Terms of Reference for the evaluation of PCC project “Psycho-social health for Palestinian families in the West Bank and East Jerusalem”
1. Introduction
The Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC) is a non-governmental organization that was established in East Jerusalem in 1983, with the aim of developing and improving mental health concepts and services in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) at a time when these services were absent. The PCC started intervening at the primary intervention level concentrating its efforts in raising the community’s awareness to the importance of counseling as a form of effective therapy for various psycho-social problems. The PCC then moved to intervene at the secondary level by placing and supervising psychologists, counselors and social workers in schools and primary health clinics. Over the years, the PCC expanded its work through 5 offices in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus, and Qalqilya, and developed a holistic approach to mental health with four-interrelated strategies: 1) provision of psychological therapy to individuals and groups suffering from mental health problems and disorders; 2) provision of prevention programs, predominantly targeting women, youth and children with the aim of preventing the development of mental health problems and advancing gender justice; 3) provision of capacity building programs to individuals and organizations working in mental health to improve the quality of mental health services; 4) lobby and advocacy aimed at influencing positive change of legislations, policies and procedures for improved mental health. The PCC employs 45 staff members and serves over 15,000 direct beneficiaries.
Subject of the evaluation:
The PCC is implementing the project titled “Psycho-social health for Palestinian families in the West Bank and East Jerusalem” from 1st, Jan 2018-3oth June, 2020. This project is a continuation of programs that have been executed throughout the PCC’s 4 main departments: The Clinical department, the Prevention department, the Capacity Building department, and the Advocacy department. Activities up to this point have been implemented in accordance with the PCC’s strategic plan for the years 2010-2014, as well as 2016-2020.
The aim of the project is “to improve productivity through enhanced mental wellbeing of children, youth, adults and groups in Palestinian society”.
Project objectives:
1. The mental wellbeing of children, youth, and adults is improved through receiving psycho-social services in prevention and therapy.
2. The capacities of individuals and organizations operating in the field of mental health are improved.
3. PCC’s emergency preparedness and response plans are updated and operational.
Target Groups:
Final Beneficiaries (direct): 24.373 persons
The PCC provides its service directly to Palestinians suffering from or at risk of suffering psychological problems and disorders and their families all across the West Bank, The beneficiaries also include mental health practitioner who receive capacity building to provide quality services to Palestinians.
• Children and youth: Total of 17,065 beneficiaries
Clinical component:
These are groups who suffer from psychological problems and require clinical support. They are either referred to the PCC by Palestinian ministries, other CSOs, or reach out to the PCC directly.
- 1300 children and youth between the ages of 5– 18 who come from varying socio-economic situations and who suffer from psychological problems and disorders in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Nablus.
- 500 children with learning disabilities in Jerusalem and Nablus.
Prevention component:
These are groups that are affected by current conditions and that do not have access to information. In general, but not always, these children and adolescents come from families with scarce financial resources.
- 600 children for child-protection component in Jerusalem, Nablus, Azzoun, and Area C including: Children (6-14) who are in need of protection, are at risk of child labour, and lack awareness of sexual and reproductive health rights.
- 4, 125 children through recreational activities in Jerusalem, Nablus, Azzoun, and Area C.
- 10,000 children through various educational forums all across the occupied Palestinian territories.
- 240 youth at risk through empowerment groups in Nablus and Jerusalem including; youth (15-22) who are at risk of violence, drug abuse and suffer from identity problems.
- 300 youth at risk through workshops and consultations in Nablus and Jerusalem.
• Adults: Total of 7308 beneficiaries
Clinical component:
- 150 parents of children with special needs in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Nablus.
- 375 parents of youth in counselling who receive consultations regarding their children.
- 425 adults between the ages of 19 - 60 who come from varying socio-economic situations and who suffer from psychological problems and disorders.
- 750 adults who receive individual consultations.
- 250 chronically mentally ill adults between the ages of 25 – 50 in the Qalqilya district.
- 500 community members through awareness-raising workshops in the Qalqilya district.
Prevention component:
- 500 parents and community members (leaders, school principals, teachers, and activists) targeted to provide support to youth and children involved in PCC programs.
- 230 women living in marginalized areas that are in need of empowerment in Jerusalem, Nablus, and Area C.
- 2,740 women benefitting from community initiatives, workshops, and lectures in Jerusalem, Nablus, and Area C.
- 125 men that could provide women with support, with the aim of changing the attitudes of men towards gender roles.
Capacity building component:
- 125 university students and graduates (both men and women equally) majoring in psychology, social work, and education (internship/practicum).
- 125 university undergraduate volunteers, men and women equally (as trainees in the child protection and youth empowerment programs).
- 12 public schools in Jerusalem
- At least 7 NGOs, GOs and charitable societies working in mental health and education and reach the wider population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (work in cities, refugee camps and villages).
- 1000 mental health professionals and workers providing clinical services.
- The Child Protection Network in Jerusalem
Emergency preparedness & intervention component:
- 25 individuals from the Emergency Response Team
- 20 CBOs and 12 public schools in Jerusalem and and 12 public schools in the West Bank benefitting from capacity building on emergency response.
Final Beneficiaries (indirect):
1. Wider families of clients with psychological disorders
2. Family, peers of children and youth at risk
3. General population touched by integration of mental health models in CBO’s and NGOs.
4. Families that are under imminent threat of displacement in the Jerusalem area.
Other stakeholders relevant to the evaluation:
- Palestinian line ministries such as: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Ministry of Social Development, etc. Community Based Organizations such as: Madaa Creative Center, Al-Tur Women’s Center, Qalandia Child Center, One Hand, Douma Youth Club, etc. Donors such as: Diakonia, Finn Church Aid, Oxfam, UN Women, War Child, etc. Networks such as: Palestinian NGO Network, The National Committee to Combat Violence Against Women (Al-Muntada), The MoSD Child Protection Network, the Protection Cluster, MHPSS Cluster, GBV sub-cluster, Arab Resource Collective (ARC), etc.
The most recent evaluation of the PCC’s programmes took place in 2015 at the end of the previous strategic plan.
2. Cause and objective of the evaluation
This is a mandatory project evaluation required by Bread for The World.
The aim of the evaluation is to assess beneficiaries’ level of satisfaction with our services, as well as assessing the quality of services provided in addition to the efficacy of the methods used to the main target beneficiaries at the PCC.
The results will be used for future programming. The findings and recommendations will be used to guide the organization in improving the quality of services provided to beneficiaries, future programming, and to amend on-going interventions (implementation plans) to increase efficiency and effectiveness, guide future strategic planning.
The results will primarily be used by the PCC: (general assembly, BoD, executive staff) andBread for the World, as well as other partner organizations and other donors.
The PCC has conducted several previous external evaluations that assessed whether the main strategies were in line with the needs of the main beneficiaries, and determined whether the structure of the organization was flexible enough to accommodate for the changing nature of our work and civil society interventions in Palestine in general.
This evaluation aims to complement the previous findings to determine the level of satisfaction of beneficiaries with these services.
3. Key questions
The final report must answer the following questions:
Relevance
- To what extent are the objectives of the project still valid?
- Are the beneficiaries of the project satisfied with the services received from PCC?
- Do partner organizations view PCC’s work as relevant to the needs of the main target beneficiaries?
- Was the project flexible in addressing emerging needs and responding to emergency situations?
Effectiveness
- To what extent is the project producing worthwhile results and/or meeting each of its objectives?
- What have been the most effective methodologies in dealing with women and specifically women victims of GBV? How can they be improved?
Efficiency
- Are the activities being implemented in the most cost effective way?
- Were the project funds appropriately allocated to account for unexpected emergencies?
Impact
- How has the project contributed to improving the productivity of the target beneficiaries?
- Have there been any unexpected positive\negative outcomes related to the project?
- Does the PCC sufficiently measure impact with beneficiaries in the long-term?
Sustainability
- To what extent did the PCC take necessary measures to ensure the sustainability of the organization? What more can be done?
- Has the PCC been able to transfer its methodologies to CBOs in marginalized communities?
4. Evaluation design/methods
It’s important for the consultant to clarify the sampling of the beneficiaries and evaluation tools (qualitative and quantitative) to be used. It is recommended to include case studies as one of the qualitative evaluation methods for the services provided. (qualitative) It is also recommended to include a survey of a representative sample of the beneficiaries (quantitative)to assess their satisfaction with the PCC’s services.
The evaluation should target: main beneficiaries of clinical services, prevention services, and capacity building (CBOs, interns, volunteers, NGOS).
5. Process of the evaluation/time frame
The evaluation should cover the project’s implementation from 1st, Jan 2018-30th, June 2019.
Expected timeframe:
- 19\10\2019: Deadline for submission of offers.
- 28\10\2019: Contracting of consultant.
- 10\11\2019: Submission of inception report.
- 10\11\2019-18\12\2019: Field work.
- 19\12\2019: Presentation of the draft evaluation report (during the workshop if you decide to hold such)
- 10\01\2019: Submission of the final evaluation report.
6. Expected products/Deliverables
Evaluators are expected to submit the following in English:
- Inception report: An inception report must be prepared by the evaluators before going into the technical mission and full data collection stage. It must detail the evaluators’ understanding of what is being evaluated and why, showing how each evaluation question will be answered by way of: proposed methods, proposed sources of data and data collection/analysis procedures. The inception report must include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables, designating a team member with the lead responsibility for each task or product. The structure must be in line with the suggested structure of the annex of TOR.
- Draft evaluation report: Evaluators must submit draft report for review and comments by all parties involved. The report needs to meet the minimum requirements specified in the annex of TOR. The grantee and key stakeholders in the evaluation must review the draft evaluation report to ensure that the evaluation meets the required quality criteria.
- A workshop to present the main findings and recommendations to the contracting party and main stakeholders for feedback.
- Final report: Relevant comments from key stakeholders must be well integrated in the final version, and the final report must meet the minimum requirements specified in the annex of TOR. The report must be provided in English with a minimum of 40 pages.
7. Key qualifications of the evaluators
1) At least 5 years of experience in conducting external evaluations, with mixed-methods evaluation skills and having flexibility in using non-traditional and innovative evaluation methods.
2) The evaluation team must include one or more of the following:
a) Specialist in psychological counseling\ clinical therapy:
- Master’s degree in psychology or social work.
- At least 5 years of experience in a relevant field.
b) Specialist in community work:
- Master’s degree in a social sciences field
- At least 5 years of experience in community work.
c) Specialist in project cycle management and logical framework approach:
- Extensive knowledge of project cycle management and logical framework approach.
- Practical experience in utilizing PCM and LFA in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development projects and programmes.
3) The evaluator must have access to Jerusalem.
4) fluency in English and Arabic is mandatory.
5) A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e. credible evaluation and its report that can be used.
8. Content of the evaluator’s offer
• CVs of all evaluators involved
• Technical/specific proposal: Short explanation and justification of the methods to be deployed.
• Financial proposal:
- Complete cost estimate that includes both, the fee as well as any ancillary costs to be incurred, such as transport, accommodation, taxes, fees and costs of workshops in the scope of the evaluation etc.
• Technical and financial proposals should be submitted in one e-mail to the following e-mail address: [email protected], cc: [email protected] by 19\10\2019.