- Expressions of Interest will close on: 10 FEBRUARY 2023 at 5PM PNG Time [GMT+10]
- Location of role: Based in any of these countries – Preferably in Papua New Guinea or anywhere within the Region
- Term: 28 days maximum (February to March)
- Reporting to: Manager Governance Project
- Terms of Reference is available for download
- Please contact Recruitment Co-Ordinator Divono Vakatale for any questions: [email protected]
All applications must be lodged online only via this Link – https://oxfampacific.bamboohr.com/careers/219
Background
The Active Citizenship Fostering Government Accountability project works with communities in Goroka, Eastern Highland Province, to facilitate collective action on common issues, and supports District Development Authorities (DDA) and Local Level Government (LLG) to improve local planning processes and to implement community identified projects (Bottom-up Planning Process). This project has stemmed from Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) overall development progress, which is hindered by a combination of weak governance, regressive attitudes about the
role of women, poor essential infrastructure, and a deep-seated localized loyalties commonly known in PNG as the “wantok system”. This system is deeply rooted in the political context impacting not only the political arena but also how basic services and development are distributed.
The project aims to address this by ensuring that representative government authorities sustain more responsive, accountable, and equitable allocation and implementation of development funds for collectively identified citizen priorities. In ensuring that this does happen, it is necessary to create the awareness of the project amongst key stakeholders, thereby establishing the working partnership as well as creating the space for citizen ownership. Additionally, the project aims for citizens to also apply inclusive governance in practice through formal bottom-up government planning and accountability structures. The project seeks to impact powerholders: that they will be motivated to encourage and respond fairly to the collective needs of citizens as well as have increased capacity to implement projects in accordance with inclusive governance principles.
Specific Objectives of The Evaluation
Oxfam in Pacific will engage in the evaluation of the Active Citizenship Fostering Government Accountability Project in Goroka District, Eastern Highlands.
- Evaluation of the project Outcomes
The Mid Term Evaluation will focus on measuring the Result or impact of the project itself and how it influences changes within the engagement of communities, Government, and the key stakeholder since the project commenced in 2018. The Mid Term Evaluation findings will identify what the four outcomes have achieved to date, areas of the project delivery requiring further implementation and improvement and will serve as a reporting and information mechanism for DFAT, the major donor of the project.
- Recommendation for Project Redesign
The overarching goal of the project is for the Government authorities to be transparent, responsive, and accountable to citizens, especially to women, youth, and people with disability, in the district of Goroka. That goal is ambitious in the given timeframe. To achieve this, behavioral change is required which may take more than 4 years of work. As such this evaluation would inform the next phase of the project effectiveness of the approaches of the project, the challenges and linkages that should be further strengthened and ways of working that would best deliver desired project outcomes.
Key questions of the evaluation
The purpose of the midterm evaluation is to identify any learnings and areas of implementation requiring adaptation in the remaining two years of the project. This will require a blend of process and outcome evaluation approaches. To that end, the key outputs of this evaluation are:
- Assessing the degree to which project outcomes have been achieved
- Evaluating if the chosen approaches are achieving desired results
- To review the project design and make recommendations for future project implementation
- To identify project learnings relating to achieving impact
This guidance is not intended to limit or restrict the evaluation outcomes, and we would encourage the evaluator to proposed what he/she thinks it’s necessary for the process.
Scope of the evaluation and approach and methods
The evaluator will, in consultation with OiP and Oxfam Australia, develop a detailed evaluation plan and approach drawing from relevant Oxfam frameworks. It is expected that the evaluation will draw on information from key Oxfam staff as well as key stakeholders to this Project. The plan may include the following:
- Desk review of key documents of Active Citizen fostering Government Accountability which include: the Project Design Document, Baseline Report, Power and Economic Analysis and Gender and Disability Analysis. Review will include also relevant documents from DFAT and Papua New Guinea policies.
- Development of methodological approach that will serve the evaluation purpose
- Development of evaluation tasks and key questions drawn from review of the Project Design document including project Theory of Change and M& E Framework. This will be done in consultation with key Oxfam stakeholders and project staff.
Required skills
The Covid situation has restricted travel in many countries including Papua New Guinea. As such, if the consultant is external to PNG, we encourage you to work with in-country consultant to gain a better understanding of the context and approaches to project evaluation.
The consultant should have the following qualifications and experience:
- Qualifications and/or demonstrated experience in project design, M&E and implementation.
- Experience working in PNG context, ideally in the governance and social accountability development space.
- Understanding of social accountability and governance tools and approaches.
- Experience working in and with INGOs.
- Knowledge and practical experience in the application of gender conceptual frameworks and analysis during evaluation and design processes.
- Excellent oral communication skills and the ability to deliver high quality written reports in English.
- A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, postgraduate qualifications will be highly regarded.
- Good working experience in PNG with understanding of the PNG context and government systems.
Schedule, budget and logistics
The daily rate for the consultancy is $800 AUD per day plus GST with an expected timeframe of 28 days over the period January -February 2023.
Travel costs associated with the consultant will be covered by Oxfam. Travel costs and additional expenses for participants in the workshop will also be covered by Oxfam.
The logistics for the workshop will be arranged by Oxfam. Key documents and resource materials developed by Oxfam International will be shared with the consultant.
The consultant is expected to deliver outputs as per the table below by the specified due dates. Payment will be made per deliverable and upon receipt of an invoice to Oxfam Australia.
Evaluation responsibilities and management arrangements
Restrictions for COVID-19 remain in place for many countries and will have an impact of this evaluation process. However, for external consultants, in terms of managing this evaluation, we anticipate work will involve home-based work as well as virtually in country. The evaluator will be managed by Oxfam Australia with the support from Oxfam Pacific PNG Governance and Social Accountability Project. Oxfam Pacific will manage transport, accommodation and logistical arrangements for in country to support the evaluator. In the case of an external evaluator, Oxfam Pacific would encourage an in-country support internal evaluator.
Dissemination strategy, plan, and responsibilities for sharing and using the findings.
The consultant will be provided with Oxfam report writing requirements, including branding, and the final documentation will be the property of Oxfam. Oxfam owns all data and resources generated by the project evaluation. The consultant is required to document and provide all raw and analyzed data to Oxfam.
The key tasks for the consultant will include the following.
- Briefing with key Oxfam Staff
- Desk review of Active Citizenship Fostering Government Project documents
- Development of detailed Evaluation Plan including methodology and tools
- Data collection and field visits in line with evaluation plan
- Draft evaluation report including recommendations based on desk review, in-country
- Workshop with key Oxfam staff presenting initial findings and recommendations
- Submission & Presentation of final report that can be shared with Oxfam, DFAT and other stakeholders
Process of the selection of the evaluator or evaluation team and expectations for evaluation proposal
Evaluator
Reference Checked and other necessary selection criteria process – supported by Oxfam in Pacific and Oxfam Australia.
Formative or Process Evaluation does the following:
- Begins during project development and continues through implementation, provides new and
- sometimes unanticipated insights into improving
- the outcomes of the project which can lead into
- possible extension of the project.
- Summative or Outcomes Evaluation does the following:
- Assesses the quality and success of a project in reaching stated objectives and presents the information collected for project activities and outcomes since the implementation of the project.
All evaluation plans should identify both participants (those directly involved in the project) and key stakeholders (those otherwise invested by credibility, control, or other capital).
