Performance evaluation of the Syria Strengthening Governance Structures Programme

CONTRACT FOR: Performance evaluation of the Syria Strengthening Governance Structures Programme

PURCHASE ORDER NUMBER: 7629

OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the performance of the SGS programme throughout its lifecycle and to better understand what outcomes (both intended and unintended) the SGS programme is contributing to. The findings will help to inform future programming decisions in DFID’s Syria Team and across the Syria CSSF. The evaluation should also assess which contextual variables appear to facilitate or prevent progress towards achieving project outcomes.

In order to make informed decisions listed under the purpose section, the evaluation has four objectives:
a. To track progress of the SGS programme against its stated objectives at outcome level, and broader DAC criteria, where relevant.
b. To assess if there is evidence of any unintended consequences of the SGS programme within the communities it operates.
c. To improve understanding around which elements of the intervention work well and why. To understand which elements of the intervention fail to fully deliver and why.
d. To improve understanding around the external context in which programme delivery is successful. To understand the external context in which the programme fails to fully deliver.

Short description of the contract or purchases(s):
This is an exciting opportunity to develop an innovative methodology/design to address the significant challenges of evaluating
programme outcomes in the changing and challenging context of Syria. The SGS programme will be implemented in moderate-controlled and contested areas of Syria. It will strengthen provincial and local governance structures with a view to providing effective services to Syrians. The programme’s inception phase is due to start in October, 2016. The inception phase for the evaluation of SGS should run simultaneously. DFID would like the evaluation team to collect some baseline data to inform the evaluation early in the programme’s implementation phase and expects this will be the first of four data collection cycles in the evaluation’s lifecycle. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the performance of the programme throughout its lifecycle and to better understand what outcomes (both intended and unintended) the SGS programme is contributing to. The findings will help to inform future programming decisions across the Syria CSSF. The evaluation should also assess which contextual variables appear to facilitate or prevent progress towards achieving project outcomes. At the end of each implementation year the programme should therefore aim to make some summative conclusions about the completed phases. It is likely that the programme will have to adapt to a changing context over its lifecycle meaning that expectations around achievement of outcomes and the theory of change may also change. The evaluation design should therefore be sufficiently flexible to reflect potential changes. The evaluation will take a theory-based approach and given the significant challenges of collecting robust quantitative data in Syria should largely comprise qualitative methods. Draft evaluation questions based on the
programme’s draft theory of change are available in the terms of reference, but will be refined during the evaluation’s inception phase. As the evaluation team requires significant experiencein the design and implementation of high-quality evaluations and the development of innovative, robust methods, as well as an ability to conduct to high-quality research in Syria, it may be appropriate for suppliers to form consortia to bid for this contract.