Project Evaluator – ‘Youth on Board’ project in Ghana Full Time

1. Introduction

These terms of reference are designed for the evaluation of the Youth on Board project which was launched in January 2022 in Ghana. Funded by the Danish Civil Society Fund (CISU), the project is implemented in Ghana by YOTA in partnership with 100% for the Children based in Denmark. The 28-month project is due to finish on 30 April 2024. The evaluation will take place towards the end of the project to assess the project’s impact.

2. Background

The Covid-19 pandemic and its massive economic and social impacts have disrupted nearly all aspects of life in the Ghanaian society. People of different ages, however, have experienced the pandemic’s effects in different ways. For young people especially, the Covid-19 crisis has posed considerable risks in the fields of education, employment, mental health, among others. However, its impact on young people’s access to quality education has been most severely felt.

School closures, without alternative education services, affected approximately 9.2 million students from kindergarten to Senior High School for both public and private schools, 500,000 tertiary education students, and 450,000 teachers in public and private institutions, according to GES. School dropout rates have increased. Youth with disabilities and physical or learning impairments are at risk of being left behind in existing mitigating measures. Young girls are at risk of facing additional pressures including early pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based violence during periods of school closures, which may keep them from returning to school. The Ghana National Association of Teachers reveal that there has been a surge in teenage pregnancy. Financial shocks have caused many young people to be held out of school temporarily, or permanently not return to school, instead, taking up economic activity as a coping measure. Added to the poor penetration of digital skills among both teachers and students, many young people have been left out of education, with only minimal ‘come back’ mechanisms in place. This has further exacerbated existing inequities in education and worsened prevailing access barriers.

Despite some progress, there are still barriers preventing thousands of youths from going to school. UNICEF figures show that prior to the pandemic, 83.3% of young people aged 15-17 years were either not attending school, two or more years behind in school, or did not achieve the correct level of schooling. The school environment has not usually been conducive to learning. Classes have been overcrowded, water and sanitation facilities inadequate and trained teachers and books in short supply. The poor quality of education has reflected in students’ results. And, although Ghana has been successful at closing the gender gap when it comes to completing primary education level, the gap remains high at secondary level.

It is against this background that YOTA launched the ‘Youth on Board’ project in 2022 to engender youth voices in Ghana’s education response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The project’s overall goal is to increase attention and investment in critical issues of access to and quality in education that have been escalated by the Covid-19 pandemic, as duty bearers and other stakeholders take action in response to young people’s voices and engagement. Specifically, the project seeks to improve the organising capacity and skills of the Voices of Youth Coalition, enabling youth-led organisations to better connect, collaborate and self-organise. The project is located in eight municipalities in Ghana, namely Bolgatanga, East Mamprusi, Effia Kwesimintim, Gonja West, Kumbungu, Suame, Sunyani, and Wa. Through the Youth on Board project, YOTA has been hosting municipal youth convenings, youth action training sessions, and workshops on youth-led monitoring, accountability, advocacy, and policy influencing for the Voices of Youth Coalition across all the participating municipalities. For these, YOTA has produced several knowledge materials, including the Youth Organising and Community Action Guide, the Toolkit for Advocacy and Policy Influencing, and the Handbook for Youth-Led Monitoring and Accountability. Members of the Voices of Youth Coalition have been implementing various mobilisation and engagement activities, including monitoring the progress of local education policy commitments.

By the end of the project in 2023, it is expected that youth voices would have been amplified in policy spaces, thereby influencing local and national policies, programmes and budgets in favour of more equitable and inclusive access to education. One of the key efforts in this pursuit is the conduct of a Youth Barometer survey, which will be conducted to get a nationwide perspective of the youth population. It will mark an important milestone in Ghana’s youth development trajectory – a ground- breaking effort to scientifically survey youth perspectives on a national scale. The output will be the Youth Barometer Report, which would form the basis for youth advocacy and policy influencing efforts.

3. Objectives

The main objective of the evaluation is to assess the results, achievements, challenges, and lessons learnt of the Youth on Board project. The evaluation is expected to analyse the effectiveness of the project strategies to achieve the intended outcomes and to provide recommendations for maximising impact and enhancing the effectiveness of future projects. The evaluation will be of interest to CISU, 100% for the Children, and YOTA, and will inform the Youth on Board project’s final report.

4. Key questions

The evaluation will assess and analyse the effectiveness of the project by responding to the following key questions:

Relevance and added value

• How is the project relevant to the needs of the target municipalities, the youth participants, and the nation at large when it comes to addressing the challenges facing Ghana’s education response to the Covid-19 pandemic?
• How is the project’s theory of change and methodology relevant for attaining the objective of contributing to drawing increased attention to critical issues of access to and quality in education that have been escalated by the Covid-19 pandemic?
• How does the project show internal coherence e.g., are there synergies and interlinkages between the different components of the project, and with other projects of YOTA?
• How does the project show external coherence e.g., does it add value and avoid duplication of efforts? Is there complementarity and efforts towards coordination and interactions with other stakeholders and donors involved in similar actions during the life of the project?
• How has the project engaged the right target groups to meet its objectives?
• How have both young women and young men been involved, and how has gender been considered in the project activities (including intersectionality)?

Efficiency and Effectiveness

• Overall, what are the most significant changes that have occurred because of the project and how were these changes achieved?
• Specially, using the indicators as the bases for the assessment, what results have been achieved for each of the project’s objectives?
• How has the project contributed to any unforeseen results – positive and negative?
• How have target groups been included in the implementation of the project?
• Which strategies employed have been most and least effective in achieving the project’s objectives? Why?

Impact and Sustainability

• Which aspects of the results achieved would live on after the project has ended? In what way?
• How has the project contributed to increased interaction between various education sector stakeholders in the target municipalities?
• How has the project led to the creation of a sustainable collaboration among the youth participants, and between them and other education sector stakeholders?
• How relevant are the experiences and lessons drawn from the project to YOTA’s work beyond the lifespan of the project, and to education sector programming among CSOs and policymakers in general?
• Has the project contributed to strengthening YOTA’s capacity and preparedness to conduct further education sector projects in the future?

Lessons learnt and recommendations

• What are the most important lessons learned? What advice would be most useful if the project were to be implemented over again?
• What are the key recommendations for strengthening the project’s ability and strategy for achieving its objectives and overall goal?

5. Methodology

The evaluation will be both an objective and consultative exercise, and will involve the following elements:

Documentary review: a review of relevant documentation, including the original project document, project reports, and knowledge products and resources

Stakeholder interviews: including with the project teams of YOTA and 100% for the Children, and with education sector stakeholders and community actors across the target municipalities engaged in the project

Focus group discussions: with youth representatives of the Voices of Youth Coalition in the target municipalities engaged in the project

Activity observation: follow some of the on-the-ground activities, including participation in the Youth Development Dialogue Series

6. Deliverables

Inception report: Following a detailed briefing, the evaluator will present an inception report detailing how they will explore the major questions listed above, with a tentative list of the people to be contacted, the criteria for any choice of locations, and a tentative timetable.

Draft report: A draft report will be presented to YOTA and 100% for the Children, and shortly thereafter discussed in a virtual workshop format.

Final report: The final report will contain findings with analysis and supporting evidence and recommendations. An executive summary will precede the full report. A list of key documents consulted, a list of people interviewed, and other detailed materials will be attached in annex.

The report will:

• Provide a brief introduction, followed by sections with the findings, analysis and supporting evidence for the main domains of inquiry;
• The closing section of the report will provide a reasoned and balanced appreciation of the overall relevance and performance of the project indicating strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations for the future;
• The annexes will include a list of people interviewed (including anonymized names if needed), a list of key documents consulted, and possibly longer case studies. These case studies should be no more than 2-3 pages, succinctly spelling out the background context, what happened and what resulted from it. They should also provide substantiating evidence, for example, in the form of quotations, anecdotes or testimonies; referencing to documents relevant to the case; observable or observed changes in behaviours or relationships; and apparent changes in trends, among others.

7. Qualification of the Project Evaluator

The evaluator will be expected to have the following skills and experience:

• Experience in conducting evaluations of donor-funded programmes; and a proven record of delivering professional outputs against Terms of Reference;
• Strong knowledge of and experience working in Ghana and understanding of the education sector; knowledge of the concepts of youth participation, positive youth development would be an added advantage;
• An advanced command of English; knowledge of relevant local languages would be considered an advantage;
• Excellent writing skills;
• Ability to communicate using everyday language for interviews and focus groups with project participants and to translate results and content into analytical reflections;
• Ability to work with tight deadlines.

8. Tentative Timeframe

The anticipated start date is 15 March 2024 with submission of the final report by 30 April 2024. The final timeframe will be agreed upon with the selected consultant.

9. Financial Conditions

The evaluation budget will cover professional fees along with any costs incurred for travelling, accommodation and feeding when undertaking the evaluation, in line with the financial guidelines of YOTA.

Tagged as: Ghana, Youth Opportunity & Transformation in Africa