Save the Children Final Evaluation of Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting Programme in Daadab Refugee Camps

Terms of Reference: Final Evaluation – Evaluation of Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting Programme in Daadab Refugee Camps

1.0 Background

Organization Background: Save the Children is the world's largest independent organization for children, making a difference to children's lives in over 120 countries. We deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children's lives worldwide. 

Save the Children listens to children, involves children and ensures their views are taken into account. Save the Children secures and protects children's rights - to food, shelter, healthcare, education and freedom from violence, abuse and exploitation.

Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Save the Children has been operational in Kenya since the 1950s, providing support to children through developmental and humanitarian relief programmes delivered both directly and indirectly through local partners. Current programming focuses on child protection, child rights governance, education, health, HIV/AIDS, livelihoods, nutrition and WASH. 

The rights-based approach of our interventions is founded on four pillars: direct programming, political and policy change, popular mobilization and fundraising. We provide support through both longer term development work and humanitarian relief in emergencies. 

In 2012, as part of a global reorganization process, Save the Children combined the programmes of SC UK, SC Canada and SC Finland to create a single operation in Kenya. In Feb 2014, we completed a second transition, which saw us join forces with the British INGO, Merlin, and merge their health and nutrition programmes with our own. 

Save the Children now has an operational presence in Bungoma, Dadaab Refugee Camp, Garissa, Mandera, Turkana and Wajir and we work through partners in many other parts of the country. We employ more than 300 staff and have an operating annual budget in 2014 of approximately US$25 million.

As a child rights organization, we are committed to ascertain and follow the priorities of the communities we work with and to increase child and community participation in governance, policy-making and delivery of health services. 

2.0 Project Background
 

Specific Objectives:
 

Objective 1: To gauge how the PD project is contributing to empowering community based approaches and structures in preventing and response to child rights violations
 

Objective 2: To gauge if the training project has achieved the intended purpose of enhancing parent-child attachment after application of the knowledge and skills taught. 

The overall goal of SC’s project is to protect children in the Dadaab refugee camps and host communities from abuse, exploitation, violence, and neglect through strengthening the formal and community-based child protection mechanisms.  

The Positive discipline in everyday parenting programme was developed by Save the children in collaboration with University of Manitoba- Canada as a result of the 2006 global United Nation report on violence against children which revealed children maltreatment at home settings  in all countries (visit www.violencestudy.org. for a full version of the report). 

The Positive discipline programme was then piloted at Daadab in 2012 to improve parent-child interaction and care to reduce risks of child abuse and maltreatment. The project targets parents and caregivers caring for vulnerable children in the refugee settings. 

Therefore, the programme greatly contributes to the broader child protection programme by equipping the parents and caregivers with necessary tools and skills to improve care for vulnerable children and enhancing community based child protection structures. 

This includes identifying long term goals, providing warmth and structure, understanding how children think and feel and problem solving. 

The programme also focusses on children developmental stages (0-18 years of age) and science of early child brain development.

The following are some of the achievements since the piloting of the project:-

• 12 national staffs were trained as national facilitators in 2012 who then trained 24 community TOT’S drawn from Dagahaley, Ifo main, Ifo 2 and Hagadera refugee camps
• Rolled out the positive discipline training to 300 parents and caregivers mainly foster parents caring for unaccompanied minors.
• In January 2014, 6 national TOT’s were trained by the regional facilitators at Nairobi.
• SC collaborated with FILM AID Kenya and translated the positive discipline training manual in the local language (Somali) for easy delivery of the training in a language that is easily understood by majority of the participants. In total, 8 copies of the manual (translated in Somali) were produced.
• 2 staffs trained as regional trainers to support the trained facilitators and offer mentorship through support of Master trainers of the programme.

3.0 Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation

Over the years, there has been a growing demand from the community and partners to roll out the programme to more parents and caregivers as the positive discipline training helps parents and caregivers to understand how children of different ages think and feel, how to resolve conflicts at family level, learning new ways of supporting vulnerable children including separated, unaccompanied children and OVC children. 

The programme also creates a common platform for the parents to discuss and explore alternative ways of instilling discipline to children without feeling disempowered.

Save the Children, Kenya Country Office, seeks to procure the services of a consultant to conduct an evaluation of the Positive discipline in everyday parenting programme which hasn’t been evaluated since it was piloted in 2012.  

Specific Objectives of the Evaluation

Objective 1: To gauge how the PD project is contributing to empowering community based approaches and structures in preventing and response to child rights violations 

Under this objective, the consultant will critically demonstrate impact and achievement on the following key areas:

• Methods utilized by parents and caregivers in Daadab to nurture and care for children and application of five key tools in the programme which are identifying long term goals, providing warmth and structure, understanding how children think and feel and conflict resolution
• Improved knowledge and skills among facilitators, parents and caregivers and whether interaction and care for vulnerable children has improved as a result of the trainings.
• Assess the effectiveness of the training delivery methodology and relevance of the training materials used to conduct the training
• Capture level of implementation and knowledge of policies or legislation on positive discipline and child care in the Kenya  refugee setting

Objective 2: To gauge if the training project has achieved the intended purpose of enhancing parent-child attachment after application of the knowledge and skills taught.

Under this objective, the consultant will critically demonstrate impact and achievement on the following key activities.

• Impact, challenges and lessons learnt from the training rolled out to 300 parents and caregivers at Dadaab refugee camps. This will be done through sampling considering the scope and time frame of the exercise.
• Collecting children views on the effectiveness and impact of the positive discipline programme and document best practices and lessons learnt.
• Find out whether parents are applying the 5 key parent tools to enhance positive child care (identifying long term goal, providing warmth and structure, understanding how children think and feel and conflict resolution skills.
• Identify gaps and recommend areas of improvement to inform phase 3 of PDEP rollout in Dadaab in 2015.

The consultant will be required to use both qualitative and quantitative approached to gather evidence on the key themes of the evaluation. 

However, the final and detailed methodology of the survey will be designed during a two days’ workshop aimed at training the facilitators, and rapporteurs, reviewing the methodology and the data collection tools, and the selection criteria of respondents.

the consultancy final report will be used as a baseline assessment  for future Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) programme development, as it will outline the current attitudes and practices of parents and caregivers concerning discipline and character formation.

4.0 Methodology

4.1 Document Review

The Consultant will undertake a desk review of existing secondary data that will complement the primary data that will be collected during the exercise.  

Below are some of the documents among those to be reviewed by the consultant:  
 

a) Positive discipline programme documents including facilitators manual, parent book
 

b) Save the children Standard Operating Procedures.
 

c) Positive discipline programme reports.
 

d) Recent multi country research study on knowledge attitudes and practices conducted in various countries including Kenya. In Kenya, the research was conducted at Daadab, Kisumu and Nairobi in 2014 by Parenting in Africa
 

e) Kenya Children’s Act, Alternative Care in Emergencies guidelines,  Refugee Act  among other relevant legislations  and policies on child protection in Kenya.

4.2. Primary Data Collection

The primary data will be collected through a combination of various data collection methods namely:

• In-depth Interviews: With the understanding of total beneficiaries and locations the consultant will propose the sampling methods, sample size and respondents

• Key Informant Interview: Staff from Save the Children, relevant governmental departments and NGO Partners, Child protection working group and UNHCR will be purposively selected for interviewing to obtain information about positive discipline in every day parenting and child protection programme at Dadaab

• Focus Group Discussion: The targeted beneficiaries will be purposively selected for Focused Group Discussion to assess impact created by the project outcome. This shall comprise 10 children and 10 adults per camp

And any other method that the consultant would feel appropriate 

4.3. Data Collection, Processing and Analysis

The consultant will train and orient the facilitators and the rapporteurs on research methodology, data collection tools and interviewing skills. 

It will be the responsibility of the Consultant to supervise data collection in the field, enter and analysis and analyse the data collected in close coordination with Save the Children Staff.  

All quantitative and qualitative data collected from secondary data, in-depth interviews, KII and FGD will be consolidated, analysed and used to develop final evaluation report. 

The Consultant will present the findings, conclusions and recommendations to Save the Children Child protection program Manager and Advisor and other key stakeholders including Child protection Working Group in Dadaab and Save the Children’s Country Office and Dadaab.  

5.0. Deliverables

Deliverables under this consultancy will include the following:

• Upon award of this contract the consult will be required to submit a detailed work plan and methodology showing how he/she intends to carry out this assignment
• The consultant will required to submit a training report for the training provided to facilitators and the rapporteurs on research methodology and interview skills.
• The Consultant will be required to prepare and share both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools.
• To collect data within 10 days and submit draft evaluation report detailing the evaluation findings, and recommendations. This will be submitted two days after completing the data collection exercise and shared with Save the Children Country and Dadaab offices for review.
• Submit the final report in both soft and hard copies, the data sets including hard-copy filled-in questionnaires

The final report shall be submitted as scheduled to the Child Protection Advisor and child protection manager at Save the Children in both electronic versions, MS Word and MS Excel, and 2 printed hard copies. 

6.0 Duration and Time

The entire assignment including preparation of the study tools and protocols, recruitment and training of data collectors, field work, analysis of data and report writing is estimated to last 10 days. 

The exercise is expected to commence on last week of November to 1st week of December 2014

Proposed Time frame: (Note that this is a guide and consultants are asked to be realistic in their proposals)



7.0 Desirable Qualifications:

This assignment requires a high level of skill, patience and motivation to accomplish within the stipulated time frame. 

The consultant will be required to devise appropriate strategies to generate as much information as required within the limited time. 

In addition, the consultant should be capable of working in difficult environment where security situation is unpredictable and with limited basic facilities and amenities. 

Understanding of child protection community based programming including child safeguarding is key.

Education and background required:

• The lead consultant must have a minimum of Masters level education in Development Studies – Child Protection, Law, Early Childhood/Child development, and Monitoring and Evaluation or any other relevant qualification. A Postgraduate Study in Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology will be an added advantage.
• Previous experience of undertaking final evaluation of similar magnitude in North Eastern Kenya. 
• Excellent analytical and writing skills
• Adequate knowledge of the Kenyan child protection sector, and experience in parenting skills projects will be an advantage.
• Skills and experience of collecting and analysing qualitative data
• Ability to work well in a team and coordinate and communicate well with a range of stakeholders
• Excellent presentation skills
• Previous experience of conducting community-based surveys in North Eastern Kenya

8.0 Administrative / Logistical Support

8.1 Budget
 

The consultant should submit to Save the Children forecast of the budget including his/her consultancy fees. 

All other administrative and logistic costs for the evaluation including transport from Nairobi to field and back (flight) and field accommodation will be covered by Save the Children or as per the contract.

8.2 Schedule of Payment
 

The following payments will be made to the consultant using and agreed mode of payment.

• After inception report: 30%
• After Final Report: 70%

The payments will only be made when the deliverables have been assessed by the Save the Children team to be of good quality. 

8.3 Logistics
 

Save the Children will provide the following support towards the successful execution of this consultancy:

• Avail relevant internal documents as referenced above
• Consultant’s Costs of flights /road transport between Nairobi- field and back.
• Field transportation and reasonable accommodation
• Stationeries, supplies and refreshments for the participants. No cost will be paid towards the facilitator and rapporteurs.
• Linking the consultant with the key organizations/stakeholders at the county and Sub County that will be consulted during the evaluation.
• Pay consultant’s fees

7.0 Conditions of Work

The consultancy will be technically supervised from Save the Children by the Child Protection Manager and operationally supported by Save the Children area offices in Dadaab by the MEAL Department and Area Manager. 

The consultant will be required to abide by the organization’s applicable rules and regulations, including the code of conduct and child safeguarding policy. 

8.0 Expression of Interest

All interested consultants / firms are requested to express interest following the attached EOI format ONLY (CLICK HERE to apply online) by email to: Kenya.jobapplications@savethechildren.org. 

Please indicate ‘KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICE AND COVERAGE (KPC) SURVEY – EVALUATION OF POSITIVE DISCIPLINE IN EVERDAY PARENTING PROGRAMME at DAADAB REFUGEE CAMPS as the subject heading.

Application deadline: 20th November 2014.

Any canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification.