External Consultant(s) to Conduct Participatory Evaluation & Re-Design for Caritas Australia Timor Leste Program

Organisational Background

Caritas Australia is the Catholic agency for international humanitarian relief and development in Australia. Through relationships with the Church, partners and communities in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Australia, Caritas Australia helps to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

Our programs promote the good of every person regardless of their religious, political or cultural beliefs. We envisage a world in which children, women and men most vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice are agents of their own change and architects of their own development.

Project Background and Context

Since July 2016, Caritas Australia has been working in partnership with a number of local organisations based in Timor Leste to implement two projects – the Protection Program, and the Livelihoods/DRR Program. The two projects will conclude in June 2024, and Caritas Australia plans to replace these projects with one integrated project implemented by the same 12 partners, focussing on the intersection between climate change and gender-based violence. The decision to consolidate these two thematic areas into a unified project stems from the recognition of the interconnectedness between climate change and gender-based violence, particularly evident in Timor-Leste, where traditional norms and climate impacts exacerbate existing gender inequalities, leading to increased vulnerabilities and risks for women and girls.

Purpose

The purpose of the consultancy is to:

1. undertake an end-of-project evaluation of the two projects, addressing the Evaluation Questions in Annex 1 of the ToR;
2. facilitate a participatory, community-driven process to collaboratively design the new phase of the project, taking into account the evaluation findings; and
3. build the capacity of Caritas Australia Timor Leste and implementing partner staff in the design and use of participatory design, monitoring, evaluation and learning approaches.

Objectives

The primary objective of the evaluation component is to facilitate learning for the design of the new phase. This entails reviewing the current projects to capture valuable lessons learned that can be applied to ensure future programming is effective, efficient, and capable of creating sustainable impact. The evaluation will provide a comprehensive assessment of the projects, encompassing formative elements such as design and program logic, the project’s approach and implementation process, and results achieved. The specific evaluation objectives include:

1. To identify and assess key internal and external factors related to project design, implementation, and management that contributed to, affected, or impeded project achievements.
2. To evaluate the changes the projects have made in the lives of participants and communities engaged. Identify, understand and document strengths, challenges, and lessons learned.
3. To provide recommendations to enhance project design, implementation, and management for the next phase, including the most effective strategies for integrating key elements and best practices from the two existing projects into a unified, integrated project.

The primary objective of the design component is to guide the project design process, ensuring that it is a robust, inclusive, and participatory approach.

The design should be grounded in a comprehensive understanding of the situation, with a particular focus on identifying the different forms of inequality or exclusion within the communities. This includes recognising those who are most underrepresented, marginalised, and vulnerable to poverty and all forms of injustice.

Based on this in-depth understanding, a planned intervention should be developed to build on the existing assets and effectively address barriers, specifically targeting the identified inequalities and exclusions. The design should be evidence-informed, drawing upon a body of knowledge about what works, integrating evaluation findings, research evidence, practitioner expertise, and the knowledge and experiences of participants.

The full Terms of Reference can be found here: https://www.caritas.org.au/media/zwhdy0vo/caritas-australia-timor-leste-program-evaluation-and-re-design-tor.pdf