Evaluation of the Zambia National Education Coalition Strategic Plan 2016-2020
- Background
The Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) is a coalition of civil society organisations engaged in the education sector in Zambia. It was formed in 2001 to lobby and advocate for the Education for All (EFA) agenda in Zambia. This followed Zambia’s participation at the Dakar EFA forum in 2000 and a need to respond to the challenge. ZANEC’s mandate later broadened to focus on national, regional and international educations goals and commitments made by the Zambian government. ZANEC’s intention is therefore to work with its members to enhance their capacity to participate in the achievement of education goals in Zambia.
ZANEC is looking for a suitably qualified consultant to conduct an evaluation of the impact of its Strategic Plan. The first evaluation of ZANEC was undertaken in 2010 under the 2008-2011 Strategic Plan and was commissioned by the Irish Aid, then ZANEC’s main institutional donor. The second evaluation was conducted in 2015 for the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan. Therefore, this evaluation is intended to among other things, inform stakeholders on how the Coalition has grown since the last evaluation and its achievements over the 2016-2020 strategic period.
- Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation
The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the progress and performance of the ZANEC programmes and activities under the current Strategic Plan; identify factors that contribute to the organisation’s successful implementation of the Strategic Plan; identify the nature and magnitude of constraints that affected the effective implementation of the ZANEC programmes and activities; inform stakeholders including cooperating partners whether or not ZANEC is making a significant contribution towards quality education service delivery; and to make appropriate recommendations for the future growth focus of ZANEC.
Evaluation Objectives
The objectives of the evaluation are:
- to assess the performance of ZANEC over the last 5 years since the commencement of the current Strategic Plan, including defining its strengths and weaknesses and providing recommendations to consolidate the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses;
- based on the recommendations, to define clear objectives concerning the strengthening of ZANEC within the context of the changing operating environment in Zambia; and
- to identify the necessary human resources (profiles, etc.) in order to operationalise the objectives and provide proposals for an improved organisational structure.
- Scope of the Evaluation
The scope of the evaluation includes all ZANEC programmes and activities implemented from 2016 to date. The evaluation should assess the organisation as a whole and address the aspects outlined in the annex to these terms of reference (“Specific Aspects to Be Addressed”)and make appropriate recommendations.
- Expected deliverables
The expected outputs to be delivered by the evaluator(s) are:
- Inception/concept report;
- Evaluation instruments prepared by the Evaluator(s);
- Selected field visits relevant to ZANEC’s programmes and activities;
- Draft evaluation report, including findings from field visits by the Evaluator(s);
- Final analytical report including:
- Executive Summary with key findings, conclusions and recommendations;
- Clearly identified findings and conclusions;
- Recommendations for ZANEC’s future operations;
- Key achievements and Lessons learned;
- Appropriate Annexes.
- The total length of the report should be a maximum of 30 pages for the main report, excluding annexes; additional annexes can provide background and details on specific components of the ZANEC evaluation. The report should be submitted as one complete document.
- All drafts and final outputs, including supporting documents, analytical reports and raw data should be provided both in paper copy and in electronic versions compatible for Word for Windows.
- Ownership of data from the evaluation rests with ZANEC. The copyright of the evaluation report will rest with ZANEC. Use of the data for publication and other presentations can only be made with the written agreement of ZANEC. Key stakeholders can make appropriate use of the evaluation report in line with the original purpose and with appropriate acknowledgement.
- Methodology
- The review will be carried out using relevant documents (desk review) and selected stakeholder consultations and interviews.
- At the end of the desk review period, the Evaluator(s) will prepare a brief inception/concept document indicating the Evaluator(s)’ understanding of the assignment; the proposed methodological approach for the evaluation; the evaluation instruments; and the work plan and budget, to be discussed and approved by ZANEC prior to the commencement of the field trips.
- The evaluation instruments prepared by the Evaluator(s) will indicate further selected specific aspects to be addressed. The evaluation instruments should identify the priority aspects to be addressed in the evaluation.
- The Evaluator(s) will work to the highest evaluation standards and codes of conduct.
- Competencies of Evaluator(s)
The profile of the Evaluator(s) should include:
- Relevant background in social and/or economic development;
- Experience in working on education issues in Zambia;
- Experience in working on civil society issues in Zambia;
- Experience in the designing, management and evaluation of development programmes and activities, in particular with policy level work, institution building and local development projects;
- Fluency in English.
- Management of the Consultancy
- The consultancy will be overseen by the ZANEC Secretariat. The Secretariat will meet with the Evaluators at mutually agreed intervals, depending on the work plan that will be agreed with ZANEC. The Secretariat will also be available to respond to queries as they arise.
- Payment details will be indicated in the contract to be signed between ZANEC and the Evaluator(s).
All proposals must be submitted through email or hand delivered to the address below by Friday, 17th April, 2020.
The Executive Director,
Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC),
Baptist Fellowship Building,
Plot 3061/2 Corner Makishi and Great East Road,
P.O. Box 30774,
Lusaka-Zambia,
Email: admin@zanec.org.zm
Annex: Specific Aspects to Be Addressed
The following are among the aspects and questions that should be addressed in the evaluation:
- Implementation
(Effectiveness and Impact)
- Assess whether ZANEC achieved its objectives and intended outputs and outcomes as envisaged in the Strategic Plan.
- How would you rate the quality and relevance of the information and reports produced by ZANEC?
- In what ways is Government, specifically MoGE and MoHE, involved with ZANEC and how would you assess its level of support for ZANEC work?
- Is the entire target population being reached?
- What mechanisms are in place for organisational monitoring?
- Assess the quality and use of work plans and monitoring plans.
- How do factors outside the control of ZANEC affect objectives and programme and activity implementation and how does ZANEC deal with these external factors?
- How effectively does ZANEC deploy resources?
- Assess the effectiveness of ZANEC’s overall management arrangements.
- Assess the effectiveness of ZANEC’s financial management.
- Assess the participation of the various relevant actors in ZANEC’s programmes and activities. How do these actors participate in programme and activity implementation? How does this participation affect the outcomes of the programmes and activities?
- Organisational Structure
- Is ZANEC’s organisational structure appropriate, feasible and realistic for achieving its objectives?
- Are the linkages between objectives, inputs, activities and outputs clear and logical (i.e. according to a logic model)?
- Is the organisational structure relevant to the national education situation and the needs of the target groups?
- Is the organisational strategy gender sensitive and does it recognise and respond to the vulnerabilities of girls and women?
- Does the organisational strategy correspond to national priorities and development of policies?
- Does the organisational strategy correspond to the current and changing aid environment?
- To what extent does the structure take into account the capacity of ZANEC and the commitment of stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Education?
- Examine the capacity constraints of ZANEC and the commitment of stakeholders, and how this impacts on the implementation of programmes and activities.
- Does the Secretariat adequately support the Sub-sector Committees? What capacity gaps are evident in the Secretariat and Sub-sector Committees?
- To what extent were external factors and assumptions identified at the time that the organisational structure was put in place? How have these been addressed since?
- Relevance
- Assess the choice of strategies that ZANEC adopted. Were they relevant to the problems it was aiming to address? Did the results of ZANEC’s programmes and activities solve the problems, as intended?
- Do the problems and needs that gave rise to the stipulated strategic plan priorities still exist or has the situation changed? If so in what ways?
- How does ZANEC know whether it is responding to the real needs of the beneficiaries in its strategic plans?
- Assess the validity of ZANEC’s approach and strategies and their potential to upscale.
- What changes are taking place in the educational environment that are not taking place in ZANEC?
- Efficiency
- Examine the delivery of ZANEC’s outputs and outcomes in terms of quality and quantity. Are they being delivered in a timely manner?
- Assess the efficiency of ZANEC, i.e. compare the allocated resources with results obtained. Do the results obtained justify the costs incurred?
- Are there more efficient ways and means of delivering more and better outputs with the available inputs?
- Adequacy of available resources to effectively implement the strategic plan activities.
- Sustainability
- Are there future activities or commitments of ZANEC and its partners that will help to ensure sustainability?
- What contributions is ZANEC making to strengthen the capacity and knowledge of the members and national stakeholders?
- Are lessons learned being documented? What are the possibilities for replication of good practices?
- Gender
- Has a gender analysis been carried out of ZANEC’s target groups during the strategic plan implementation?
- Has gender planning been used in addressing the different vulnerabilities and needs of men and women in the target groups?
- Are the benefits of ZANEC’s programmes and activities accruing equitably to men and women in the target groups?
- Assess the progress of ZANEC’s gender mainstreaming activities.
- Causality
- What particular factors or events have affected ZANEC’s results?
- Are these factors internal or external to ZANEC?
- Unanticipated Effects
- Are ZANEC’s programmes and activities having any significant (positive and/or negative) unforeseen effects?
- What could be done to either enhance or mitigate them so that ZANEC has a greater overall impact?
