External consultant for the final evaluation of the project “Training, Business and Work to promote inclusive and sustainable development – FIL” At ENGIM International

Terms of Reference (ToR)

External consultant for final evaluation of the project
Training, Business and Work to promote inclusive and sustainable development – FIL
Project Code AID 012590/09/2

INTRODUCTION
ENGIM ETS is looking for an expert for the intermediate and final external evaluation of the project Formazione, Impresa e Lavoro per promozione lo sviluppo inclusivo e sostenibile – FIL, Project Code AID 012590/09/2 co-financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – AICS.
The total budget of the project is €1,893,535.90 – €1,798,859.10 of AICS contribution.
The project started on 01/12/2022 and will end on 30/11/2025.

CONTEXT INFORMATION
Country of implementation of the Initiative: Mali (Bamako, Kita)

OBJECTIVES and EXPECTED RESULTS
The 36-month Initiative aims to encourage inclusive and sustainable economic growth and youth employment in 2 areas of Mali (OG). In particular, it aims to promote the socio-economic inclusion of young women and men through business creation, skills development and job placement in the cities of Bamako and Kita (OS).
R1 ​​Self-employment and job creation are promoted through training and support to entrepreneurs and cooperatives
R2 Young women and men have skills corresponding to the needs of the local private sector
R3 An enabling environment for training and employment of young people is created at national and international level

SCOPE OF THE WORK
Description of the task
The evaluation work of the project Training, Business and Work to promote inclusive and sustainable development – ​​FIL, implemented in Mali, consists of two phases: intermediate evaluation and final evaluation.
The two evaluation phases are placed approximately halfway through the 3 years of activity envisaged by the project and in the last quarter of its activity.
The intermediate evaluation will have the function of verifying the progress of the intervention and identifying the points of improvement of the action both operational and management. The evaluation will also have to assess the degree of involvement and satisfaction of the beneficiaries through structured interviews and analysis of participation systems.
The final evaluation will have the function of verifying the level of achievement of the results and objectives and of providing recommendations and lessons learned.

Both evaluation phases will base their analysis on the standard evaluation criteria of efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact, plus added value and scalability.

Through specific evaluation questions, the intermediate evaluation will be able to provide useful indications to reorient any project activities or modify methodologies in a more functional way to achieve the Results. The intermediate evaluation will also be the occasion to review the indicators and the respective Verification Sources to allow an adequate measurement of the progress of the project indicators. The final evaluation, instead, will be able to provide recommendations and lessons learned during the months of project implementation to help improve the impact of the activities of the institution and the partnership.

Specific work
The evaluator is required to perform the following tasks:

1. Review all relevant sources of information, such as project documents, logical framework, monthly reports, annual reports and any other material the evaluator considers useful for this evaluation;
2. Conduct several meetings with project management team members and all project partners to validate the evaluation findings and recommendations;
3. Deliver the following deliverables: The contractor is required to deliver the following:
   • 1 work plan in Italian for both evaluations by 10 October 2024;
   • 1 draft report in Italian for each evaluation no later than two weeks before the delivery date of the interim and final reports;
   • 1 interim report in French and Italian by 20 December 2024;
   • 1 final report in French and Italian by 31 August 2025, unless the project is extended.

LOGISTICS AND TIMING
Location
The operational base of the project is the ENGIM ETS headquarters in Bamako. Two evaluation missions are planned, one as part of the intermediate report and the other as part of the final report, with the presence of the evaluator only in the capital Bamako in compliance with the ENGIM ETS safety regulations.
Start date and implementation period of the activities
The planned start date is 16 September 2024 and the implementation period of the contract will last until 30 November 2025, unless the project is extended.

REQUIREMENTS
Qualifications of the evaluator
The consultant must have the following qualifications and skills:
• proven experience of at least 5 years in post ante evaluation of projects implemented in third countries and financed by institutional donors (preferably in projects financed by the MAECI and/or AICS);
• proven experience of at least 5 years in monitoring and/or evaluation of multi-sector projects, and particularly in the sectors of education, health, agriculture, training in monitoring and/or evaluation of projects implemented in the sub-Saharan area
• Preferably registered in registers of evaluators at the MAECI and/or at the AICS and/or at other public bodies;
• Ability to draft concise and high-quality evaluation reports in Italian and French;
• Previous experience with monitoring and evaluation tools (data analysis,…);
• Knowledge and experience in the application of standard evaluation principles and qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods
• Excellent knowledge of French