Togo: External Evaluator – McGovern-Dole School Feeding Project in Togo

The purpose of these Terms of Reference (TOR) is to outline the conditions and responsibilities of the external evaluator who will undertake the baseline, midterm evaluation and final evaluation of the Santé, Transformation et Apprentissage pour une Réussite (STARS)[1] project, a USDA-funded McGovern-Dole International Food for Education project in the Republic of Togo.

Please note these ToR and its annexes are subject to donor approval, and thus may change before contract signing. Please also note this only a partial posting of the ToR; for the full ToR and its relevant annexes, please send an email to togo@global.crs.org.

Retention of the external evaluator to proceed with the midterm and/or final evaluation is dependent upon their satisfactory performance on the preceding work products. Any changes to evaluator team composition from on evaluation to the next would need to be approved. CRS would relaunch the selection process for the midterm review and/ or final evaluation where the external evaluator does not meet expectations.

Project Background:**

Section 2 of Annex 1 provides an overview of the STARS project. CRS has been awarded a five-year project to improve literacy and nutrition in the Savanes and Kara regions of Togo. Aligned with national education policy and strategies, the project will improve quality of literacy teaching and provide school feeding to 36,000 primary school students in 138 schools FY21, growing to 39,000 students in FY24 due to anticipated enrollment increases. CRS will work in Kpendjal and Oti Sud prefectures in Savanes region, and Dankpen prefecture in Kara region.

Evaluation Purpose, Scope, Approach, and Methodology:

CRS has been awarded a five-year project to improve literacy and nutrition in the Savanes and Kara regions of Togo. Aligned with national education policy and strategies, the project will improve quality of literacy teaching and provide school feeding to 36,000 primary school students in 138 schools FY21, growing to 39,000 students in FY24 due to anticipated enrollment increases. CRS will work in Kpendjal and Oti Sud prefectures in Savanes region, and Dankpen prefecture in Kara region.

Check for statistical differences in outcome-level indicators over time. The mid-term and final evaluations should, at minimum, check for statistical differences between baseline and respective report values.

Project indicators. Only the fifteen indicators with non-zero baseline values are collected during the baseline study. All individual-level data must be disaggregated by gender.

Deliverables:

All deliverables should be completed in English (and data collection tools must also be in French).

Deliverables include the following:

· Work plan (including evaluator responsibilities for identifying, interviewing, contracting, training and overseeing a balanced team of male and female enumerators and enumerator supervisors).

· Sampling plan, including if the sample sizes will differ from Annex 1, approved by CRS.

· Instruments, data collection manual, and training materials for enumerators (i.e., focus group guides, key informant interview guide, observation checklist), approved by CRS.

· Quality Assurance Plan (including training of enumerators and weekly check-ins during data collection, approved by CRS.

· Conduct interview with USDA (it is expected USDA will facilitate this exercise by providing the contact person and the means of interview)

· Data sets with accompanying codebook/data dictionary (original paper and/or electronic as well as final, clean electronic data sets with syntax).

· At baseline only, a 10-page preliminary report, suitable for presentation to USDA, 6 weeks after the end of data collection. The report will only contain:

§ Annex with description of team members’ qualifications and their positionality.

· Draft Report with one round of edits from CRS and another subsequent round from USDA

· Final Report with the following sections:

· A two to four-page outward-facing summary document, with easily accessible graphics, highlighting the project’s key successes, for sharing with a larger audience

· Presentation of final evaluation to stakeholders. This can occur before or after report submission to USDA, as long as any key feedback is incorporated into the final version of the report (that USDA posts to the Development Experience Clearinghouse). This can be done via an additional annex, if the report is in its final stages before this presentation is conducted.

· A webinar of key findings and lessons learned for CRS globally and USDA (if requested).

Items provided to the external evaluator by CRS:

· Use of CRS CommCare software license, if desired. Evaluator is free to use their preferred data collection platform.

· Tablets for data collection

· Scales and stadiometers for anthropometric data collection as described in Special Study 3

· All Annexes to this ToR

· The project PMP once completed (early November 2019).

Evaluator Qualifications:

Team must have the following qualifications

a) Advanced Degree in social sciences with strong knowledge of statistics/ demography;

b) Knowledge and experience in survey and sampling design;

c) Experience managing complex and multi-sectoral evaluations;

d) Knowledge of performance evaluations, especially in the education sector;

e) Knowledge of the education sector; basic education in the development context; school feeding programs especially in West Africa, preferably Togo;

f) Demonstrated experience in conducting evaluation surveys of similar nature, preferably for USDA-funded projects;

g) Good verbal and written communication skills in English and French;

h) Willingness to work in remote areas without electricity and running water.

Structure of Proposal and Submission Guidelines

Key criteria that will be considered during the bid evaluation process will include the following:

1. Bidders must submit a technical proposal including a detailed description of the study design and methodology for the baseline.

2. Bidders must submit a detailed financial proposal for the baseline, midline, and final evaluation, and special studies, not exceeding $450,000 for the three data collection points.

a. Please list a separate line item for Special Study 3 in Annex 1.

1. Bidders should submit a detailed work plan showing clearly how they wish to accomplish the study.

2. Profile of the bidders including relevant knowledge and experience to undertake the assignment

3. Bidders should have stated their relevant qualification and demonstrate relevant experience in the project area and experience in evaluating education programs.

4. Delivery timeline

The proposal should contain no more than a total of 25 pages of which; technical proposal 20 pages and financial proposal 5 pages. See table 9 below.

Proposal layout and number of pages

Proposal content layout

Maximum pages

Technical Proposal

20

Expression of interest

1

Table of content

1

Introduction and background

1 ½

Qualification and profile of team members

2 ½

Evaluation methodology

5

Evaluation questions

2 ½

Work plan and deliverables

2 ½

Technical reference of the firm

4

Financial Proposal

5

Summary

1

Detailed budget

3

Budget explanatory notes

1

Total

25

Sealed bids must be delivered in electronic and/or hard copy to:

The CRS-Togo Office

01 BP 173 Hedzanawoe-Derriere Sito Aeroport

Lomé, Togo

Email: togo@global.crs.org The proposals must be submitted no later 23 October 2019 at midnigh

[1] In English: “Health, Transformation and Learning for School Success”

Please send resumes to :

togo@global.crs.org