Terms of Reference
External consultant for final evaluation of the project
Training, Business and Work to promote inclusive and sustainable development – FIL
AID Project Code 012590/09/2
INTRODUCTION
ENGIM ETS is looking for an expert for the intermediate and final external evaluation of the Training, Business and Work project to promote inclusive and sustainable development – FIL, AID Project Code 012590/09/2 co-financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – AICS.
The total project budget is 1,893,535.90 € – 1,798,859.10 € of AICS contribution.
The project started on 01/12/2022 and will end on 30/11/2025.
CONTEXT INFORMATION
Country of realization of the Initiative: Mali (Bamako, Kita)
OBJECTIVES and EXPECTED RESULTS
The 36-month initiative aims to encourage inclusive and sustainable economic growth and youth employment in 2 areas of Mali (OG). In particular, it intends to encourage the socio-economic inclusion of young women and men through the creation of businesses, the strengthening of skills and job placement in the cities of Bamako and Kita (OS).
R1 Self-employment and job creation are favored through training and support for entrepreneurs and cooperatives
R2 Young women and men have skills corresponding to the needs of the local private sector
R3 An environment conducive to the training and employment of young people is created nationally and internationally
PURPOSE OF WORK
Description of the assignment
The evaluation work of the Training, Business and Work project to promote inclusive and sustainable development – FIL, implemented in Mali, consists of two moments: mid-term evaluation and final evaluation.
The two evaluation moments are located in about half of the 3 years of activity envisaged by the project and in the last quarter of its activity.
The mid-term evaluation will have the function of verifying the progress of the intervention and identifying the improvement points of the operational and management action. The evaluation will also assess the degree of involvement and satisfaction of the beneficiaries through structured interviews and analysis of participation systems.
The final evaluation will have the function of verifying the level of achievement of results and objectives and of providing recommendations and lessons learned.
Both evaluation phases will base their analysis on standard evaluation criteria efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact, more added value and scalability.
Through specific evaluation questions, the mid-term evaluation will be able to provide useful indications to redirect any project activities or modify methodologies in a more functional way to achieve the Results. The mid-term evaluation will also be an opportunity for the revision of the indicators and the respective Verification Sources to allow an adequate measurement of the progress of the project indicators. The final evaluation, on the other hand, will provide recommendations and lessons learned in the months of project implementation to help improve the impact of the institution’s activities and the partnership.
Specific work
The evaluator is required to perform the following tasks:
- Examine all relevant sources of information, such as project documents, logical framework, monthly reports, annual reports and any other material that the evaluator considers useful for this evaluation;
- Conduct several meetings with members of the project management team and all project partners to validate the results and recommendations of the evaluation;
- Provide the following results: the contractor is required to deliver the following:
• 1 work plan in Italian for both assessments by 10 October 2024;
• 1 draft report drawn up in Italian for each evaluation no later than two weeks before the delivery date of the interim and final report;
• 1 interim report drawn up in French and Italian by 20 December 2024;
• 1 final report drawn up in French and Italian by 31 August 2025, unless extended by the project.
LOGISTICS AND TEMPISTICS
Location
The operational base of the project is the ENGIM ETS headquarters in Bamako. Two evaluation missions are planned, one in the context of the interim report and the other in the final report, with the presence of the evaluator only in the capital Bamako in compliance with the ENGIM ETS safety standards.
Start date and period of implementation of the activities
The expected start date is September 16, 2024 and the contract implementation period will last until November 30, 2025, unless the project is extended.
REQUIREMENTS
Qualifications of the evaluator
The consultant must possess the following qualifications and skills:
• proven experience of at least 5 years in post ante evaluation of projects carried out in third countries and financed by institutional donors (preferably in projects financed by MAECI and / or AICS);
• proven experience of at least 5 years in monitoring and / or evaluating multisectoral projects, and particularly in the fields of education, health, agriculture, training in monitoring and/or evaluation of projects carried out in the sub-Saharan area
• Preferable registration to registers and registers of evaluators at MAECI and / or at AICS and / or other public bodies;
• Ability to draw up concise and high quality evaluation reports in Italian and French;
• Previous experience with monitoring and evaluation tools (data analysis, …);
• Knowledge and experience in the application of standard evaluation principles and qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods
• Excellent knowledge of French
How to apply
The application must be submitted by submitting the following documents:
• Application letter with the contact information of the candidate and recent work references in the context of the evaluation
• CV of the candidate (s) (including work experience, training, reference of research and studies)
• Proposal of a technical offer with the evaluation methodology, including a detailed description of how you intend to organize the work remotely and in the field
• Financial offer that includes taxes, allowances and incidental expenses, travel, board and lodging expenses, visa, etc.
Proposals must be sent by 25/08/2024 to the following address selections.international@engim.it with the subject “ Intermediate and final external evaluation AID 012590/09/2 ”.
