External Evaluation Terms of Reference (ToR) for Ukraine Emergency Response Program At SOS Children’s Villages International

1. Background

SOS Children’s Villages International (hereinafter SOS CVI) is a non-governmental organisation focused on supporting children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it. It was founded in 1949 and operates in 135 countries and territories. SOS CVI provides alternative care services for children without parental care and works with families and communities to prevent child-family separation.

The organization includes 118 national SOS Children’s Villages associations. As members of the federation, each SOS Children’s Villages association is committed to applying the federation’s statutes, standards for quality childcare, and stringent financial and administrative practices.

SOS CVI complies with Core Humanitarian Standards approach to ensure that the organisation, its operations and staff abide to minimum standards in all humanitarian sectors, do no harm to the children and young people and do not expose them to the risk of harm and abuse.

SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine is an independent legal body and a member of the federation SOS Children’s Villages International. It was registered on 28.02.2006 in the Unified state register of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public organizations of Ukraine. SOS Children’s Villages is one of the few organizations in Ukraine that comprehensively approaches the problem of orphanhood, working not only with the consequences, but also with prevention – by supporting vulnerable families. If the preservation of the family is not possible, then a full-fledged replacement in alternative care is provided, guided exclusively by the interests of the child.

In February 2022 the foster families supported by SOS CV Ukraine with many children were evacuated from Ukraine to Poland due to the war. Since March of 2022 SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine is implementing Humanitarian Response and quickly became SOS CVI’s single largest Emergency Response Program.

In 2022-2023 SOS Children`s Villages Ukraine was providing humanitarian support to internally displaced people and affected local population all over Ukraine either with their own capacities or through implementing partners. New Family Strengthening Centers were opened in Uzhgorod (Zakarpattia region), Ivano-Frankivsk (Ivano-Frankivsk region), Lviv (Lviv region), Fastiv (Kyiv region), Chernihiv (Chernihiv region), Poltava (Poltava region), Chernivtsi (Chernivtsi region).

The operations focus on the sectors of:

• Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (hereinafter CPiHA).
• Basic foods and non-food items provision through Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA).
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (including MHPSS camps for children and MHPSS mobile team in online format).
• Support to children who were injured (sustained health damage) as result of the war and their family members.
• Child-friendly spaces (both partner and SOS CV UA) in Chernivtsi, Lubny, Mykolayiv, Drogobych, Fastiv.
• Capacity building of implementing partners/state partners/local authorities.

Target Group:

1. Foster families
2. Kinship families
3. Families who adopted children during the war
4. Vulnerable families severely affected by the war (incl. single-parent headed families, families with children with disabilities)
5. Children who lost a care-giver due to the war
6. Families who lost a child due to the war
7. Children severely traumatized due to the war
8. Children injured due to the war
9. Staff of SOS Children`s Villages Ukraine

Age group of children: 9-13 y.o., 14+ y.o.

Log Frame and other relevant documents will be shared with interested candidates.

2. Purpose & methodology

The purposes of the evaluation will be to:

• Determine progress in the mentioned above operational sectors toward project goals defining lessons learnt.
• Document project activities and processes defining challenges, opportunities or good practices.
• Provide recommendations to the project team for future planning and project improvement.

1. The evaluation will be framed by the following key evaluation questions: How adequate are the monitoring mechanisms in place?
2. How adequate are Feedback & Complaints Mechanisms in place (including locations of implementing partners)?
3. How well are CPiHA risks mitigated?
4. Are Core Humanitarian Standards implemented consistently by SOS Children`s Villages Ukraine and implementing partners?
5. How well does the ERP project adhere to the Child Safeguarding (CS) framework of SOS Children’s Villages International and how effectively the CS procedures are adapted to an ERP project?
6. How effectively was capacity built among SOS CV Ukraine staff during 2023, and to what extent did it adequately meet the needs of the staff?

The evaluation questions should be revolved around the following criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, compliance, impact and sustainability as well as project management and coordination, as given in the ToR:

Criteria and key guiding questions

Relevance: Does the project address the situation of the specific target groups?

• To what extent is the project focused on the intended target groups?
• To what extent the project interventions respond to the needs and priorities of the project participants?

Effectiveness: To what extent the intervention’s objectives were achieved

• To what extent are the overall objective, the outcomes and outputs of the project being attained?
• To what extent the target groups are aware of the project and the services it provided?
• To what extent have project participants been satisfied with the project interventions?
• What was the contribution of the project to the participants` wellbeing?

Efficiency: How economic resources/inputs (funds, time, etc.) are converted to results

• What are the results (outputs, outcomes) achieved relative to the investment?
• What is the efficiency of the project?
• Was the quality performance relevant to the resources invested?

Coherence: The compatibility of the intervention with other interventions in a country, sector or institution.

• To what extent the project interventions have synergies and interlinkages with other actors` interventions?
• To what extent the intervention is adding value while avoiding duplication of efforts?

Compliance: How well does the ERP project adhere the SOS Children’s Villages International Child Safeguarding (CS) approach?

• To what extent are СS structures and procedures adapted to an ERP project?
• To what extent are the CS measures and procedures known, understood, applied and promoted by all project’s participants and stuff throughout all project activities?
• How were СS risks assessed, what risks were identified during the project and what mitigation measures were in place?

Capacity: To what extent was capacity built among SOS CV Ukraine staff during 2023, and did it adequately meet staff needs?

• Were capacity-building activities for staff sufficient and aligned with programmatic needs?
• Has staff expertise and skillset improved as a result of capacity-building activities?
• Is the size of the SOS CV Ukraine team appropriate for program needs?
• Do the qualifications of SOS staff meet program requirements?

3. Time frame and location

The External evaluation should be conducted during the period between May-June.

Evaluation is to be conducted in following project locations:

• Uzhgorod
• Ivano-Frankivsk
• Chernivtsi

4. Evaluation Team – Criteria

The evaluators should meet the following criteria:

• Experience in conducting evaluations in the field of humanitarian response and in the field of child protection and child safeguarding specifically. Previous experience in Eastern Europe countries is a strong asset.
• Fluency in English is necessary and at least one team member should speak fluent Ukrainian.
• Willingness and ability to travel to agreed project locations.
• Team comprises at least two members, including at least one woman.
• Evaluators must declare that no conflict of interest exists and that they will inform their focal point on SOS Children`s Villages International level if any such conflict should arise in the course of their duties.
• Evaluators must carefully study and sign Code of Conduct, Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy, Sexual Misconduct Regulation (PSHEA), Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption Regulation, Confidentiality Agreement.

The evaluators are responsible for:

• Defining the methodology for the program evaluation;
• Carrying out activities related to the evaluation;
• Drafting and submitting the final report in English and Ukrainian

5. Findings and audit report

The evaluation team provides the Project Lead for Emergency Response in Ukraine, with a final report no later than 31st July 2024.

The report should include findings as well as recommendations for actions and necessary improvements directed at SOS Children`s Villages Ukraine, Ukraine Support Team & International Office Region CEE/CIS/ME.

If during the evaluation, the team of evaluators learns about other incidents and that in accordance with the national legislation the alleged incident must be reported to the relevant national authorities, the investigation team should immediately contact International Office Region CEE/CIS/ME to agree on further steps.

6. Contacts

Contact person for the evaluation team at the International Office Region will be the Project Lead, Ukraine Support Team, Ms. Yevgeniya Rzayeva (yevgeniya.rzayeva@sos-kd.org) and the Project Coordinator, Ms. María Pérez Díaz (maria.perez-diaz@sos-kd.org).

For logistical support in Ukraine, the details of the contact person will be communicated once the contract with the evaluation team is signed.