Consultancy service for End of Project Evaluation of the Human Trafficking Prevention for Women and Girls in Dien Bien Province Project

Globally, East Asia is one of the hotspots of human trafficking and Viet Nam has been recognized as a country in which women’s low status and poverty often induce them to move to other places. According to the report written by the Department of Social Vice and Prevention in the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), in 2017, 2,596 cases of human trafficking were confirmed in Vietnam during the 18 month period November 16, 2014 to May 15, 2016. The overwhelming majority of these cases were female (2,516 or 96.92%). Many of the victims live in mountainous areas on the northern border with China. One of these areas is Dien Bien Province, which is known as a high-risk province for human trafficking. Dien Bien is also ranked as one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. It is for this reason that the project target areas are in Tuan Giao and Muong Cha districts in Dien Bien province.

The Human Trafficking Prevention for Women and Girls (HTPWG) in Dien Bien Province Project funded by Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has the overall objective of “Women and girls aged 12 to 30 in Tuan Giao and Muong Cha districts, Dien Bien Province, are empowered to reduce the risks of human trafficking and violence against women and children (VAWC)”. The project started date was April 1, 2020, and project end date is February, 28, 2023 This project was approved by Dien Bien province people’s committee at decision No. 441/QD-UBND dated on May 15th 2020 in which, the Women’s at district level and the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) are a main actors in implementing.

The project will focus on empowering ethnic minority women and girls in order to prevent VAWC and Trafficking in Persons (TIP). It aims to achieve this by helping to improve their economic situation and by promoting women and girls-led social activities as well as an effective administrative framework for prevention against VAWC and human trafficking.

The project consists of 4 outcomes:
(1) Women (18-30 years old) are empowered to protect themselves and their peers the risks of VAWC/TIP through participating in activities and meeting together at community centres.
(2) Girls (12-17 years old) are empowered to protect themselves and peers the risks of VAC/TIP through participating in activities.
(3) Women/girls are empowered through strengthening their economic status.
(4) Communities are empowered to provide safe environment for women and girls VAWC/TIP.

The total number of the direct beneficiaries is 1,221 girls and 1,862 women living in the target 4 communes consisting of 21 villages in Tuan Giao and 3 communes consisting 18 villages in Muong Cha district. The number of indirect beneficiaries are 131,583 inhabitants in these 2 districts. Majority of both direct and indirect beneficiaries is Thai people in Tuan Giao while those is H’mong people in Muong Cha.

1.    Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation
1.1    Purpose
•    To evaluate the level of accomplishment, effectiveness and sustainability of the project interventions according to project objectives and indicators.
•    To help WVI-Vietnam and local partners to draw lessons learnt and provide them with practical recommendations for improving future interventions.

1.2    Specific Objectives
•    Project Achievements: How far have project goals been achieved? How have families, communities and child protection systems changed to protect and care for girls and women trafficking, abuse, neglect, exploitation and all forms of violence?
•    Project Effectiveness: Did the small and medium goals contribute to the higher goals? Were there any unexpected results? Was the project appropriate for the local context?
•    Project sustainability: Project strategies to enhance sustainability, and sustainability assessment is conducted in five areas: (1) community ownership; (2) partnering; (3) transformed relationships; (4) household and family resilience; and (5) advocacy at local and national levels. Also identify good practices to share.
•    Project Equity: Evaluate project inclusion of the most vulnerable children and women, and integration of gender equity in the project.
•    Provide actionable recommendations based on the evaluation findings, particularly on an exit strategy and sustainability measure.
 

1.    Consultant’s Scope of Work
•    In coordination with WVI-Vietnam, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:
•    Review relevant project documents;
•    Evaluation plan: The plan should entail a detailed technical proposal and timeline. In relation to the evaluation, the report should at least outline and explain methods, including the survey team members’ roles, key informant/ stakeholder analysis, the data collection process (e.g. Data collection matrix sampling method, data collection tools and methodology, research setup, survey schedule etc.) and data analysis (e.g. the software that will be used, if any, and any limitations in the use of that software). The consultant is encouraged to add additional subsections to the report. The report will be reviewed and approved by World Vision.
•    Conduct field testing for the data collection tools;
•    Provide training for field data collectors, including ethical and gender aspects and covering protocols/guidelines to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of interviewees;
•    Supervise the data collection process in the field, applying relevant methods of quality control;
•    Analyse the quantitative and qualitative data, explicitly indicating the gender, ethnicity and disability features;
•    Support to organize a validation workshop to share the initial findings to attain comments/feedbacks on the draft report;
•    Complete the final report, taking account the comments and feedbacks WVV and partners and send a revised report to the project team for final review;
•    Prepare a presentation of the endline findings for a dissemination workshop.

2.    Deliverables
•    An inception report in English
•    A training agenda for the data collection team
•    First draft report in English 
•    A presentation of findings to World Vision and key stakeholders in a review and feedback meeting. Feedback obtained in the presentation should be incorporated in the final report.
•    Final report in English and Vietnamese: The final report should incorporate all feedback on the draft report and comments made after the presentation of findings.   
•    Presentation of findings and recommendations final report: The consultant will join the dissemination workshop to present findings and recommendations endline evaluation.
•    At the end of the consultancy, the consultant team is expected to share all data sets and related documents with WVI-Vietnam.

3.    Timeframe
The consultancy is expected to commence on November 15, 2022. The final evaluation report is to be submitted no later than January, 15 2023.

4.    Consultant Application Guidelines
Interested candidates will be asked to send an application package in English containing:
•    Curriculum Vitae for all the consultants and proposed capacity of any complementary staff (CVs submitted should of staff that will be on this assignment).
•    An expression of interest letter of no more than 4 pages, outlining how a consultant/ a team of consultants meets the selection criteria.
•    A proposal for the evaluation, including proposed approaches, outlined timeframe, frameworks and detailed methodologies, sample size, logistics, and personnel.
•    Two sample reports of external, independent project endline reports done by the consultant on child protection.
•    A financial proposal that indicates the fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs. The offer must ensure that costs consists of consultant fees (meals and tax included).

(Please see more details in Terms of Reference)

The successful consultant should have the following qualifications to effectively carry out the final endline:
•    A post-graduate degree in social science or a related field and at least 5 years’ experience in conducting external endline (preferably including evaluations on child protection). He/she should have experience/skills in using quantitative and qualitative methods, and in leading the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data on child protection.
•    Strong professional experience in planning, design, management, M&E of development projects is preferred.
•    Strong knowledge and understanding of gender equality, VAWG & TIP, especially with women & girls in Dien Bien context.
•    Knowledge and understanding of the H’Mong and Thai ethnic minority groups as well as social issues in rural northern Vietnam, particularly, Dien Bien Province.
•    Able to work with project staff and stakeholders at different levels.
•    A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results.
•    Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Vietnamese (in case of a consultant team, at least one team member must fulfill this criterion).