Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Consultancy to Conduct the Mid-Term Review for Safe CLICS (Safe Community Linkages for Internet Child Safety) Project – ChildFund International

DURATION OF CONSULTANCY: 4 WEEKS (30 DAYS)

1.BACKGROUND

1.1. About the Project Implementing Partners.

The Safe CLICS project is a 3-year project funded by Safe Online which is implemented in the Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Kilifi Counties by three partners which are:

1.1.1 ChildFund

ChildFund is an international child-centered development organization. We are a member of the ChildFund Alliance; a global network of 12 organizations that assists more than 35 million children in 58 countries around the world. ChildFund works throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas to connect children with the people, resources, and institutions they need to grow up healthy, educated, skilled and safe, wherever they are. Delivered through over 250 local implementing partner organizations, our programs address the underlying conditions that prevent any child or youth from achieving their full potential. We place a special emphasis on child protection throughout our approach because violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect can reverse developmental gains in an instant. Last year, we reached 35.9 million children and family members in 24 countries.

In Kenya, ChildFund works through 11 Implementing Partners (IPs) and 2 direct units spread across 27 counties serving over 3.1 million children, families, and community members. The thematic areas that we focus on are Child Protection including Online Child Protection, Household Economic Strengthening, Early Childhood Development, Education, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Emergency Response, Health and Nutrition, Food Security, Climate Change and Resilience Building.

1.1.2 LifeSkills Promoters

LifeSkills Promoters (LISP) is an indigenous development organization working with children and youth to promote holistic development through life skills training. LISP works with schools, religious institutions, community groups, and government departments to equip young people for life and promote the empowerment of children and youth. LISP develops life skills in education and economic empowerment and develops curricula for different groups targeting children and youth aged 10-35 years old.

The vision of the organization is to see a future where young people and their influencers are well-developed, empowered, and are productive members of their society. The organization’s mission is to transform lives by equipping individuals with the necessary life and technical skills to promote behavior change, employability, and productivity.

1.1.3 Childline Kenya

Childline Kenya, established in 2004, is a prominent non-governmental organization dedicated to addressing child protection concerns in Kenya. Founded by Plan International, SOS Children’s Villages, and the Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children (KAACR), Childline Kenya emerged in response to pressing challenges faced by the country, including an alarming increase in child abuse cases and a fractured family system. Recognizing the urgent need for accessible and professional mental health and psychosocial support for children and families, as well as the necessity for coordinated responses to reported cases of children in need of care and protection, Childline Kenya was established with the vision of creating a supportive environment for children to voice their concerns, receive assistance, and access essential services through a nationwide coordinated referral system.

At the forefront of Childline Kenya’s initiatives is its flagship program, the National Child Helpline 116 Service. This telephone-based service serves as a lifeline for children in distress, enabling them to report abuse and other concerns while receiving immediate counseling and effective referrals to child protection services. Operating in partnership with the Directorate of Children Services through a public-private partnership model, Childline Kenya not only responds to cases of violence against children but also implements proactive measures to prevent child abuse. By strengthening the child protection system, building the capacity of individuals working with children, raising awareness in communities, and analyzing helpline data to inform policy and practice, Childline Kenya is committed to ensuring that children in Kenya receive the support they need and deserve, linking them to high-quality services and fostering a safe environment for their growth and development.

1.2. The Safe Community Linkages for Internet Child Safety (Safe CLICS) Project

ChildFund Kenya in partnership with Childline Kenya and Life Skills Promoters is implementing a 3-year project entitled “Safe CLICS” – Safe Community Linkages for Internet Child Safety project from June 2022 to May 2025 in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Kilifi Counties, Kenya. The “Safe CLICS” project seeks to strengthen capacity, networks, and systems to make the internet safe for children. The project focuses on systematically strengthening Kenyan government agencies’ capacity to prevent and respond to Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA), improving children’s self-protection skills with the support of caregivers and communities, and strengthening public awareness of OCSEA and connections to reporting and referral services.

The projects objectives are:

1. Strengthen Kenya’s national infrastructure, focusing on social care capacity, to prevent and respond to online offending against children.
2. Improve early intervention to prevent victimization of children, and victim support to assist in recovery.
3. Engage families and caregivers in preventing the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and responding to harmful or otherwise unwanted experiences online.

Informed by Disrupting Harm, a multifaceted research project on online child sexual exploitation and abuse conducted in 2021 in Southeast Asia and Southern and East Africa, the project emphasizes collaborative partnerships with the Government of Kenya, private sector, communities, and development partners. Emphasizing system thinking and a systems practice approach, the project prioritizes system strengthening and change, institutional strengthening, and local capacity development for sustainable results. Specific interventions include improving child protection systems at national and sub national levels of government, enhancing child protection environments in schools, and addressing caregiver capacity and knowledge to identify and respond to child protection vulnerabilities of children at the community level with a specific focus on child online protection.

1.3. Mid Term Review Purpose and Objectives

1.3.1. General Objective

The mid-term review aims to assess the project against select OECD DAC criteria i.e. relevance and appropriateness, effectiveness, and efficiency, identify challenges and successes, lessons learnt and provide recommendations for adjustments to enhance project execution, delivery, and effectiveness for the remainder of the period.

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

1. Assess the progress of the project towards its objectives and results/outcomes.
2. Identify and analyze the critical issues and challenges encountered during the project’s implementation.
3. Generate lessons learned from both successes and challenges experienced.
4. Evaluate the utilization of resources, including budget, personnel, and materials towards achieving the projects outputs.
5. Reassess and update the project’s risk management plan.
6. Provide critical recommendations towards the improvement of the project’s interventions.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The mid-term review will focus on interventions implemented from July 2022 to January 2024 in all the project areas in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Kilifi Counties, Kenya. It will look at all the aspects of the project implementation as outlined in the project proposal, project agreement, detailed implementation plan and budget. The consultant will assess the relevance, and appropriateness of the project, effectiveness, and efficiency and the achievements made, challenges faced, and lessons learned. As a mid-term evaluation, the consultant is expected to provide clear and practical recommendations on what needs to be done to successfully deliver the project and achieve the expected outcome and impact.

3. METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH

The successful consultant should propose the appropriate study design and data collection techniques for the evaluation. The identified approach should facilitate data validation, reduce likelihood of bias, and enrich the findings based on the evaluation questions and objectives. The tools may include household surveys, Key Informant Interviews (KII) and FGDs. In each case a detailed description of the tools should be provided and the relevance in the data collection process. Other areas of interest would include sampling design, data collection and analysis procedures, quality assurance and ethical considerations.

3.1 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

3.1.1 Alignment with Project Objectives

• Evaluate the alignment of project activities with the overall objectives and goals set at the project’s beginning.
• Assess if the project is on track to achieve its intended impact.

3.1.2 Project Progress Assessment

• Review project documents, including the initial project proposal, work plans, and progress reports to understand the planned activities and achievements to date.
• Evaluate the progress made towards achieving the goal, project objectives, milestones and the three specified outcomes of the Safe CLICS project.
• Review and analyze the project’s activities, outputs, and outcomes achieved during the first one and a half years of the implementation period.
• Assess the extent to which project activities align with the stated objectives and expected outcomes.

3.1.3 Outcome-Specific Analysis

Analyze the effectiveness of activities under each project outcomes.

Outcome 1: Evaluate the impact of advocacy efforts, SOP development, and collaboration with stakeholders on service providers’ capacity.

Outcome 2 – Assessment of School Efforts: Assess the empowerment of children and youth, effectiveness of educational programs, and timely responses to reported cases.

• Assess the effectiveness of school initiatives in responding to and preventing OCSEA.
• Evaluate the challenges encountered by schools, including difficulties in dealing with underreporting by learners.

Outcome 3 – Assessment of Community Efforts: Evaluate the improvement in caregivers’ understanding of online safety and community surveillance efforts.

• Analyze challenges in reporting and referral mechanisms faced by parents and caregivers.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of community structures in supporting caregivers.
• Evaluate the efforts made by community structures and media in addressing OCSEA, including their successes and challenges.

3.1.4 Risk Analysis

• Conduct a risk analysis to identify potential challenges and risks that may hinder the achievement of project goals.
• Identify and analyze challenges and constraints faced during project implementation, including obstacles in engaging service providers, reaching schoolchildren, caregivers in the communities, addressing online safety risks, including those risks related to coordination, resource allocation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Propose risk mitigation strategies for addressing identified challenges.
• Reassess and update the project’s risk management plan including identifying new risks that have emerged during the project implementation.

3.1.5 Implementation Effectiveness

• Assess the effectiveness of implemented strategies and interventions in addressing online sexual exploitation and abuse.
• Identify successful approaches and areas requiring adjustments.
• Assess the implementation status of recommendations provided in the baseline study.

3.1.6 Effectiveness of Capacity-Building Activities

• Evaluate the effectiveness of capacity-building activities for social service providers, considering participation rates and reported challenges.
• Examine the effectiveness of strategies employed in strengthening capacity, raising awareness, and supporting children, caregivers, and communities.

3.1.7 School-Based Initiatives Assessment

• Assess the effectiveness of school-based initiatives on online safety, including the integration of life skills education, awareness campaigns, and guidance and counseling.

3.1.8 Community Engagement and Media Impact

• Evaluate the effectiveness of community engagement strategies and media interventions in raising awareness about OCSEA.

3.1.9. Parental and Caregiver Participation

• Review the extent of parental and caregiver participation in education activities on online safety and their understanding of OCSEA.

3.1.10 Resource Utilization

• Evaluate the efficiency in the utilization of project resources, including budget, personnel, and materials.
• Assess the effectiveness of financial and human resource management.
• Review efficiency and effectiveness in the utilization of project funds, assessing whether budget allocations align with the project’s priorities and goals.

3.1.11 Impact Assessment on target beneficiaries

• Assess the impact of project interventions on the capacity of social service providers, children’s participation in education programs, parents, community members and the overall safety of children in the digital environment.
• Assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to online safety.
• Document and analyze success stories and best practices.

3.1.12 Lessons Learned and recommendations for Project Enhancement

• Generate lessons learned from both achievements/successes and challenges.
• Suggest innovative solutions to address identified challenges.

3.1.13 Baseline Recommendations Follow-Up

• Provide clear evidence-based and actionable recommendations for enhancing the project’s impact, overcoming challenges, improving overall relevance, effectiveness and efficiency, and adjustments in project strategies and approaches to enhance project outcomes and impact.

3.1.14 Documentation and Reporting

• Prepare a comprehensive mid-term review report (full and abridged versions) in MS Word and a PowerPoint summary, highlighting the methodology, key findings, challenges, and recommendations.
• Present the findings to ChildFund Kenya and relevant stakeholders.

4.0 QUALIFICATION AND SKILLS OF THE CONSULTANT(S)

• Strong analytical and research skills, with expertise in child protection, online safety, and advocacy.
• Familiarity with Kenyan child protection policies and frameworks.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• A post-graduate degree in Behavioral/Social Sciences, Development Studies, Community Development, Project Planning and Management, Child Protection, social sciences, and other related studies.
• Minimum of ten years of experience in conducting project studies: action research, participatory monitoring and evaluation of development programmes, process evaluation, mid-term reviews or evaluations of child protection and online safety projects. etc.
• Experience conducting studies on Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) is highly desirable.
• Experience in working with marginalized communities including youth, women, and persons with disabilities in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi or working across multiple counties.
• Experience in working in Online Child Protection Programming in urban/peri-urban settings such as Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Kiambu will be highly desirable.
• Fluent in English and Kiswahili.

5.0 DELIVERABLES

• Inception Report outlining the consultant’s approach, methodology, and work plan within the first week.
• Draft Mid-Term Review Report detailing progress, challenges, and recommendations.
• Half day Validation meeting with key stakeholders
• Final Mid-Term Review Report incorporating feedback from ChildFund Kenya, partners and relevant stakeholders.

5.1 Payment process

The consultant shall be paid for the successful completion of the deliverables in accordance with the following payment schedule below:

1. Inception Report outlining the consultant’s approach, methodology, and work plan within the first week – 30%
2. Interim Briefing presenting initial findings and receiving feedback. Draft Mid-Term Review Report detailing progress, challenges, and recommendations – 30%
3. Final Mid-Term Review Report (including a PPT slides) incorporating feedback from ChildFund Kenya, partners and relevant stakeholder – 40%

The Consultant’s compensation shall be paid within 30 days of receipt of a proper invoice unless otherwise specified. Payment will be made by electronic transfer unless otherwise specified. The payment shall be subjected to 5% withholding tax as required by the Law at the time of payment. Budget denomination should be KES.

How to Apply

Interested consultants should submit a detailed proposal by 11/3/2024 to KenyaProcurement@childfund.org indicating the assignment Title on the subject line.

The technical proposal should include.

•A cover letter outlining how the firm/individual meets the requirements for the assignment,
•The CV and CVs of all team members (if individual or institution) highlighting relevant experience in conducting project studies related to Child Protection (baseline, mid-term, process and endline),
•The technical proposal should highlight 5 or more years of experience evaluating projects (baseline, endline, mid-term, participatory research) on Child Protection, Education, child rights and protection, Online Safety for children,
•Past similar evaluation reports or other research reports authored by the individual or institution’s staff,
•Reference contact information of at least 2 individuals or institutions that have conducted research with the individual or institution in the past.

The financial proposal should include:

•A detailed breakdown of all the costs involved for the assignment for professional fees and field costs (conference costs, transport, enumerator costs, accommodation, and meals).

Note: CHILDFUND will evaluate the proposals and award the assignment based on technical and financial feasibility. CHILDFUND reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal received without giving reasons and is not bound to accept the lowest, the highest or any bidder. Only the successful applicant will be contacted. CHILDFUND does not charge any fees from applicants for any recruitment.ChildFund strives to create an environment where all candidates and employees have an equitable chance to succeed and thrive. Our donors and external partners collaborate with us in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion for the benefit of our program participants. Our global programs increasingly reflect the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion wherever possible and the communities where we work recognize us for fair and inclusive practices.