• 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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:

  1. Assessing the degree to which project outcomes have been achieved
  2. Evaluating if the chosen approaches are achieving desired results
  3. To review the project design   and   make   recommendations   for   future   project implementation
  4. 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).