Organisation: Fondacija Krila nade/Foundation Wings of Hope
Place: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Evaluation period: max. 20 days from end-November to end-February 2023
Mandated by: cfd – the Feminist Peace Organisation
- Information on the mandating organisation: cfd
The Swiss NGO cfd – The Feminist Peace Organization, www.cfd-ch.org) is a peace and development organisation working towards gender equality, the empowerment of women, and participation of women in conflict resolution and peace building efforts. Its regional focus is around the Mediterranean (Southeastern Europe, Maghreb and Middle East). cfd’s engagement in South-Eastern Europe goes back to 1996 and remained ever since a key element in the international cooperation program of the organisation. cfd cooperates with local NGOs, mostly local women’s organisations, human right’s organisations, organisations engaged in inclusive economic development and other NGOs with already defined gender- sensitive approaches or who are interested to further develop their inclusive intervention strategies. cfd engages in the following sectors: prevention of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), income generation, and social and political inclusion. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, cfd is supporting projects in all three thematic fields.
The Foundation Wings of Hope was founded in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994 with the mission of providing posttraumatic relief primarily to the children and youth victims of war as a means of their reintegration into society. The idea of founding the Foundation Wings of Hope was developed within the curatorium of the Dachau Memorial Centre, by the children of people who were imprisoned there and who were terrified with the tragedy the children in Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced because of the war. The Foundation Wings of Hope is a non-profit, grassroots organisation whose mission is to increase the academic achievement and life opportunities of underserved children and adults, empower women, and provide psychosocial assistance and advice to the most vulnerable members of society who are falling through the cracks in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The two projects “Improved mental health, education and employability for vulnerable individuals and groups” implemented from 2018 – 2020 (phase I) and 2021 – 2023 (phase II), build up on the results of the previous project phases carried out from 2010 – 2017. The two phases (2018- 2020 and 2021-2023) aimed at providing support for the most marginalized groups through provision of psycho-social services, support to education for marginalized children and adults, and increased employability of individuals.
The overall objective of both project phases was to contribute to the empowerment of vulnerable individuals and groups who are deprived of their human rights to claim their rights with respect to mental health, education, employment, and legal aid.
The outcomes and outputs of the projects were as follows:
Phase I – 2018-2020
- Project participants have a stabilised psychosocial situation
- Project participants are better integrated into their community
- Project participants receive legal aid and empower them to enforce their rights in Bosnian and Herzegovinian courts.
- 2 schools in Sarajevo have a greater capacity to support students with mental health issues, problems, and disorders
- The children achieve their personally set individual educational goals
- The children participate in the classroom exercises in an active and constructive manner
- 2 schools in Sarajevo have a greater capacity to provide high quality inclusive education and to prevent violence at school
- Our strategic partners have greater capacity to provide services for persons, whose human rights have been violated
- The project participants improve their labour market inclusion
- The project participants complete their formal secondary education
- The project participants have access to different kind of employment opportunities.
Phase II 2021-2023
- Project participants have a stabilised psychosocial situation
- Project participants are better integrated into their community
- Project participants receive legal aid are empowered to enforce their rights in court
- The children achieve their personally set individual educational goals
- Provide residency training to psychotherapists from 4 psychotherapy schools
- Train and educate teachers and mental health professionals to identify and support mental health needs of marginalized individuals such as LGBTI and members of other vulnerable groups and victims of sex and gender-based violence
- The project participants improve their labour market inclusion
- The project participants complete their formal secondary education vocational training
- The project participants are better able to seek, identify, and obtain employment opportunities.
The project periods to be evaluated are from 2018 to 2023.
The general objective of the evaluation is to provide an in-depth reflection on the project’s strategic and operational planning, achievements, successes, challenges, and performance, building on the cumulative experience of project intervention in the last 6 years (2018-2023). The evaluation is envisaged to be a summative evaluation that intends to provide a reflection process and in- depth analysis to inform further efforts in the area of gender equality and mental health enhancement.
The evaluation should focus on two main aspects:
- To evaluate the extent to which the two project phases have contributed to empowerment of vulnerable groups to respond to daily challenges, to claim their rights and to increase their employability?
- To assess support and collaboration between cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope identifying the extent of collaboration between the two organizations to improve project implementation and to analyze/assess effects of this collaboration on the Foundation Wings of Hope growth while lessons learned from this process for both cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope.
The evaluation can be based on OECD/DAC evaluation criteria. It should provide an in-depth analysis focusing on aspects of psychosocial empowerment and social transformation through the promotion of mental health .
Relevance and Coherence: Was the intervention relevant and coherent to improve mental health, increase access to legal aid, integration in schools for vulnerable children and increase employability of project participants? How have project activities contributed to the change of attitudes and acquiring new skills? How did the intervention take into consideration different needs of men and women, boys and girls? To what extent have special measures been designed to respond to those needs? What is the added value/comparative advantage of the project compared to similar interventions?
Effectiveness: Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the project’s goals. Is the project designed in a coherent and realistic way to achieve the originally defined objectives? What are the changes produced by the project at local level? What are the changes that project participants experienced at the individual level – how do project participants experience and describe the changes they underwent during the project implementation? What has been the progress made towards achievement of the expected outcomes and expected results?
Efficiency: Were the project funds managed effectively? Could the activities and outputs have been delivered with fewer resources without reducing their quality and quantity? Has the Foundation Wings of Hope’s organisational structure, management and coordination mechanisms effectively supported the programme and its goals? In what way were project participants and other stakeholders involved in the project design and steering?
Sustainability: Assess the sustainability of the intervention to empower vulnerable individuals and groups to claim their rights with respect to mental health, education, employment, and legal aid.
Key questions for sustainability:
- Were the interventions designed in a way to ensure that no one is left behind in the long run?
- To what extent was the intervention designed to achieve greater gender equality in the targeted areas by the project?
- How did the project help build sustainable partnerships and/or support with local authorities at cantonal, municipal and communal level?
- What are the possible partnerships and cooperations needed for the Foundation Wings of Hope to continue their work?
Impact (road to): Determine the (road to) impact of the intervention regarding
- Access and equality: What were the intended and unintended, positive and negative, long-term effects of the project? What was the most significant change that the project contributed to for the project participants?
- Cooperation between cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope: How was cfd able to support the implementation of the project? What was the effect of the cooperation on the Foundation Wings of Hope as an organisation? What are lessons learned from the cooperation on both sides?
Define what changes/adaptations need to be envisioned in order to address the identified gaps, challenges and obstacles and to improve long-term benefits of the project. Propose measures and formulate concrete recommendations for Foundation Wings of Hope’s work in the longer run.
- Data collection
Desk study – Review of secondary sources (to be edited accordingly):
- Media reports/articles
- Statements from the participants’ families
- Representatives of local authorities and relevant institutions / NGOs working in the same field
Review important available information of the above-mentioned project of the project evaluation period (2010-2017) including:
- Project documents
- Focus groups and interviews to gather information around project outputs and process to inform the evaluation, and to help determine if and how the project can adapt to the needs of rural youth in new developments.
The inclusion of qualitative methods of data collection is required. The consultant will propose the methodological approach as a part of his/her motivational letter. Detailed methodology will be finalized in participation with the partner organization and cfd staff.
- Submission of draft report in English and executive summary in English and Bosnian.
- Realization of feedback session in English for cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope.
- Preparation of final report in English and an executive summary in English and Bosnian, incorporating results from the feedback session
Evaluator shall present at final report findings to cfd, participants and involved stakeholders (see target group) in Bosnian.
The participants in this evaluation project include:
- Director and project staff members of the partner organization
- Direct project participants
- External partners/stakeholders
- cfd Program Coordinator and Local Coordinator.
- Timeframe and time schedule: approx. 20 days in the timeframe of up to 3 months starting in end-November, final report submission latest end of February 2024.
Timeframe needs to include the following steps:
- Document review and preparation of inception report, including detailed evaluation scope and methodology.
- Presentation of draft inception report and incorporation of feedback from cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope
- Data collection including qualitative methodologies.
- Data analysis
- Completion of draft report
- Presentation of draft report for comments, data cross check and suggestions in feedback session
- Incorporation of comments and additional findings into a finalized version of the report
- Official presentation of evaluation findings to cfd, Foundation Wings of Hope, and relevant stakeholders
The output will be the Evaluation Report in English, with summary and recommendations in English and Bosnian.
The final evaluation report comprises:
- An executive summary of not more than 3 pages in each language
- Inception report with proposed methodologies
- Draft final report for cfd’s & Foundation Wings of Hope’s feedback
- The final report of the assessment will contain analysis, findings / lessons learnt, conclusions and recommendations. The report will also incorporate the results of the feedback session. The report should not exceed 20 pages (excluding the annexes in which the questionnaires and instruments developed are included).
- University Degree in Social, Gender, Human Rights or Political Science
- Profound knowledge and experience in the Balkans; understanding of the specifics of the current context, its challenges and the dynamics of political, economic, social and technological transition
- Practical experience of advising non-government organizations on designing, implementing and evaluating projects from a feminist perspective
- Proven experience in women’s rights, gender-based violence and discrimination, mental health and trauma work
- Excellent social scientific methodological data collection skills (qualitative and quantitative)
- Excellent writing and analytical skills
- Fluency in English (oral and written) and BiH constitute languages/Bosnian required
Obligations of cfd and the Foundation Wings of Hope
Consultant fee: agreed after submission between cfd and consultant.
Obligation of Consultant
- Execute all tasks as agreed in the contract and adhere to proposed methods.
- Submit the above specified deliverables in time.
- Organize the data collection and field visit in coordination with the Foundation Wings of Hope and according to availabilities of participants.
Interested consultants/teams of consultants are asked to provide a written proposal (max. 5 pages) including the proposed methodology, time schedule, financial offer, as well as the CV of the consultant(s) until November 15, 2023, by email to: lea.breitner@cfd-ch.org, marija.saric@wings-of-hope.ba and cfd.bosnia@gmail.com.
Questions can be submitted to the same email no later than November 10th, 2023.
Criteria for the selection of the offer will be: 1) Previous experience of consultant (specifically in evaluation 2) quality of proposal; 3) proposed methodology; 4) proposed timeframe; 5) financial offer.
