TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR)

MID-TERM REVIEW

Project: “More safe and decent life of children in migrant settlements through their empowerment, community mobilization and improved public services”

Implementing period of mid-term project review – September, 2021

The project background information

The project is implemented by NGO “Center for Protection of Children” Kyrgyzstan,  supported by the Bread for the World – Protestant Development Service.

The project is aimed at providing access and improving the quality of services for residents of 10 target internal migrant settlements with the special focus on children in difficult life situation (DLS) and their parents.

The project period is  from 01.07.2019 until 30.06.2022

According to the Unified Migration Report on Kyrgyzstan prepared in 2017, one of the most urgent problems of internal migrants living in migrant settlements around Bishkek is access to public services. Residents of the settlements still face difficulties in registering at the place of stay, as the owners of their housing often refuse permission to register a tenant at the place of rental housing. Other reasons for the lack of registration of internal migrants at the place of stay are low awareness of how that needs to be done and the lack of the necessary documents. According to the data provided by the Statistics Committee there are 1.002.146 residents in the capital Bishkek, while according to the State Registration Service there are 470.000 residents. These differences in numbers mean that about 47% of Bishkek residents are not registered at the place of their factual stay. According to the recent survey, about 60% of men and 40% of women among internal migrants lack the documents. The lack of registration at the place of residence limits the ability of a citizen to realize his rights to work, education, medical services, social security and others.

The limited access to basic and public services is most often the result of low awareness of the residents about their rights and lack of skills to assert the rights. The introduction of standards of state and municipal services, initiated and conducted by the Government over the past three years, is expected to improve the quality and availability of services. This process is somewhat delayed due to the fact that the capacity of state officials and employees of local authorities is still quite low, and the state lacks human and financial resources to address this problem independently.

Of the 250,000 residents of the 50 settlements around Bishkek, only every 7th has a water supply at home. Water shortage is one of the most acute problems. Typical families living in the settlements are large families with, on average, 3-4 children. Some settlements have not been given official status, as they are located in the protected areas, under power lines, at sanitary landfills. Among 50 settlements, only 19 settlements have schools. The other most important problem in the settlements around Bishkek besides the lack of infrastructure (roads, water supply and sewerage) is a limited access to public services.

Children of internal migrants and migrant workers left by parents in the cares of their relatives are the most vulnerable and the most affected by the lack of access to services. Most of them are considered by the government as the children in difficult life situation and entitled to relevant government support. The difficult financial situation of their families makes children drop out of school and earn money in the markets of Bishkek. Many children in such families are abused. According to the recent data of UNICEF, 57% of children in Kyrgyzstan aged 1 to 14 years experienced psychological aggression and/or physical punishment. These problems are addressed by providing children in difficult life situation (DLS) with services of CPC shelter and two CPC Day Centers for working children located near the biggest Bishkek open markets (Osh and Dordoi markets), strengthening living and leadership skills of children in DLS, raising their awareness of safe behavior, educating their parents in non-violent methods of childrearing, and enabling the parents to apply to the relevant state and local government bodies for state and municipal services they are entitled to.

The project objectives:

1)  Children of migrants in difficult life situation (DLS) and their parents are successfully engaged in prevention of violence against children.

2)  Parents of children in difficult life situation (DLS) and the children themselves are actively involved in decision-making processes at school and community level to promote their interests.

3) The access and quality of public services in the field of education, healthcare and social security for children and families in DLS provided by schools, state and local authorities have increased.

The project target groups

The primary target group and direct beneficiaries of the project are children of internal migrants (IMs) and migrant workers (MW) in difficult life situation (DLS) resided in 10 target settlements around Bishkek:

The secondary target group and direct beneficiaries of the project are parents of children attending the project target schools and living in the project target settlements.

The third target group and direct beneficiaries of the project is  representatives of state and local government authorities, professionals (school workers and medical workers) providing services to children and families in DLS.

The purpose of midterm review and intended users

The mid-term review directed to conformity assessment, evaluation of the progress of implementation and success at the interim stage. It aims to determine relevance and significance of the mid-term results for achieving the project goal and objectives and signs of potential impact and sustainability of results.

The intended users of the mid-term review is the executing team of the project, which needs to  receive an evidence that the chosen strategy and tactics are relevant and adequate and, if needed, to develop an adjustment plan to optimize the use of resources for the successful achievement of the project goal and objectives.

Evaluation questions

The CPC values the contributions of the evaluator to propose appropriate and innovative methods of evaluation in the technical proposal following the OECD -DAC standards.

Relevance and Coherence / significance

The key questions:

1) To which extent does the project meet the basic needs of representatives of the main target group of the project and is aimed at solving the main problems associated with violation of their rights?

• To which extent does the project contributes to increasing the access and quality of public services in the field of education, healthcare, and social security for children and families in DLS provided by schools, state and local authorities?
• To which extend is the project empowering parents of children in difficult life situation (DLS) and the children to be involved in decision-making processes at school and community level to promote their interests.

Sub-questions:

• To which extent is the project relevant for improving access of vulnerable families of internal migrants to quality public services in the current context?
• To which extent is the project empowering children of migrants in difficult life situation (DLS) and their parents and engaging them in prevention of violence against children.
• Are the activities relevant in relation to the needs and priorities of the intended beneficiaries?
• Do the needs given in the project proposal correspond to the actual situation of the target group? Have the needs of the target groups remained relevant in relation to beginning of the project or the situation has changed?
• To which extent have beneficiaries information about the activities of the project and the organization itself?
• To which extent are the methods of social work which are used in the project, especially in regard to the “community-based psycho-social support” and the “peer to peer approach”, appropriate to address vulnerable IM children and their families? To what extent is there a need for psychosocial support for the targeted right holders, i.e. IM and their families, and how is the project holder monitoring it?
• To which extent is new introduced, the GALS methodology (a system for studying and determining gender-sensitive actions to help participants develop a strong vision of changes, specific strategies and plans for changing their own lives for the better) is appropriate to improve relations in families?

Effectiveness

The key question:

1)         Have expected mid-term results for implementation period been achieved? Determine the results – positive and negative, foreseen and unforeseen, changes in the results, including the direct effects of the project, short-term and medium-term results. Is there any unforeseen result of the project, positive and negative, which promotes and/or negatively affects on success finalization of the project?

Sub-questions:

3) Due to the pandemic in the country CPC conducted some the planned activities in an online format. Is the transition to the use of online platforms and tools relevant and of good quality and contributes to the achievement of the project objectives

4)         Do the project implementers use gender and rights based approaches in an appropriate way to secure the effectiveness?

5)         How is effective the partnership between CPC and other partners: schools, departments of social development, local territorial administrations?

6)         In how far is the project complementing other programs of local and international NGOs in Bishkek in the field of social inclusion for vulnerable children and IM families?

7)         Is it possible to note that the project increased responsibility of state agencies (staff of department of social development, schools and local territorial administrations) in the provision of basic and social services to internal migrants at this stage, in engaging in prevention of violence against children? If yes, how?

8)         Are beneficiaries already making use of the project’s benefits or are there any indication that they will make use of them until the end of the project period? If yes, how?

9)         Have increased participation of representatives of local territorial administrations, educational and medical institutions in promoting access to basic services for internal migrants and their children?

10)       To what extent are public authorities informed about еру problems of internal migrants and reacting to them?

11)       What progress has been made in terms of psychosocial empowerment of IM families? Do their offers in this field respond adequately to the needs of the most vulnerable IM children and their families?

Efficiency

The key questions:

1)         Is the project approach a cost efficient way to implement development assistance?

Sub questions:

2)         Is it possible to achieve the same results at a lower cost or less resources?

3)         Are the human and financial resources adequate for reaching the project objectives?

4)         In how far is the current management structure appropriate for ensuring the efficient monitoring and coordination of the project?

5)         Are risks of the peer to peer approach and the community based psycho social support properly identified, appropriately communicated and well-managed and what could be improved in this regard?

 Impact

The key question:

1)         What have been the most important changes that can be attributed to the project?

Sub-questions:

2)         Are there any indirect changes measurable in the lives of the target groups (positive – negative, intended – unintended) at this stage of the project implementation?

3)         Have there been any unintended effects on groups not included in the project intervention?

4)         What are the preconditions observed for the long-term impact?

Sustainability

The key question:

1)         Are the benefits from the project, especially at rights holders’ level likely, to continue after the project? Why and why not?

Sub-questions:

2)         How long will government structure effectively assist internal migrants using skills and tools obtained in the framework of the project?

3)         What are the opportunities created by the project for internal migrants for their  empowerment and solving their  problem? To what extent will these opportunities be available after a possible end of the project phase?

4)         To what extent has the project contributed to institutional changes on a local level (policies, practices, redistribution of resources) in view of empowering vulnerable IM children and their families?

5)         To what extent does the project help  strengthen CPCs organizational capacities? What could be improved in this respect?

 

Expected outputs of the midterm review:

Short overview about the project, main project components, respective activities, responsibilities, direct and indirect beneficiaries of each component (1-2 pages).

Final report with not more then 40 pages excluding annex. All criteria and questions need to be answered. Consultants should also provide recommendations on how to improve the project during the implementation. Therefore recommendations should be specific, addressed and realizable within the time frame.

Management letter with recommendations to the CPC management for the implementation of evaluation results in the completion phase of the project and for possible future work in this field.

Schedule

Time frame: 16 days

Pre-briefing and desk study (document analysis): 3 days

Field visits, meetings, questionnaires, survey: 7 days

Preparation of the final evaluation, approval of preliminary research by stakeholders through dissemination of the draft report (including a short overview about the project) for comments: 3 days

Completion of the final report (including a short overview about the project and including the comments received from interested parties): 2 days.

Completion of the Management letter: 1 day

The evaluation should be conducted in September, 2021.

All relevant documents will be sent to an external consultant 3 weeks before the assignment.

A preliminary version of the report should be ready by October 25, 2021. Comments on the draft report will be sent to evaluator not later than on November 5, 2021. The final report should be ready before November 20, 2021.

Report should be in English and Russian languages

Professional qualifying requirements

International expert

• MA/Bachelor’s degree in social science and minimum of 3 year experience in practical social work or related subject;
• Minimum 5 year experience in conducting evaluation and monitoring;
• Understanding of the social and political context in Central Asia;
• Analytical, interview and reporting skills;
• Knowledge of Russian/ Kyrgyz would be an asset;
• Proven team leader skills.

Proposals

The evaluation process should be carried out in a team of an international and a local evaluator, in cooperation and coordination with CPC. Deadline of submitting proposal is July 10, 2021.

The proposals must be sent to Mira Itikeeva to the following e-mail-addresses: m_itikeeva@mail.ru ; cpc@elcat.kg and must include the following documents:

• CVs of all of the participating evaluators (local and international)
• proposal detailing the methods and instruments to be used to answer the evaluation questions (max. 5 pages)
• a timetable
• a budget stating precisely the daily fees for the evaluators, costs for transport and all expenses.