Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Vacancy: Final Evaluation Consultant - Bogor, Bali, and Lombok

Final Evaluation of the Project
“A More Inclusive Democracy: Strengthening Women’s Participation for the 2014 Elections” 

Search for Common Ground Indonesia is looking for an experienced evaluator to carry out the final evaluation of its project “A More Inclusive Democracy: Strengthening Women’s Participation for the 2014 Elections”, a program aiming to strengthen the participation of women representing diverse political ideologies in the 2014 district/municipality (kota/kabupaten)-level elections.

This Terms of Reference (TOR) defines the work that must be carried out by the external evaluator. It provides a brief outline of the project, specifies the scope of the evaluation, and outlines the evaluation method.

Background:

Project Summary:
Reflecting on SFCG’s experience on LWI project during the 2009 elections, most of women candidates tend to be new to politics and are thus often unequipped both to run for office and to lead if elected. In comparison to their male peers, female candidates vying for public office tend to have a poor understanding of election rules and regulations and also lack the confidence to speak publicly and liaise with the media, key skills for any candidate or leader. Furthermore, elite women candidates are decidedly at an advantage: not only can they use their families’ connections to build political clout, but they also have the financial resources to fund their campaigns. This means that women from lower socioeconomic background often struggle to win elections. Moreover, because of polarising party politics, women from different parties are often pitted against each other. As a result, they lack the capacity to look beyond narrow party interests and use other women as resources to stand for a common platform that would benefit not just women, but Indonesian communities as a whole.

However, women’s representation in parliament is one of the most important principles of democracy. To strengthen democracy in Indonesia, women’s representation needs to be improved in many sectors of Indonesians’ lives, particularly in political parties’ representatives. It is an important step to gain genuine support from political parties for female candidates to run for political offices in Indonesia. Therefore SFCG implemented the project under the title ‘A More Inclusive Democracy: Strengthening Women’s Participation for the 2014 Elections’, this project funded by EU, started February 2013 to February 2015. To run this project, SFCG have a partner namely Solidaritas Perempuan that have branches across Indonesia. This project worked with women candidates to build their capacity to participate in the political process and to lead, not only on behalf of their parties, but also for their whole constituency, including other women, thus enabling them to become inclusive, capable leaders. Participants from all castes and socioeconomic levels (particularly in Bali and Lombok) as well as first-time women candidates were prioritised.

The theory of change on which the project is based:

• If we build the capacity of women on leadership and communication skills, they will become actively involved in public affairs including political parties. 
• If more women actively participate in a national election, then the opportunity for women to become a member of parliament will be more open.
• If political parties have increased awareness on gender perspectives and diverse leadership, they will support female candidates in becoming parliament members
• If more women become members of parliament, then they could fight for gender equality in their community or district
• If more people increased their awareness on the importance of women participation in parliament, then they will vote for women candidates running for parliament

The goal of the program is to strengthen the participation of women representing diverse political ideologies and a common platform in the 2014 district/municipality (kota/kabupaten)-level elections.

The specific objectives are:

• To build the capacity of women running for Parliament at the district/municipality level in collaborative and inclusive leadership; 
• To build the capacity of political parties to foster more diverse leadership by supporting female candidates; and
• To build voter/constituency support for women in politics.

The project expected to achieve following results.

• Increased capacity of women candidates in running for district/municipality elections in skills promoting collaborative and responsible leadership 
• Increased capacity of political parties to support female candidates in district/municipality elections
• Increased mechanisms for dialogue, coordination and cooperation between female candidates, as well as between candidates/parties and their constituents
• Changed perceptions of Indonesian citizens about acceptable roles for women to play in society

The target groups for this program are:

• Women candidates 
• Political parties
• Local communities

The project activities include:

• Baseline Assessment 
• Stakeholder Meeting
• Workshop with political parties
• Curriculum development workshop
• Training for candidates
• Community engagement
• Produce and distribute animated video/multimedia component
• Alumni forums

Scope of Work:
Location:This evaluation will take place in the three locations where program activities are implemented: Bogor, Bali, and Lombok.

Deliverables:Following specific deliverables are expected form the consultant.

• Within seven days from signing the contract, the consultant will submit the Inception Report, which clearly defines the evaluation methodology, such as clear outlines of FGDs and KII checklist, survey questionnaires, and an evaluation timeline with specific deadlines for each deliverable. The inception report should also clearly explain the sampling methodology and sample size for the quantitative survey and clear and logical explanation of the number of FGDs and KIIs planned in each location. The inception report will be reviewed and approved by the SFCG Team. The evaluator cannot start the data collection process without the SFCG team’s approval on the inception report. 
• Draft revaluation report to be submitted within 10 days of completion of the data collection in the project sites for the review and comments from SFCG Team. The review and feedback of the report could be more than one round depending on the quality of the report submitted by the consultant and the extent to which the comments and suggestions from the first round of review have been incorporated. 
• The final evaluation report after incorporating the comments from SFCG. The report should be written strictly in English language and should be around 25-30 pages (excluding annexes) in length and consists of: 
• Cover Page. SFCG will provide sample cover sheet for reference. 
• Table of contents, list of acronyms/abbreviations and list of tables and charts
• Executive summary of key findings and recommendations – no more than 3 pages.
• Introduction: Context analysis, project description, evaluation methodology with clear explanation of sampling, survey methodology, FGDs/KIIs participant selection and data analysis approach.
• Evaluation findings, analysis, and conclusions with associated data presented per evaluation objective and per evaluation criteria, via a reasonable balance of narrative vs. graphs and charts (mandatory). 
• Recommendations for future activities/intervention. The recommendations should be forward looking and should focus on program design, planning vs implementation, implementation methodology and approach, project monitoring and evaluation system, among others. The recommendations should also be frame according to eh evaluation criteria. 
• Appendices, which include collected data, detailed description of the methodology with research instruments, list of interviewees, bibliography, and evaluator(s) brief biography.

• It should be submitted electronically in a MS-Word document. The evaluator is responsible for English editing of the final report and should be well formatted. The report will be credited to the evaluator and potentially placed in the public domain at the decision of SFCG. A verbal presentation of the findings of the evaluation in a meeting organized by SFCG for its staff and its partners. The representative of the donor may be present in this meeting. 
• All handwritten and electronic transcripts of interviews and FGDs, hard copies of the survey questionnaires, any logistics taken from SFCG for the evaluation purpose and photographs taken during the evaluation should be submitted to SFCG. Further to this, all information generated during the evaluation will be the sole property of SFCG and is subject to submission to SFCG along with the final report.

Duration & Deadlines:
The duration of contract will be a total of one month spread over 4 weeks starting November 17, 2014 to December 15, 2014.

• Consultant’s CV should be submitted to Pramita Handayani via email: phandayani@sfcg.org no later than November 10, 2014. Decision on the selected Evaluator will be made by November 15, 2014. 
• The evaluation plan and inception report should be submitted by November 17, 2014.
• The comments on the inception report should be incorporated and finalised by November 19, 2014.
• The field evaluation should take place during November 21 to November 30, 2014. 
• The first draft of the report should be submitted by December 6, 2014.
• The second draft of the report should be submitted by December 11, 2014.
• The final report should be submitted by December 15, 2014

Evaluation Team :The evaluation team will include the evaluator, SFCG’s DM&E Coordinator, SFCG Asia DM&E Specialist. The evaluator will be under the direct supervision of the SFCG Country Director. SFCG’s DM&E Coordinator will be responsible for supervising the team and facilitating the needs of the consultant for the purpose of the evaluation.

Logistical Support :SFCG will provide preparatory and logistical assistance to the evaluator, including:

• Background materials (project proposal, periodic reports, existing evaluations, etc.) 
• Meetings, phone/e-mail communication with program administrators 
• Identify interviewees and provide contact information 
• All logistical support for the field visit, including travel cost (local as well as air travel) 
• Arrange meetings and appointments with stakeholders and beneficiaries in the field (if necessary).

Evaluator's Role and Competencies :
Evaluator’s Role :
The evaluation will be carried out by a single external evaluator, who will report to and work under the guidance of SFCG's DM&E Officer, who is also the evaluation manager for this project.

The external evaluator will:

• Identify and define evaluation priority areas, methodology and indicators; 
• Design and implement data collection; 
• Analyse data and findings and prepare a report; 
• Write and submit a final report; 
• Make a brief presentation of findings and recommendations to SFCG Indonesia and partners.

Evaluator competencies :

• Sound knowledge on gender issues including women in politics, particularly in the Indonesian context; 
• Sound understanding of Indonesian policy on women in politics;
• Sound knowledge on program development;
• Master’s degree in social science or other related fields; Candidates with degree in women’s studies or peacebuilding will be given priority.
• Demonstrated technical skills in gender and peacebuilding project evaluations;
• Proficiency in written English;
• Prior experience in evaluating gender programs will be an added advantage.
• Preferred Indonesian citizen.

A complete proposals/application should be submitted by the deadline and should include:

• Proposal (maximum 6 pages, including the methods and methodology to be adopted) 
• Budget estimates and price quote
• CV
• Cover letter
• Availability
• References 
• Writing sample