Expression of Interest (EOI) at Sightsavers

Sightsavers is an international non-governmental organisation that works with partners in developing countries to treat and prevent avoidable blindness, and promote equality for people with visual impairments and other disabilities.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Expression of Interest (EOI) - End-term Evaluation Child Eye Health, North West Nigeria, Consultancy

Preamble
Sightsavers is looking for external evaluators to undertake an end of term evaluation of the "North-West Nigeria Child Eye Health Project". The project is being implemented in Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara states of Nigeria since 2017 with a budget of approximately £1.6 million for a five year period.

The overall goal of the project is to ensure that girls and boys in the project areas have improved access to quality eye health services, and that the eye health system in the region is strengthened so that it can continue providing a sustainable eye care programme beyond the agreed Sightsavers funding period.

Purpose of Evaluation

• The evaluation will cover the full project period from April 2017 to March 2022. The purpose of this evaluation is to understand how well the project has performed in relation to its objectives and the achievement of the outputs and outcomes.
• The evaluation will also aim to elicit the key learnings that can be drawn from the project – in particular what has worked well, what could have worked better, and why.
• Sustainability and ownership of the services by the project partners is also a key area of enquiry. The evaluation will try to understand what impact the project has had on people and communities for whom it was intended – and what changes have they seen or experienced as a result of the project.
• To this end, the evaluation will review the project in the areas of Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability, and Replicability, incorporating a gender, equity and disability inclusion lens to the evaluation questions detailed for each of criteria in the Terms of Reference.
• While the detailed methodology is to be agreed with the contracted consultant, we may recommend an outcome harvesting approach to look at whether certain outcomes have been met.
• It would also be useful for the evaluation to consider the project’s theory of change (which has not formally been developed) and examine the change pathways and overall project logic in addressing the specific evaluation questions.
• Depending on feasibility of travel to the region, in terms of safety and security, a data collection team will likely be deployed to conduct interviews and focus group discussions with the relevant partners and stakeholders. The scope of any primary data collection will be assessed in light of overall security and the COVID-19 pandemic, and alternative remote approaches taken as required.

Profile of the Consultant

• Sightsavers will welcome expressions of interest from qualified independent evaluators or consultancy companies. An individual or team with members located in Nigeria would be preferred. The consultant and team members should have the following core competencies and experience:
• Extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation for international development project/programmes, with strong skills in both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Thematic expertise in eye health evaluations is essential, preferably with some experience in public health and child eye health and school screening programmes. Comprehensive understanding of preferred practices/policy issues at global and national level is desirable.
• Prior experience working in Nigeria is essential, preferably in the North-west region including data collection experience.
• Must have experience of carrying out evaluations of an appropriate scope and scale.
• Ability to travel within Nigeria is required - ideally within North-West Nigeria.
• Ability to produce concise, readable and analytical reports.
• Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English. Fluency in local languages in North-West Nigeria is highly desirable.
• Consultants with a proven track record in the above will be procured to undertake the project through an expression of interest process.

Timeline

• March - April 2022: Selection of Consultant(s)
• April 2022: Inception Report
• May 2022: Primary Data Collection
• June 2022: Draft Evaluation Report
• July 2022: Final Evaluation Report
• July - September 2022: Dissemination

Application Closing Date
23:00 (GMT time) Sunday, 27th March, 2022.

Submission of Documents
To express your interest to undertake this assignment, please read the complete ToR, and complete our Expression of Interest (EoI).

The EoI response should include roles and responsibilities of the consultants and number of days input, as well as a proposed workplan and indicative budget, including team members’ daily rates for the assignment and any other anticipated expenses.

Full details of the project, Scope of Work, Outputs/ Deliverables and budgets can be found within the attached ToR.

N/B: Interested bidders are also requested to include an example of previous similar work.

Note

• Interviews are likely to be held mid-April 2022
• Please note that due to the high volume of applications anticipated it is possible that only successful applicants will be contacted.