Draft Template Outline Hybrid Form Midline and Midterm At Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA)

AKA is a registered National Non-Government Organization (NGO) operating under the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) certificate No 66/RGB/NGO/2016. AKA’s mission is providing Rwandan youth with employability skills, capital and support to take advantage of economic opportunities

Terms of Reference for Hybrid Midline and Midterm Evaluations of
Skills Development and Employment Promotion among Youth in Rwanda “SDEPAY” Project


About AKAZI KANOZE ACCESS (AKA)
Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA), registered in Rwanda under the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), is a Rwandan charitable, social, non-profit, non-governmental, non-political organization that seeks to provide youth with market-relevant livelihood skills, work readiness training and support, hands-on training opportunities, and linkages to the employment, self-employment job market, access to capital and other support services to take advantage of economic opportunities. AKA’s mission is to provide youth with employability skills, access to capital and other support services to take advantage of economic opportunities. AKA’s core values include integrity, excellence, professionalism and innovation with a global vision to be a leading organization contributing to youth well-being through employability skills and support services. AKA has a strong system guided by the policy and procedures in place.
AKA has a strong experience in working in Rwandan rural and urban zones supporting youth economic activities countrywide. Past and current interventions make the organization strong at managing donor and government relations as well as creating a strong link with beneficiaries and stakeholders. Geographically, AKA has extensive familiarity and experience working with youth across the country.


Project Background
The Skills Development and Employment Promotion among Youth in Rwanda “SDEPAY” project is financed by the German government (BMZ) for a period of 3 years from 2020 to 2023. The project’s overarching goal is to contribute to the increase of formal youth employment opportunities with decent work across three districts of Rwanda (Gatsibo, Nyaruguru and Bugesera) by 2023 (SDG 8.5) through the boosting of youth self-employment capabilities and employability readiness skills. The project implementation activities target semi-urban and rural settings of the three districts where unemployment is at remarkable points, with PIR and AKA partnering together for its implementation. Plan International Rwanda act in an assisting and coordinating role and support the capacity building process of AKA on-site while AKA holds the responsibility for the implementation of the Project. The project directly targets 1,200 vulnerable youth aged between 16 to 30 years and the group consist of 55% of young women and 45% of young men

Similar Jobs in Rwanda
Learn more about Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA)
Akazi Kanoze Access (AKA) jobs in Rwanda

Purpose of the Assignment
The purpose of the assignment is to conduct a hybrid study, including a Midline data collection of the described indicators as well as a mid-term evaluation for the presented project. It is expected that the consultant(s) will collect interim data to collect relevant data on the project indicators and perform an evaluation based on defined criteria. It is expected that the consultant or consulting team will at least consider the evaluation against the DAC criteria and provide other relevant suggestions for DAC criteria, if necessary, at the inception stage.


Midline
The Midline study aims to providing the status and quantitative values of following indicators at outcome and output levels and provide an assessment that track the current achievement comparing to the baseline values:
Outcome 1
• % of unemployed youths are newly employed in companies;
• % of unemployed youths are generating income from newly formed formal businesses;
Outcome 2
• % of youths (of the direct target group) are benefiting from improved income;
• % of young people (of the direct beneficiaries) have shifted from casual labor to a permanent employment or self-employment;
Output 1.2
• % of employers declare being satisfied with the skills (soft and hard) of the newly employed youth trained by the project;
Output 1.3
• # of youth who have joined in new or existing Voluntary Saving and Loan Groups (VSLG) and have improved their skills in financial management due to the trainings received;
• # of members of VSLG or Cooperatives are applying the acquired skills and are running profitable businesses;
• # of members of youth saving groups have increased their earnings by at least 2%;
• # of youth who have been linked with Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) and have an improved understanding and improved access to financial services, e.g. bank accounts for saving and loan purposes;
• # of youth who have improved access to financial support to receive funds from e.g. BDF and other financial institutions as a result of the support provided under this project;
Output 1.4
• # of youth who have improved access to information on job opportunities through different channels;
• # of youth who accessed information on job market and employment opportunities through YEGO centers;
• # of females report an improved access to information on job opportunities through the project and its measures;
Output 1.5
• # of youth report that they have improved their knowledge on SRHR including contraception following provided measures under this project and are informed about available SRHR services in the area;
• # of beneficiaries under this project who have improved access to child care support to allow for participation in project activities;

Midterm
The mid-term evaluation will mainly focus on the qualitative aspect over the results provided by midline and the wide picture of programming. The mid-term evaluation will also focus on identifying relevancy, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability mechanisms that the project is tackling for achieving its objectives.
For carrying out the Midterm evaluation, it’s suggested that the hired consultant will be guided by some questions included in Indicator matrix attached to the ToR and he/she may suggest the additional list of questions basing on how DAC criteria can effectively be assessed.
The results of the MTE will provide a basis for dialogue between AKA and PIR with recommendations on what can be done for improvement further to ensure proper programming. Suggestions and recommendations for corrective measures, if necessary, shall be explicitly mentioned by the consultant(s) as part of the evaluation.
The consultant is furthermore expected to consolidate lessons learnt and best practices as part of the assignment.

Child rights, gender and inclusion
Plan International and all its partners (including AKA) confront and challenge discrimination and human rights violations based on gender, including gender-based violence, and other forms of exclusion. We also challenge stereotyping and unequal power relations between women, men, boys, and girls to promote gender equality, girls’ rights, and inclusion. We foster an organizational culture that embraces and exemplifies our commitment to Child rights, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion. Therefore, the consultant who will conduct this study is to make sure the project is aligned with this policy statement which drives our programing.

Users of the Study
The Midline and MTE data will be used by different users to serve multiple purposes:
• The users include AKA staff and Plan Rwanda staff who will use the data to track projects progress against targets to be reached;
• Local Leaders from village to district level who will need to know the impact the project generated;
• National Council of Persons with Disabilities who will appreciate how the project is disability inclusive;
• National Youth Council that will benefits from the reduction of unemployed youth;
• National Women’s Council that will recognize the importance of the project on empowering women;
• Plan International Deutschland e.V., and BMZ that will need to know the change the project is bringing to targeted beneficiaries in order to know the impact the funding has generated;
• The national government of Rwanda that will need to know how the project contributes to unemployment reduction.


Methods for Data Collection and Analysis
The project study, which is designed for both midline and midterm, should adopt for a combination of quantitative and qualification approaches, and each process of assessment (i.e midline and midterm evaluation) should be clearly defined and justified. Although the hired consultant is free to suggest techniques and approaches to be applied, AKA and PIR suggested running the Midline and MTE at the same time. In the meantime, the methodologies and data analysis for Midline and MTE are briefly described as follows. The consultant is expected to clearly outline the planned approach and methodologies for midline and midterm evaluation in submitted proposal.
The Midline methodology should be able to provide quantitative data on project indicators. With this in mind, the consultant will develop specific tools to collect data on well-identified project indicators on which enumerators will be trained. After accepting the use of these tools, the consultant will pilot the tools developed to adjust them prior to the actual data collection process. However, the hired consultant will be granted to access to baseline data and data collection tools already developed and used under this project.
Further responsibilities include the development of a data analysis plan, data management, including data cleaning, data analysis and interpretation as well as the drafting of a final collated report for the midline and the Midterm report.
The midterm evaluation methodology should be able to follow quantitative and qualitative data on evaluation questions related to DAC criteria. With this in mind, the consultant will focus on instrumental tools related to Focus Group Discussions (FGD), interviews with key informants who play a key role in the implementation of the project, as well as observation. The approaches and techniques should be described by the consultant in enough detail to ensure that the evaluation can easily be replicated by any other researcher.
For deeper dives and triangulation, the consultant will, to some extent, use the combination of quantitative data collection methods to provide quantitative values for the project indicators, as well as qualitative data collection methods (for qualitative values of project indicators).

Sample
For both the Midline study and the MTE, the methodologies should be sensitive to the target population (unit of analysis) and robust enough to provide adequate responses to the purpose of the study. Overall, the methodology section should cover the details of study approaches and design, sampling, sample size determination, data collection methodologies/instruments, data analysis techniques, plan for dissemination of study findings, and be cognizant of quality assurance and ethical considerations during the evaluation.
Although there is this sampling latitude, the midline will consider the proportional to size that is stratified by age, gender and location (i.e. probability sampling using the proportional to size stratified sampling). The sample size will be determined using Slovin’s formula n=N/(1+Ne2) because the population size is known where n-is the sample size, N-population size and e-margin error which is 0.05.
For the MTE, this will be a qualitative approach using both FGDs in each sector where the project interventions are located and key informant interviews (KII) with key project stakeholders. The sampling approach that is suggested is non-probability sampling method applying the purposive-based approach.

Participant selection and recruitment
Participants in these evaluations are various including respondents, consultants, AKA and Plan International Rwanda staff, local leaders and youth beneficiaries identified in the first and second year for the project. Respondents will be given by sample size that will be determined, AKA and PIR staff will be working with consultants to locate respondents and also to inform local leaders about the activity that is being conducted.

Ethics and Child Protection
Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with Ethical MERL Framework and our Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy. All applicants should include details in their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the data collection process. Specifically, the consultant(s) shall explain how appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. The consultant(s) shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed.

Key Deliverables
Below are expected key deliverables:
• Inception report
• Final Data Collection Tools
• Completed Consent Forms
• Completed Data Collection
• Draft of Midline & MTE Report
• Final Midline & MTE Report (including Executive Summary)

Timeline
With the consultant who would be hired, the evaluation work will begin on August 9, 2022 with the signing of the contract and end on September 16, 2022 with the submission of the final report and other necessary documents related to the evaluation conducted.

Expected Qualifications
The Individual consultants should have at least Master’s degree in a relevant field of economics and project management, development Studies, Social sciences or similar field. He/she should have at least 5 years’ experience in conducting studies for of livelihood programmes, be knowledgeable and experienced in gender, child right and youth programming, development work, with excellent analytical and verbal communication skills, as well as skilled in writing research reports. Knowledge of English and the local language and a good mix of the research team will be an added advantage.
Companies with relevant experience with evidenced proof of experience of staff on this assignment are also eligible to apply.

Contact
For any questions regarding this offer and/or the detailed information on the ToR, please feel free to contact Anthony Businge on abusinge@akazikanoze.org or Donatien Hazitayezu on dhazitayezu@akazikanoze.org

Applications
Interested applicants should provide a proposal covering the following aspects:
• Detailed response to the TOR;
• Proposed methodology;
• Ethics and child safeguarding approaches, including any identified risks and associated mitigation strategies;
• Proposed timelines;
• Detailed budget, including daily fee rates, expenses, etc.;
• CVs;
• At least 2 examples of previous works related to that assignment;
• Completion of certificates;
• Not on the list of terrorist groups;
• RDB certificates;
• Taxes clearance (if it’s a house or company).

Please send your application to AKAZI KANOZE ACCESS (AKA) by email at: info@akazikanoze.org with a copy to jnyirahabimana@akazikanoze.org by 14th July, 2022 05:00 p.m. referencing “Midline and Midterm Evaluation for SDEPAY project”.
Note that the financial proposal indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of all costs. The cost must be in RWF, taxes inclusive.