Consultant for Mid - Term Evaluation School Improvement Project, Grobogan

TERMS OF REFERENCE
School Improvement Project
Grobogan District - Central Java Province
Funded by: Beirsdorf
Plan Indonesia – Education Program
  A. Purpose of consultancy
Beginning in March 2012, Plan Indonesia was implemented a three year School Improvement Program (SIP) in Grobogan Central Java province, funded by the Beiresdoft/NIVEA. The SIP focuses on related to quality, access toJunior Secondary School and education governance. Over the course of SIP, a baseline study in year 1, mid-term evaluation in year 2 and final evaluation in year 3 will be commissioned for the project to achieve the following;

• To assess the process of delivery, effectiveness, Value for Money (VfM) and impact of the project;
• To inform improvements in the delivery of the project during its lifetime, and for the purpose of replicating what works elsewhere and/or taking up approaches and activities that have proven to work in order to scale up the project;
• To report the findings and lessons learnt throughout the process;
• To feed into and inform the aggregate evaluation of the SIP programme as a whole;

A final evaluation of the project will be conducted at the end of the project. The purpose of the Evaluation (entitled “the Mid Term Review”) is to capture the lessons learned up to the time of the evaluation and so guide expansion and continuation of the project and enable the dissemination of the lessons learned to other parts of the district. It is alsoenvisaged that the review will clearly recommend the actions necessary to strengthen the capacities of schools to assume responsibility, in partnership with local government, for essential basic education services. For this consultancy, Plan Indonesia seeks to procure the services of an independent, external consultant(s) to design, plan and conduct a rigorous, mid-term evaluation.  The baseline study was done on August 2012, while the midterm evaluation is expected to begin by middle of August 2013. During the mid-term evaluation phase of the consultancy, the consultant(s) will also be required to
support the Program Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) Team to design, establish and implement a comprehensive monitoring strategy, including a data management, to support the implementation of the mid-term and final/impact evaluations.

B. SIP Programme Description

Plan Indonesia operates in 3 of the total 19 sub-districts in the district Grobogan. The number of primary school in those 3 sub-districts is 116, while the total number of primary school in the district Grobogan is 862. The School Improvement Project integrates school management, teacher and learning, community participation, as well as basic education and inclusive education. The SIP Program firstly launched in 3sub district namely; Kedungjati, Tanggungharjo and Karangrayung of Grobogan District in 2012 and will continue up to 2015. It will be implemented for 36 months started from March 2013.

The project will directly target 30 primary schools which consist of local authorities (9 male school supervisors and 3 male and 1 female Education Officers from the District Education Office), non-state actors (50 male and 10 school committee members) and other key stakeholders in education service delivery (100 male and 80 female teachers, 22 male and 8 female principals). Teachers, principals, supervisors as well as community members through school committees will receive training and be encouraged to engage with each other to enable a participatory school governance process. Further beneficiaries will be an estimated 6,000 primary school students (52% boys + 48% girls) from 30 schools in three sub-districts of Grobogan who will directly benefit from a better access to quality schools, as well as an estimated 4,000 parents/community members.

The main objective of the SIP Project in Grobogan District are follows:
Overall Objective      :  To improve the quality of basic education by empowering and building the capacity of key government and non-state education actors, therefore guaranteeing an equal access to quality primary education to all children.

Specific Objective 1:  Establishment of School Improvement Program in 30 primary schools in Grobogan, Indonesia by the end of the project life time.

Specific Objective 2:  75% of schools disposing of childfriendly and gender sensitive learningmethodologiesby the end of the project life time.

Specific Objective 3: 30 schools guarantee the Right to Education for 6,000 primary school students by the end of the project life time.

In this project implementation, Plan Indonesia partners with a number of institutions, they are:

• Ministry of Education and Culture (MoNE)to coordinates the basic education quality working groups in all ministries.
• IDPN Indonesia, the national NGO who have expertise and experience in facilitating the school in applying the inclusive principles. IDPN Indonesia also works closely with the ministry of education as partner to develop some guide and toolkit for teachers and Education Officers in implementing the inclusive education
• District Education Office (DEO) and District Religious Office (both at district and sub-district levels) to select schools and organize trainings for teachers on the SIP supervision and monitoring. Advocacy will also be conducted with the Education Office to the district parliament membersand District Planning Agency to get further funding for education
• District SIP Team, which was already established by the district of Grobogan (with teachers, school principals, inspectors and education office’s staff) in close collaboration with Plan. Its task is to run capacity building activities for teachers, principals and school committees, monitor the implementation of the SIP, as well as report the results to the government. Conducting lobbying and advocacy activities to get further government funding and replicate the program is also the role of the SIP team at the district level.

The SIP program is linked to Plan’s child protection program which includes the campaign ‘Stop bullying’ implemented in Grobogan, which means fighting against violence in schools, i. e. against bullying, corporal and emotional punishment, and sexual harassment. By applying child friendly teaching-learning methodologies and improving school staff’s knowledge on children’s rights, the SIP will contribute to the reduction of the use of violence in schools and improve the quality of education. The main objective of SIP promotion is to create an enabling school environment for child friendly to emerge and thrive. To assist in achieving this quality of education purpose, Plan Indonesia’s SIP  Program intends to engage a consultant (individual or institution) to undertake a KAP Survey (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) to obtain baseline data for midterm evaluation of program comparison, which will provide information on the extent of positive contribution made by the program towards quality basic education.

C. SIP Program Gender Framework
Realizing gender equity and the empowerment of women is a prerequisite for elimination of child poverty and the realization of human rights. Education for girls is generally considered to be a development intervention with one of the largest returns in social and economic benefits. Although gender mainstreaming in education has been initiated in 2002, gender inequality for educational still persists in all level. Even though school enrolment is slowly increasing at all age levels and gender parity in enrolment is largely achieved at the primary education level, disparity is still present and is growing at the secondary level. Early marriage of girls is widely practiced in many areas and deprives teenage girls of the right to further education. It is still found out in many areas that the school curriculum is biased and gender stereotyping is common in text books as well as in classroom interactions. In general, teachers are unable to address gender inequality. Many parents continue to place a higher priority on keeping their sons in school, often at the expense of their daughters’ educations.
Indonesian girls are almost at par with boys in terms of the gross enrolment in primary and secondary education (GPI of .96 and .99, respectively). Although girls’ share of enrolment in tertiary education was 44 per cent in 2005, the female gross enrolment rate in tertiary education increased from 12.5 per cent in 2001 to 15 per cent in 2005.The literacy rate among those females aged between ages 15 to 24 stood at 98.5 per cent in 2005.There has hence been a gradual decrease in the gender gap in educational achievement in Indonesia over the past decades, and this trend is further confirmed in the population census and the labor force survey of 2002.

Despite progress, however, high drop-out rates, particularly among females, are a matter of concern. Between 2001 and 2004, the male dropout rate at the primary level of education in Indonesia dropped from 16.7 per cent to 11.9 per cent, while the drop-out rate for females increased from 11.3 to 17.2 per cent. It is showing a barrier in gender equality and traditional culture understanding, many parents in Indonesia especially in the very remote area, education for female is still less priority compare to male Parents prefer to send their boys to continue school than girls.

D. The Objective of mid-term evaluation
The project Mid-term Evaluation (MTE) serves as an agent of change and plays a critical role in supporting accountability. The main objectives are:

• To measure the achievement and implementation direction towards SIP project objectives,
• To determinethe extent to which the SIP project has met the objectives and planned outcomes outlined in the project document; 
• To document achievements, constraints and lessons learned over the 2012 to 2013 implementation period in order to inform future work in the sectorand especially the second half of this project.

The MTE will take stock of SIP achievements over the one-year period from inception in 01 March 2012 to 31 July 2013, which marks the mid-term of the three-year project. It will review activities and analyze the extent to which their outcomes are fulfilling planned targets. The MTE findings will serve as a update for improving project performance compare to baseline.

The review shoud be able to interwine the SIP framework and conceptual framework in the development of study design properly that meet to the project requirement. To assist the survey team key question is the survey will be built around the following factors;

• Relevance :
• Was theSchool Improvement Project implementation strategy is able to adapt and respond tochangesin the quality of education services (including the teacher's perception changed and the level of support)? Why/why not? How the project to adapt and respondtothese changes?
• Was the School Improvement Project succeeded in improving school management, teaching quality and community participation? Why /whynot?

• Process :
• Was the school improvement project successfully designed, implemented and if necessary adjusted?

• Effectiveness :
• What is the current status of the project? Is the SIP project For all of the above points, the evaluators are to make recommendations as to how project performance can be improved

E. Scope of Work
The consultant is expected to form a survey team for the evaluation and manage coordination and communication with Plan Indonesia. Tasks and responsibilities of the consultant are as follows:

• Proposal that detailing the methodology and budget required to conduct the baseline
• Recruit, train and manage survey teams including enumerators 
• Propose a proper methodology and discuss the suggestion with Plan Indonesia 
• Propose tools to be used in the survey and discuss the suggestion with Plan Indonesia 
• Test the survey tools and methodology (and other technical particulars prior to the implementation of the survey), afterwards make necessary revision by coordinating with Plan Indonesia 
• Develop a data entry system and management 
• Supervise field survey implementation 
• Responsible for field operations, including logistics, permission to conduct the survey, informed consent from individuals and families taking part in the survey 
• Coordinate with Plan Program Unit in Grobogan during field survey implementation 
• Collect, compile and analyse all data (gender and age disaggregated) gathered and develop a final report on the survey results (including all findings and statistics)
• To keep all information provided by Plan Indonesia as well as the findings of the MTE confidential.

F. Methodology

Initially information was gathered through a desk review of relevant documents and consultations with local government at districtand sub districtlevel, Plan Indonesia and various program partners working in the sector. Following the selection of sites meetings and discussions were undertaken with district teams, supervisors, teachers, principles, children and recipient school committee or communities. Data collection techniques included, key informant interviews at district, sub-district, schools and community level, focus group discussions with different stakeholders, observations and utilisation of various participatory techniques to assess knowledge and behaviour patterns.

The consultant is required to propose a suitable study methodology as specified by this TOR. It will inform the methodology details such as sampling technique, sampling frame, data collection and analysis potentially applied in this study. The study will be conducted in SIP Program areas where a number of activities have been planned or during the course of the study, activities are being implemented. And therefore, coordination with PME team, SIP Program, Grobogan Program Unit Manager and staffs is highly required at all times.  Due to the child centered of the project, the methodology used should be child friendly and participatory wherever possible.

During the study, the consultant is expected to perform:

• Desk-based review on existing relevant documents with Plan Indonesia team
• Briefing session with SIP Program Team and Plan Indonesia PME
• Study with questionnaires for teachers, principles, supervisors, student, parent and communities;
• Focus Group Discussions with teachers, principles, school committee, communities, school supervisors and SIP program partners, etc.
• Separate consultations, and if required observation with student and their family/spouse, by arranging sessions with children group or peer counselling group established by SIP Program 
• Key Informant Interviews particularly in-depth interview with other stakeholders selected to participate in the study, such as teachers/principles and school committees, etc. 
• Field visits to schools supported by the program
• Debriefing with SIP Program staff and Plan Indonesia PME

G. Outputs and Deliverables
The consultant is expected to produce and submit the following deliverables:

• Study protocol specifying a detailed study work plan and proposed study tools that will be discussed and agreed upon prior to field activity.
• Presentation of initial findings to SIP Program Team and PME, after field activities have been concluded. 
• Draft reports in English in two weeks’ time after field activities have been concluded.  
• Presentation of draft report to Plan Indonesia for discussion and feedback. 
• Submission of a comprehensive final report in English (with one copy of the report in Bahasa) one week after receiving feedback from Plan Indonesia.  
• Executive Summary (max. three to maximum five pages) in English describing the study results.
• Hardcopies of filled-in questionnaires (if available), interview transcripts and attendance lists, photos with informative subtitles and other valuable study materials.

H. Timeline
The study is to be conducted in August to November2013, timeframes to be discussed with consultant,but work to beundertaken over anapproximately 3month timeline.  
I. Report Content
Final report should be produced in English (with a precise translation to Bahasa Indonesia) and should contain and be developed according to the following structure:

• Executive Summary
• Background
• Study Methodology
• Findings and Analysis
• Conclusion and Recommendation
• Annexes
  

J. Criteria for Consultant Selection Based on Competency and Experience
Consultant interested in submitting a proposal should have the following criteria:

• Possess equal composition of qualified academic background, knowledge, experience and capacity to manage study, particularly child protection related.
• Have an extensive experience in managing large-size studys in the context of basic education and community development. 
• Demonstrate understanding and sensitivity on cross-cultural, tradition and language of target community. 
• Proven experience as an evaluator, preferably on gender and/or education work and additionallySchool Based Management/inclusive education.
• Understanding of project management structures and change management concepts 
• Clear, effective writer in English
• Experience of working with participatory methodologies

K. Procedure for Expression of Interest
First Phase:Interested consultant should submit an Expression of Interest to Hery Nahampun – PME Department Plan Indonesia at: hery.nahampun@plan-international.org and samuri.samuri@plan-international.org before 5 pm onAugust 15th 2013, enclosing the following required documents:

• Organizational Profile (for institutional consultant) or a CV (for individual consultant).
• A proposal containing two parts: 
• Technical Proposal comprising the description of proposed activities, methodology (sampling design, data collection technique), and implementation plan which includes study schedule and timeline for data analysis. The technical proposal should demonstrate understanding of study ethic, qualification of study team members and their CVs, as well as their roles in the study. The consultant should also describe her/his experience in conducting similar survey, and financial and technical capacity. 
• Budget Proposal comprising details of budget plan such as consultant and team’s fees, transportation, stationaries and other survey necessities.

Second Phase:Based on received proposals, Plan International Indonesia will shortlist candidates and invite them to present their proposals. Plan International Indonesia will afterwards proceed with selecting and appointing a consultant, and produce a working contract with the select consultant.

Only shortlisted consultant will be contacted for recruitment.

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