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Introduction  SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit organization and is registered as an international, locally active organization. SOS-CV in Ethiopia is an active member of the international umbrella organization of SOS-Kinderdorf International, based in Innsbruck. SOS CVE has been active in Ethiopia since 1974 and since then has supported millions vulnerable children, youth and families including in the sectors of alternative long-term care, community-based family strengthening programs, and education and training of young people. SOS- CV in Ethiopia operates nationwide at seven program coordination locations sited at Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gode, Hawassa, Jimma and Mekelle. The Addis Ababa Program location is established in 1987 to provide alternative family like care services to children either who lost their biological families or vulnerable to loss parental care. As part of its development programs, SOS-CVE Addis Ababa program location has been implementing a project entitled ‘Innovative Training Partnership for More Youth Employment’ in Addis Ababa and Adama. The project is designed to directly benefit 10,000 disadvantaged young people at the age between15-29. To take into account, the special challenges women face in the education and labour market, the majority 60% of women are integrated into the project. The project is targeted young people from households affected by poverty. Other selection criteria include limited access to education and qualification measures, limited access to jobs, as well as self-motivation, previous knowledge, and experience of the young people. It is assumed that 50,000 more people will benefit indirectly from the project measures: Apprentices who benefit from the improved capacities of their vocational schools; job seekers who find employment with the micro-enterprises set up under the project; and members of families, households, and communities whose living conditions are improved by the young people's participation in the project. Accordingly, this ToR is prepared to facilitate the evaluation of the project by an external consultant against the predefined project achievement, outcomes, and impact and sustainability measures. The results of the project evaluation will help SOS-CV, the HGFD and the BMZ (Project Donors) to understand the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the implemented project and thereby generate knowledge that would contribute to the quality designing and implementation of the upcoming program/s. Background and rationale Ethiopia is the second populous African country with fast growing population coupled with developing economy, where proper management and efficient utilization of its work force is essential. In this respect, the capacity of the economy in absorbing the potential labour force was not well monitored regularly with the purpose to reduce the ever-increasing rate of unemployment. According to the comparative analysis of the 2016, 2018, 2020 Urban Employment Unemployment Survey (UEUS) and 2021 LMS urban survey results by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopian statistics Service (Published-Sept 2022), the urban youth(15-29 aged)  unemployment rate is increased to 26.5% with the total number of 1,142,346. The study also reviled that the differentials of unemployment rate by sex demonstrated that female unemployment rate is 28.2 % more than double as compared to male. The reason behind an increasing unemployment rate is due to the fact that either the university/collage graduated youth has no appropriate skill to furnish their labour to the market, have not taken active steps to search for work, they have no strong labour market information, have no appropriate skill & knowledge to the labour market, have no capacity to cover the cost of employable skill trainings , absence of initial capital to start self-employment or the labour absorption is inadequate to the size of unemployed youth. Based on the study result, Addis Ababa city is the first with a total of 462,963 unemployed youth Adama town is the second (61,563) and Bahir Dar city (45,227) is the third. Accordingly, the ‘Innovative Training Partnership for More Youth Employment’ in Addis Ababa and Adama was a four years project (Jan 2021-31st April 2024) which has been implemented in Addis Ababa and Adama will be completed by the end of April. The project was targeting unemployed youth (aged 15-19), young people from households impacted by poverty, limited access to education & qualification measures and youth with limited knowledge & skill on employability. The project started its intervention with the purpose of As explained at the introductory part, the purpose of the terminal evaluation by an external consulting company is to independently understand weather the project has met its predefined objective, achievement/outputs, outcomes, and impact and sustainability measures.   The results of the project evaluation will help SOS-CV, the HGFD and the BMZ (Project Donors) to understand the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the implemented project and thereby generate knowledge that would contribute to the quality designing and implementation of the upcoming program/s. Purpose, Objectives and Use The overall objective of this project evaluation will be to understand the impact of the project.  Whereas the specific objectives of the evaluation are: - To assess the impact and effectiveness of the activities implemented in ” innovative Training Partnership for more Youth Employment in Addis Ababa and Adama” projects - To evaluate the efficiency of the project in relation to beneficiaries, cost and timeframe of the project. - To assess the current figures of the Objectively Verifiable Indicators as found in the impact matrix - To assess the sustainability of the project (institutional, social, financial, etc. - To make recommendations for improving future interventions.  The desired results of the project evaluation are: - To document the impact of the project with special emphasis on the impact that the project has had on women and children. - To provide commentary on the overall project design, the intervention logic and an analysis of the strategy and methodology used in in ” innovative Training Partnership for more Youth Employment in Addis Ababa and Adama” projects. - To critically examine the impact matrix and verifiable indicators found in the original proposal and provide post-project figures along with a narrative explaining the reasons for under/over performance achievement. - To draw conclusions, make recommendations and state lessons learnt for future strategy and improvements in implementation of the project. - To provide commentary on the current political, social and cultural factors influencing the implementation of the project. - To document the communities’ attitude towards the project Key stakeholders to be contacted for the evaluation Other than many other targets (E.g.-families of the targeted & benefited project participants), the followings are the key stakeholders to be contacted in the process of determining the impact of the project - Direct and indirect project participants - Project implementation team - Project partners, community members, local partners and main stakeholders - Project management at SOS-CVE national office and program location levels Key users of evaluations results are: - Project level: Project team and implementing partners - Donor/s (BMZ and HGFD) - Management level: The National Director (DND), Deputy National Director (DND), National IPDs, National Project Coordinator, etc. - Regional level: SOS international Office Region (IOR) - Global level: SOS international (IO), project donor and SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit Scope of work The project evaluation assignment will be conducted in Adama and Addis Ababa cities for the consecutive 45 working days accordingly the incumbent consulting company is expected to develop a standardised methodology of evaluation, tools for data collection & analysis and final report on the results of the evaluation. In order to objectively evaluate the results & impacts of the project, the evaluation questions should be revolved around the DAC criteria: Relevance, Effectiveness and Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability, and Project Management and Coordination, as given in the ToR. Based on the above-mentioned evaluation criteria, instruments /questionnaires for the field mission should be prepared for stakeholders. Evaluation issue Key guiding questions Relevance The extent to which the aid activity is suited to the priorities and policies of the target group, recipient and donor. - To what extent was, the project focused on the intended target group? - What were the specific criteria for the selection of beneficiaries - To what extent the project selection criteria was met? - To what extent did the project respond to the needs of the community? - To what extent did the project interventions respond to the needs and priorities of the project participants? - To what extent have the project adjustments made so far been relevant? Effectiveness - To what extent have the project objectives been achieved? - To what extent have the project strategies, methodologies, tools and processes contributed to the achievement of the planned results? - To what extent were the project objectives and activities in compliance with the target group needs? - To what extent were the beneficiaries aware of the project and the services it provided? Did all the targeted beneficiaries receive services by the project? - To what extent were beneficiaries satisfied with the project interventions? - Does the support system built in the target communities effectively respond to the situation of the target group? - To what extent did the SOS Children’s Villages contribute to the capacity building of the public / private partners and main duty bearers to respond to the situation of the target group? - To what extent were the local authorities involved and provided support to the project? Efficiency An economic term, which signifies that the aid uses the least costly resources possible in order to achieve the desired results. - Were activities cost-efficient? - Were objectives achieved on time? - Was the programme or project implemented in the most efficient way compared to alternatives? Impact The positive and negative changes produced by a development intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.   - To what extent has, the quality of support improved the lives of the beneficiaries. - What was the impact against the planned results of the project, in terms of changes brought about in the living circumstances of beneficiaries and communities? - What was the impact beyond the planned results of the project, in terms of changes brought about in the living circumstances of beneficiaries and communities? (positive and/or negative) Sustainability Concept concerned with measuring whether the benefits of an activity are likely to continue after donor funding has been withdrawn. - How many beneficiaries left the project since the beginning and became self-reliant? To what extent are the results, which they have reached sustainable and are the results effective after the beneficiaries leave the project? - To what extent can activities, results and effects be expected to continue after the project financing (BMZ/HGFD) has ended? - Have the capacities of the implementation partner been developed? If so, in what areas and how? Coherence The compatibility of the intervention with other interventions in a country, sector or institution. - How well does the intervention fit? - Is the intervention giving added value? - Do we avoid duplication? - If and how closely policy objectives of actors are aligned with international development goals - Which interests, influence and power do other external actors have? Project management and coordination Evaluation of the role of the project management and coordination in ensuring quality implementation. - To what extent did the project have appropriate management and coordination structures and organisation of the process? Were these structures aimed at the quality of the project implementation? - Which other local implementing partners were involved in the process of management and coordination and how did this affect the quality of implementation?   Methodology to be applied in the evaluation Though the consultant is advised to develop its relevant methodology to evaluate the project, the evaluation should be based on a participatory approach involving and engaging a wide and diverse range of stakeholders. Stakeholders’ participation is necessary for accountability, promoting ownership and sustainability, facilitating buy in, and further use of the evaluation recommendations. According to this, the participatory approach is very useful in engaging stakeholders and gaining their insights, experiences with the programmes and the benefits accrued to them because of the programmes. The evaluation implies the inclusion of various 'rights holders' who benefit from the project, as well as the 'duty bearers' or those responsible and accountable for providing services. This is necessary to assess whether benefits and contributions are fairly distributed by the interventions being evaluated. In general, the evaluation methodology is concentrated on the objective observation, description and explanation of changes that have happened in beneficiaries lives due to their participation in the project. The evaluation approach should be results-oriented to provide evidence of both quantitative and qualitative achievements as well as the outputs and outcomes obtained by the programmes (or not). Hence, both primary and secondary data should be used in the evaluation and be collected from a wide and diverse range of primary and secondary sources. Accordingly, the methodology of the evaluation will include the following: - Document review including analysis on key reference documents; - Qualitative and Quantitative data collection (e.g. through surveys) - Case study of randomly selected beneficiaries files (present and those who exited the project) -  Interviews (structured and/or semi-structured; in person and/or by telephone) with key informants - Focus groups with selected key informants - Other methods relevant to evaluation objectives and scope Process of evaluation The process of the evaluation shall include the standardized  Plan and design data collection methodology and process and agree on site visits within the project areas to meet project participants (children, families, state specialists, project team and project stakeholders), and collect information in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the evaluation design) Other than many others, the data collection process shall include the following major points: - Reviewing the project documentation and other sources of information at project level - Identifying the major stakeholders who are associated with the project to be interviewed - Agreeing on the type of information to be collected - Preparing checklists and other tools for data collection - Developing methodological tools for data collection and consulting with project staff on project/national/continental level - Filling in questionnaires and conducting interviews with co-workers, beneficiaries, representatives of partners, local authorities and the community, focus groups and analysis of data (SWOT Analysis. Data analysis and elaboration of evaluation report: The external evaluator will analyse collected data and will prepare an evaluation report that describes the main findings, recommendations and lessons learned. To this end, the consultant is expected to collect data by using KOBO tool and SPSS/STATA soft wares to analyse quantitative data. Similarly, the consultant is expected to clarify how he/she the how to analyse the qualitative data. Accordingly, the final report should follow the structure and content as outlined in the terms of references. That process step includes: - Analysis of the data and elaboration of conclusions and recommendations - Preparation of a draft report - Presentation of the findings to the respective project staff on local/national and regional/continental level to ensure triangulation - Finalisation of the report after having included the inputs from various stakeholders   Outputs and Deliverables The followings are the key expected deliverables from the consultant - As part of the inception report, the consultant is expected to show its own Evaluation design – contains the evaluation framework; detailed evaluation methodology; work plan and budget and  Developed evaluation tools        - Draft evaluation report – Draft report will be prepared in line with the proposed structure bellow and should be submitted to the national project management, electronically via e-mail, in English, - Final evaluation report - The findings of the external evaluation shall be presented in a written report following the proposed outline in English language. Attachments – Templates of applied evaluation tools (questionnaires; main areas for focus groups etc.). Final evaluation report should be submitted to National director in English, in electronic format.   Tentative timetable The following guiding narrative are recommendable for managing the 45 days of the evaluation process whereas the consulting company can propose its own timetable and discuss in the approval process of the inception report First week: - Hold first meeting with the client, provide orientation on the safeguarding documents and define of the contracted volume of work - Prepare the action plan for the evaluation process indicating the exact dates of visit to the location - Finalise the list of the basic documents to be provided to the evaluation team. If translation is needed, define the documents for translation - Analyse all available basic project documents (BMZ-proposal, reports, BMZ-guidelines, concepts, etc.) Second week: - Develop set of tools (interviews, questionnaires, focus group scenarios etc.) - 2nd meeting with the client and discussion of the methodology and tools to be used during evaluation - Prepare and submit to NO schedule of site visits mentioning all required documents to be prepared in the location. - Develop and finalise in cooperation with the location the visit plan for defined local stakeholders, SOS location workers, stakeholders in the location, beneficiaries in the location. Third and fourth weeks: - Make visit to the project location - Hold meetings with all relevant parties as per the visit plan - Provide and analyse project documents in the location - Analyse all data and prepare the draft report indicating the findings, recommendations, lessons learnt - meeting with the client and discussion of the preliminary results of the evaluation Fifth week: - Prepare the final draft report - Receive feedback for the final draft report from NO and insert in the final draft - Prepare and send final draft to NO Ethical standards  External evaluators should not be biased and have any reason for conflict of interests. The evaluation team must respect the participating communities’ culture, social norms, values and behaviour; and maintain appropriate relationships with participants of this evaluation.   In Addition, SOS-CVE is a child focused Organization and will always uphold the safety and wellbeing of children and young persons as it strives towards creating a better environment for children and their surrounding community. In ensuring this, SOS-CVE will only consider those who are suitable to work with children and young persons. The selected contracting firm will sign in all safeguarding documents- Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, Sexual Misconduct Regulation, Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption Regulation. He/he will sign the declaration to make sure that the people the code of conduct or child protection policy of SOS CVs before the commencement of the work.   Safeguarding - All team members who are engaged in this study/evaluation are expected to attend awareness creation on the safeguarding regulations- code of conduct, Child and Youth Safeguarding Policy, Sexual Misconduct Regulation, Anti-fraud and anti-corruption regulation. - Following the orientation session, the consultant is expected to sign the declaration. -  The consultant is required to submit the FGD, Interview and other assessment tools before implementing on the study.      Job Requirements Expert profile of the Evaluation team The company and person(s) carrying out the project evaluation should have a thorough understanding of the employment & unemployment issues in Ethiopia and experience in related project evaluations. The company and its team members should have at least 5 years of proven competence and experience in conducting project terminal evaluation and social research. Specifically the team members must have a social science background, e.g. MA/higher education in social work, psychology, social-pedagogy, development management, community development, and law is an advantage. In addition, the incumbent consulting team shall include a statement of independence of evaluators in its technical proposal. Specifically, the consulting team must have: - proven competency in monitoring and evaluation, including impact assessment or project evaluation - a social science background - a good understanding of development work - a good understanding of child rights and issues affecting vulnerable children - good facilitation and interpersonal skills - proven experience in participatory processes and data collection methods - strong skills in coordinating teamwork - strong analytical and conceptual skills - excellent written communication skills - ability to transfer complex concepts and ideas into practical and simple language - ideally experience and credibility in providing evaluating services to employment & unemployment related projects The evaluation team should consist of the number of persons, which can be affordable in accordance with the approved evaluation budget. Roles and responsibilities in the team are distributed in accordance with the competence, level of expertise and requirements of the team members. In order to be more time effective, the revision of documents, meetings with the project team, beneficiaries, partners and stakeholders can be carried out simultaneously and divided among evaluation team members. The team leader of the evaluation team is responsible for - Quality and timely fulfilment of the TOR with expected results of the evaluation - Overall evaluation design of the process - Elaborated evaluation plan indicating each step of the process - Effective distribution of the responsibilities among evaluation team members - Quality and timely implementation of the evaluation plan - Effective and quality data collection - Data compilation and analysis aimed at reaching the goal of the evaluation - Preparation and submission of high quality and consistent evaluation report in due course     How to Apply  Application Documents Application for the pre-feasibility study should contain the following information: - Team members of the firm should possess a social science background including: higher education (MA, PhD) in Development Studies, Education, Economics, Psychology, social-pedagogy, development management, Social Work, or related field with at least 5 years of practical experience. - Name and contact details of an individual expert(s) to the evaluation assignment and description of previous experiences - Introduction on the consulting team and its experience relevant to the assignment - Refined terminal evaluation objectives than copying from this ToR - Description of the methodology (including the target groups; description of quantitative and qualitative research methods that will be used; description of sampling and size of sample etc.) - Proposal how the project team will be involved in the study - Description of Product(s) (deliverables) - Time schedule of activities (a time schedule should be prepared for each element of the work plan and of the reporting requirements). - Composition of research team (for each expert proposed, a curriculum vitae, should be submitted along with the proposal.) - An example of a recent/relevant evaluation report - Technical and Financial proposal; both levelled separately and sealed separately - Legally registered firm with renewed license, VAT registration and TIN number Applications should be based on this Terms of Reference and delivered to SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia within seven days (8:00 AM-5:00PM) from the publication of the call for consultancy service through the following address: 1.     SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia, National office             Bole-Atlas Area in front of Mado Hotel,             Tel. Tel.    +251 116 613381 or +251 912 231 869 2.     SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Program Location Sarbrt- at the Back of Bisirategebriel Church Tel. +251113710596 or +251911675690 3.     SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia Technical & Vocational training Collage - BMZ Project Office, Addis Ababa Kaliti Total Area – At the back of KAFDEM Building   Tel. +251113710596