Project Evaluation Media as drivers for social cohesion in Ukraine At Fondation Hirondelle

Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI are looking for an evaluator or a research agency to conduct the final evaluation of phase 3 of our project: ‘Media as Drivers for social cohesion in Ukraine’. Experience of conducting evaluations of media related projects in Ukraine will be an asset. Please send proposals in English by 19th July, to project manager Sandra Fontaine: sandra.fontaine@hirondelle.org

1.Context and History of the Project

Fondation Hirondelle and its Ukrainian partner, the International Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI), have been developing and implementing the Improving Ukrainian Media Resilience project since March 2022. NUJU, National Union of Journalists in Ukraine, is also an implementing partner of the project. Its aim is to promote access to independent, reliable, and useful information for regional populations, enabling them to make informed decisions in their daily lives and exercise their fundamental civic rights (including demanding accountability and democratic transparency).

The strategy centres on supporting 23 local media to help them fulfil their role as information providers and assist them in their institutional transition. Our coordinated action revolves around three interconnected and transversal pillars:

1. Providing small-scale grants to media organizations primarily based on the frontline (from the Northeast to the Southeast, and a few in the Centre of Ukraine) to help them survive and continue informing the population by offsetting revenue losses, especially advertising, due to the war;
2. Offering tailored expertise and support (continuous mentoring, in-person training, and webinars) at the institutional and editorial levels to adapt to the constraints of war and respond to multiple and often new challenges (editorial, management, economic, security);
3. Strengthening the Ukrainian media landscape from within by fostering networking, to enable i) the standardization of good practices; ii) a supportive professional network capable of gradually empowering peers.

2. Locations of partners media outlets:

Velyka Pysarivka, Krasnopillya -Sumy region / Bakhmut, Slavyansk, Lyman – Donetsk region / Cherkasy – Cherkasy region / Melitopol, Orikhiv – Zaporizhzhya region / Izyum, Kharkiv, Bohodukhiv, Pervomayskiy – Kharkiv region / Ivano-Frankivsk – Ivano-Frankivsk region / Snihurivka, Mykolayiv – Mykolayiv region / Odesa, Odesa region / Gorodok – Khmelnytskiy region / Chernyhiv – Chernyhiv region / Kherson, Kherson region / Dnipro, Mezhova, Kamyansk – Dnipropetrivsk region

1. Evaluation purpose: Intended use and intended users

The purpose or intended use of the evaluation is to:

• Help Fondation Hirondelle, IRMI and Swiss Solidarity (SwS) to evaluate the progress and impact of Fondation Hirondelle’s project “‘Media as drivers for social cohesion in Ukraine”, to

learn from what worked well and less well and inform decisions on how any future project design may be adjusted and improved.

The primary intended users of the evaluation are:

• Projet implementers: Fondation Hirondelle, IRMI
• Project funder: Swiss Solidarity

3. Evaluation objectives

The ultimate objective of this evaluation is to evaluate the contribution this project has made to local media’s resilience and its ability to act as drivers of social cohesion.

It is expected the evaluation will use the OECD DAC evaluation criteria[1] as a framework, and will seek particularly to:

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the project implementation, how it has evolved and adapted over time to fit the changes in the context resulting from the ongoing conflict
2. Evaluate the relevance of the project to the needs of its beneficiaries, which have arisen as a result of the conflict: local media and ultimately their audiences
3. Understand what impact (humanitarian, social cohesion, resilience) the project has had on the work of media partners (including their network) and ultimately their audiences
4. Examine the sustainability of the project: What lasting effects will the project have on local media in Ukraine?

4. Methodology

The evaluator shall propose a clear methodology for undertaking this study, including an anticipated timeline. Safety and security of data collectors and participants should be a priority, and the methodology should distinguish where online or face to face research will be conducted.

It is expected that the evaluator will analyse existing data, reports and available research provided by Fondation Hirondelle and its Ukrainian partner IRMI (International Institute for Regional Media and Information), and gather additional material relevant for the evaluation. Bimonthly project reports submitted by media partners, FH editorial mentor and IRMI team and media management mentor will be made available to the evaluator, in order to be able to analyse and understand progress which has been made throughout the project.

It is envisaged that the evaluator will conduct interviews with Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI managers of the project, NUJU, media partners, mentors, experts and other key stakeholders of the project, face to face if possible, but remotely where access is difficult due to safety security reasons.

It is hoped the evaluation will also include focus group discussions with audience members from a selection of media partners, in order to understand their perception of the usefulness of the content produced by the media partners as part of the project, and any changes they have observed in the media’s approach particularly to social cohesion, which has been a key focus of phase 3 of the project.

5. Time schedule and deliverables

The evaluation should take place between September and October 2024, and the final report should be submitted by the 20th of November.

The final report should contain all evaluation findings, and provide recommendations. It should not be longer than 20 pages.