Call for Evaluator: Bulgaria and Serbia Beneficiary Assessment

Roma Education Fund (REF) is welcoming proposals for evaluators to conduct a beneficiary assessment across the 5 REF models of intervention in Bulgaria and Serbia. The Roma Education Fund is interested in outcomes and impact of REF grants as perceived by the direct beneficiary with a special focus on gender equality.  The evaluator will have the role of the general faciliatory of the beneficiary assessment. The General Facilitator.

Roma Education Fund (REF) is welcoming proposals for evaluators to conduct a beneficiary assessment across the 5 REF models of intervention in Bulgaria and Serbia. The Roma Education Fund is interested in outcomes and impact of REF grants as perceived by the direct beneficiary with a special focus on gender equality.  The evaluator will have the role of the general faciliatory of the beneficiary assessment. The General Facilitator. Will contract a national evaluator, academic institution, NGO, or company to take on roles and tasks at the national level in Bulgaria and in Serbia (Please see attached TOR for details). This Beneficiary Assessment (BA) will answer the following questions, in addition the beneficiaries themselves will provide an additional 2-3 questions:

  1. How do the beneficiaries perceive change in their life and how it happens?
  2. How do the beneficiaries see REFs contributions to this change?
  3. How do the beneficiaries observe REF interventions having an impact in gender equality?
  4. Do the beneficiaries value REFs contributions to their development process?
  5. What can REF do to insure programs respond to their priorities better?

The above five questions have the aim of addressing the following four global goals:

  • REF and SDC learn how their investments are influencing change as perceived by the direct beneficiary of REF grants.
  • REF and SDC learn from beneficiaries on if and how their approaches contributes to achieve the organizations missions.
  • REF and SDC reflect and respond to beneficiaries needs, perspectives, and recommendations in program design and implementation.
  • Empower and build skills in the beneficiary community.

Proposed Methodology

Participatory evaluation methodology will be implemented in this beneficiary assessment. This methodology emphasizes empowerment and participation of direct REF beneficiaries in the evaluation design, process, and analysis.

The below methodological principles will be prioritized and implemented:

  • Participation and Ownership
  • Inclusion of Citizen/Beneficiary Perspective
  • Representativeness of Citizen/Beneficiary Perspective
  • Differentiation (disaggregation of viewpoints based on groups)
  • Self-Critical Reflexivity on the quality of methodology
  • Learning and Responsiveness

Qualification of the Facilitator

The general facilitator will have the duties of managing field work within the two countries, facilitate and manage National Facilitator, insures quality and maintains standards, and ensures the delivery of the final product.

The general facilitator will need to sub-contract local consultants, NGOs, universities, or other organizations as the local National Facilitator to complete and manage local field work. Both the general facilitator and the National Facilitator must have prior experience in participatory evaluations or research.

The facilitator has the following skills and competences:

  1. Proven experience in facilitating large and participative evaluations and/or research
  2. Capacity to lead groups, field assessments and to facilitate workshops
  3. Excellent communication and analytical skills
  4. Proven capacity to analyze information derived from participatory processes
  5. Proven capacity to document evaluation and systematization processes
  6. Proven skills to writing reports of high quality (in English)
  7. Experience in working with Roma communities and NGOs
  8. Knowledge of the country context (assessment zones, social groups etc.)
  9. Local language proficiency in the assessment team (assessment zones, social groups etc.)
  10. Skills for coordination and organization

Proposal and Selection Process

Please be aware that this call for proposals is for the general facilitator. Which can be one individual, a team, organization, or academic institution. If the applicant is more than one individual, please provide a CV for those that will be part of the assessment team. 

Process of submission

Interested bidders are required to submit a proposal and offer through email. If bidders require additional information, questions can be submitted through email.

Applications must be sent to:

Marko Pecak at mpecak@romaeducationfund.org

The subject of the email must read: Beneficiary Assessment (REF)

A complete submission must in include the following

  • Proposal including methodology, data collection techniques, and process for development of findings
  • Assessment plan with timeframe of how the study will be carried out
  • Financial proposal
  • The term of reference, which is attached to this call
  • Curriculum Vital of general facilitator and proposed team members

Deadline: Please submit proposals and questions by July 27th, 2018