Holistic and Market-Aligned Vocational Training for Economic Participation II (01 April 2022 to 31 December 2024)

User-friendly Evaluation Assessment and Recommendations of Phase II Terms of Reference (TOR)

1. Background and Rationale
This is the second phase of the project titled Holistic and Market-Aligned Vocational Training for Economic Participation", CIE-SA-DACHSER2-2022, and has been implemented by CIE through a partnership with Thabiso Skills Institute, for two and a half years focusing on Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) youth. Aware of the importance of creating more pathways for young women into economic participation, the project aimed at ensuring equal enrolment of female and male youth at the centres. The baseline indicates a 52% male/ 48% female enrolment ratio. The project supports 120 youth (50% male/ 50% female) in vocational
training at St Anthony's Education Centre which is located in Reiger Park, Boksburgand Bokamoso Economic and Skills Development Centre located inin Evaton, Gauteng.

The project will continue providing technical/vocational skills training which endeavours to meet and address both community and market skills demand. Aware that the economy is shrinking, all skills training programs will be selected based on community mappings that formally analyse market opportunities and demand within communities surrounding the vocational training
centres. The training also provides a two week life skills course which is compulsory and designed to complement the hard skills training. The life skills course has been developed to assist with Compulsory with all hard skills training is building interpersonal and personal skills for youth which are critical in preparing them to become "work ready" and for transition into the workplace/economy.

The project provides opportunities for Workplace Based Learning (WPBL) for all learners to increase their marketability within the economy. The WPBL model is aimed at assisting with placement of learners into employment where they actively apply the skills they learnt in practice and opens up opportunities and exposure to meaningful economic participation where possible.In-depth research on the informal economy was conducted, and a report produced. CIE also engages duty bearers such as the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and others working on job readiness of youth in conducting research-based advocacy. the. Mindful
of sustainability and autonomy of the voactional centres, the project will also conduct a needs analysis to identify fundraising opportunities which can enable CIE to build the capacity of the vocational training centres, including maintenance of infrastructure used by the youth.

Given this background, the projects overall goal contributes to the reduction of unemployment among unskilled and unemployed youth, living in Reiger Park (East Rand) and Evaton (Emfuleni) in Gauteng, South Africa,.The projects places emphasis on increasing the chances for young women in accessing market aligned skills trainings and economic participation in both formal and informal markets,This project is contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG) which seeks to Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The project design and activities seek to promote targets 43.3, 4,5 and 4.7 of SG4 ie The project also seeks to address target 8 of the SDGs which seeks to promote the goal of ensuring that "By 2030, all women and men, including young people achieve full and productive employment and decent work by 2030 . The project also supports SDG goals target 8.6 which seeks to promote the , substantial reduction of the proportion of youth not in employment, education or
training by 2020".

The following are the expected direct target groups and planned outcomes of the project:
• Young people aged 18-25 years living in Reiger Park (East Rand) and Evaton (Emfuleni) in Gauteng,
Planned outcomes:
• NEET youth who have developed soft, hard and technical the skills which will enable them to become economically active.
• Increased numbers of NEET youth access to work exposure and/or economic participation.

A project evaluation study will be conducted with two main objectives:
1. To conduct an overview and evaluation assessment of the effectiveness, efficacy, financial viability and sustainability of the project.
2. To provide recommendations for further project implementation and improvements.

2. Scope, objectives and users of the evaluation
The objectives of the external evaluation are to:
a) Assess the extent to which the project achieved its intended overall goal, as well as outcomes and outputs during the project phase including case studies (From April 2022 to date).
b) Assess CIE model of project implementation and assess if the partnership with the vocational training centres is the best design and provide recommendations on how the implementation methodology can be improve and provide recommendations to alternatives for other cost effective methodologies to vocational skills training
c) Assess factors (in design, implementation and others) that have contributed to or impeded achievement of expected outcomes and outputs;
d) Assess and provide clear and specific recommendations to improve, if needed, the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the project.
e) Provide reflections, learnings, and recommendations to improve strategies and performance in the second phase of the project.
3. The Evaluation Questions for the evaluation relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the initiative

RELEVANCE:
Evaluation of Phase II
1. What specific gaps were filled by the initiative at micro, meso, and macro levels?
2. To what extent did the initiative address the priorities and needs of the target groups,considering gender, age, and roles?
3. How useful was the project planning, monitoring, and evaluation (PME) system in providing information for project design and measurement?
4. Assess and review the small business development programmes offered by each centre (existing measures to support small business start-up) and make appropriate recommendations to improve on WBPL and small business development interventions
5. What recommendations can be made for the project in moving forward based on the above findings?

EFFECTIVENESS:
Evaluation of Phase I
1. What were the results of the initiative, and to what extent were the intended outcomes achieved?
2.How much of these results can be attributed to the project?
3. What factors supported or hindered the project's success?
4. What unintended outcomes occurred, and what results are yet to be achieved?
5. Which strategies and approaches were effective, and what best practices should be continued or scaled up?

IMPACT:
Evaluation of Phase I
1. To what extent has the project contributed to promoting youth access to work exposure and/or becoming economically active
2. How has the project impacted longer-term changes in systems or norms related to unemployment, life skills, and financial literacy?
3. What long-term effects are anticipated on young people's economic independence and career trajectories?
4. How has the project set conditions for the success of future programming in the same areas?
5. Assess the success rate of Work Based Placements Learning (WBPL) , including retention rates of youth in WBPL versus those who access the markets independently
6. Assess the impression of employers on the quality of skills of youth being placed through WBPL from the CIE project versus other institutions

SUSTAINABILITY:
1. Are the institutions and initiatives created by the project economically, financially viable, institutionally, and environmentally sustainable?
2. What factors promoted or reduced the sustainability of the initiative?
3. What opportunities were missed, and how can future initiatives address gaps to enhance sustainability?
4. What activities at various levels could increase sustainability?
5. What recommendations and lessons learned can improve the sustainability of future programming?

4. Methodology
The evaluation will employ a Utilisation-Focused Evaluation (UFE) participatory approach to ensure that data can be sufficiently triangulated to deliver aggregate judgments and to allow project stakeholder’s learnings and ownership for project improvement areas identified. The methodology may include literature review; interviews and focus groups discussions, as well as documentation of case studies.

The evaluation is expected to use participatory outcome analyses and a target/actual comparison based on the project proposal and indicators to determine the project results and impacts achieved so far (direct and indirect, short and medium-term, intended and unintended). In addition to this, the evaluation will employ a gender-age sensitive approach.

5. Stakeholder Involvement
Stakeholder involvement is critical to the successful execution and use of the results of the
evaluation. The evaluation consultant is expected to retain independence when coming to
judgments about the initiative and employ participatory and collaborative approach providing
for meaningful involvement of TDH, the CIE and key actors, such as youth, skills centres,
employers and community members etc.

6. Roles and Responsibilities
The evaluation will be jointly managed by a multi disciplinary committee composed of TDH and the CIE. The team will be selected and appointed by the TDH Regional Coordinator and CIE director, respectively. Roles and responsibilities will include:
• Planning and conducting an Inception meeting
• Provision of all relevant documents and information;
• Support for logistics and appointments with different stakeholders during the evaluation;
• Technical guidance for the evaluation consultants;
• Taking the lead in reviewing the evaluation draft report including collating comments and facilitating discussions with consultants;
• Feedback of the evaluation findings to project managers, implementors and main actors. The evaluation consultants will report to the TDH Regional Coordinator on all issues related to
the evaluation, deliverables and feedback processes.

7. Evaluation Process
The consultants will prepare an outline of evaluation report and work-plan that will
operationalize the Terms of Reference.

The outline will address the following elements:
• Ensuring full comprehension and understanding of the TORs,
• Understanding expectations of the evaluation;
• Clear description of roles and responsibilities within the evaluation consulting team;
• Reporting to TDH any refinements to methodology and data collection processes (qualitative and case study data collection tools), including any elaboration to evaluation questions;
• Ensure timeous communication of any possible constraints to the evaluation process including any delays and financial implications
• Designing the outline of the final evaluation report
The consultants will prepare the draft and final evaluation reports that provides a description the methodology (briefly), findings, recommendations and lessons learnt from this project evaluation process.

The main activities and evaluation timetable for this consultancy is set out below:

Evaluation/ feasibility study Process                  Timeline                       Responsibility
- Outline of proposed evaluation report                04/11/2024                 TDH
and workplan
- Call for Proposal
- Consultant contracting                                         12-14/11/2024           TDH
- Kick-off meeting/s with Evaluator (virtual)     
- Draft inception report
- Data collection:                                                      13/12/2024                 Consultants
Literature/document review
interviews, focus groups, case studies
- Analysis                                                                
- Draft report                                                            18/01/2025                 Consultants
- Feedback on draft report;
Comments from intended users to                      24/01/2025                TDH and the CIE
evaluators                               
- Final report / validation workshop                     31/01/2025                 Consultants
(Virtual)                                                                   
 

8. Deliverables
The consultants will prepare,in English:
• Draft evaluation study report (no longer than 30 pages) including some recommendations for next project.
The report is to be submitted to the TDH Regional Office and to be reviewed, prior to finalisation, by the TDH Regional Office and TDH Head-office.

9. Audience and Dissemination
The main audiences for the evaluation will be: TDH (project manager, quality management officer), the CIE, DACHSER and key stakeholders who have been directly involved in the initiative.

10. Consultant Requirements and Level of Effort
Applicants may be individual consultants, a group of individual consultants (with sufficient gender balance) with a designated team lead, or consulting companies with relevant evaluation expertise in the area of skills development evaluations. Applicants must have at a minimum the following qualifications:
• Substantial experience in conducting both evaluations and feasibility studies to a high standard in the region that utilize mixed methods and participatory and gender sensitive approaches;
• The lead consultant(s) must have extensive experience conducting curriculum development or review processes for soft and practical skills programmes targeting youths
• Proven experience in the evaluations and feasibility studies of projects and programmes in the field of food security, youth empowerment, skills training and agriculture, community development; consultants should be familiar with community resilience, children and youth participation.
• University degree or comparable degree in the field on Youth and Skills Development, Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, Education, Social Development, Social Policy and Management or another related field.
• Experience conducting similar systematic and structured, mainly practical (vocational), training and experiential learning interventions in South Africa
• The consultant needs to have small business development expertise within the team in order to fully satisfy the objectives of this study
• Fluency in English (written and spoken).
• Residence in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Willingness to travel to communities where the project operates;
• No conflict of interest with TDH/DACHSER or the CIE.
• Has evidence of knowledge and practice of UFE approach to evaluations.

The expected level of effort for the evaluation is approximately 25 calendar days. This is an estimate – the level of effort proposed must be aligned with the proposed methodology.

11. Evaluation Budget:

Honoraria Consultancy                                                                       Days                         Costs

Preparation:

                                              Kick-off meeting                                      2,5                            R17 500
                                              reading documentation
                                              preparing field work                                  2                              R14 000
                                              draft inception report
                                                                                           
Data gathering
                                             Desk-based data gathering and
                                             capture from CIE-Thabiso                          2                             R14 000
                                             documentation.
                                             Field work, including focus
                                             groups, face to face interviews,                8                             R56 000
                                             telephonic interviews with project
                                              beneficiaries and key informants     
Data analysis and
interpretation

                                               Quantitative analysis                                3                          R21 000
                                               Interview and focus group analysis       2                          R14 000
Writing interim report:
                                               Presentation of findings and
                                               recommendations to TDH and               1                        R7 000
                                               CIE-Thabiso
                                               Presentation of the draft main               1                        R7 000
                                               report to TDH and CIE Thabiso
Completion of final report                                                                    4                        R28 000
TOTAL Days                                                                                            25,5                  R178 500
Disbursables:                                                                                                                  R1 950
Travel
(Gauteng)                              Drive (+/- 300 km @ R6,5)                                                                         
Total Disbursables                                                                                                         R1 950
Total costs in ZAR                                                                                                          R180 450

Daily consultancy rate                  R7 000
Exch. rate:                                       EUR/ZAR R19,50

Applications, including CV and cover letter outlining qualifications for the assignment and a proposal for the consultancy, together with a list of 2 professional references should be sent to: tdhsaco@gmail.com until November 12, 2024 at 17:00 CAT and marked, “CIE Evaluation Phase II” in the subject line.