Terms of Reference
Impact Evaluation of Women for Women International-Nigeria’s Men’s Engagement Program To Promote Women’s Rights and Create a Gender-Balanced Society
Project Background
Women for Women International-Nigeria (WfWI-N) is implementing a three-year project funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID) titled, “Improving Livelihoods and Rights Awareness for Socially- Excluded Nigerian Women through Vocational Training and Men’s Engagement.” The project is based in Enugu, Nigeria, and aims to reduce poverty among socially-excluded women in Nigeria by providing them with the knowledge and access to resources to increase economic productivity and participation in more gender-balanced communities.
This objective will be achieved through three main activities:
1. Train 4,500 socially-excluded women in life skills, rights education, and vocational skills in Enugu, Nigeria
2. Engage 4,650 male community leaders, community members, and husbands/male family members of WfWI-N participants on women’s rights in Enugu, Nigeria
3. Evaluate WfWI-Nigeria’s work with male community leaders, community members, and participants’ husbands/male family members, to better understand the impact of WfWI-N’s men’s engagement program on male beneficiaries, and ultimately on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community
WfWI-N has been implementing a men’s engagement program since 2002. The current project adopts a Train-the-Trainer (ToT) approach where 150 male community leaders (Level 1) will first be educated about women’s rights with the goal of creating a gender balanced society, and then trained in effective ways to educate 1,500 other men (Level 2) in the community on similar topics. In addition to these educational sessions, WfWI-N will host community meetings bringing together 3,000 men from the community who are family members of WfWI female participants to openly discuss pertinent issues related to women’s rights.
WfWI-N seeks a qualified researcher to collaborate closely with program staff to design, conduct, and disseminate results of the 3rd activity above: A three-year longitudinal impact evaluation on the men’s engagement activities of the project. The researcher is expected to serve as a technical advisor on impact evaluation and engage with WfWI staff at each stage of the evaluation.
Objective of Evaluation
The impact evaluation will adopt a mixed-methods approach to understand the impact and effectiveness of the community men’s engagement program on male beneficiaries, and on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community.
The evaluation will provide lessons learned about the impact and effectiveness of the current project’s men’s engagement activities to promote women’s rights, and inform the organization’s future efforts to engage men for women’s social and economic empowerment. Results from the impact evaluation are also expected to inform the broader international development and research community involved in similar work.
The evaluation is also an excellent opportunity for WfWI staff to collaborate with the researcher to increase capacity on impact evaluation.
Evaluation Period: June 2014 – December 2016
Evaluation Questions
The evaluation should seek to answer the following questions, but are not limited to:
1. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 1 community men’s training on women’s rights, on men’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to women in the household and community?
2. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 2 community men’s engagement on women’s rights, on men’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to women in the household and community?
3. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 1 community men’s training on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community, in terms of their economic and social outcomes (e.g., income generating potential, decision making in the household, leadership in the community, etc.)?
4. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 2 community men’s engagement on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community, in terms of their economic and social outcomes (e.g., income generating potential, decision making in the household, leadership in the community, etc.)?
Target Audience
The audience of this evaluation will be WfWI staff, DFID and other relevant donors, current and future implementing partners on men’s engagement, practitioners, and researchers (institution and academic).
Evaluation Design and Methodology
WfWI has developed an initial design of a longitudinal, phased-in impact evaluation. It is envisioned that the men’s training will be implemented in three clusters of communities over three years of the project (i.e., Cluster A; Cluster B; Cluster C). In Year One, men’s training will be implemented in Cluster A, while Cluster B serves as the control group. In Year Two, Cluster B will receive men’s training, while Cluster C will serve as the control group. In Year Three, Cluster C will receive men’s training.
This phased-in approach to implementation will allow for a comparison of intervention versus control groups on key knowledge, social and economic outcomes of male beneficiaries and women in the community. Furthermore, the design allows for an assessment of one-year impact of the training in Cluster B and two-years impact of the training in Cluster A.
A mixed-methodology is suggested, although the researcher is expected to review and improve the following methodology and evaluation design:
1. Quantitative baseline and endline surveys on Level 1 beneficiaries in intervention and control communities
2. Quantitative baseline and endline surveys on a sample of Level 2 beneficiaries in intervention and control communities
3. Qualitative focus groups on Level 1 and 2 beneficiaries one-year and two-years after
4. Qualitative focus groups with partners of Level 1 and 2 beneficiaries
5. Qualitative focus groups with participants of community meetings
WfWI collects regular baseline, endline and one-year and two-year follow up data on program graduates. The researcher will be able to use this data and results to support the impact evaluation work.
Scope of Work
The researcher should conduct the following activities as part of the evaluation (funded in part by DFID and in part by other sources to be confirmed), but not limited to:
Briefing and Desk Review
At the start of the evaluation, WfWI staff will brief the researcher on the specifics of the project, evaluation objectives and scope of work.
Evaluation Design and Methodology
The researcher will finalize an evaluation design and methodology that adopts a mixed-methods approach, and that incorporates feedback from WfWI. It will also specify an appropriate sampling methodology taking into consideration the project timeline, resources, and representativeness of project beneficiaries.
Inception Report
The researcher will submit an inception report that captures the evaluation design and methodology, and provides an outline of the final report. The inception report should also specify the schedule and contents of progress reports to.
Dissemination Plan
WfWI plans to share findings from the impact evaluation to the broader research community and use it as evidence base to influence decision making in Nigeria, UK, and US. The researcher is expected to contribute to the dissemination plan that will be drafted by WfWI.
Participatory Approach
The researcher should adopt a participatory approach to identify key social and economic outcomes relevant to project beneficiaries and women in the community, and in confirming results yielded from the evaluation.
Field Work
The researcher will work closely with WfWI-N staff and a team of external data collectors to supervise data collection in the field. Field data collection is estimated to take place 4 weeks per year, for three years. It will involve travel to Enugu, Nigeria, at least once in Year 1 and once in Year 3.
Progress Reports
The researcher is expected to submit quarterly reports to WfWI on progress of impact evaluation. This is in addition to regular check-ins to discuss research progress, resolve issues that arise, and in keeping with the goal of collaborative learning.
Final Evaluation Report
The researcher should produce a final evaluation report that captures results of the three-year impact evaluation. It should incorporate feedback from WfWI, and where there is disagreement in interpretation and recommendations, to include those in the report. The final report should not exceed 100 pages.
Dissemination
Together with WfWI staff, the researcher is expected to participate in the implementation of the impact evaluations’ dissemination plan, including presentations/workshops and co-authoring articles for publication.
Collaborative Learning
The researcher is expected to collaborate closely with WfWI staff throughout the project to facilitate learning and capacity to conduct impact evaluations.
Deliverables and Timeline
1. Inception report (including evaluation design and methodology and June 2014 dissemination plan)
2. Data collection Ongoing (July 2014 – September 2016)
3. Official progress reports (not including monthly/fortnightly check-ins) - Quarterly (July 2014 – September 2016)
4. Draft evaluation report October 2016
5. Review and feedback of evaluation report by WfWI - November 2016
6. Final evaluation report, to include - December 2016
a. Executive summary
b. Background
c. Evaluation design and methodology
d. Data analysis and results
e. Conclusions
f. Lessons learned
g. Recommendations
7. Dissemination of evaluation results- December 2016 – March 2017
Evaluation Team
WfWI views the impact evaluation as an excellent learning opportunity for internal staff. The researcher should view the project as collaboration be_tween him/her and relevant WfWI staff that make up the Evaluation Team. The following lists stakeholders that form the Evaluation Team:
1. Associate Director of Monitoring and Evaluation (Evaluation Team Leader)
2. WfWI-N Deputy Country Director
3. WfWI-N Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
4. WfWI-UK Policy Manager
5. WfWI-HQ Nigeria Program Officer
6. WfWI-HQ Director of Program Design and Development
WfWI-N program staff will serve as a resource in providing background information on the project, and in managing field activities related to the impact evaluation. WfWI-N will also advice on local contextual nuances that may invariably affect evaluation outcomes.
WfWI-UK and WfWI-HQ staff will work collaboratively with the researcher on project background, project implementation, and as research partners in designing, implementing, and writing up the results. They will also lead in the drafting of a dissemination plan.
These are the stakeholders involved in the impact evaluation, and should be consulted along the way. Approval from the Evaluation Team is necessary on major activities/decision points related to this research.
WfWI will commit to provide the necessary documentation and support needed for the researcher to successfully conduct the impact evaluation.
Researcher Qualifications and Skills
The selected researcher should possess the following qualifications:
1. Have extensive experience in conducting impact evaluations for government donors (e.g., DFID) on social change preferably in the areas of engaging men on gender equality and women’s social and economic empowerment, preferably in Nigeria (required)
2. Knowledgeable in research methods, particularly on mixed-methods and participatory research (required)
3. Skilled in quantitative and qualitative data analysis (required)
4. Willing to adopt a collaborative learning approach with program implementers at every stage of the impact evaluation (required)
5. Have excellent English writing and speaking ability (required)
6. Skilled in managing and motivating a team of local data collectors, in person and virtually (desired)
7. Able to communicate complex research, statistics and data analysis issues orally and in writing in a clear, concise and well organized manner (desired)
8. Familiarity with local Nigerian languages, e.g., Igbo (desired)
Application Materials
WfWI seeks proposals from individual researchers, or researchers from institutions and universities to conduct this impact evaluation. Applicants should submit a proposal in English that includes:
1. Detailed description of the researcher’s qualifications and experience
2. Description and justification of proposed evaluation design methodology including description of tools and techniques that will be used to collect and analyze information
3. Budget (including breakdown of day or relevant unit rate)
4. Writing sample of previous report
Contact Information
All proposals must be submitted to Su Chuen Foo at schuenfoo@womenforwomen.org before May 15, 2014. Questions should be addressed to Su Chuen Foo as well.
Impact Evaluation of Women for Women International-Nigeria’s Men’s Engagement Program To Promote Women’s Rights and Create a Gender-Balanced Society
Project Background
Women for Women International-Nigeria (WfWI-N) is implementing a three-year project funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID) titled, “Improving Livelihoods and Rights Awareness for Socially- Excluded Nigerian Women through Vocational Training and Men’s Engagement.” The project is based in Enugu, Nigeria, and aims to reduce poverty among socially-excluded women in Nigeria by providing them with the knowledge and access to resources to increase economic productivity and participation in more gender-balanced communities.
This objective will be achieved through three main activities:
1. Train 4,500 socially-excluded women in life skills, rights education, and vocational skills in Enugu, Nigeria
2. Engage 4,650 male community leaders, community members, and husbands/male family members of WfWI-N participants on women’s rights in Enugu, Nigeria
3. Evaluate WfWI-Nigeria’s work with male community leaders, community members, and participants’ husbands/male family members, to better understand the impact of WfWI-N’s men’s engagement program on male beneficiaries, and ultimately on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community
WfWI-N has been implementing a men’s engagement program since 2002. The current project adopts a Train-the-Trainer (ToT) approach where 150 male community leaders (Level 1) will first be educated about women’s rights with the goal of creating a gender balanced society, and then trained in effective ways to educate 1,500 other men (Level 2) in the community on similar topics. In addition to these educational sessions, WfWI-N will host community meetings bringing together 3,000 men from the community who are family members of WfWI female participants to openly discuss pertinent issues related to women’s rights.
WfWI-N seeks a qualified researcher to collaborate closely with program staff to design, conduct, and disseminate results of the 3rd activity above: A three-year longitudinal impact evaluation on the men’s engagement activities of the project. The researcher is expected to serve as a technical advisor on impact evaluation and engage with WfWI staff at each stage of the evaluation.
Objective of Evaluation
The impact evaluation will adopt a mixed-methods approach to understand the impact and effectiveness of the community men’s engagement program on male beneficiaries, and on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community.
The evaluation will provide lessons learned about the impact and effectiveness of the current project’s men’s engagement activities to promote women’s rights, and inform the organization’s future efforts to engage men for women’s social and economic empowerment. Results from the impact evaluation are also expected to inform the broader international development and research community involved in similar work.
The evaluation is also an excellent opportunity for WfWI staff to collaborate with the researcher to increase capacity on impact evaluation.
Evaluation Period: June 2014 – December 2016
Evaluation Questions
The evaluation should seek to answer the following questions, but are not limited to:
1. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 1 community men’s training on women’s rights, on men’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to women in the household and community?
2. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 2 community men’s engagement on women’s rights, on men’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to women in the household and community?
3. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 1 community men’s training on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community, in terms of their economic and social outcomes (e.g., income generating potential, decision making in the household, leadership in the community, etc.)?
4. What is the impact and effectiveness of Level 2 community men’s engagement on WfWI-N’s participants and other women in the community, in terms of their economic and social outcomes (e.g., income generating potential, decision making in the household, leadership in the community, etc.)?
Target Audience
The audience of this evaluation will be WfWI staff, DFID and other relevant donors, current and future implementing partners on men’s engagement, practitioners, and researchers (institution and academic).
Evaluation Design and Methodology
WfWI has developed an initial design of a longitudinal, phased-in impact evaluation. It is envisioned that the men’s training will be implemented in three clusters of communities over three years of the project (i.e., Cluster A; Cluster B; Cluster C). In Year One, men’s training will be implemented in Cluster A, while Cluster B serves as the control group. In Year Two, Cluster B will receive men’s training, while Cluster C will serve as the control group. In Year Three, Cluster C will receive men’s training.
This phased-in approach to implementation will allow for a comparison of intervention versus control groups on key knowledge, social and economic outcomes of male beneficiaries and women in the community. Furthermore, the design allows for an assessment of one-year impact of the training in Cluster B and two-years impact of the training in Cluster A.
A mixed-methodology is suggested, although the researcher is expected to review and improve the following methodology and evaluation design:
1. Quantitative baseline and endline surveys on Level 1 beneficiaries in intervention and control communities
2. Quantitative baseline and endline surveys on a sample of Level 2 beneficiaries in intervention and control communities
3. Qualitative focus groups on Level 1 and 2 beneficiaries one-year and two-years after
4. Qualitative focus groups with partners of Level 1 and 2 beneficiaries
5. Qualitative focus groups with participants of community meetings
WfWI collects regular baseline, endline and one-year and two-year follow up data on program graduates. The researcher will be able to use this data and results to support the impact evaluation work.
Scope of Work
The researcher should conduct the following activities as part of the evaluation (funded in part by DFID and in part by other sources to be confirmed), but not limited to:
Briefing and Desk Review
At the start of the evaluation, WfWI staff will brief the researcher on the specifics of the project, evaluation objectives and scope of work.
Evaluation Design and Methodology
The researcher will finalize an evaluation design and methodology that adopts a mixed-methods approach, and that incorporates feedback from WfWI. It will also specify an appropriate sampling methodology taking into consideration the project timeline, resources, and representativeness of project beneficiaries.
Inception Report
The researcher will submit an inception report that captures the evaluation design and methodology, and provides an outline of the final report. The inception report should also specify the schedule and contents of progress reports to.
Dissemination Plan
WfWI plans to share findings from the impact evaluation to the broader research community and use it as evidence base to influence decision making in Nigeria, UK, and US. The researcher is expected to contribute to the dissemination plan that will be drafted by WfWI.
Participatory Approach
The researcher should adopt a participatory approach to identify key social and economic outcomes relevant to project beneficiaries and women in the community, and in confirming results yielded from the evaluation.
Field Work
The researcher will work closely with WfWI-N staff and a team of external data collectors to supervise data collection in the field. Field data collection is estimated to take place 4 weeks per year, for three years. It will involve travel to Enugu, Nigeria, at least once in Year 1 and once in Year 3.
Progress Reports
The researcher is expected to submit quarterly reports to WfWI on progress of impact evaluation. This is in addition to regular check-ins to discuss research progress, resolve issues that arise, and in keeping with the goal of collaborative learning.
Final Evaluation Report
The researcher should produce a final evaluation report that captures results of the three-year impact evaluation. It should incorporate feedback from WfWI, and where there is disagreement in interpretation and recommendations, to include those in the report. The final report should not exceed 100 pages.
Dissemination
Together with WfWI staff, the researcher is expected to participate in the implementation of the impact evaluations’ dissemination plan, including presentations/workshops and co-authoring articles for publication.
Collaborative Learning
The researcher is expected to collaborate closely with WfWI staff throughout the project to facilitate learning and capacity to conduct impact evaluations.
Deliverables and Timeline
1. Inception report (including evaluation design and methodology and June 2014 dissemination plan)
2. Data collection Ongoing (July 2014 – September 2016)
3. Official progress reports (not including monthly/fortnightly check-ins) - Quarterly (July 2014 – September 2016)
4. Draft evaluation report October 2016
5. Review and feedback of evaluation report by WfWI - November 2016
6. Final evaluation report, to include - December 2016
a. Executive summary
b. Background
c. Evaluation design and methodology
d. Data analysis and results
e. Conclusions
f. Lessons learned
g. Recommendations
7. Dissemination of evaluation results- December 2016 – March 2017
Evaluation Team
WfWI views the impact evaluation as an excellent learning opportunity for internal staff. The researcher should view the project as collaboration be_tween him/her and relevant WfWI staff that make up the Evaluation Team. The following lists stakeholders that form the Evaluation Team:
1. Associate Director of Monitoring and Evaluation (Evaluation Team Leader)
2. WfWI-N Deputy Country Director
3. WfWI-N Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
4. WfWI-UK Policy Manager
5. WfWI-HQ Nigeria Program Officer
6. WfWI-HQ Director of Program Design and Development
WfWI-N program staff will serve as a resource in providing background information on the project, and in managing field activities related to the impact evaluation. WfWI-N will also advice on local contextual nuances that may invariably affect evaluation outcomes.
WfWI-UK and WfWI-HQ staff will work collaboratively with the researcher on project background, project implementation, and as research partners in designing, implementing, and writing up the results. They will also lead in the drafting of a dissemination plan.
These are the stakeholders involved in the impact evaluation, and should be consulted along the way. Approval from the Evaluation Team is necessary on major activities/decision points related to this research.
WfWI will commit to provide the necessary documentation and support needed for the researcher to successfully conduct the impact evaluation.
Researcher Qualifications and Skills
The selected researcher should possess the following qualifications:
1. Have extensive experience in conducting impact evaluations for government donors (e.g., DFID) on social change preferably in the areas of engaging men on gender equality and women’s social and economic empowerment, preferably in Nigeria (required)
2. Knowledgeable in research methods, particularly on mixed-methods and participatory research (required)
3. Skilled in quantitative and qualitative data analysis (required)
4. Willing to adopt a collaborative learning approach with program implementers at every stage of the impact evaluation (required)
5. Have excellent English writing and speaking ability (required)
6. Skilled in managing and motivating a team of local data collectors, in person and virtually (desired)
7. Able to communicate complex research, statistics and data analysis issues orally and in writing in a clear, concise and well organized manner (desired)
8. Familiarity with local Nigerian languages, e.g., Igbo (desired)
Application Materials
WfWI seeks proposals from individual researchers, or researchers from institutions and universities to conduct this impact evaluation. Applicants should submit a proposal in English that includes:
1. Detailed description of the researcher’s qualifications and experience
2. Description and justification of proposed evaluation design methodology including description of tools and techniques that will be used to collect and analyze information
3. Budget (including breakdown of day or relevant unit rate)
4. Writing sample of previous report
Contact Information
All proposals must be submitted to Su Chuen Foo at schuenfoo@womenforwomen.org before May 15, 2014. Questions should be addressed to Su Chuen Foo as well.
