Advertisement – Evaluation Consultant

Right to Food: Evidence to Action Project

1. Introduction

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is an international, non-profit research organization that envisions transforming lives in Africa through research. APHRC conducts policy-relevant research on population and health in Africa geared towards generating high-quality evidence to inform decision making for an effective and sustainable response to the most critical challenges facing the continent. Among APHRC’s prime areas of focus in urban informal settlements or slums are food and nutrition security.

Between 2018 and 2019, for instance, APHRC undertook public engagement for the implementation of the ‘Right to Food Project’ in urban poor communities in Nairobi. The aim of public engagement from the perspective of the Wellcome Trust (main donor) is to help people connect with science and health in ways accessible and relevant to them, hence create a culture of public-informed research for greater public trust and acceptance. Public engagement with research and health concepts is an innovative tool for enhancing impact.

Building on lessons learned and outcomes of the Right to Food Project Phase 1, we are now entering an exciting new phase – ‘– Right to Food: Evidence to Action Project’ – of strategic significance, impact, and national recognition. Our goal in this new phase is to promote people-centered and people-informed research and informing relevant policies and interventions for the eventual improvement of food and nutrition security among the urban poor in Kenya. To this end, APHRC is developing and scaling-up its initial public engagement effort with the core aims of:

1. Building the capacity of community organized groups in public engagement and developing a sustainability framework for greater effectiveness and sustainability
2. Empowering urban poor communities with knowledge on food and nutrition security and the research evidence thereof and obtaining their views to shape further research and interventions

• Enhancing awareness of policymakers and/or change agents regarding lived experiences of the urban poor with the right to food and nutrition and on research evidence thereof. This will ensure buy-in and ownership and galvanize commitment by national and county level actors (decision-makers, politicians, civil society, the private sector, etc.

The project has the following expected outputs:

Component 1. Improved capacity of target groups on public engagement and sustainability.

Key outputs for this component will include

(i) capacity building on participatory methods, project management, financial management and policy engagement and

(ii) establishment of a community of practice of organizations for their continued peer-support during and after the project, and for sustainability.

Component 2. Empowered urban poor communities.

Key outputs for this component will entail

(i) the development of visual community engagement tools and subsequent training of different groups on participatory methods including photovoice, digital storytelling, and participatory mapping and

(ii) public engagement of community by groups using different participatory approaches such as community dialogues, participatory theatres, radio shows, human libraries, etc.

Component 3. Enhanced awareness among change agents and policymakers.

Key outputs will include

(i) development of policy engagement materials such as policy briefs, infographics, visual abstracts and photobooks based on relevant research evidence on food and nutrition security and outcomes of community engagement exercises, and

(ii) two and three-way dialogues between the project team, community members, and decision-makers.

The APHRC seeks to engage an evaluation consultant to assess the performance of the project in relation to achieving the set objectives and outputs.  

1. Evaluation scope

The target audience of the evaluation is community organized groups, project participants and change agents that will be engaged in public engagement activities. Public engagement activities will be undertaken in select slums in Nairobi and Kisumu counties for a period of 12 months from September 2020- August 2021.

• Terms of reference

In close consultation with the project manager, the consultant will review the project outputs and activities in order to implement the following:

1. Prepare an evaluation work plan describing how the evaluation will be carried out and the timeline for each activity. The work plan should address the following:

• Expectations of the evaluation
• Roles and responsibilities
• Evaluation methodology
• Evaluation framework
• Information collection and analysis
• Reporting

2. Make field visits and meetings: the consultant shall outline the agenda for all visits and meetings that are needed with the sub-grantees/partners and the project team. All visits and meetings shall be coordinated through the project manager.
3. Compile an evaluation report: the consultant shall prepare an evaluation report that describes the evaluation and puts forward the evaluator’s findings, recommendations and lessons learnt. The report should also highlight gaps, strengths and weaknesses of the project.

• Methodology

1. The consultant will have a pre-project inception meeting with the project team for a detailed discussion of the ToRs and to create mutual understanding of the volume and quality of work expected.
2. A detailed work plan/study design will be developed by the consultant in line with the discussion/suggestions with the project team. The plan will describe detailed activities and their time line of completion. The work plan will be approved by the Project Lead.
3. The evaluation exercise will be participatory in nature and will make use of multiple methods that are in line with the project objectives. Specifically the methodology will include:

• Qualitative participatory methods for pre- and post-project evaluation. This will include administration of a tool with questions on proficiency of the COGs in public engagement and other relevant knowledge and skills gained during the project.
• Use of Lot Quality Assurance Sampling Technique in the target slums to assess reach of and experience with the engagement exercise and success in empowerment of audiences. Focused discussions will also be convened at the end of engagement sessions.
• Participatory methods such as Vox Pops to get views of policy makers/change agents on their experiences with the engagement and on the change in their understanding of the experiences of the urban poor with food and nutrition security and research evidence available.
• Participatory video to document the process, learning and success from the perspective of different COGs and audiences.

• Expected deliverables

1. Evaluation inception report and work plan: An inception report should be prepared by the evaluator before going into the full-fledged evaluation exercise and to be submitted three days after signing the contract. The inception report should include the evaluation matrix detailing the activities that the evaluation will assess, information collection methods, and the standard or measure by which each activity will be evaluated.
2. Draft evaluation report: A draft evaluation report should be submitted three weeks after signing the contract. The report will outline the relevance of the project design and implementation, project effectiveness, project efficiency, project sustainability and project impact.
3. Final evaluation report: this will incorporate comments and reviews made to the draft evaluation report by the project team.
   

1. Qualifications
2. Proven expertise and experience in conducting project evaluations.
3. A minimum Masters degree in social sciences, project management or other relevant field.
4. Knowledge and experience using Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAs).
5. Knowledge and experience in evaluating public engagement approaches is an asset.
6. Excellent attention to detail and evidence of quality outputs from previous assignments.
7. Strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skills.
8. Good reporting and presenting skills.

• Contract duration

The evaluation assignment will be undertaken for a total of 10 days over the duration of implementation of public engagement activities

• How to apply

Send soft copies of a cover letter, and a CV with three referees to consultancies@aphrc.org cc howii@aphrc.org by 4th  September 2020 with the email subject, “Evaluation Consultant Position- the Right to Food: Evidence to Action Project”. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.