South Africa: Call for Proposals: Children’s Participation in South African and Zambian News Media
Country: South Africa
Closing date: 02 May 2014
Opportunity closing date:
Friday, May 2, 2014
Opportunity type:
Call for proposals
Save the Children International is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in around 120 countries. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfill their potential.
In South Africa and Zambia the majority of people have access to some form of media. Media plays an important role in shaping adults’ and children’s attitudes as well as setting political, economic and social agendas. South Africa and Zambia have ratified the UNCRC and the ACRWC thereby committing to ensure opportunity for children to participate and be heard in decision making processes. Despite this, initiatives to strengthen children’s ethical and meaningful participation in both family and public sphere are very limited. In a national survey with 1 200 children in South Africa, children identified lack of participation as the third most violated right in their lives. The children felt that they were denied the right to make their own informed choices and the right to express their own opinions, ideas and listened to.
With that Save the Children in partnership with Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), and Media Network on Child Rights and Development (MNCRD) initiated a project to empower children in South Africa and Zambia to influence duty bearers to fulfil their rights by taking into account their opinion. To contribute to this overall objective this project was meant to ensure that 50 percent of stories about and by children in targeted news media in South Africa and Zambia include children’s opinions and quotes.
The expected outcomes of the project where:
- National media bodies and individual media houses have endorsed ethical guidelines on reporting on children with clear frameworks for how to ensure child participation;
- News produced by the Children’s News Agencies are published in targeted national news media;
- 200 children with increased media literacy interact with journalists/editors on children’s rights
Save the Children and partners are looking for an experienced consultant to evaluate this project. The main objective of this final project evaluation is:
- To assess impact, success, challenges and best practices against project goals, objectives and approved plans;
- To provide a systematic and objective assessment of the impact of the project and achievement of the objectives;
- To provide a feedback to our donors and Save the Children with regards to meeting the intended purpose, objective and results of the project;
- To provide a basis for accountability to all stakeholders involved in the project.
The consultant will critically assess:
- Performance (effectiveness and efficiency):
- Effectiveness will look at achieved results based on project objectives and desired outcomes for target beneficiaries;
- Efficiency will look at how optimally inputs (including finances) were transformed into outputs and the timeliness of implementing program activities relative to time schedules.
- Impact:
- The consultant will look at the short-term and long-term effects that the programme implementation has had on the situation addressed and target beneficiaries, explaining the extent of change and elaborating on the lessons learnt and best practices.
- Sustainability:
- Project sustainability entails looking at mechanisms that enable durability of positive results after the withdrawal of the funding or support. The consultant will look at contribution to attitude change towards children and the media.
How the results will be used
- To improve future project design and making sure that the desired results are replicated amongst the target groups.
Duration and timing of the assignment:The assignment will last 30 days
The Evaluation Consultant: The consultant will be an evaluation expert with the following profile:
- Experience and knowledge of media and/or child participation;
- At least a Masters degree in a relevant discipline i.e. media, project management, Monitoring and Evaluation, etc.
- Proven experience in monitoring and evaluation;
- Experience in survey design, assessment tools and administration;
- Ability to manage multiple, complex tasks being undertaken concurrently;
- Experience conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions;
- Ability to analyse, interpret and synthesise information from a number of sources.
Deliverables
The consultant will deliver the following outputs:
- Inception report. The Inception report should also include evaluation tools and clear work plan and methodology and the cost of carrying out the activity;
- Draft reports (2) for comments by Save the Children, MMA and MNCRD - one electronic and hard copy;
- Final Report Finalised - one electronic and hard copy;
- Bibliography of literature reviewed and list of people interviewed.To apply, submit an expression of interest to undertake the assignment with a detailed CV, motivational letter (including your capacity and experience, your daily consultancy fee, and your availability) and an example (3-5) page of reports that you have written for similar assignments.
Applications should be received on or before 2 May 2014.
How to apply:
All applications should be submitted to scijobssa@savethechildren.org
