TERMS OF REFERENCE TORs for the Evaluation of the Koudmen Sent Lisi Pilot Program Position Duration Grade Duty Station Supervision 1 - BACKGROUND

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1 TERMS OF REFERENCE TORs for the Evaluation of the Koudmen Sent Lisi Pilot Program Position Duration Grade Duty Station Supervision Evaluation Consultant 16 July 2012 to 31 September L3 International 5 weeks in St. Lucia Chief M&E, UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Area 1 - BACKGROUND St. Lucia is a Small Island Development State (SIDS) in the Eastern Caribbean region with a population of 174,000. St. Lucia has a relatively young population - total number of children under 18 is 55,000 and out of it 15,000 are under 5. Overall, social and economic indicators are impressive. Progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals has been steady. According to UNICEF State of World Children 2011, under-5 mortality is 16 and infant mortality rate under 1 is 14 among the lowest in the developing world. St. Lucia provides free and universal primary education and primary medical care while access to ante-natal care and to a skilled medical practitioner at birth is either near or completely universal. Life expectancy at birth is 72 years for men and 78 years for women. Approximately 31% of the population lives in urban areas. Despite these impressive socio-economic indicators, St. Lucia is however one of the most vulnerable countries with regard to natural disasters, economic dependency and social risks. Good social indicators exist alongside high and increasing levels of monetary poverty 25.1% in 1995 and 28.8% in 2005/06. In St. Lucia, Over 50% of the poor are under the age of 20 and the incidence of poverty is higher among children than among adults. The incidence of poverty is slightly higher among men than among women, 29% and 25% respectively. The incidence of poverty among female headed households (21.2%) is about the same as among male headed households (22%). UNICEF, World Bank, and UN Women conducted Social Safety Net Assessment in St. Lucia 1 in The assessment shows that children bear the brunt of the poverty. Additionally, the assessment points to a large number of weaknesses in social safety nets. The existing programmes do not adequately protect children, single parents (especially women), and the working age poor, The assessment also highlights gender differences in access and eligibility. For example, there is a link between lower salaries and lower pensions for women. The benefits are often capped per household that result in disproportionate burden on larger households, which are typically female headed. Similarly, existing programmes are not sufficiently supporting children who are too young to go to school. St. Lucia implements a number of targeted social assistance programmes. One key programme is the St. Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) that was established in 2009 through the Poverty Reduction Fund (Amendment) Act of 2009 to bring St. Lucia s two demand driven community based initiatives, the Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) and the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) under one administrative framework. SSDF implements community 1 Social Safety Net Assessment St. Lucia, accessible at Lucia_SSNA_Report.pdf 1

2 infrastructure and development projects as well as programmes targeted to individual households. In addition, SSDF implements Koudmen Sent Lisi, modeled on the Chile Puente Programme, which provides psychosocial support to indigent poor families. 2 - KOUDMEN SENT LISI PROGRAMME The Koudmen program was introduced by the Gvt of St Lucia in 2008 and some other Caribbean Countries as part of an initiative organized by the OAS called Puente in the Caribbean. Its broader efforts to respond to chronic poverty through the implementation of social protection programs (safety nets, etc.). Adapting the conceptual design of the Chile Puente Program and using lessons learned from it, the Koudmen program was designed as St Lucia s version with a planned budget of approximately EC$ 3 million directed towards the provision of a psycho-social support to indigent families in four (4) of the poorest communities based on the 2005/06 Country Poverty Assessment (CPA). The pilot phase of the Koudmen Sent Lisi program was expected to provide support for 46 indigent households for a maximum of two (2) years to achieve the following results: - Ensure access of selected Households to a package of basic services within the following support pillars: Personal identification, Health, Housing, Family Dynamics, Education, Income and Employment. These services would be provided by various programs and projects of existing social service agencies, some of which form part of Social Protection Network that form the steering committee of the program. - Empower the target groups of populations and benefit from an expected ripple effect that would result in other developmental outcomes And also to : - enhance the capacities of key governmental and non governmental stakeholders to manage, implement and monitor this social protection program through increased buy-in and leadership. 3 - OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE OF THE EVALUATION The Government of Saint Lucia and SSDF have expressed interest to evaluate the Koudmen Sent Lisi Program to learn from this pilot and use the evaluation findings to reform program design and scale up the program to national level. However, given the information available about the Koudmen Sent Lisi program (available data, documents, reports, etc.), it is suggested that the evaluation objectives be the following: - ascertain results to date, pinpoint the expected and unexpected outputs and bring all the evidence it can to qualify and quantify the outputs (and if possible the outcomes) at the household, individual and community levels. - identify opportunities and constraints the program has faced and draw lessons and good practices from the Koudmen Sent Lisi pilot. - to evaluate the operational effectiveness of the pilot including cost evaluation and costing its scale up in the current and projected national fiscal situation - suggest ways, if needed, to re-design the program to better integrate it as part of the country s broader social protection system with a view of greater efficacy and greater inclusion of gender and equity concerns 2

3 - identify implications and requirements (institutional capacity, coordination mechanism, etc.) for scaling up and rolling out a re-designed social protection program in a context of a broader and revamped national social protection framework. The Koudmen Sent Lisi evaluation is therefore formative by nature and carried out around the needs of the identified intended users such as SSDF, Ministries of Social Transformation, Housing, Education, etc. The value added from this evaluation is expected to be achieved through the use of the findings in the ongoing and future national discussions about (a) reforming the social protection system in St Lucia supported by (b) re-engineered coordination, delivery and management mechanisms for social protection programs. 4 - SCOPE AND FOCUS The evaluation will therefore focus on but will not be limited to the following elements: A. Relevance - How relevant is Koudmen Sent Lisi program as part of the Government efforts to address the observed poverty levels and patterns in the country? - How adequate is the Koudmen Sent Lisi program to promoting a multi-dimensional response to poverty issues faced by the Households it targets? - How appropriate is Koudmen Sent Lisi program design (selection critieria, targeting, partnerships and coordination, etc.) with regards to the multi-dimensional poverty (increased consumption of social services, return to employment, etc.) and inequities reduction objectives (reduction in social exclusion, removal of barriers to access, etc.) it intends to achieve? - How appropriate have been the resources allocation and the monitoring system in support of Koudmen Sent Lisi. - Were linkages between the Koudmen Sent Lisi program and other existing social services and protection programs articulated enough? - What potential does Koudmen Sent Lisi program offer to promote further a child, gender and equity focus in the Government s response to the poverty faced by the Households and communities it targets? B. Effectiveness - What are the progress towards achieving the initial planned outputs and outcomes? - How well could Koudmen Sent Lisi contribute to (i) protect the selected Households, (ii) support their social integration and (iii) develop opportunities for them? - Were the Koudmen Sent Lisi planned activities sufficient (in quantity and quality) to achieve the outputs? - What is the stakeholders (both providers and beneficiaries) own perception and appreciation of the Koudmen Sent Lisi program results? What do they like and dislike? Want to change? - Has Koudmen Sent Lisi targeting mechanism been effective in selecting the right intended beneficiaries? - Could services be provided on time with the expected level of quality? - How have the synergies between the Koudmen Sent Lisi program and the other existing social protection services and programs contribute to the effectiveness of Koudmen Sent Lisi? - Have Koudmen Sent Lisi delivery mechanisms (coordination, management, etc.) been effective in delivering adequate and timely services to the target households? 3

4 - How have the partnerships established to support Koudmen Sent Lisi program implementation been adequate and effective in support to the objective of addressing multi-dimensional poverty from an intersectoral way? - How has the external environment affected the internal management of Koudmen Sent Lisi program? - Are the originally identified assumptions still valid? Has the programme included strategies to reduce the impact of identified risks? C. Efficiency - How have the funds been used compared to initial expectations? - Are they any inefficiency issues with regards to how the beneficiaries are selected, the services are delivered and the program is coordinated? - Is the relationship between project costs and results reasonable? - Have the synergies created among various providers services contributed to the overall efficiency of the program? - How have the providers and beneficiaries been interacting? Is there any potential efficiency gain to make? D Impact - Were the selected indicators used to monitor the program relevant and specific enough to measure the outputs? And the outcomes? Do they need to be revised? - Has it been feasible to collect data on selected indicators? - Are there any observed unintended direct or indirect results at the Household level? At the household members level (children, women)? - Is there already any observable evidence of Koudmen Sent Lisi program s contribution to short term and longer term poverty reduction of the selected households (direct beneficiaries) and their families (children)? E Sustainability - What are Koudmen Sent Lisi programme s strengths and weaknesses (design, coordination, management and monitoring) and their capacity to contribute or hinder to the overall sustainability of Koudmen Sent Lisi or social protection programs with similar design. - What has been the buy-in from the service providers and the beneficiaries and their respective leadership? - What is the potential to have Koudmen Sent Lisi program be part of a national social protection framework? - How Koudmen Sent Lisi can even more contribute to the Government s multi-dimensional response to multi-dimensional poverty? and goals of poverty reduction and sustainable social development? What are the institutional capacity development efforts needed to ensure effective and efficient management, monitoring and evaluation exercises in-keeping with the established system? - What should be the monitoring and evaluation system for the up-scaled phase of Koudmen Sent Lisi (necessary tools, training of staff, processes and procedures)? 4

5 5 - METHODOLOGY AND EVALUATION PROCESS The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the evaluation principles (openness, transparency, participation, etc.) and standards using the usual Evaluation criteria (relevance, efficacy, effectiveness, impact, sustainability). Given its nature and the information it seeks, the evaluation requires to use a set of methodologies among which: - Desk review of key documents and reports - In-depth interviews with key informants (beneficiaries and implementers) - Qualitative Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries (not excluding children and mothers) and community members - Quantitative Household Survey for both beneficiary and non-beneficiary HHs in beneficiary areas - Quantitative Community Survey - Operational Review as a key element is the operational cost for this pilot and what it means in case of scaling up - Costing Study as the evaluation looks into the affordability of such programme in the current and projected fiscal situation of St. Lucia. In addition to the above, stakeholder participation (both on the service provider side and the beneficiary side) will be fundamental in this evaluation. Therefore, stakeholders participation will be an integral component of evaluation design, planning and conduct (information collection, development of findings, evaluation reporting, results dissemination, etc.). 6 EVALUATION DELIVERABLES The Consultant will prepare: 1) a draft evaluation workplan within one (1) week of the signing of the contract 2) a final evaluation workplan within one (1) week of receiving UNICEF, Ministry of Social Transformation and SSDF comments on the draft workplan 3) a draft evaluation report two (2) weeks before the end of the consultancy, in accordance with standards identified in the UNICEF Evaluation Guidance.) 4) a final evaluation report that meets UNICEF standards for good evaluation reports within one (1) week of receiving SSDF and UNICEF comments on the draft report. 7- EVALUATOR S QUALIFICATIONS: The evaluation will be carried out by an experienced consultant who is expected to: - hold an advanced university degree in social protection, social and economic policy, development economics, international development or any other related field - have at least 5 years of relevant experience in the social and economic policy areas with direct experience of working on social protection programmes and evaluation - be fully acquainted with international evaluation guidelines and quality standards, including equity-focused evaluations - have a strong knowledge of child rights and human rights - have excellent communication and advocacy skills. - have strong analytical and writing skills - be fluent in English - Have experience of working with multiple partners and agencies and national governments in an international setting 5

6 8 -DURATION OF CONTRACT The total contract for the consultant will be 2.5 months, starting 16 July On agreed upon timeframes between government counterparts and UNICEF, the consultant will be engaged for specific deliverables. 9 - CONTRACT SUPERVISOR The Consultant will report directly to the Chief, Monitoring and Evaluation, UNICEF office for the Eastern Caribbean Area based in Barbados. In addition to the above, the consultant will regularly report to the technical committee composed of SSDF and UNICEF representatives in order to review progress, constraints and if needed, avail additional support to accomplish the work in a timely manner with the expected quality OFFICIAL TRAVEL During the contract period, the Consultant is expected to spend 5 weeks in St Lucia to collect all the information needed and if needed, have follow-up discussions. During her/his stay in St Lucia, the consultant will receive DSA and travel costs will be covered by UNICEF. For individual Consultants DSA for approved travel would be provided based on prevailing UN rates PAYMENT SCHEDULE Payments of fees will be made on a monthly basis upon submission of a progress report on the achievements of the deliverable and at the end of the consultancy, upon submission of the final report CONDITIONS OF SERVICE Prior to commencing the contract, the following conditions must be met: An Individual Consultant will be required to submit samples of previous relevant work, a statement of good health, accompanied by a recent Medical Certificate which indicates that the Consultant is fit for work and travel. In addition, the Consultant is required to certify in the Health Statement that he/she is covered by medical/health insurance. The statement includes confirmation that he/she has been informed of any inoculation required for the country or countries to which travel is authorized. He/she takes full responsibility for the accuracy of the statement RECOURSE UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. Performance indicators against which the satisfactory conclusion of this contract will be assessed include: timeliness/quality of submission and responsiveness to UNICEF and counterpart feedback PROPERTY RIGHTS UNICEF shall hold all property rights, such as copyright, patents and registered trademarks, on matter directly related to, or derived from, the work carried out through this contract with UNICEF. Application should be submitted no later than Monday 25 June 2012: Representative UNICEF UN House Marine Gardens Christ Church BARBADOS Or to Bridgetown@unicef.org ONLY SUITABLE APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACKNOWLEDGED 6