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END OF TERM EVALUATION OF THE HUB MODEL PROJECT

TERMS OF REFERENCE

END OF TERM EVALUATION OF THE HUB MODEL PROJECT FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY ADVICE OFFICES (CAOs) AS IMPLEMENTED IN THE FREE STATE PROVINCE

 

1. Introduction and Background

The FS Hub project is based on a ‘cluster’ model which brings together CAO’s to work collaboratively towards strengthening access to justice and community engagements on human rights issues among marginalised communities. The project was conceptualised with the aim of contributing to the capacity development of Community Advice Offices (CAOs) in the Free State (FS) Province through grant making, training, and onsite mentorship, facilitating collaboration, networking, and coalition building.

The hub model is an operational mechanism designed to optimize efficiency of CAO’s and harmonise their way of working in the context of scarce resources. Through the model, less established CAOs are clustered with established ones and benefit from mentorship and tailored technical support. The model comprises of the five district Hub CAO’s in the Fezile Dabi, Lejweleputswa, Mangaung and Thabo Mofutsanyane and Xhariep, which mentor few mentee CAOs in each municipality falling under the jurisdiction.  The project is supported by Hlanganisa Institute for Development in Southern Africa (HiDSA) with support from CS Mott Foundation.

Roles and responsibilities of mentor CAOs (hub offices)

The mentors were expected to:

  • Provide strategic leadership to the CAOs in their district and are thus expected to have exemplary systems and values including sound governance, compliance, financial management, transformation and project management structures and processes.
  • Identify exiting less established CAO and enter into formal mentorship agreement through which they leverage their strengths to support and equip the latter.
  • Receive and manage funding, aimed at providing technical assistance to the mentee offices.
  • Cascade training received and offer additional form of support to their mentees within the hub network.
  • Facilitate information sharing within the hub and amongst their mentee offices
  • Convene Provincial and District Hub meetings to discuss critical aspect of CAO’s work and jointly solve arising challenges

Roles and responsibilities of the mentee CAOs

The mentee CAOs were expected to:

  • Enter into formal mentorship agreement through which they leverage the strengths of their (mentors)hub office
  • Attend necessary meetings and participate actively in any structures and platforms
  • Share any challenges and seek joint resolutions with the hub office
  • Share information across other mentee offices

Roles and responsibilities of Hlanganisa Institute for Development in Southern Africa (HiDSA)

Hlanganisa was expected to:

  • Provide funding and other resources to the hub members through targeted grant management process
  • Strengthen the capacity of hub offices by providing training and mentorship to mentor offices
  • Provide onsite technical support and coaching to the mentor offices
  • Increase network and relationship building opportunities for hub members through common advocacy
  • Foster and strengthen collaboration and learning amongst hub members

This is to provide institutional resilience and improve quality of services rendered by CAOs to the community.

2. Scope of work  

HiDSA would like to commission an end of project evaluation of the Free State Community Advice Offices Hub project. The evaluation seeks to understand if and to what extent the project objectives were met. These include:

  • Capacity building of CAO: To enhance governance compliance structures and the ability to receive and manage funds through provision of mentoring, monitoring and technical assistance.
  • Skills development: To increase performance through paralegal training in casework related skills and knowledge. A secondary objective in this regard is to provide alternative administration and human resource training for staff members.
  • Collaboration and peer learning: To increase collaboration of hub members through common advocacy and campaigns.
  • Strategic stakeholder engagements: To expand stakeholder profile and increase participation in government programming though networking with provincial government and state related stakeholders.
  • Funding and financial resources: To attract donor interest to CAO work in the province, diversification of donor profiles and availability to sustainable fundraising opportunities.

In addition, HiDSA would also like the evaluation to focus on the following key areas:

  • Efficiency and effectiveness in grant making
  • Strengths and weaknesses in Hub model
  • Capacity enhancement and transformation for both hub and mentee offices
  • Success in networking, coordination and collaboration and shared learning
  • Stakeholder engagements and relationship management
  • Any other contextual issues relating to the CAO sector

The preferred methodology is qualitative, and the consultant should extensively engage with all hub and mentee offices to determine the relevance and efficiency of the project. The findings and recommendations will be used to inform the future course of the project.

3. Task and Output

Expected Outputs of the Assignment should Include:

  • An inception Report
  • Tools and approaches for the evaluation
  • An evaluation report with recommendations
  • A power point presentation summarizing the report
  • All raw data collected and relevant annexures
  • Any other contextual issues relating to the CAO sector

Knowledge and Expertise of the Service Provider:

  • Post graduate degree in Law, Social Science, International Development, Community Development or related field
  • Extensive experience (at least 8-10years) in development sector and must be familiar with the CAOs work
  • Evaluation experience (at least 5 years)
  • Excellent communication skills especially in the local languages
  • Must have conducted other evaluation reports for donors or intermediary grant makers

Proposal Guidelines 

Interested candidates must submit a short proposal containing the following:

  • A cover letter highlighting the consultant’s interest, relevant experience and qualifications
  • Brief proposal with assessment methodology and work plan (max 5 pages)
  • A CV with relevant and contactable references and list of previous evaluations done
  • An example of a previous relevant piece of work
  • Proposed budget (cost/fees) for the consultancy – budget should include all travel and logistics

Timeline

The evaluation should be conducted between May and June 2019 over a maximum of 15 days.

Proposals will be assessed with the following valuation of importance:

Qualifications and technical strength (60%) Cost/fee (40%)

Interested consultants  with relevant expertise are invited to submit the proposal and supporting documents by no later than 16:00 Monday 6th of May 2019 to email address admin@hlanganisa.org.za with the title End of Term Evaluation of the FS Hub Project  the subject line. Late submissions will not be accepted. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted and/or advised of the outcome.

Disclaimers and HIDSA Protection Clauses

  • HiDSA may cancel solicitation and not award.
  • HiDSA may reject any or all responses received.
  • Issuance of solicitation does not constitute award commitment by HiDSA.
  • HiDSA will not compensate offers for response to solicitation.
  • All raw data including audio recordings and the final report will be the property of HiDSA.