Anti-Slavery International Ending bonded labour in the brick kiln sector in Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh: India February 2017 January 2019 Independent final evaluation process: Terms of Reference Partners: Anti-Slavery International, Volunteers for Social Justice, Jan Jagriti Kendra and Jan Sahas Anti-Slavery International is seeking a consultant based in India to conduct an end of project evaluation in India. Funded by the US Department of State J/TIP, this project (2017-2019) contributed to end bonded labour in brick kilns. 1. Background Information and Project s aim The project, funded by the US Department of State s Trafficking in Persons Office (USTIP), contributes to reducing the vulnerability and level of labour exploitation and trafficking of local and interstate migrant workers in the brick kiln and agriculture industries in Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, India. The project s approach was to tackle the impunity of traffickers by providing legal assistance to release bonded labourers; supporting workers after release; facilitating empowerment whilst reducing vulnerability to bondage, through worker organisation and community-led support groups; advocating for wage reforms and improved conditions; and reducing future vulnerability to debt bondage by assisting the registration of workers for social entitlements and benefits. This project was to build on Anti-Slavery s work towards eradicating bonded labour in brick kilns and tackling the vulnerability of migrant workers in source states, whilst extending this work to incorporate migration for agricultural labour. The beneficiary group are comprised of Dalits (scheduled castes) and disadvantaged minorities; many of them migrant workers from rural communities in poorer states. The aim of the project was to reach up to 22,500 bonded/migrant workers, including men, women and children. The key objectives of the project were to: Objective 1: Improved identification, legal and rehabilitation services available to victims of labour trafficking in Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab: producing a legal guide, training partner staff, providing information to identified debt bonded workers on release from bondage, recover of wages and navigating the rehabilitation process and services. Objective 2: Workers affected by and vulnerable to debt-bondage, are empowered to organise and claim rights, social entitlements and decent working conditions: facilitating worker peer group formation in source state and the organisation of workers into worker associations at destination state, providing information on safe migration to workers at source and destination states. Page 1 of 5
Objective 3: State and national governments and institutions, district administrations and police, owners and contractors, are more responsive to the needs and rights of bonded labourers and pursue increased legal action against traffickers: strategies joint advocacy actions, lobbying for implementation and/or improvement of national and state laws and policies and direct advocacy to local and district officials 2. Description of the assignment The purpose of the evaluation is to: Assess the impact of interventions from the persepctive of workers and key stakeholders, including behavioual change of government officials. Build on and compliment the evaluation (Aug 2017) of a previous programme delivering similar activitites (excluding Uttar Pradesh), to determine any subsequent changes and positive or negative consequences of the project. Determine whether the Theory of Change and strategies used in the project were appropriate and effective; and if these could be improved upon to achieve greater impact. Assess project management and coordination, make recommendations for improvement. Enable project partners to share lessons learned with internal and external stakeholders. Allow project partners to account to local stakeholders and funders for the project s achievements. Asertain whether funds were used effectively and efficiently to deliver results (though the evaluator will not conduct a full audit). Allow project partners to decide the potential, scope and nature of future work on bonded labour and, if so, how such interventions could build on the success achieved and address any shortcomings in the current project. 3. The Evaluation Report The final report must contain: 1. Executive Summary 2. Background Information on the context of the project and partners 3. Purpose of the evaluation and methodology applied 4. Results and analysis 5. Four detailed stories of change 6. Conclusions 7. Recommendations, including details as to how they might be implemented. 8. Appendices (including all technical details, a list of interviewees and schedule) The report should be no more than 30 pages (not including case studies or appendices) written in English and presented to Anti-Slavery International electronically, in a format compatible with MS Word. The final report will be made available to colleagues at Anti-Slavery International, published on its website, as well as shared with project partners and with organisations and individuals that could learn from the experience. 4. Timeframe The evaluation should start at the beginning of January. A first draft of the report should be submitted by mid-february, with the final report to Anti-Slavery International and electronic formats by end of February 2019. Page 2 of 5
5. Content of the Report (all findings should be supported with examples) Results: Consider the stated outcomes of the project as laid out in the original project documents and current logframe; based on the recently completed evaluation and any new evidence you have collected and analysed, to what extent have each of the outputs been delivered and targets/milestones reached as envisaged? Taken together, to what extent did the outputs achieve the desired outcomes? To what extent are the objectives of the project still valid? To what extent is there understanding of the different needs and appropriate responses to the various sub groups including women, children, single parent families and disabled workers within the target group. Beneficiaries: Support your findings with examples and recommendations. What is the evidence that the project reached the intended target group(s) as described? For example, specify any sample surveys used in the evaluation, numbers and selection of people interviewed etc. Did the project ensure beneficiary input/feedback? If so, how and how could this be improved? Analyse whether it would be strategically advantageous to include other target groups in the future that are also affected by bonded labour consider workers in other sectors that sometimes work in kilns, and sometimes work in other industries. Impact / Theory of Change: Were the strategies and theory of change for the project effective in bringing about lasting and sustainable change? What have been the most effective methodologies and approaches used? Considering other possibilities, could the current project strategies have been improved upon? How? What is the evidence to support that the changes/benefits did occur? Identify the key gaps in workers needs or relevant issues not being tackled comprehensively by this project. How could these gaps be addressed? Have there been any changes in policy, practice, attitude of decision makers at both states of origin and destination- which have benefitted brick kiln and agriculture workers since the last evaluation? How could the project improve advocacy to address systemic issues underpinning debt-bondage and child labour? Programme management: identifying effective methods How effective has project management been since the time of the last evaluation? What were the major challenges and gaps in the planning and implementation of the project since the time of the last evaluation? How could project management be improved upon? Has communication between partners been sufficient and appropriate? If so, in what particular ways? If not, how could this be improved upon? Please suggest tools/methods. Learning What are the key lessons learnt through this project? How were these lessons identified by partners, and could this process be improved? Page 3 of 5
How have lessons been documented and shared and acted upon? Suggest any ways that this process (identifying, sharing, implementing learnings) could have been improved. Value for money Economy What has the project done to buy and use inputs at a value-for-money price? What did the organisations do to effectively manage unit costs but maintain quality? Efficiency How did the project ensure that resources (inputs) were used efficiently to maximise results? Effectiveness Do you consider the project has been effective in bringing about the anticipated changes for beneficiaries and target groups? Equity To what extent have the project s services been made available to/reached all the people that they intended to? Capacity building Assess if the capacity of partners increased throughout the project term. Provide an assessment of partners capacity development needs going forward. Sustainability In what ways has the project ensured sustainable outcomes beyond J/TIP funding? In what ways could the project have become more sustainable/improved sustainability of impact and outcomes after the project finishes? Which aspects of the project do stakeholders wish to continue with, and why? Which elements do you think, as an evaluator, are worth funding in future and why? Recommendations Summarise up to 10 key recommendations to aid future programming by Anti-Slavery and project partners in India in relation to bonded labour. 6. Methodology Anti-Slavery International will consider Bond s evidence principles when reviewing candidates approach papers and we would like proposed methodologies to meet the principles as far as possible (see Annex B, attached). Develop a mixed methodology framework for collection of qualitative and quantitative data Conduct a desk-based review of the project documentation and other relevant materials. The aim is to synthesise and verify existing information as part of the evaluation. Further data should only be collected where key primary data is not available. Conduct interviews with partner staff members Visit the three project sites in India and interview a range of national, state and district level stakeholders (stakeholders include the Ministry of Labour, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) international and national NGOS and international agencies, in particular ILO; state level stakeholders include local authorities and local Unions; district level stakeholders include District Magistrates). Present a preliminary overview/draft of findings to all project partners and receive comments before preparing the evaluation report. The report should include information Page 4 of 5
on the process by which preliminary findings were shared and discussed, and how any resulting changes in the report were included. Prepare the final evaluation report in English, complete with an executive summary and recommendations. Recommendations must also include details as to how they might be implemented. Submit a draft to Anti-Slavery for written comment before finalising the report, to minimise the chance of inaccuracies and to maximise ownership of the findings. Point of contact throughout the evaluation will be Sally Kilner, Asia Programme Manager at Anti- Slavery International (s.kilner@antislavery.org). 7. Specification of the Consultant Essential selection criteria include: Extensive experience in evaluation Knowledge of labour rights, bonded labour, trafficking for labour exploitation and labour migration and gender expertise Fluent in Hindi and English Knowledge of the specific context of India, in particular related to legislation and policies on labour rights and bonded labour, including legislation covering informal sector workers Independent of all partners Desirable selection criteria include: Specific work experience on the issue of bonded labour in India Fluent/proficient in Punjabi The evaluation will take approximately six - eight weeks and will require travel in India for approximately half of this time as well as desk research and liaison/discussion with the three partners in India Anti-Slavery International in London. The consultant/s should be available as soon as possible, to start early January, and the report finalised by the end of February 2019. Anti-Slavery International will consider the consultancy to be undertaken by either an individual consultant or one consultant with an associate. Budget: Up to 7,500 (GBP) excluding travel and accommodation. Applicants should email a CV, cover letter and a brief approach paper outlining ideas for the evaluation and estimated timeframe and fees (excluding travel costs) to Sally Kilner: s.kilner@antislavery.org The deadline for applications is the 19 th December (midnight India time), with interviews to be held via Skype on the 21 st December 2019. Page 5 of 5