Consultancy Services to Conduct A Comparative Poverty Analysis Assessment/Study, ChildFund Kenya

About ChildFund Kenya

ChildFund is a child-focused international development organization that works in 24 countries to connect children with the people, resources, and institutions they need to grow up healthy, educated, skilled and safe, no matter where they are. In Kenya, ChildFund works through 11 implementing partners (IP’s) and 2 Direct Program Implementing Units (DPIU) to implement various development interventions across 26 counties. The Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026 strategic programming and advocacy priorities includes Strengthening Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE), Child Protection (CP), Youth Engagement and Participation, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) and Advocacy.

Background and Context

ChildFund International started in 1938 with a plan to build orphanages for children who were left without homes or families after the second Sino-Japanese War. The organization was originally called China’s Children Fund (CCF) and it was a non-governmental emergency relief organization. Founded in Richmond, Virginia by Dr. J. Calvitt Clarke, the fund started with individual donations. Acting on its growing understanding of what works for children, CCF moved from running orphanages in the 1960s shifts its focus from orphans to helping families fight poverty at its roots. This formalized the family helper programs as an approach It changed from China Children Fund to Christian Children Fund in the 1950s. Because helping an individual child only goes so far, CCF added community-level interventions. In the 1980s ChildFund starts serving children through local organizations that implement community development rather than providing direct aid to families. In 1990, Child Alert’s first emergency fund was launched and 12 years later, CCF joins other child-focused development organizations to form the ChildFund Alliance. In 2003, CCF publishes a study on children’s experience of poverty that transforms our approach to serving children[1]. In 2009, CCF becomes ChildFund International and in 2016- ChildFund launches efforts to deepen and expand its work to protect children worldwide.

ChildFund first came to Kenya in the early 1960s to respond to the appalling conditions of children in the country, brought about by the political, economic and social realities of the time. Since 1974, the organization has gone through several developmental milestones some of which have seen it reduce its local partners from 102 interest and self-help groups to 51 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) which were later consolidated into 13 local Non-governmental Organizations (LNGOs) by 2017. The consolidation was informed by the need to improve effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery to have strong partners who meet quality programming, governance and compliance standards.

While operations will continue in 23 of the current 26 Counties, we will undertake gradual exit and entry from communities with improved reductions in levels of vulnerability to neighboring communities experiencing higher incidences of child deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability (DEV) will be undertaken. By the end of the CSP period, guided by this assessment’s findings and recommendations, we will systematically exit Narok, Meru and Nyeri counties and select wards in Machakos, Siaya, Kisumu, Kitui, Makueni, Embu, Kiambu, Baringo, Tharaka Nithi, Busia and Kajiado counties. The assessment will inform exit and entry guidelines which include celebration by children and families. New communities will be mobilized and prepared for entry, focusing on West Pokot, Tana River and Kilifi counties. The three counties have a unique mix of climate change-induced livelihood deprivation and violence and retrogressive socio-cultural practices that exacerbate child poverty and various forms of VAC. Initially, expansion to these new counties will be through grants (at least two years) and later through partnering with existing local NGOs to establish sponsorship-funded programming. We will leverage and complement their programs by introducing our child sponsorship work. In some of the communities where ChildFund is working, it has operated for at least 30-50 years. The long stay in these communities has created a sense of entitlement and complacency which often leads to dependency and unsustainability in the long run.

Local Partner or Community Disaffiliation

The ChildFund Sponsorship Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) indicates when a Country Office “disaffiliates” a Local Partner, this means that the sponsorship-funded partnership and the associated Letter of Agreement are terminated. This exit applies to all Communities that are associated with that Local Partner. It is also possible to exit from only one Community, while the Local Partner relationship continues with ChildFund. There are two types of disaffiliation: “Normal” and “Immediate,” and in both cases, prior approval is required by the Country Director, the Regional Director, and the Director of Supporter Experience.

Normal Disaffiliation

Normal disaffiliation is planned three to five years in advance, often because of a Country’s Strategic Plan. The strategic reasons for exiting a partnership are not considered in this SOP and are explored more deeply in the CSP Guidance, and here we focus on the operational steps to carry out disaffiliation.

A “normal” disaffiliation requires the prior approval of the Country and Regional Directors, and the Director of Supporter Experience. Country Offices are required to complete a template of information outlining key reasons for the disaffiliation as well as a high-level summary of accomplishments. The Local Partner or Community will be placed on the disaffiliation calendar.

ChildFund will only process normal disaffiliations between March 1 and October 31 because of the high demand to send pre- and post-Christmas correspondence and gifts (disaffiliations aren’t scheduled from November through February because of the holiday season). The Country Office Support Specialist will coordinate the exact date of disaffiliation with the Country Office as the month for exit draws closer. Table one lists the steps for normal disaffiliation.

Steps to Disaffiliate Communities

Disaffiliation Action

• Country Office communicates the request with a completed disaffiliation template and approvals from Country and Regional Directors to the Country Office Support Specialist.
• The template is reviewed and the Director of Supporter Experience approves, exit information is published on the disaffiliation calendar and the initial template is shared with Alliance Partners. For normal disaffiliations, information has been published a minimum of one year in advance of the agreed-upon disaffiliation date.
• The Community (or Communities if multiple for the same Local Partner) are placed on “Hold All Activity” status to prevent new assignments or replacement assignments
• Country Office should depart all non-sponsored children once the Community has been placed on Hold All Activity.
• Within six months of the planned disaffiliation date, a revised template should be sent to the Country Office Support Specialist at the International Office
• The revised template is published to offer additional details on successes in the Community.
• If any children are to be transferred to another Local Partner, this should be done prior to beginning the disaffiliation process.
• The International Office may or may not prepare prenotification letters to be mailed to US sponsors. This is determined on a case-by-case basis and the timing may vary (three months in advance, 2 months etc.). If a prenote is prepared, the template is shared with Alliance Partners and the Country Office.
• The Country Office is to notify the Local Partner or Community of the exact date and reason for disaffiliation at least 90 days in advance.
• The Country Office submits a draft departure details paragraph to be included with each departure to the Country Office Support Specialist for review and approval at least one month prior to the disaffiliation date
• All pending DFC delivery and correspondence from children to sponsors is to be completed.
• Actions called for by the Letter of Agreement when terminating the partnership are to be completed.
• On the scheduled disaffiliation date, individual departures are processed by the Country Office with the reason of “ChildFund Leaving Village”.
• Local Partner or Community status updated to “Closed”
• Because the Country Office is processing the disaffiliation using the individual child departure procedure, sponsors will receive the normal departure letter with the detailed departure paragraph. In most cases, sponsors also receive assignment packages as invitations to sponsor new children.
• Usually, the sponsor is offered a child within the same Country Office.

Immediate Disaffiliation

Occasionally there are situations that are grounds for immediately terminating a partnership with a Local Partner or Community, whereby the gradual phase-out and pre-processes are skipped. This is sometimes due to safety/security concerns for ChildFund and partner staff or we have identified other risk issues which warrant moving away from a Local Partner in an area where we have not been able to secure a new Local Partner to take things over. With the approval of the Country, Regional Director, and Director of Supporter Experience, the disaffiliation is scheduled as quickly as possible. The steps for exiting a Local Partner or Community are coordinated at an accelerated pace. When immediate disaffiliation is necessitated, a prenotification letter will not be sent to sponsors.

Comparative Poverty Analysis

Over the years several development partners working in financial and socio-economic sectors e.g. Financial Sector Deepening (FSD Kenya), United Nations High Commission for Refugees, World Vision International, and Partnership for Economic Inclusion have tested and adopted the poverty graduation model. The graduation approach has demonstrated its impact by elevating millions of households from the worst forms of poverty. The impact of graduation in countries such as Bangladesh was largely positive with significant increases in work productivity and asset base, access to secure employment, resilience to shocks, women’s empowerment, social cohesion and child wellbeing. Participants were able to sustain these gains over a 7-year period, indicating the long-term impact of the Graduation approach. Similarly, research findings from the *Consultative Group to Assist the Poor **(***CGAP)-Ford Foundation pilots in six countries show strong gains in income, consumption, food security, assets, savings, health, social identity, and women’s decision-making among ultra-poor households. In ChildFund, the model will be enriched by best practices in the industry, child poverty indicators and lessons learned from research/studies undertaken. The key consideration in selecting the PG model to adopt include scalability, cost-effectiveness and sustainability. Use of the PG model will ensure that exited communities remain sustainable.

The partners who are working in the targeted geographies have already commenced engagement with stakeholders including caregivers, community members, and board members, on the anticipated transition, use of existing statistics from the relevant county government departments such as health, agriculture, water services and irrigation to inform potential new wards to enter,

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to assess the readiness of communities to be disaffiliated/graduated, identify communities to be enrolled and develop a framework for entry and exit using the poverty graduation model methodology.

Specific Objectives

1. In collaboration with partners, co-create an exit and entry framework to inform future community engagement processes in development/sponsorship work.
2. Conduct poverty assessment using participatory approaches in targeted counties and triangulate with data from existing government ministries and NGOs data
3. Provide recommendations to ChildFund management on community sustainable programs

Scope of Work

The study assessment will be primarily conducted in Meru, Nyeri and Narok counties as well as Machakos, Siaya, Kisumu, Kitui, Makueni, Embu, Kiambu, Baringo, Tharaka Nithi, Busia and Kajiado counties.

Assessment questions

The prospective consultant/firm could use the following questions to probe on readiness for disaffiliation and can add more questions to suitably accomplish the assignment.

Background

• When did we begin work in this community?
• What were some of the poor conditions here when we started?
• What were our original goals at the start?

The rationale for Disaffiliation/Graduation

• Why are we leaving the community?
• Is the community now self-sufficient?

Accomplishments and improvements

• In what ways did we support the improvement of conditions?
• How were we successful in achieving our initial goals for this community?
• What are the conditions now compared to when we started?
• Approximately how many children and families were helped by our work here?

Future expectations

• What will the future be like for children and families after ChildFund leaves?
• How will the improvements and programs we helped introduce be maintained after disaffiliation?

Sponsorship relocation plans

• How many children are currently sponsored in this community?
• Which Alliance Partners have sponsorships in this community?
• To which communities should sponsors be reassigned?
• Please, share 2-3 goals we are working to achieve in the reassignment communities.

For immediate disaffiliation

• What attempts were made to maintain the project?
• What alternatives were explored and why did they not work?

Methodology

To answer the above questions of inquiry among others, the consultant will be expected to use a variety of participatory monitoring and evaluation approaches and data collection tools for micro-level poverty, social exclusion and vulnerability programs including problem, preference and wealth ranking, neighborhood mapping, flow diagrams, oral histories, seasonal calendars, storytelling and participatory theatres, rope technique, transect walk and semi-structured interviews. These can be augmented with key informant interviews with community leaders, government officials, and focus group discussions with men, women, children and special interest groups, Some of the analysis methods will include but not limited to participatory rural appraisal, participatory learning and action, and participatory poverty assessment. Internal sources of information will include a secondary review of Sponsorship Standard Operating Procedures, Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026, progress narrative reports, engage in conversations with small groups e.g. country task force and partners management team. External sources will include a review of secondary data such as county poverty reports by KIPPRA, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reports such as Economic report, World Bank report among others. Engage with community members using participatory rural appraisal approaches, key informants’ interviews from the government and non-government, focus group discussions

Outputs and Deliverables

Below are the deliverables for the consultant engaged to carry out this assignment:

• Inception report, showing exactly how the work will be carried out and the human resources assigned.
• Draft Comparative Poverty Analysis Report
• Final Comparative Poverty Analysis Report
• Programs and sponsorship exit and entry framework
• Presentation to the senior management team and partners on the outcomes of the assessment for validation

Qualifications of Consultant (s)

For carrying out this consultancy, a consultant/firm, with extensive expertise in rural development, particularly in poverty alleviation programs and participatory techniques is required. The suitable candidate for this assignment or the lead consultant of the consulting firm should have at least.

• Advanced Degree in Rural Development, Community Development, Economics, Finance or any other related discipline.
• Must have extensive expertise and experience in project cycle management
• Have proven knowledge and practical experience in quantitative and qualitative research.
• Experience of similar work in sponsorship-focused International Non-Governmental Organizations.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, facilitating, presentation and communication skills.
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili
• Facilitators should have an awareness of cultural sensitivities and local language skills

Note: The consultant is expected to attach his/ her CV, and list of at least 3 similar assignments successfully completed within the context of an NGO/INGO development sector. If a company, attach a certificate of the registration company profile, CV of the lead consultant and list of at least 5 similar related assignments successfully completed.

Selection Criteria for hiring the consultant

The selection of the consultants will be based on the following criteria;

• A clear understanding of the assignment, subject and objective of the consultancy.
• Relevant qualifications including technical skills, experience, and competencies for comparative poverty assessments,
• The technical proposal clearly illustrates how the work will be done
• Financial proposal with a detailed itemized budget that is comprehensive to include professional fees, logistical costs where required and taxes
• Detailed presentation of the consultant before a selection panel

Management and Coordination

The consultant(s) will be directly reporting to the Country Director and Programs and Sponsorships Director. The day-to-day management will be the responsibility of the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager supported by Area Managers and the implementing partners in the area under evaluation.

Work plan & Timelines

The work is expected to take place from the 21st of November 2022 to the 18th of February 2023. Specific timelines applicable will be agreed upon during the inception meeting. The consultant is expected to finish the reports strictly 90 days from the time of award of the contract. The consultant will be required to give a presentation on the strategy at the end of the assignment. However, he/she will brief the country lead on the progress of the assignment on a weekly basis.

Application Process

Technical proposal: the consultant should describe their capacities and how they intend to accomplish the assignment. Provide a detailed logical work plan with milestones for the activities/assignment with the total number of days required to complete the assignment.

Financial proposal: The prospective consultant should submit an itemized budget and justification for the costs budgeted for. The budget should include professional fees, logistical charges where required and 16% VAT and 2% WTH taxes. All payment is subject to verification of deliverables.

Payment process

Payment upon submission and acceptance of the inception report to ChildFund – 20%

Payment upon review and approval of the draft poverty graduation study report – 30%

Payment upon review and approval of the draft poverty graduation study report – 50%

NB: The Consultant’s compensation shall be paid NET, within 30 days from receipt of a proper invoice unless otherwise specified. Payment will be made through direct bank transfer otherwise specified. The payment shall be subjected to 5% withholding tax as required by the Law at the time of payment.

[1] https://www.childfund.org/uploadedFiles/NewCF/Impact/Knowledge_Center/ChildrenAndPoverty_Study_Part3.pdf

Bandiera, O. et al. 2016. “Labor markets and poverty in village economies”. London: London School of Economics

Banerjee, A. et al. 2015. “A multifaceted program causes lasting progress for the very poor: Evidence from six countries”. Science 348: 6236.

How to apply

Interested candidates should submit their Expression of Interest through kenyaprocurement@childfund.org by 24th November 2022. An evaluation of the proposals will be made by ChildFund Kenya which may engage in an interactive process with the consultant to further specify the scope and methodology to be used as well as the budget, deliverables and deadlines.