HelpAge International,Call for Expression of Interest – Final Evaluation for Better Health for Older People in Africa Project

1. Background

HelpAge
International helps older people claim their rights and challenge
discrimination and poverty, so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and
healthy lives. HelpAge International is implementing ‘The Better Health for
Older People in Africa’ programme between, July
2014 and June 2017 with a total
budget of GBP 3,910,354 funded by DFID. The programme is implemented in four
countries: Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

The overall aim of
the programme is to make poor older women/men and their households less vulnerable
to illness and worsening poverty through provision of better access to health
and care services. Efforts to provide age – appropriate health, HIV and care
services as well as social entitlements that will better enable them to meet
their health needs as well as efforts on improving the accountability of
service providers and policy makers both locally and nationally were also made.

There are four
months of implementation remaining before programme phase out. Under donor
stipulations and because Helpage international has a string ethos of learning
from its programmatic work this final evaluation of the work between April –
May 2017 will be conducted.

· Target
Beneficiaries

Direct
Beneficiaries
– 387,763 older women and men (232,658F, 155,105M), over 50 years of age in the
programme areas will access improved health care services (age – friendly and
gender sensitive).

1,718 health staff
will benefit from the training supported by the programme.

Indirect
beneficiaries
– 938,853 family members, from older people households will benefit. This is
assuming that one household has five members. Thus, improving the health status
of an older person at the household level, will lead to improved livelihood
status within the household, making an older person less dependent on the other
household members.

· Programme
Management

HelpAge
International, is an international network of organizations working on ageing
with a London secretariat. HelpAge manages the programme through its country
offices, Africa Regional Office (based in Nairobi, Kenya) and its headquarters
in London.

Age International is
the UK affiliate of the HelpAge Network and has the overall responsibility of
overseeing the programme management, reporting and donor liaison. It also has
the responsibility of sharing the programme learning widely.

HelpAge country
offices/representatives manage the country programme through working closely
with national partners; coordinating with the regional HelpAge office,
monitoring activities and reporting.

Table 1: Country
Office with Implementing Partners

1. Country –
Mozambique (MOZ)

Country
Office/Representative –
HelpAge International – Mozambique

Partners:

• Associacao
  Para Aos Velhos Desamparados (AAVEDOS)

2 Country –
Ethiopia (ETH)

Country
Office/Representative – HelpAge International – Ethiopia

Partners

3 Country –
Zimbabwe (ZIM)

Country
Office/Representative – Center for Community Development Solutions (CCDS)

Partners

4 Country – Tanzania (TAN)

Country
Office/Representative
HelpAge International – Tanzania

Partners

2. Purpose of the Evaluation and
Intended Use

The final evaluation
will strive to interrogate the extent to which programme objectives have been
met and will utilize the OECD-DAC criteria (relevance, effectiveness,
efficiency, impact and sustainability) from which to structure the evaluation.
It aims to build upon the mid-term evaluation that was conducted in 2016; see
if recommendations from the evaluation have be me and identify key learnings
that will help improve future health programming in HelpAge international.

Evaluation findings
should be applicable for health programming in the regional and national
contexts in which programme implementation was conducted. The findings are
expected to inform decision making, foster an environment of learning, and
promote greater understanding of effective health service provision for older
persons in Africa.

3. Objectives of the Final
Evaluation

The main objective
of the evaluation will be to test the extent to which the programme has
realized its broader theory of change

Specific Objectives

Ø To critically
assess the level of achievements attained vis – a – vis the initial plan
(results framework)

Ø To assess the
programme of work against the OECD-DAC criteria (effectiveness, efficiency
& value for money, relevance and impact)

Ø Assess the
sustainability of achievements, implementation procedures, approaches and
modalities

Ø Identify and draw
out key learning as a result of implementation of the programme

Ø Provide
recommendations to improve the future effectiveness of health programme development

4. Evaluation Focus and Scope

Impact

· What specific
change has this programme brought about in reducing the poverty level of older
people households through improvements in their health outcome?

· Has access to
affordable health and care services by older persons improved in the four
implementing countries?

· Have there been
any policy changes/directives put in place that support improved health for
older persons at country and regional level as a result of the programme’s
efforts?

· Are there any policy
changes that have been initiated at country/national level as a result of the
project’s policy advocacy impact?

· What changes have
occurred as a direct result of the project at different levels, and for
different stakeholders?

· What are the
unintended consequences of the project (positive and negative)?

Relevance

· To what extent
have the interventions undertaken been relevant to the local needs and
priorities of older persons?

· Did the project
adapt to changes in the context and from learning as the project progressed?

Effectiveness

· How well did the
project achieve the expected results (objectives and outcomes) in the results
framework?

· Which results
showed significant over- or under-achievement, and what were the major factors
influencing this?

· Were there any
gaps related to planning, management, monitoring and implementation that
influenced the results?

· Have the lessons
learning, monitoring and evaluation systems put in place after the mid-term
evaluation been effective, placing particular attention on the roll out of the
digitalization activities?

· The roles and
responsibilities fulfilled by the HelpAge country and regional offices as well
as implementing partners at country level. How the performance of each agency
influenced the realization of the project objectives

Efficiency
& VfM

· Were procurement,
management and partnership arrangements appropriate to achieving the desired quality,
quantity, and timeliness of outputs?

· Were the benefits
delivered by the project proportionate to the costs?

· To what extent
could the programme cost have been reduced/made more efficient without
sacrificing the quality of the results

Sustainability

· To what extent
will the benefits of the project continue after funding ceases? Specifically,

· Policy support –
will efforts made thus far continue to influence policy makers after the
programme has phased out?

· Institutional
capacity – how far the programme is embedded in the local institutional
structures – if the health facilities retain the knowledge received after
trainings – if OCM will actively continue working after the programme has
phased out – what changes have occurred in the capacities of local implementing
partner organizations that will enable them to continue supporting the work
after the programme has phased

Cross –
Cutting

· What measures have
been taken to mainstream gender in the programme and to what extent have women
and vulnerable groups been involved in decision making?

· What measures were
taken to ensure cross country and regional level learnings?

5. Methodology

A mixed methods
approach will be undertaken consisting broadly of 2 main components:

6. Specific Tasks and
Deliverables

The evaluator will
undertake the following tasks:

• Undertake a
document review to become familiar with the project.

• Develop an
evaluation framework, methodology and tools and refine these with the HelpAge
staff.

• Undertake data
collection and analysis according to HelpAge guidelines on evaluation quality

• Present draft
findings and recommendations to all relevant project stakeholders

• Prepare a draft
report for review, circulate and consider comments

• Prepare and submit
a final report according to HelpAge guidelines on length and structure

HelpAge will support
with provision of required documents, logistics and coordinating with
countries/locations/stakeholders where evaluation consultations will take place
and providing comments on evaluation draft/s.

7. Expertise Required

• A postgraduate
qualification (Masters or above) in Social Sciences or International
development and/or public health with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in
Research, Monitoring and Evaluation.

• Proven experience
of evaluating complex multi-country programmes especially in the area of health
and advocacy

• Experience and
familiarity with aging and gender

• Strong
communication skills, proficient in working across all levels of institutions
with experience of conducting primary data collection activities sensitively in
a range of contexts.

• Excellent report
writing skills in English

· Experience of
evaluating digital data collection and analysis systems

8. Time-frame

The evaluation
should commence not later than May 2017. It is anticipated that the evaluation
will take no more than 30 working days, including, preparation and piloting the
tools, briefings/debriefings and external meetings, presentation/revision of
findings to HelpAge and other stakeholders and preparing draft and final
reports.

9.
Expressions of Interest

Expressions of
interest are sought from applicants meeting the criteria above. These should be
sent to hr.ewca@helpage.org,
no later than April
3, 2017.

10. Expressions of interest
should include

• A short (one page)
cover letter addressing the selection criteria above.

• CV (maximum 3
pages) outlining his/her experience

• Summary Proposal
(maximum 3 pages) illustrating the applicant’s understanding of the TOR and
task to be accomplished, plus a draft evaluation framework with clear sampling
method and plan including any logistic support required.

• Financial proposal:
The financial proposal should provide cost estimates for services rendered
including daily consultancy fees.