Consultancy Job on Learning Project on Working with Adolescent Girls and Young Women

Background: Trócaire is in the process of closing out/has closed a number of programs in Kenya that aimed to support women’s and girls’ empowerment, and protect against and prevent SGBV. As working with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) will be a central part of many new programmes for Trócaire, there is a desire to learn from the experiences in Kenya- to understand what approaches and strategies work best for women in this age group and to deepen collective understanding of what holistic programming for AGYW entails.

Within the wider organization, there is momentum to work with and support youth in programming, but at the same time there is a clear need to define who we mean when we speak about working with youth and adolescents (and in our case to focus in on adolescent girls (15-18 years) and young women (18- 24 years)). There is also a need to define what we mean by youth-centered, youth-led and youth-friendly programming.

Objective: To document and draw learning from Kenya programming on working with adolescent girls (15-18 years) and young women (18- 24 years) towards their personal empowerment, and for protection against and prevention of SGBV (this reflects the integrated 3.1 and 3.2 program approach employed). The added value of this piece would be that it would inform the increased/new focus on older adolescent girls/youth (15 – 24 years) in the new strategic plan, specifically under the pillar on supporting women and girl’s protection, voice, and leadership.

Primary audience: Trocaire program technical advisors across Trocaire country programmes and within HQ.

Secondary audience: Implementing partner organizations; by articulating the practices and strategies that worked well, partners can use this to mobilize funds to continue with this work with other partners in the future.

Key questions:

• · Was the work with adolescent girls and young women ‘youth centered’ and if so, in what way?
• How were AGYW targeted and invited to participate in the program?
• What supports were they given and how specifically did these address their needs? (not just about what activities were included in the program, but also how was the program set up to accommodate their specific needs, practical or perceived or emotional).
• Were the objectives of the program activities responsive to their priorities and needs, and was the method of delivery age and needs appropriate?
• What aspects did/do the program participants view as having the most long lasting effects?
• Did the program design miss anything, either at planning or implementation stage? (Note: The purpose here is to provide useful recommendations/tips for future programming and not to evaluate the Kenya programs).
• Was there any ripple effect of the interventions for other adolescent girls and young women documented or observed in the monitoring and evaluation of the programs?
• Was the work holistic in supporting both women’s and girls’ personal empowerment as well as protecting against and preventing SGBV?
• Identify strategies that supported with this joint mission?
• Of all of the strategies and activities used, which (if any) were most supportive to promoting adolescent girls and young women’s voice and leadership?
• · What did not work? Or led to unintended negative consequences? What are the lessons learned about what NOT to do in working with adolescent girls and young women?
• · What practical tips, cautions or advice can be derived for Trocaire teams and partners embarking on this type of work in the future? What was really challenging? Were there risks/challenges that were not foreseen at the outset, or pieces of work that were more labor intensive than was initially envisaged?

Methodology:

• · Desk review of available evaluations and reports, including mid and end-line evaluations prepared for UNTF, DREAMS IC and IAPF funded programs, as well as monitoring reports prepared by Trócaire country team, trip reports prepared by Trócaire personnel, project annual reports and workshop reports.
• · Conduct interviews or engage in discussions with current and former members of the Trócaire Women’s Empowerment team members and partner staff/facilitators involved in implementation of the program. The interviews maybe virtual or physical depending on which method suits best for each case. This could take the form of a facilitated discussion/workshop session rather than individual interviews.
• · TBD: Conduct FGDs with program participants if suitable and necessary. Suitability will take into account whether a physical or virtual meeting is possible given Covid-19 restrictions and the fact that these programs have ended or are due to end soon and so there are ethical considerations about continuing to engage with participants unless it is supportive to them.
• · Analyze all of the above and provide a written report addressing the key questions outlined above.
• · Tools to be drafted by consultant, with very clear questions to put to partners and all respondents

Output: a succinct report documenting the key lessons learned, best practices and practical guidance/recommendations for programs that will work with adolescent girls and young women on women’s/girls’ empowerment (maximum 15 pages) and a short abridged version of the report with key learning points and recommendation (max 5 pages).

Timeline:

• · Recruit consultant – by mid May 2021
• · Begin consultancy – late May 2021
• · Literature review & discussions/interviews – June
• · Write up of report – end of June.
• Inception Report and draft tools – 1 day
• Literature review – 3 days
• Discussions with key informants– 4 days
• Write up of report – 3 days
• Final amendments following feedback – 2 day
• Total of 13/14 days

Required Skills and Competencies

• · Evaluation experience of 5 to 7 years in conducting external evaluations, with mixed-methods evaluation skills and having flexibility in using non-traditional and innovative evaluation methods.
• · Expertise in gender and human-rights based approaches to evaluation and issues of violence against women and girls.
• · Specific evaluation experiences in the areas of ending violence against women and girls and HIV.
• · In-depth knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• · Knowledge of SASA! Faith implementation and Women’s Empowerment Evidence Based Initiatives (EBIs) in general will be an added advantage.
• · Regional/country experience and knowledge: in-depth knowledge of Kenya’s gender and VAW/G programming interventions is required
• · Experience in collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data.
• · Demonstrated ability to interpret data and write analytical reports.
• · A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e. credible evaluation and its report that can be used.
• · A strong team leadership and management track record, as well as interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the evaluation is understood and used.
• · Good communication skills and ability to communicate with various stakeholders and to express concisely and clearly ideas and concepts.
• · Language proficiency: fluency in English and Kiswahili is mandatory.