Terms of Reference - Programme Quality and Learning Review
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
ABOUT OXFAM
Oxfam is an international confederation of 21 organizations working in over 60 countries worldwide seeking to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice around the world. Oxfam is determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty. Around the world, Oxfam works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. We save lives and help rebuild livelihoods when crisis strikes. And we campaign so that the voices of the poor influence the local and global decisions that affect them. In all we do, Oxfam works with partners, public and private sector institutions alongside vulnerable women and men to end the injustices that cause poverty. Read more about Oxfam from https://kenya.oxfam.org/
OXFAM COUNTRY STRATEGY
Oxfam in Kenya Country Strategy (2021-2024) focuses on four key contextual issues, within an overall framework of fighting inequality and ending poverty and injustice as a way to increase resilience among poor and marginalized communities. The OCS is founded on four key strategic pillars;
- Governance and Accountability: With positive economic growth and investment opportunities, Kenya has immense potential to mobilise tax revenues, provide public services to its people and reduce inequality. In the past decade, however, the government has borrowed extensively to finance large-scale infrastructure projects, undermining its ability to invest in development priorities and public spending. Kenya’s fiscal deficit coupled with imprudent budget management has led to increased external funding and borrowing. Kenya’s debt to GDP ratio continues to rise with the IMF Fiscal consolidation programme proposing austerity measures to reduce Kenya’s debt vulnerabilities. The austerity measures adversely affect social spending which has already historically been inadequate – again disproportionately negatively affecting the poor the most.
At the local level, the underperformance of own source revenue (OSR) has been attributed to the lack of proper and updated legal frameworks of county governments on revenue collection, the need to improve county governments’ capacity in revenue collection, and the need to improve on reporting on collection of non-tax revenue. Other forms of illicit financial flows (IFFs) have severely hampered Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM)A lack of transparency, progressive tax mobilisation, gender responsive allocation and effective utilisation of resources for public services perpetuate inequalities and hinder access to services for the most vulnerable.
- Extractives and Land Rights: Progressive policy and legislative developments in regard to natural resources since 2015 along with the discovery of significant oil, water, gas and coal reserves have the potential to boost Kenya’s socio-economic development. Poor implementation of these policies together with a lack of community understanding and engagement have meant that revenues from extractives have not benefited communities living in and around such areas, and there is potential conflict over management of resources between national government, counties and within communities. Similarly, within the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), there are inadequate community control of land and husbandry of natural resources, to enhance the resilience of communities and improve their development prospects.
- Gender Justice and Women Rights: Women and girls in Kenya hold great potential and there has been some progress made in terms of gender equality and women empowerment. Despite such developments, only 29% of women are considered empowered, according to UN Women and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data published in 2020. Progress is still slow, hampered by inadequate implementation of laws, inadequate funding, weak accountability mechanisms and slow transformation of discriminatory and patriarchal gender norms, attitudes and practice that continue to limit women’s power and agency in political, economic and social spheres. In Kenya women are affected both in the public sphere and within the household and as a result they face a much more restricted set of choices and opportunities in their lives than men. Women have less voice in decision making in the family, including in respect of their sexual and reproductive health choices, as well as less control over household income and assets. They bear the brunt of unpaid care work which is one of the main contributors to women’s concentration in low-paid care, precarious employment.
- Humanitarian Systems Strengthening: Disasters have increased in the past decade, eroding the coping mechanisms of people and contributing to displacements, destruction of livelihood assets, resource conflicts and increasing poverty and inequality for marginalised people. Successive shocks- COVID-19 pandemic impacts, prolonged droughts, intense floods and the largest infestations of desert locusts in 70 years have compounded these effects, leaving the affected communities with little time to recover and improve their lives and livelihoods. Although the government, with support from donors, INGOs and local partners has been responding to the resultant humanitarian crises, a lot more still needs to be done to address the systemic and structural enablers of recurring crises- there are considerable gaps on resilience building, preparedness and emergency response while citizens/communities still need support to hold county and national government to account for prompt and effective use of the resources at their disposal. In addition, humanitarian system in Kenya is still fundamentally driven by the INGOs/UN while the local partners rooted in crisis affected contexts remain confined to the periphery. Oxfam has been championing localization agenda to challenge this state of affairs and vest more decision-making power on the hands of the local partners. This effort continues to bear fruits and will be nurtured further.
OBJECTIVES OF THE REVIEW
Oxfam in Kenya intends to conduct a wholistic Programme Quality and Learning review that will focus on:
- The four thematic areas which are: (i) Governance and Accountability, (ii)Gender Justice and Women Rights, (iii)Extractives and Land Rights and (iv) Humanitarian Systems Strengthening and cross pillar integration.
- Business Support Units (BSU) that includes Monitoring and Evaluation, Donor Relations & Funding, Finance, Logistics and Procurement, , Communications and Media departments
- Relationship/Partnership management with various stakeholders including affiliates, local partners, academia, networks etc.
This review provides an opportunity to assess how far the Kenya programme has come towards achieving the goals and objectives set out in the Oxfam country strategy, identify and address issues and challenges that have arisen since launch of the OCS, enable course correction if the interventions are not meeting goals and objectives of the OCS, and demonstrate accountability of our work to its stakeholders.
Based on the above and on discussions with stakeholders, the broad objectives of the Programme Learning review are to:
- Analyse progress and outcomes: By reflecting on the achievements of outcomes so far and collaboration with stakeholders within the country and beyond.
- Evaluate the continued relevance and effectiveness of intervention strategies: By considering what the lessons and learnings on the progress and outcomes mean for strategic and operational planning and decisions for the remaining duration of the OCS, especially in light of changing political and civic space contexts, affiliation process for Kenya.
- Be accountable to stakeholders: By capturing the results of all thematic pillars in the OCS and comparing them against the envisioned social change.
Additionally, the Programme Learning review aims to:
- Enable and encourage reflection among projects and withing the programme as a whole on the progress and achievements so far and what they mean for the strategic vision of the OCS.
- Interrogate the effectiveness of strategies adopted for implementation of the OCS. These include a) Influencing strategy b) Localization agenda c) Networks/alliance/Movement building d) Shifting narratives e) Evidence generation through research .f) Brokering relationships and convening g) Flexible funding and h) Partnerships
- Reflection on performance across the cross-cutting themes i.e., a) Gender Mainstreaming b) Partnerships c) HIV-Aids d) Climate justice and resilience e) learning, innovation and adaptive management f) Conflict sensitivity g Intersectionality
- Reflection on alignment of country programmes with Oxfam standards e.g. CAMSA( Common Approaches to MEL and Social Accountability, Programme quality, Feminist Principles etc
METHODOLOGY
The programme quality and learning review workshop will take a qualitative approach. This will involve desk review of available literature and KII with various stakeholders.
The consultant will be expected to ensure the PQ&L incorporates and integrates participatory and inclusive approaches – including feminist principles in conducting the learning review.
The consultant is expected with support from Oxfam to organize and facilitate a learning workshop and inception meetings with key stakeholders.
DELIVERABLES
The programme Quality and Learning is a process that will not only provide answers to the overarching questions but also one that which provides opportunities to jointly reflect on and learn from the implementation of the OCS so far. With this in mind, following could be seen as the intended outputs of the PQ&L:
- Inception report with updated PQ&L questions ,clear methodology and framework and brief report on the literature review
- Workshop agenda and concept
- Draft PQ&L reports
- Final PQ&L report
- Updated one pager for the thematic pillars
- Other products that could be useful to communicate key findings and information
EVALUATION RESPONSIBILITIES AND MANAGEMENT
Below is an overview of the distinct roles and responsibilities between Oxfam and the Consultant.
ROLE OF OXFAM
- Support in the Co-design process of the programme quality and Learning review. Oxfam will collaborate with the consultant to design appropriate methodologies, tools and techniques of conducting the Programme Quality and Learning Review exercise
ROLE OF THE CONSULTANT
The consultant will be expected to:
- Conduct a detailed desktop literature review of all relevant materials.
- Support in the co-design exercise of the workshop.
- Design and facilitate a workshop with the team.
- Submit all deliverables as indicated above.
PROFILE OF THE REVIEW TEAM
The consultancy can include different team members. Key competencies of the team include:
- Strong experience designing and leading learning reviews for organisations
- A clear and solid understanding of development and humanitarian programmes and the context
- Solid experience and skills in facilitating workshops
- Experience utilizing feminist MEAL principles and practices.
- Ability to facilitate and relate to stakeholders at multiple levels and in diverse contexts.
- Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills in English
- Experience in undertaking comprehensive desktop literature review .
- Strong analytical, communication and report writing skills.
- Good spoken and written communication skills in Kiswahili and English.
- Proven experience of using participatory methods for data collection and analysis in programme evaluation.
- Sensitivity to cultural and historical contexts in the data collection and analysis process.
TAX AND VAT ARRANGEMENTS
Oxfam will deduct withholding tax from the professional fees which will
be in conformity with the prevailing government rates and submit the
same to the Government of Kenya.
BID REQUIREMENTS
Consultant(s) who meet the above requirements should submit bids, which at minimum include the following:
- Suitability statement, including commitment to availability for the entire assignment.
- Brief statement of the proposed study methodology including a detailed work plan.
- Detailed financial proposal, including daily costs.
- Information on the team composition and level of effort of each team member – include updated curriculum vitae that clearly spell out qualifications and experience.
- Contacts of three organizations that have recently contracted the consultant to conduct relevant study.
- Samples of similar and/or related work done previously
- Budget financial proposal must indicate all-inclusive costs for conducting the assignment.
N/B: The entire bid should be a MAXIMUM OF fifteen (15) PAGES inclusive of CVs and Budgets. Bids not meeting this requirement will not be considered.
REPORTING LINES
The consultant shall work under the supervision of the Oxfam’s MEAL Advisor
How to apply
Oxfam Kenya invites individuals who meet the criteria to submit
Expression of Interest that clearly articulates the consultant(s)
understanding of the terms of reference, methodology for executing the
work including key deliverables and tentative budget should and clearly
indicated “Programme Quality and Learning review ”
Expression of Interests shall be sent to
kpconsultancyservices@oxfam.org.uk no later than close of business on
5th June 2023. Only applicants who qualify will be contacted.