care delivered by professionals and on the lives of children.

The project’s expected results are as follows:

  • learning happens through active communities of practice;
  • continuously developing competences of stakeholders;
  • national and regional/cross-border research and exchanges taking place in a multi-disciplinary approach;
  • measurable and demonstrable impact on ChildHub`s indirect beneficiaries (i.e. children)
  • increased sustainability of ChildHub in terms of financial, political and human resource aspects
  • ChildHub’s target groups and at the same time beneficiaries include:
  • at least 4,000 professionals (in total) in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Serbia involved in child protection, such as statutory social workers (social assistants, child protection unit workers), NGO staff, teachers, school psychologists, justice and law enforcement, and health professionals as well as policy-makers, government officials, academics, community leaders who are made aware of the professional development and learning opportunities available through the existence of ChildHub;
  • at least 600 child protection professionals (in total) who benefit from specific trainings;
  • at least 300 child protection resource persons (in total) (from different disciplines) who act as enablers of peer support, exchange of innovation and good practices, policy and service improvement;
  • at least 80,000 visitors (over three years) to the ChildHub online platform including children, among them children with disabilities;
  • at least 50,000 children (in total) as ultimate and indirect beneficiaries who benefit from ChildHub`s work being at risk of or victims of abuse, exploitation, trafficking and other forms of violence in the implementation countries. Special attention is on vulnerable groups, such as Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian children and children facing multiple forms of discrimination (e.g. girls from vulnerable families, girls with disabilities etc.)

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE IMPACT STUDY
The project’s logical framework includes the conduct of an impact study at the end of Phase 2.
This study will:

  • measure the impact of ChildHub as a Community of Practice on the quality of the work of professionals who work with children AND who have benefitted from ChildHub activities during Phase 1 & 2 (i.e. over the six years since ChildHub exists) in each project country;
  • explore what impact ChildHub has had on the child protection system in each project country through its capacity-building efforts, including its impact on policies, structures, processes, capacities and accountability mechanisms.

The objectives of the impact study are:

  • Organizational knowledge and learning: to understand if and how capacity-building and skills development activities and access to and participation in Communities of Practice influence the work of professionals including their knowledge, attitudes and practices. The study will also help to understand how this work influences the functioning and strengthening of child protection systems in the implementation countries.
  • Steering and ownership: The learning and evidence collected by the study will inform the work of ChildHub in potential future phases and the design of capacity-building programmes. It will also inform ChildHub’s advocacy efforts targeting policy- and decision-makers on the linkages between professional learning, development and networking opportunities and the quality of protection work and the protection system in the country.
  • Accountability and credibility: to ensure that ChildHub is accountable, first and foremost to children who are to ultimately benefit from capacity-building efforts provided to professionals. The study will also ensure accountability towards the direct beneficiary professionals, stakeholders, donors and the project team itself, assessing what impact the 6-year work has had or may not have had on the quality of professionals’ work and the child protection system in the implementation countries.

The results of the impact study will be used by the:

  • ChildHub project team – including project stakeholders, such as in-country resource people and national government representatives – to reflect on and learn from what impact ChildHub has delivered and in what ways across Phase 1 & 2 and how this can be replicated in potential future similar projects.
  • senior management teams of Tdh and the partner organizations to make strategic decisions regarding potential follow-on phases of ChildHub and to use key and impactful results for external communication and advocacy purposes.
  • ChildHub`s donors to assess how the project they have supported has performed and how their funding has contributed to strengthening child protection work and professionals’ capacities as well as child protection systems in the implementation countries.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EVALUATORS:

  • To carry out the contracted assignment as per the signed contract, Terms of Reference and the mutually agreed Technical and Financial Offer and all relevant annexes, including Terre des hommes policies where applicable (e.g. related to Data Protection and Child Safeguarding).
  • To ensure all underlying principles above are followed during the conduct of the assignment.
  • To be available for quick updates requested the ChildHub project team when necessary on the status of the process.
  • To generally ensure the confidentiality of the process, information and documents received from the Evaluation Manager in relation to the assignment and people involved at any stage in the evaluation.
  • To ensure that the ChildHub project team is duly informed and consulted (through the Evaluation Manager) in case any questions or issues emerge. To immediately inform the Evaluation Manager in case of any issues, delays, and likely changes for mutual discussion and agreement, including any risk of not being able to comply with the above points.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE EVALUATORS
Terre des hommes Moldova will accept applications from both individual evaluators and teams. In the latter case, the evaluator team should be diverse, inclusive and gender-balanced as much as possible.
Required skills and expertise:

  • At least 5 years of experience in conducting impact evaluations/studies as per the specifications described above. Previous experience in evaluations in the field of child protection and in looking at the impact of online communities of practice on the capacities and the quality of work of professionals is a strong asset.
  • Strong skills in developing and using both quantitative and qualitative methods and conducting both types of analysis.
  • Experience in working in or knowledge of the country where the research takes place and familiarity with the socio-cultural and political context.
  • Full written and oral proficiency in English for the production of a quality report. Knowledge of the local language in the country (where the research takes place) is an asset, but not required if the evaluator is able to arrange necessary translation resources.
  • Strong writing skills and ability to convey technical and complex information in a structured, logical, clear and concise manner for different audiences.
  • Strong computer proficiency in producing written reports of quality and including clean visual representation of data and findings.
  • Master’s degree (or higher) in social sciences, economics, public policy, law, research and evaluation, management or other related field(s) from an accredited university.

The evaluator must not have been involved in the design, implementation or monitoring of the ChildHub project at any stage, nor have benefitted from ChildHub activities (trainings, peer-to-peer support, etc.), for instance as a resource person or other beneficiary.

SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE SUBMISSION OF OFFERS
Interested applicants are invited to submit their application via e-mail to the following e-mail address: veronica.pelivan@tdh.chwith the subject line: “ChildHub impact study – submission of offer – Moldova”, at latest by 23:59, 3 februarie 2022.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD INCLUDE:

  • Technical Offer (see indicative content under the assessment criteria) – max. 5 pages;
  • Financial Offer – with a detailed line-item budget, and indicating costs in EUR.
  • Up-to-date CV of the evaluators/team members – max. 2 pages/CV;
  • Example of previous work carried out (if any);
  • Contacts of 3 professional references;
  • Confirmation of legal registration of the applicant (in the case of legal entities) and the ability to issue an invoice.
  • Declaration of Impartiality.

Applications incl. annexes must be in English. Submissions in other languages will not be accepted. Applications must be submitted as a single application package – documents sent separately will not be accepted. Terre des hommes will confirm receipt of each application within 3 working days.
The Technical and Financial Offer must be signed on the first or last page (as well as stamped if an official stamp is available). Both Offers should contain the name and contacts of the evaluator (or the representative of the evaluator team).
In case of interest, please e-mail Veronica Pelivan, Evaluation Manager at veronica.pelivan@tdh.ch to request the copies.

For further details, please see the Terms of Reference.

 

 

Articol adaugat de: Veronica Pelivan