Terms of Reference for a consultant to develop a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation toolkit and oversee the implementation of the International department’s data management system
Background about Leonard Cheshire disability
Leonard Cheshire Disability’s is a UK-based charity with over 65 years’ experience and is one of the world’s largest Charities wholly dedicated to supporting persons with disabilities. Leonard Cheshire believes that children and adults with disabilities should have the rights, freedom and opportunities to access education, contribute economically and to participate fully and equitably in society.
The international department implements projects mostly around our inclusive education and inclusive livelihoods model and in partnership with our Global Alliance partner organisations, which are an extensive network of over 200 members in 54 countries. We have four regional offices in Africa and Asia and currently support projects in 13 countries these are; Bangladesh, China, India, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
To ensure no-one is left behind Leonard Cheshire disability also influences key national and international stakeholders to ensure disability is placed at the heart of international development and policies adopt sustainable inclusive approaches.
Impact Practice
Underpinning the international departments work is our five year Strategy ‘Bridging the Gap’ (2015 – 2020) which demonstrates our commitment to harness the changing development agenda to increase our own impact and to effect far-reaching change worldwide and sets out some very clear targets.
The Learning Impact and Quality function supports the strategy by providing the Monitoring and Evaluation framework in which to improve impact practice and provide the systems and support to capture data and evidence the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact of our programmes and the evidence to learn from and improve practice.
The framework states we will:
· Routinely monitor and evaluate all of our international programmes in compliance with agreed organisational monitoring and evaluation standards
· Adapt an existing, simple and cost effective information management system (that is compatible with existing IT systems and complies with data protection requirements) to centrally store and analyse programme data.
· Improve data quality by developing common standards on data collection and verification, data management and data format
· Develop and roll out peer reviewed and credible tool(s) designed to calculate the impact of our programmes at the local level.
Currently the international team collects core quantitative indicators to measure progress; but there is a growing need to define and develop more qualitative indicators and tools to measure the impact of our work.
Data is collected from the field either by project staff or volunteers who usually capture data on paper based forms and every project will have a different data collection tool.
Data is then entered manually onto a project based tool mostly in MS Access or MS Excel which makes it difficult to have multi sources of data entry, efficient storage and retrieval of data, effective reporting across the organization or to share data with donors and beneficiaries. Many other sources of data and reports are stored in different formats and locations which make questions requiring integration and multiple data sources difficult to answer.
Therefore it is imperative the International department develops new indicators and tools to capture more meaningful qualitative impact data that is SMART and should reflect the international and wider organisations theory of change. The indicators and tools need to have buy-in from all regional staff, be easily adopted in day to day activities and user friendly and needs to be supported by a data management system to systematically process, store and report data in order to effectively monitor and demonstrate the Impact of our international programmes.
Discovery phase for International database
Leonard Cheshire Disability has recently completed a discovery piece to examine current data collection methodologies, processes and data journey for international programmes and explore the possible options for developing or purchasing an online database that will meet our specific needs. The report and recommendations are available on request.
The recommended system architecture will be web-enabled with the underlying concept:
● A bespoke system is constructed to support the operational processes used on programmes to manage and capture all associated data captured within a project. If there is internet access ‘in the field’ then the system can be used in situ; if there is no internet access available then the system will need to be updated ‘back in the office’
● A centralised database There will be a centralised ‘data warehouse’ that will only be accessed by ‘head office’; the data for this will be ‘sourced’ from each remote system used within a location for projects within a programme which will be the basis for all future KPI reporting. The key concept will be to take DETAILED data from each of the remote systems, however, the data will be anonymised, to protect any local data protection requirements. There will be a unique identifier of each centralised data to be able to fully audit local data.
· Offline App offline (Android) App that can be downloaded and reside on a local device (phone or laptop) to support data entry in locations where there is no internet access, i.e. At remote field locations. The App would be a copy of the data entry forms of the main web-based system where users can enter data whilst they are on location. This will require separate and additional development.
Objectives
This particular consultancy is to:
· Define core outcomes and indicators to demonstrate international’s impact,
You will need to:
o Build on consultations that have already started with International and regional teams to define core high level, intermediate outcomes and indicators that will demonstrate the impact of internationals programmatic work at the individual, community, school/workplace and Local and National systems level and will feed into the wider organisation’s theory of change.
· Develop a consistent suite of qualitative and quantitative tools to collect core project monitoring and evaluation data and programmatic impact data
You will need to:
o Gain a good understanding of Leonard Cheshire Disability’s international inclusive education and inclusive livelihoods programmes and what type of data capture is required within projects.
o You will be required to travel to at least 3 countries Kenya, India and Uganda.
o Review the existing data collection tools and systems across the different inclusive programmes, different regions and projects and decide what can be adopted moving forward or what new outcome/impact measurement tools need to be introduced.
o Using a participatory approach design simple user-friendly tools, ensuring that these tools are compatible with Android tablets for data collection and the new monitoring and evaluation database.
o To pilot test the new tools in at least 2 Inclusive education projects and 2 livelihoods projects across Africa and Asia
· Develop guidance notes and deliver training to all relevant regional staff to support the implementation and data quality of the tools, reporting and use of key metrics.
o This can be designed for either face to face or virtual training
· Take a leading role in the implementation and integration of the international information management system / database as part of the organisation wide IT initiative.
Deliverables
· Clearly defined high level and intermediate level outcomes with key indicators for LCD international’s Inclusive education, inclusive livelihoods and influencing programmes
· Suite of piloted user friendly qualitative and quantitative M&E tools to meet day to day monitoring and evaluation data and the longer term, higher level and intermediate outcomes measures required for international inclusive education, inclusive livelihoods and influencing programmes.
· Training package (guidance notes and delivery) to support the introduction of the tools and systems to international staff
· Clear plan for implementation of the international’s new MIS system; centralised database and remote operational system
Location
This is flexible can be office based or home based but preferably located close to one of our main offices in London UK or one of our regional offices in Nairobi or Bangladesh .
Time frame
4 months: December 2017 to March 2018
Number of Days of consultancy
To be proposed by the consultant
Contractual Responsibilities
Reports to: The Learning Impact and Quality Manager in the Global Influencing, learning and Impact team, International department.
The consultant will be responsible for managing the workload and delivering the products in a timely and efficient manner as set out in this document.
The consultant will have regular reporting points with the Learning, Impact and Quality Manager, and will be expected to keep them informed on progress and key issues.
The consultant will need to regularly communicate with Key staff at the UK office as well as regional representatives and relevant project staff overseas.
Knowledge Skills and Experience for the Consultancy
To successfully undertake this assignment, the Consultant(s) should meet the following minimum requirements.
Knowledge
· A solid understanding of international development with a focus on disability and / or gender issues
· knowledge of M&E methods,
· Excellent Knowledge in quantitative and qualitative, participatory research methods and tools
· Knowledge of the logical framework approach and other strategic planning strategies for demonstrating impact
· Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics software
Skills
· Project Management
· Development of M&E frameworks and tools
· Excellent organizational and analytical skills
· Excellent interpersonal skills to work with different teams internationally
· Ability to work and deliver under strict deadlines and under pressure.
· Ability to multi task
· Experience developing and delivering training(face to face and on-line)
· Excellent written English and computer skills
· training others in M&E development and implementation
· Willingness to work in Kenya with travel to other LCD project countries in Africa and Asia
Experience
· Demonstrable experience developing monitoring and evaluation data collection tools for international development organisations
· Managing similar M&E database projects
· Experience of working in the NGO sector
· Knowledge of working in the field of disability
Expression of Interest
The consultant that meets the above requirements and is available within the time period indicated above should submit an expression of interest including a detailed proposed workplan budget and a copy of the candidates C.V to copied to Copied to by 24th November
For further information please contact Rachel Gondwe Learning Impact and Quality manager on or by phone 0203 2420 218
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