The Intended Outcomes of the Project Are

Help Through Crisis: Scoping and Evaluation Support

Introduction

Nottingham Women’s Centre (NWC) requests proposals from suitably qualified organisations or individuals to undertake an independent evaluation of the Help Through Crisis (HTC) programme.

Background

The Help through Crisis programme is funded by Big Lottery and aims to help people overcome immediate difficulties and be ready for opportunities and challenges ahead.

Together with several other partners, NWC will work to deliver the HTC programme in order to address hardship crisis that women experience. The programme started in August 2016 and will run for five years until July 2020.

The intended outcomes of the project are:

·  People who have experienced hardship crisis are better able to improve their circumstances.

·  People who are at high risk of experiencing hardship crisis are better able to plan for the future. Organisations are better able to support people to effectively tackle hardship through sharing learning and evidence.

·  Those experiencing, or who are at high risk of experiencing, hardship crisis, have a stronger, more collective, voice, to better shape a response to their issues

For further detail, please find NWC’s HTC Theory of Change in the appendix.

Aim of this evaluation

We intend to engage an External evaluator who will sit alongside our organisation throughout the programme, contributing to the success of the project. We expect the Evaluator to contribute on an ongoing, regular basis, enabling the partnership to learn from its experiences and those of its beneficiaries, in order that the quality of provision and the impact achieved might be improved frequently and incrementally. We would expect engagements to be in the form of frequent and regular engagements, updates, commentaries and reports, followed by a final evaluation at the end of the programme.

The aim of this evaluation is to assess the effectiveness and impact of HTC and identify good practice and learning. Key questions that we wish the evaluation to answer include:

·  To what extent have the four project outcomes been achieved?

·  What were the main contributory factors to the achievement of the outcomes?

·  Have there been any unexpected outcomes?

·  How has learning (for the project, partnership and sector) been captured and how has this learning informed the project during its lifetime?

·  What lessons and good practice have emerged that can inform future activity by the partnership and beyond?

Methodology

The appointed Evaluator will be able to draw upon data, which will be collected during the course of the project delivery, including:

·  Outcomes data [general survey for all of NWC’s service users, outcomes wheel (currently under development, the Evaluator will be expected to contribute to the finalisation of the tool))

·  Activity / delivery records / registers

·  Feedback forms (e.g. collected at events, training sessions and/or focus groups)

We expect the methodology to include, but not be restricted to:

·  a review of the project’s theory of change, outcomes and indicators

·  development of additional data collection tools if needed to ensure a comprehensive measurement of all aspects of the programme

·  collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative information – this could include outcomes data, interviews, case studies, focus groups or surveys with key stakeholder groups (including our staff, partners, service users, volunteers, etc.)

Project management

Day to day management of the evaluation will be undertaken by Karen Feely, our Operations Manager, with the support of Helen Voce, our CEO.

Reporting and outputs

Progress reports will need to be submitted every one to six months, depending on the stage of the project (it will be expected that as data collection tools and methodology is being designed, engagements and reports will be more frequent).

We require an interim/end of year and final report. These should contain:

·  Introduction and overview of methodology

·  Key findings

·  Quotes, hard data from surveys and case studies

·  Conclusions and recommendations

·  Any lessons learned or good practice identified

·  Executive summary suitable for external audiences

·  Annexes

Resources and Timing

The evaluation will commence in December 2017 and will need to cover the period up to July 2020. We anticipate that the evaluation will take a staged approach [e.g. phase 1 – development of appropriate tools, and baseline and framework development, phase 2 – interim evaluations and programme updates, phase 3 – final evaluation] maximising the opportunity for evaluation findings to support continuous improvement, although we invite bidders to detail their own preferred approach. The total budget available for evaluation is up to £18,000.

Application process and timeline

Please answer all 4 questions in the application below, attaching all documents as specified in the form.

·  All applications and supporting documents must be submitted by 30th October 2017

·  Interviews, if required, will be held in w/c 6th November 2017, applicants will be notified of the outcome shortly after.

1. How would you conduct the evaluation in order to meet the requirements outlined above?

This should demonstrate:

·  your understanding of the brief, and provide a clear rationale for your approach

·  the added value expected to be gained by the project resulting from the applied practice and how the project will be able to assess that

·  how will you offer value for money within the indicated budget

[max 500 words]

2. What kind of challenges do you expect to encounter during the different phases of the project and how do you attempt to solve them?

Your answer should include:

·  How would you ensure accessibility to and engagement with all beneficiaries, including those who work with our partner organisations?

·  How will you engage with NWC and the programme partners to ensure oranisational buy in?

·  How will you ensure that each phase of evaluation (specific dates to be agreed upon contracting) are completed to time and budget?

[max 500 words]

3. Please specify a high-level project plan.

This should include:

·  key milestones, incl. engagements with NWC, partner organisation’s and the programme beneficiaries, review, development and implementation of tools, reporting and final evaluation, etc.

·  a budget outlining day rates and other costs, including any travel or accommodation costs

[max 300 words]

4. Please evidence your skill and experience and/or company/organisation profile, including case studies.

In addition, please attach:

·  relevant CVs (no more than 2 pages per person)

·  two examples of previous, relevant reports to illustrate approach and writing style

·  contact for two referees who have been previous evaluation clients

[max 500 words]