Terms of Reference short-term consultancy: Development of the Mid-Term Review of the Love Alliance

Aidsfonds, on behalf of the Love Alliance, is seeking an external, independent evaluator for developing and implementing the mid-term review (MTR) of the partnership according to the Terms of Reference described below.

Application deadline: 31 January 2023

Timeline: 15 March 2023 – 30 September 2023

Budget: €130.000

The Love Alliance is an advocacy partnership formed by regional thought leaders GALZ, SANPUD and Sisonke, regional grantmakers UHAI EASHRI, ISDAO, ARASA, and the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and Netherlands-based administrative lead Aidsfonds. The Love Alliance is based on an unwavering commitment to protecting, promoting and fulfilling sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally. The partnership occupies a critical space in promoting Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, unifying people who use drugs (PWUD), sex workers and LGBTIQ+ movements, including people living with HIV and youth across them. The Love Alliance amplifies the diversity of voices in these communities and intends to act as a platform for sustainable change.

For this assignment, the Love Alliance expects to (1) have an assessment about its effectiveness and impact during the first 2,5 years of implementation as well as (2) provide recommendations for the remainder of the project duration. The review will assess – through the lens of its partners, communities and other actors involved – the relevance, contribution and attribution of the change generated by our joint work. The analysis must be in line with the cultural, environmental and political contexts in which the Alliance works. Moreover, the MTR will provide input for:

• Lessons learnt and areas of improvement based on the past 2.5 years for the Alliance,
• Highlight the impact on communities and partners,
• Governance areas that need strengthening for the remainder of the project duration,
• Future recommendations towards better intersectionality between alliance themes,
• Recommendations on enhancing accountability towards communities of the Love Alliance and the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs,
• Recommendations about sustainability for the Love Alliance partners beyond 2025.

Aidsfonds
Aidsfonds – Soa Aids Nederland is a Dutch non-profit organisation that also works internationally. Working with communities as equals is at the heart of all Aidsfonds’ work. The organisation strives for a world where there are no longer any deaths from AIDS and where people enjoy good sexual health. A world in which everyone can love freely and without fear. Aidsfonds also conducts research and ensures that HIV, AIDS and STIs remain high on the agenda worldwide, implementing a collaborative approach with communities to tackle power and gender inequalities. For more information see: www.aidsfonds.org

Aidsfonds is the administrative lead agency of the Love Alliance consortium. The administrative lead is responsible for monitoring the progress of the implementation of the full programme proposal, for financial management of the programme, and for reporting to the funder, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Love Alliance
The Love Alliance is an advocacy partnership that invests in addressing structural barriers of its communities[1] to SRHR, such as gender inequality, criminalisation, funding gaps, and access to health and justice. The partnership is active in 10 countries across Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt and Morocco[2]), and additional advocacy work is also carried out at global and (sub) regional levels.

The Alliance’s change is created from the lived experiences and expertise of community-led organisations and their constituencies to concentrate power in stronger and more aligned networks. In working towards this change, the Love Alliance primary strategy is advocacy. Advocacy is a channel to achieve the Alliance’s priorities on: i. strengthening the advocacy and lobbying capacity of partners; ii. protecting and expanding their civic space; and iii. equal access to health by advocating for resilient and sustainable systems.

The Theory of Change -ToC- guides the partnership’s interventions and includes the strategies, outcomes and goals the Love Alliance is striving to achieve during the period 2021-2025. The review is expected to use the ToC as a tool to identify the causes of systemic change needed for communities to access services, funding and a violence-free environment. The ToC of the Love Alliance can be found as an Annex to this document.

The Love Alliance is guided by a participatory approach where communities are meaningfully represented in decision-making structures. Grantmaking is done through shared decision-making that seeks to ensure an inclusive and gender transformative process. This also guarantees that efforts of the Alliance are well in line with communities’ needs.

Accordingly, the MTR process is expected to follow a participatory review of the programme which includes meaningful involvement of the communities and national advocacy partners as active players in the review steps. The review is planned to involve local consultants, partners and communities who will sharpen their strategic direction and operational guidelines for the upcoming years.

What do we expect to achieve through our MTR?

The MTR will provide an opportunity for partners[3] to assess programme implementation, make programmatic adjustments, and define the best way forward for the remaining years to sharpen our strategic direction.

Geographical scope: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, regional and global interventions[4]

The successful applicant will address four overarching questions that will serve as a reference when examining the specific objectives mentioned in the next section:

1. To what extent is the Alliance on the right track to achieve its results as determined by the indicators and targets (output and outcome).
2. How has the partnership’s governance influenced on meeting the needs of the communities represented by the Alliance as stated in the proposal, strategies and annual plans?
3. What modifications and learnings are needed to maximise the impact of the Love Alliance for 2024-2025 and beyond?
4. How are the crosscutting themes such as youth, gender, innovation, powershift, climate change and ownership integrated into the work of the Love Alliance?

The MTR will be conducted in line with the learning needs of the partners and the requirements of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, the MTR will focus both on the implementation of activities at the country, regional and global levels, as well as on the internal processes of the partnership, for instance, collaboration between partners, structure of the partnership, mandates, working groups and other governance systems, with a special attention to power dynamics. The diversity of interactions between partners and locations will require the analysis of the connections generated by the advocacy loop around national, regional and global priorities.

Focus and goals per area

One of the main goals of the Love Alliance is the connection of its advocacy loop. This entails the linkages on agreements, communication and advocacy efforts between the global, regional and country levels. To be able to develop a significant MTR for the Alliance, objectives have been determined to provide an overview of the expected findings at each level and including the evaluation of the partnership functionality. These are:

Partnership level

• To assess the functionality of the Theory of Change for the Love Alliance in meeting the needs of the communities after 2,5 years of implementation, including the assumptions underlying it.
• To identify best practices and strengths in relation to the programme’s implementation (the extent of the culture of learning being practised within the Alliance, including cross-learning and collaborations between partners and the communities).
• To reflect on the challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for improvement that inform the programme on strategic adjustments for the period 2024-2025.
• To assess how the Alliance’s governance (including key principles and decision making structures) affects the implementation of the programme, partners and achievements of goals of the ToC (overall performance). The analysis should at least cover and inform:
  • Allocation of funds for period 2024-2025
  • Sustainability of the activities beyond 2025
  • Collaboration between different actors involved in the partnership, e.g. MoFA, institutes, advocacy partners, etc.
• To provide recommendations to amplify and generate a long-lasting impact for the remaining period and beyond.
• To analyse the effectiveness of the partnership to incorporate the intersectionality of gender, power dynamics, community participation in the implementation of the activities at national, regional and global levels.
• To identify recommendations for improvements on how to properly measure the progress and impact of the Love Alliance’s activities.
• To determine the values for the outcome indicators (5 indicators) linked to the Strengthening Civil Society and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights thematic areas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Country level

• To provide insights to Alliance partners working in the country for adjusting plans and decision-making based on the identification of lessons learned, challenges, successes, opportunities and what went wrong.
• To develop a detailed overview of the contextual changes (preferably following the PESTLEGP[5] approach).
• To provide recommendation on mitigation regarding risks that the Love Alliance faces because of the political, economic, cultural, and legal environments in which the partnership operates (including sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, fraud and corruption).
• To evaluate the country’s progress and gaps based on the results to date, priorities, goals and targets. The baseline developed by the Love Alliance will be shared with the evaluator.
• To assess how the country movements are contributing to the implementation of the Love Alliance ToC.
• To provide recommendations for adjusting the 5-years country targets as needed.
• To provide insights to Alliance partners working in the country for adjusting plans and decision-making based on the identification of: lessons learned, challenges, successes, opportunities, what went wrong, sustainability of results after 2025.
• To assess the extent in which the participatory approach (e.g. participatory grant-making or decision-making) serves the communities taking into account their needs and advocacy priorities (how the Love Alliance is responsive to people who use drugs, sex workers, LGBTIQ+, and people living with HIV).
• To assess and analyse the productivity of joint work with Embassies considering the different partnerships collaborating in similar initiatives.
• To provide insight on how intra-regional synergies between countries can be improved for stronger advocacy and enhanced sharing of knowledge.

Global and regional level

• To identify areas of intersection and improvement for the Alliance partners working at the sub-regional and global level based on the identification of lessons learned, challenges, successes, opportunities and improvement areas.
• To assess the extent in which the coordination, implementation and result tracking of the global advocacy strategy is achieving its goals.
• To provide recommendations for global strategies and decision making approaches within the Love Alliance for 2024-2025.
• To Provide insight on the most impactful allocation of funds to inform the ministry’s decision making for the continuation of the Alliance.
• To provide insight on the journey of advocacy within the Love Alliance and how it can be improved.

Methodologies and external data sources

Coordination and first steps

The evaluator will receive the support of Alliance partners to coordinate and access information at all levels as needed. The PMEL officer and working group will be the main channel of communication between the evaluator and the Love Alliance to facilitate data collection, review of findings and linkages between recipients of grants, strategic partners and any other actors taking part in the Love Alliance.

The MTR is planned to follow the participatory approach in which the Love Alliance is established. The process is envisioned to have a thorough engagement of communities to define whether the mechanisms used in the Love Alliance are offering the tools, knowledge and support to reach the goals as stated in the Theory of Change.

The final plan that will guide the MTR will be revised by all participating parties before the actual implementation. In order to comply with this, the PMEL WG will hold meetings and support to clarify questions, provide information, and other materials. An initial meeting will be planned with Alliance partners to present the mid-term review plans for countries, regions and the global levels. The evaluator will define, together with the PMEL working group, the best methodology to develop and facilitate this meeting. The meeting will collect insights from Alliance partners to check if additional requirements or questions should be included in the MTR. After the validation meeting, the plan will be approved to start its implementation.

Implementation

Considering challenges that could be faced around travel restrictions or context-specific situations, the Love Alliance recommends the evaluator to collaborate with local consultants, local research teams or representatives from the Alliance partners who have availability and experience to carry out the activities of the MTR. This will also foster ownership, inclusion and engagement of communities. Any team, local consultant or collaborator should be selected in close coordination and in agreement with the PMEL working group and the MTR Supervisory team.

Methodology

We expect the evaluator to use mixed methodologies between qualitative and quantitative methods. The review will include standard methods such as interviews, focal group discussions, surveys, desk study, amongst others. These will be complementary to gathering comprehensive data. However, a significant focus is given to methodologies that are more suitable to evaluate effectiveness in the operations of the Love Alliance. Therefore, there is a preference for the successful applicant to consider methods like realistic evaluation, process tracing or contribution analysis. More information about these methodologies can be found in the paper White, H., & Phillips, D. (2012).

The definite methodology that will be used to evaluate the attribution and contribution of the Love Alliance to changes will be agreed upon in the inception meeting based on the analysis of the current information and the experience of the consultant in the application of the methods.

As part of the MTR, the consultant will conduct consultations at a country, regional and global level to review the findings, recommendations and fill in some gaps from the previous activities. The consultant will lead the workshops and enable the engagement of the communities to capture the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the Love Alliance. Through reflection and opening learning spaces for local advocacy partners, the mid-term will contribute to strengthening the work of the programme.

Who is the audience of the MTR?

As mentioned above, the MTR will inform diverse actors in the Alliance to make decisions about plans, adjustments and learning for the remaining period of the programme. Thus, the key audience will be:

• Alliance partners. Findings and recommendations will be utilised by the different partners of the alliance to strategise together and reflect on lessons learned.
• Local, regional and global advocacy partners. Insights will ensure that local partners are knowledgeable about the progress of the partnership and assess if their needs are met through the mechanisms in place (accountability).
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. As the donor to the partnership. Findings will inform the reporting towards them and may inform their new partnership cycle.

Deliverables

The evaluator is expected to deliver the following:

1. Inception meeting. The plan for the MTR will be reviewed by Alliance partners.
2. Detailed methodology. Including the methodology for FGD, country meetings and the overall implementation of the review. (max 4 pages)
3. In-country workshops/meetings (online or face-to-face depending on the availability) developed with local advocacy partners in each country, and at the regional and global levels.
4. Draft finding report. Including the implementation of methodology and tools tailored to the purpose of the MTR, analysis of cross cutting themes, answer to the research questions, recommendations and cover the areas described in the ToRs.[6] (max 40 pages)
5. At least one case study per country and one at the regional level. Presenting the progress on the outcomes and identifying lessons learned and opportunities for scale-up. (max 2 pages per case study)
6. Final MTR report. The report that includes the summary of findings, discussion (including limitation and biases), analysis and data gathered (max. 40 pages excluding annexes). Annexes include at least adjusted indicators, ToC and targets
7. One reflection workshop for validation of info and share with recommendations. A set of recommendations to inform the strategic direction of the programme, including recommendations for programming per country, co-decision making in the programme, sustainability of the programme and on increasing programme impact on the cross-cutting themes and stakeholder engagement.
8. Creative products. Development of communication products that can be used to share the findings of the evaluation in a friendly manner.

*Most of the deliverables require a constant level of engagement with country partners, alliance partner, actors directly and indirectly engaged in the partnership, AAC, working groups, Board, amongst other key players.

Timeline

• March-April:
  • Familiarise with the Love Alliance’s structures, goals, partners, mechanisms and processes, including interviews with Alliance partners.
  • Inception meeting.
• April:
  • Analysis of existing reports, plans and documentation.
  • Detailed methodology. Including the methodology for FGD, country meetings and the overall implementation of the review.
• April-August:
  • Coordination of workshops to gather data, review previous findings and fill in gaps of information.
  • Eight in-country workshops/meetings developed with local advocacy partners in each country, and at the regional and global levels.
• May
  • Analysis of annual reports 2022 and last cycle of data collection
  • Update meeting
• July-August
  • Presenting the progress on the outcomes and identifying lessons learned and opportunities for scale-up.
  • At least one case study per country and one at the regional/global level.
• Mid-August
  • Summarising data to define conclusions, recommendations and results.
  • Deliverable 1: Draft findings report
• End-August
  • Defining a set of recommendations to inform the strategic direction of the programme, including recommendations for programming.
  • Deliverable 2: One reflection workshop for validation of info and share with recommendations.
• September
  • Review and validation of findings with partners and stakeholders involved.
  • Deliverable 3: Final MTR report (maximum 50 pages excluding annexes).
  • Deliverable 4: Material for Creative Products

Profile of the consultant/consultancy firm/institute

We are looking for an enthusiastic, skilled and flexible consultant (or a single consortioum of consultants) with MEL expertise and excellent coordination skills. The consultant should be familiar with working with key populations (including LGBTQI people, sex workers, People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) and People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and have previous experience of developing MEL for scopes of work focussed on advocacy and grant-making. Consortiums between Global North and South consultants/teams/experts is highly recommended.

Requirements include:

• Has an advanced university degree in Social Sciences, International Public Health, Policy analysis or related field, or similar experiences;
• Expertise in monitoring and evaluation, in particular in Theory of Change processes, international level advocacy programmes and grant making at an alliance multi-country and global programme level;
• Experience with programmes and partnerships funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular advocacy programmes;
• Strong coordination and analytical skills;
• Experience with working with international (I)NGOs representing key population communities;
• Experience with participatory (research or monitoring and evaluation) assessment methodologies;
• Is fluent in English and has proven native-level writing skills. In addition, Working professions of French and Portuguese are highly recommended.
• Preferably from one of the Love Alliance countries.

[1] LGBTIQ+ people, sex workers, people who use drugs (PWUD) and people living with HIV (PLHIV)

[2] The implementation in Egypt and Morocoo will only start in 2023, therefore these two countries will not be included in the scope of the MTR

[3] Thought Leaders, Grant-makers, Global Advocacy partners, recipients of grants, embassies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

[4]The Northern African region is not included as implementation in Egypt and Morocco will only start in 2023

[5] Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal, Environmental, Governance, Pandemics.

[6] The proposed format is included in the attachments

How to apply

You can apply by sending your proposal before Tuesday, 31 January 2023 to Rami Sharaf ([email protected]) and Naroesha Jagessar ([email protected]). Please send the proposal taking into account that it does not exceed 6-7 pages. The proposal should include at least the following:

• Your experience and background that shows the suitability with this assignment. Please include previous experience with evaluations of advocacy programmes, participatory approaches, gender-transformative advocacy, multi-country and global programme level and national and international policies. Attach links to examples of recent evaluations with your application;
• Your preliminary approach and vision for the development of the assignment, including how to ensure ownership and a good coordination and collaboration with Alliance partners, local advocacy partners and other stakeholders;
• Your understanding of each of the key questions, and a brief description of the methodologies that would be used to address these questions.
• Your ideas on how to make the review a participatory process, including the feedback and revision process; and
• A clear identification of the lead researcher and any additional key personnel connected with your application, their proposed roles and time investments in the mid-term review. Include the description of all named key members of the research team and their C.V.’s
• An initial budget proposal, including the number of days you would spend on the assignment and daily fees (please take into account that the budget should cover your country taxes, all travel, sub-contracts, convenings, coordination, as well as global and in-country costs, such as hiring other local research teams/consultants in the country to reduce traveling). The proposal that will be selected will provide an appropriate balance between the quality and the costs of the evaluation.

The Love Alliance is looking for a consultant who is available to start in March 2022 as described in the timeline above. An adjusted timeline with milestones based on the discussion with partners will be developed in close consultation with the consultant.

The payments’ frequency will be negotiated based on the deliverables with the consultant and will be included in the contract.

For questions and more information about the assignment please contact Rami Sharaf ([email protected]).