Consultancy Services for End line Evaluation for the Tackling Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC) on the Kenyan Coast Project

Goal

The overall objective of the project is to contribute towards elimination of SEC in Kwale County by 2021.

Objectives

• Children (at risk and victims of SEC) engage duty bearers to raise child protection concerns and advocate for child rights on behalf of their peers.
• Families and Communities protect children from sexual exploitation
• Government agencies in Kwale County government adopt and develop a strategy for the implementation of the SEC National Plan of Action to respond to SEC in the Counties.
• Law enforcement agencies convict perpetrators of sexual exploitation of children.
• Private sector (formal and informal)adopts a code of conduct for their staff with regard to child exploitation and abuse.
• CSOs develop/revise their policies and activities to ensure children’s best interests are served.

Period

1 October 2018 – 30 September 2021

Beneficiaries

• 2,000 beneficiaries ( 1,090 girls and 910 boys) directly supported.
• 150 children (105 girls 45 boys) victims of SEC rescued, rehabilitated and reintegrated to their families,
• 300 (210 girls 90 boys) at risk children supported to reduce their vulnerability to SEC
• 1,550 children (775 girls, 775 boys) vulnerable to SEC (in and out of school) have enhanced capacities to protect themselves and other children.
• 1,850 club members organized in 31 clubs, trained as Child Rights champions who in turn create awareness to their peers reaching at least 13,330 children in the 31 schools.
• 450 parents/guardians supported to undertake income generating activities.
• 5,181 community members directly reached with awareness messages and further 500,000+ reached with mass awareness
• 135 government officials trained on SEC.
• Capacity building (training) of 60 law enforcers (judiciary and police) and at least 3 SEC cases concluded in favor of the child victims.
• Training and awareness raising with 200 business operators in the local transport, hotel, tourism and entertainment sector.
• 20 CSOs engaged through the Kwale Child Rights Network; and 30 local organizations (FBOs, CCIs, CBOs) engaged in the promotion of child rights and protection.

Implementing partners

Terre des Hommes Netherlands Kenya Country Office (TdH-NL, KCO) and Kesho Kenya

Introduction

Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH-NL) is a child rights organization dedicated to stopping child exploitation. In East Africa, Terre des Hommes Netherlands works in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. We support child victims of exploitation with education, psychosocial support, legal assistance, shelter, job opportunities and medical care; while at the same time targeting highly vulnerable children, who are at risk of being exploited, in our prevention activities. We launch public and media campaigns to create awareness on our focus issues and carry out local research into the extent and nature of abuse and exploitation of children.

Our Vision: Terre des Hommes Netherlands works towards a world where all children have a decent life and can grow up to be independent adults. A world in which children are no longer exploited. We will continue our work until this is accomplished.

Our Mission: Terre des Hommes Netherlands prevents child exploitation, removes children from exploitative situations and ensures these children can develop themselves in a safe environment.

TdH-NL implements development, humanitarian/relief and advocacy interventions in various parts of Kenya, supported by own TdH-NL funding and from various institutional donors and foundations. Our focus is to prevent child exploitation, remove children from exploitative situations and ensure these children can develop themselves in a safe environment. We also focus on capacity building and advocacy / lobbying, centered on the most vulnerable children in their immediate environment. Our programmatic strategy is to partner with civil society organizations (CSOs).

In order to effectively combat child exploitation, TdH-NL has an integrated approach which is reflected in the organization’s Theory of Change. Identification of key actors in bringing desired change among target children is done through a thorough analysis of long-term causes and medium-term barriers for change, as well as the potential to bring about change. Generally these actors consist of the children themselves, their families and communities around them, the private sector, government, law enforcement agencies and CSO. Actors are identified for each program, per context.

This working structure is based on the assumption that a strong and united civil society, engaged in social change and capable of meaningful interaction with duty bearers and beneficiaries, can help the program realize its objectives. Strengthening of civil society is thus an overall, underlying condition for the successful and sustainable implementation of change in the communities TdH-NL works in.

In Kenya, TdH-NL collaborates with Kenyan CSOs and networks in the execution of projects which aim to prevent child exploitation and provide assistance to exploited children. TdH-NL programs are implemented in Nairobi, Nakuru, Coastal, Western and Northern regions of Kenya.

Project Background

Sexual exploitation of children (SEC) is widespread in Kenya affecting a significant number of children, mostly girls. Sexual exploitation of children mainly take place in bars, night clubs, disco halls, guest houses, streets, video dens, fishing areas, boda boda stages, matatu stages and premises which are hired specifically for under-aged girls and are used for sexual activities, and in homes where there is production and selling of illicit brews. Common perpetrators of SEC include boda boda riders, taxi drivers, matatu operators, truck drivers operating along the Mombasa to Lunga Lunga highway.

The main push and pull factors of SEC include: a thriving tourism industry including local tourism and local transporters e.g. boda bodas also contributing as perpetrators; socio-economic factors such as poverty and low literacy levels. Traditional and religious beliefs and practices such as child marriage in both Kilifi and Kwale, gender stereotypes and broader gender based violence also further predispose children to sexual abuse and exploitation. The general acceptance of violence, abuse, exploitation and violations within the community also means reporting of these incidences is low.

Although the Kenyan Government has shown some commitment towards addressing SEC especially by providing a legislative and policy framework, there has been little progress in translating these policies into actionable programs.

The phenomenon has been of concern in the Coastal Region of Kenya, and it’s against this background that TdH-NL in partnership with two partners designed the project titled: Tackling Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC) on the Kenyan Coast.

Evaluation Purpose and Use

This evaluation is designed to provide documented evidence of changes brought about by the project, extract key lessons and promising practices which can be adopted for programming in SEC prevention. It will serve as an important accountability purpose for TdH-NL by identifying the extent to which outcomes and impact has been achieved. It will also serve to document what worked and what did not work with regard to efforts to prevent sexual exploitation of children. Being an end of project evaluation, it will help to document the gains made against the preceding evaluations. Both TdH-NL and its implementing partner (Kesho Kenya) will be the prime users of the evaluation. Moreover, the key learning/findings will be used by other Civil Society Organizations, Government (both national and County) and development partners.

Evaluation Objectives

The main objective of the evaluation is to assess the level of achievement against the set objectives, document what worked and what did not work in tackling SEC and provide recommendations on best practices in prevention of SEC. It will examine the extent to which the project has delivered meaningful results for project beneficiaries, and identify key areas that can be replicated in similar interventions. Further, the evaluation will focus on the project design, implementation process, performance of the project, organizational management systems and how these have impacted on implementation of the project.

The specific objectives of this end-line evaluation is:

• To examine the extent to which the project objectives have been achieved. Assess how the project contributed to the impact including key enabling and/or constraining factors that led to project achievements
• To determine how the project benefited the beneficiaries.(include the two most significant change stories/case studies). Assess how it addressed barriers in prevention of SEC.
• To examine the unintended/unplanned effects of the project among the target beneficiaries local communities and wider context.
• To assess sustainability of key activities at the local level and among implementing organizations. Examine project components, strategies and activities that can be replicated in similar projects
• To document what worked, what did not work, key lessons learnt and recommendations for future implementation on SEC programming in Kenya and in projects designed under similar contexts, including partnership model.

Evaluation Scope and Duration

The scope of the evaluation includes a review and assessment of all activities carried out under the project. All activities that have been implemented from project inception through time of evaluation fieldwork should be assessed. The evaluation should assess the achievements of the project in reaching its targets and objectives as outlined in the project documents. The evaluation should assess project design, implementation, effectiveness, sustainability, lessons learned, replicability and provide recommendations for current and future projects. The proposed evaluation time frame is 30 days between 20th August to 20th September 2021. The evaluation will take place in Kwale County. This will be done in accordance with the DAC-OECD evaluation criteria.

Evaluation Criteria and Questions

The evaluation will seek to answer key questions as per the evaluation criterion: Effectiveness, Relevance, Efficiency, Sustainability, Coherence, and Impact, as well as Child Participation.

Proposed Evaluation Questions per Criteria:

• Relevance: How relevant were the objectives and activities, implemented by the project, in addressing the needs of the target population
• Impact: The evaluation should assess the positive and negative changes resulting from the project— intended and unintended, direct and indirect, -as reported by respondents
• Effectiveness: The evaluation should assess whether the project has reached its objectives, and the effectiveness of project activities in contributing toward those objectives
• Sustainability: The evaluation should assess whether the project has taken steps to ensure the continuation of project activities after the completion of the program
• Coherence: The evaluation should equally assess how the project aligned with actions of other actors within the CP space.
• Child Participation: Children being the key stakeholder, how was their involvement in decision making as well as project delivery?
• Knowledge Generation: What are the key lessons and best practices that need to be shared with practitioners implementing SEC interventions in Kenya? Identify lessons per criteria.

Evaluation Methodology and Approach

In collaboration with the TdH-NL M&E team, a detailed methodology plan will be developed during the inception phase. The focus will be on the finalization and operationalization of methods and tools to measure project progress. This phase will include a review and update of data collection tools and methods which include:

• Proposed methodology for any child targeted data collection (and ensuring it is designed with child safeguarding as a key consideration.
• Designing data collection and reporting tools for assessment of changes for all targeted stakeholders. The evaluation tools will be developed to ensure they provide comparative assessment of project outcomes at start(baseline), Mid Term and End Term.
• Propose a detailed way of measuring contribution/attribution of activities.
• Propose the most suitable approach on how the evaluators will ensure adherence to the COVID-19 government directives through out the evaluation
• Deliverables

In accordance with the timetable, the evaluator (s) will produce:

• A draft inception report which responds to the scope of work with a methodology, survey instruments, detailed work plan and budget.
• A field work implementation plan (to be submitted before field work begins). This field work plan should be presented to the TdH-NL Country office/ Region for comments, and revised as necessary prior to commencing field work.
• A final End-Term Evaluation report incorporating feedback from TdH-NL. The Revised Report will synthezise all data, MsC stories, identify conclusions, and make recommendations (Taking into account ALL comments and additions from TdH-NL following submission of the Draft Report).
• Oral Presentation/Meeting and debrief with project staff: The consultant will make a presentation to TdH-NL and its partners of the findings of the evaluation, including lessons for project improvement. The debriefing meeting will be an opportunity to clarify outstanding aspects of the evaluation before finalization of the end line report.
• The Final Report: The consultant will be expected to produce a final report, with comments from the debriefing taken into account. While the substantive content of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report shall be determined by the evaluator, the report is subject to final approval by TdH-NL in terms of whether or not the report meets the conditions of the ToR and expected standards.
• The consultant will be required to submit all data sets used for analysis, any scripts or instructions on data management as well as transcripts of all qualitative information gathered during data collection, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and list of people interviewed /met as appendices to the final report.
• Dissemination Workshop: After the evaluation report is finalized, TdH-NL will organize a dissemination workshop with its key stakeholders. The consultant is expected to co-facilitate the workshop and present the results of the evaluation.

TdH-NL will oversee the process and maintain responsibility for accountability and guidance throughout all phases of execution, and approval of all deliverables. The project partner Kesho Kenya will offer day to day support to the evaluator in terms of organizing for meetings with the target groups as requested by the evaluator.

Evaluators Competencies, Experience and Skill requirements

The evaluator engaged to undertake the assignment must fulfil the following requirements:

The team for this assignment will consist of the consultant who will have overall responsibility of designing, implementing and coordinating the entire process guided by the ToR. The knowledge, skills and expertise required are as outlined below:

• The lead consultant or coordinator is required to have a Master Degree in Social Sciences, Community Development or other related fields.
• Sound understanding of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Code of Conduct and UN Global Compact.
• A minimum of five years experience working in the field on children’s issues and child protection programs including child exploitation.
• A strong commitment to and proven experience of utilising child participatory methodologies.
• Knowledgeable in and committed to a Rights Based Approach to development.
• Has proven experience in conducting evaluations and research using various methodologies such as in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussions etc.
• Experience in working with NGOs, CBOs and beneficiary communities.
• Has excellent communication skills in writing and spoken English and Kiswahili.
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Excellent analytical and report writing skills (concise and clear reporting, good presentation of data and sources of information)
• Is familiar with social and cultural norms, and attitudes especially in relation to child trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse, child labor.
• Ability to devote enough time to this assignment and meet deadlines.
• Willingness to travel and flexibility to manage changing circumstances.
• Child Safeguarding Measures

In line with the UNCRC, Terre des Hommes Netherlands strives to keep children safe in all its undertakings. A screening and reference check of the successful candidate will be conducted during the selection process to confirm suitability of working with children. The successful applicant will be required to read, understand, and commit to abide by TdH-NL’s Child Safeguarding Policies and Guidelines. The institution/firm or individual consultant will sign the policies to indicate an understanding of, and commitment to follow the policy requirements. The methodologies used in this study must abide by the universally acceptable standards for involving children in research. Special considerations will have to be taken in involving children who are survivors of sexual exploitation, ensuring the risk of re-traumatization is sufficiently mitigated.

Ethical Considerations

All participants involved in the assessment are expected to be treated with dignity and respect, and participation in the study will be voluntary. Confidentiality and the right to privacy should be ensured. Consent will be obtained from all participants prior to their participation. Interviewing children will only be done for children above 12 years, with the consent of their parents/caregivers and if they themselves are comfortable participating and providing information. Where a child has been a victim of exploitation and abuse and shows signs of distress, a clear referral for counselling and psychosocial support should be done.

Consultants working for Terre des Hommes Netherlands are required to sign and abide by the organization’s Child Safeguarding Policy and expected to uphold the core values of the organization at all times during their period of assignment.

COVID- 19 Considerations

The survey will be conducted in strict compliance with the Government COVID-19 protocols to ensure safety of project beneficiaries, staff and all stakeholders involved. In the technical proposal, the applicant must demonstrate how this will be achieved.