Rapid Impact Evaluation Consultancy

1. Background
   The Graça Machel Trust (GMT) was established in 2010 and is a registered non-profit Public Benefit
   Organisation based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its mission is to amplify women’s movements,
   influence governance, and promote their contributions and leadership in Africa’s economic, social,
   and political development. The mission is to amplify women’s movements, influence governance,
   promote women’s contributions and leadership in Africa’s economic, social, and political
   development, and advocate for protecting children’s rights and dignity. As a Pan-African institution,
   the Trust has a presence in 16 countries across the African continent through its Women’s Networks
   and Strategic Partnerships.
   GMT’s wining aspiration is to put women and children at the centre of Africa’s development agenda
   by building movements to drive transformation and the holistic development of children. Our
   Women’s Economic & Social Advancement, and Child Rights Programmes use a socio-ecological model
   grounded in network building and collective action. We incubate and implement demonstration
   projects at the local and community level to generate the evidence and best practices that strengthen
   the advocacy of national networks and other partners. GMT bolsters the institutional capacity of these
   networks, and connects them to regional and continental bodies and convenings where they can
   influence the political and economic agenda to prioritize African women and children’s interests. Our
   work cuts across Early Childhood Development, Basic Education, child protection, nutrition, and
   adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as women’s economic empowerment.
   Since its inception, GMT has also sought to build the necessary institutional support systems to sustain
   this work.
2. Overall objective of the Consultancy
   GMT seeks a consulting firm to conduct a rapid impact evaluation of its work and interventions since
   its inception. The overall objective of this evaluation is to interrogate whether and how the Graça
   Machel Trust has delivered on its’ core mandate to build sustainable networks that have centered
   women and children’s rights in Africa. The evaluation should also review the extent to which GMT has
   developed and implemented the institutional systems to drive its’ mandate. The evaluation will
   inform strategic and programmatic design and decision-making by providing credible empirical
   evidence on the results – positive and negative – produced by GMT’s model and approach, directly or
   indirectly, intended or unintended. These results should be both quantitative and qualitative. The
   assignment should also explain the positive and negative impact of external factors and identify and
   analyse the mechanisms that delivered the results and the extent to which these results can be
   attributed to GMT interventions. Specific additional objectives of the evaluation include:
   • Validate results and impact in terms of achievements and/or weaknesses towards strategic
   goals, objectives and outcomes
   • Assess the potential sustainability of results and identify strategies to replicate and scale best
   practices

• Document lessons learned, emerging best practices, and challenges to inform the next
strategy and future work
• Provide realistic and actionable recommendations to inform the design and implementation
of the Graça Machel Trust Strategy
• Assess the extent to which the Graça Machel Trust’s strategic and implementation model
relates and contributes the achievement of relevant regional and global commitments such
as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 including
Agenda 2040 for Children
The evaluation will respond to the following central questions in relation to the purpose and
objectives:
• To what extent has the Graça Machel Trust built and strengthened effective networks in
women’s economic empowerment, child rights and nutrition in its’ priority implementation
countries?
• Have these networks centered women and children’s rights and interests in their national and
regional development agendas?
• To what extent can results, both expected and unexpected, be attributed to the interventions
of the Graça Machel Trust? What was the measurable contribution of other strategic partners
to the realisation of expected and unexpected results?
• How can the Graça Machel Trust leverage proven practices and mechanisms to scale its
interventions’ future impact?

1. Scope of Work
   The evaluation will cover the Graça Machel Trust’s work across its 16 countries of implementation,
   with a particular focus on countries with the highest programming investment.
   3.1 Develop Evaluation design and protocol:
   Under the overall leadership of the Graça Machel Trust Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and
   Learning unit and in consultation with an Evaluation Reference Group comprised of Graca
   Machel Trust Programme and Institutional leadership, the consultant(s) will develop an
   appropriate evaluation design. This design should be informed by the political, economic and
   organisational context of the Graça Machel Trust and its implementing networks and a review
   of the existing organisational theory of change and other relevant documents. The design is
   also to be informed by the evaluation purpose and evaluation questions, noting that
   evaluation questions may be refined based on the inception meeting and context review. The
   selection of an appropriate design will be at the discretion of the consultant(s), however
   theory-based designs that allow for a robust assessment of GMT’s contribution to results are
   preferred. Evaluation designs should also comply to fundamental quality criteria such as The
   African Evaluation Guidelines, The Program Evaluation Standards and the those stipulated in
   the OECD Development Assistance Committee. The consultants will also develop an
   evaluation protocol including the methodological approach, sampling strategy and size, data
   collection tools, processes, and analysis.
   3.2 Implement the evaluation
   The consultant(s) will gather data as stipulated in the evaluation protocol, including examining
   relevant documents such as the Graca Machel Trust theory of change, results frameworks,
   annual work plans, and internal and donor reports. The consultant(s) will also lead additional
   data collection and analysis, ensuring the generated data quality and conclusions reached.

3.3 Review of evaluation results, reporting and use
In line with the principles of utilisation-focused evaluation, at key points during the evaluation
implementation, the consultant(s) will share results with the Evaluation Reference Group to
highlight preliminary findings. The consultant(s) may also be invited to share findings and
emerging learnings during staff gatherings. This will build the Group’s evaluation capacity and
ensure that findings are relevant to the objectives of the assignment and contribute to the
Graça Machel Trust’s strategy design. The evaluation will culminate in a final report and an
infographic of key results and documentation of the evaluation process.

1. Roles and Responsibilities
   GMT will provide the firm with the relevant information and working equipment to discharge its
   duties. GMT will also support the consultant(s) to secure access to key informants. In the context of
   the Covid-19 pandemic, the Graça Machel Trust does not anticipate any international travel, however
   necessary local travel may be undertaken by the consultant(s). Otherwise, this will be a remote
   assignment.
2. Timelines and Deliverables
   In line with the scope of this assignment, the successful candidate is expected to produce the following
   specific deliverables:
   • Inception report including evaluation design and evaluation protocol
   • A repository and transcripts of data collected during the evaluation implementation
   • Analysis approach and method used
   • Presentation of preliminary findings mid-way through the assignment
   • Draft evaluation report
   • Final evaluation report
   • Infographic representation of key results and evaluation process
   This assignment is anticipated to take 5 months, from Jan 2022 – June 2022. Estimated budget: USD
   20,000 – 25,000.
3. Minimum requirements
   The firm applying for this task should demonstrate:
   o Significant experience, strong technical knowledge and established track record of the
   different components of evaluation, including evaluation designs, data collection, quality
   assurance and analysis. Experience conducting rapid evaluation is a plus.
   o Sector experience in child rights, child protection, nutrition and women’s economic
   empowerment is an advantage
   o Demonstrate that team possesses the requisite educational background, knowledge, skills and
   competencies needed to perform the responsibilities with