International Rescue Committee
1. IRC overview
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the world’s leading humanitarian aid organisations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict, and disaster, helping them to survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. The IRC operates and fosters partnerships in over 40 countries and 28 U.S. cities. We deliver a lasting impact for the people we serve, empowering them to rescue their dignity, hope and potential. See more details about our impact at: http://www.rescue.org/
IRC currently operates in the U.S., Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. For a complete listing of countries in which IRC operates and supports refugee programs, please visit http://www.rescue.org/where
2. Background
COUNTRY BACKGROUND
The UK’s Gateway Protection Programme has been formally resettling refugees in the UK since 2004, however large numbers only arrived 10 years later with the introduction of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), as part of the UK government’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Through this and its sister programme, the Vulnerable Children Resettlement Scheme, 19,768 refugees were resettled by the end of March 2020. The schemes have now been replaced by the UK Global Resettlement Scheme (GRS) launched in June 2020, which aimed to resettle 5,000 refugees in its first year. Recently, the UK government has introduced new schemes: Afghan Citizens Relocation Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP), to respond to the recent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Beside these controlled immigration routes, the UK process thousands of asylum cases every year many of whom are granted refugee status and start to rebuild their new life in the United Kingdom.
At the start of 2021, IRC UK began programming in the UK to respond to the needs of resettled and non-resettled refugees. RISE Project is working in partnership with two local authorities (Hampshire and West Sussex) and in collaboration with 5 more local authorities as well as refugee agencies, to provide integration support to 260 resettled refugees in Southeast England. The project is funded mainly by the EU’s Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF).
PROJECT BACKGROUND
As the Syrian crisis continues into its tenth year, up to 593,000 people have been killed and over half of the country’s population have been displaced, with over 6.2 million forced to cross borders to seek safety. Along with numerous other global conflicts and disasters, the desperate situation in Syria has forced millions of vulnerable people to risk their lives in search of sanctuary in Europe; between January 2014 and March 2020, over 26,300 people escaping extreme hardship were resettled in the UK. Before fleeing, many of these refugees would have experienced imprisonment, torture, malnutrition, rape, and the loss of livelihood. After arriving in a new country, often with post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, many refugees have limited language skills, little knowledge of services available, and no known social contacts, leading to increased isolation and limiting agency and opportunities to engage in communities.
3. Purpose
The purpose of the evaluation is to conduct an output and outcome evaluation of RISE Project as well as the effects of project activities on clients. The findings of the evaluation will be used to inform and improve future programming The evaluation will focus on the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the RISE PROJECT.
4. Evaluation Questions
The evaluation will seek to answer the following questions, which may be modified in collaboration with the selected Evaluator as necessary:
Relevance
a) Was RISE project main activities responsive to resettled refugees in Southeast of England? If yes, how, and what was the most useful intervention?
b) To what extent has RISE project empowered resettled refugees with capacity to actively engage in their new communities in Southeast England?
c) Have programmatic changes been made as a result of the feedback provided by resettled refugees and partners? What changes have been made?
Effectiveness
d) What type of services did RISE provide to resettled refugees? What kind of changes (positive or negative) to clients have resulted from services delivered to resettled refugees?
e) Have RISE governance arrangements been adequate to achieve the anticipated results?
f) To what extent and in which ways has RISE promoted partnerships with government institutions that could lead to a sustainable continuation?
g) To what extent were RISE activities to resettled refugees of high quality and of value?
Efficiency
i) How well has the RISE PROJECT managed the resources. How well has the program adapted to In-Person to online trainings/meetings?
j) To what extent did RISE project management and partners have the capacity to adapt and/or implement the project?
k) What type of administrative, financial, managerial, safety, political obstacles did RISE face, and to what extent has this affected the implementation?
Diversity and Inclusion
a) To what extent were RISE activities sensitive with regards to clients beliefs, language, culture?
b) To what extent were RISE activities adequate or sufficient to engage clients in.
c) What was the most significant change did clients experience as a result of RISE Project activities?
Sustainability
l) To what extent could partners continued the implementation of the project for empowering refugees resettled in Southeast of England with capacity to actively engage in their new communities without support (financial, technical) from RISE PROJECT?
m) To what extent RISE PROJECT main purpose/ objective built the capacity of partners who could take up and continue the implementation?
n) To what extend did the project collaborate with local and national actors?
o) To what extent did the project engage the participation of partners and clients in design, implementation and monitoring of the project?
p) To what extent can RISE be scaled up at national or local levels?
5. Evaluation Approach and Methods
A variety of methodologies will be applied to collect information during evaluation. These methodologies include the following:
a) A review of documents relevant to RISE activities. These will be provided by the IRC Office in London, United Kingdom staff and documentation available with the partner organization. Documentation to be reviewed will include:
i. IRC Strategic Action Plan for United Kingdom
ii. Original project document, amendments, workplans
iii. Project logframe and theory of change
iv. Monitoring and donor reports
b) Key informant interviews (KII) and consultations, including focus groups (FG) discussions (when possible) with the project management, project beneficiaries, key stakeholders, including project partners. The criteria for the selection of stakeholders to be interviewed shall be clarified in the inception report at the beginning of the evaluation.
6. Accountability and Responsibilities
The evaluation will be managed by the IRC Office in London, 100 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7AN, United Kingdom in coordination with Emery Igiraneza, Project Manager. The IRC Office in London, United Kingdom will ensure that contractual requirements are met and approve quality of all deliverables. The consultant is responsible for meeting professional and ethical standards in planning and conducting the evaluation and producing the expected deliverables.
7. Consultancy Schedule
The evaluation will take an estimated 20 days of work over a two- months between November and 15 December 2022. It shall be conducted remotely and through in-person interviews. The consultant is expected to prepare an evaluation plan that will operationalize the evaluation. In the inception report, the consultant shall illustrate understanding of the evaluation questions, and elaborate on methods to be used, limitations or constraints to the evaluation, and schedules and delivery dates to guide the implementation of the evaluation.
7. Deliverables
IRC expects the consultancy to result in the following deliverables:
a) A comprehensive evaluation plan (inception report), which will include a detailed workplan. Once approved, it will become the key management document for the evaluation
b) Relevant data collection tools
c) Final accessible, utilization-focused evaluation report written in English and follow a standard format of an evaluation report including an executive summary, introduction, methodology, findings, conclusions, lessons learned, recommendations, and appendices. The report shall not exceed 40 pages (excluding Executive Summary and Appendices).
d) Briefing to IRC UK, including presentation slides summarizing findings and recommendations of evaluation report.
8. Payment Schedule
Payment will be in two installments. The first payment, 25%, after 5 days, upon completion of Inception report, workplan, and data collection tools The second and final payment, 75%, will be made after final evaluation report and briefing to IRC RISE TEAM including presentation slides
7. Consultant location
The consultancy is home-based with travels to Southeast of England to conduct KII and FGs (when applicable) based on a pre-approved travel plan. The cost of travel and accommodation will be covered by IRC, UK and will not be part of the consultant fees. Travels depend on the IRC UK Covid-19 Guidelines.
Qualifications and Competencies of the Evaluation Consultant
Qualifications
a. Advanced academic degree in political science, international relations, or social sciences with Three years of experience conducting mid-term and end of project evaluations
b. Five years of experience in results-based management, professional project management and monitoring and evaluation.
c. Ability to present credible findings derived from evidence and reaching conclusions and recommendations supported by findings.
d. Knowledge and understanding of UK refugee sector, specifically, refugee integration area.
e. Experience in working with refugees’ integration projects.
f. Experience in interviewing vulnerable populations such as refugees or migrants
g. Close to native speaker level of English
Competencies
a) Professionalism: demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter.
b) Communication: excellent written and oral skills in English.
c) Team-work: works collaboratively with project team
How to apply
APPLICATION AND BIDDING PROCEDURE
Interested applicants should develop and submit a proposal in English to respond to the above-mentioned tasks. The proposal should include:
a) Applicant’s CV
b) Motivation for applying
c) Relevant professional background including past performance conducting similar assignments
d) Consultant fees
Please apply via our website