Call for Expressions of Interest for End-term Evaluation

Call for Expressions of Interest from qualified evaluators:

End-term evaluation

The Strategic Partnership for Garment Supply Chain Transformation (SP) calls for Expressions of Interest from qualified evaluators or evaluator teams to participate in the End Term Evaluation of its 5 year programme (2016-2020). This evaluation will be carried out in the period February - August 2020.

Background

Partnership: The partnership is part of the ‘Dialogue and Dissent’ 2016-2020 framework of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and aims to strengthen capacity of unions, NGOs and suppliers, and to improve corporate and government policies regarding human rights compliance in apparel supply chains in seven countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. It is a partnership between Dutch trade unions CNV Internationaal and Mondiaal FNV, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and multi-stakeholder initiative Fair Wear Foundation, with the latter as the lead partner.

Transformation: Combining the expertise of trade unions, NGOs, and progressive brands and factories, the SP aims to demonstrate how movement towards living wages, gender equality, and healthy labour relations and social dialogue in the apparel supply chain is possible. With a focus on practical innovations in real supply chains, the SP provides models to brands, factories, governments and the labour movement of how a more equitable apparel industry could work and could benefit all parties. With the aim to improve policy and practice in the garment supply chain, the SP adopts an evidence-based approach for influencing decision-makers around the world and builds the capacity of local partner organisations, particularly on lobby and advocacy. For more information on the partnership and its themes and interventions, please look here and here.

The End-Term Evaluation

The dual purpose of the end-term evaluation is accountability and learning. The end-term evaluation should indicate to what extent the SP achieved what it set out to do. It should determine what the direct outcomes (and possibly impact) of the SP are on the targeted stakeholders (governments, garment brands, garment suppliers and garment workers) for policy influencing in the readymade garment industry in South and South East Asia, and Ethiopia. The end-term evaluation should also offer insights into how change has happened in the garment supply chain and which factors, actors or circumstances contributed to these results. Relatedly, based on the actual change processes that took place around the SP’s interventions, the end-term evaluation should provide insights as to how the Theory of Change of the SP can be updated. The insights gained from the end-term evaluation on what changed and how change happened will be used for future programming by the SP partners.

Key outcome areas of the partnership programme include capacity strengthening of partner organisations and suppliers, collecting and creating evidence in pilots and lobby and advocacy in production countries, the Netherlands and internationally.

Approach, Timeline and Deliverables

Methodology: The end-term evaluation will have a focus on qualitative assessment and learning, so the evaluators are expected to adopt tools that are relevant in this field, as well as tailor-made tools that elements of the programme may require. Appropriate methods could be for instance outcome harvesting and appreciative inquiry. The evaluation methodology and design will be developed by the evaluators in close collaboration with the programme partners during the inception phase of the evaluation.

Field work: The evaluators are expected to conduct field work in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Vietnam, to be extended with desk studies for the remaining four countries of the programme: Cambodia, Ethiopia, India and Indonesia.

Deliverables with approximate due dates:

Draft inception report that lays out the methodology of the end-term evaluation and the design of the final report February 2020

Evaluation team: qualifications and skills

The SP is looking for an evaluation team which is headed by or includes in significant roles consultants from South or South-East Asia. The evaluation team is expected to bring in the following expertise, track record, background and competencies:

• Expertise on the labour rights situation in Bangladesh, Myanmar and/or Vietnam;
• Expertise and understanding of the work of unions, federations and the international trade union movement;
• Expertise and understanding of working with international brands and their supply chains;
• Proven track record of undertaking multi-stakeholder evaluations with private sector actors and trade unions;
• Proven track record of undertaking multi-country program evaluations;
• Preferably (oral) skills in the local languages of Bangladesh, Myanmar and/or Vietnam;
• Preferably a proven track record of evaluation work in Bangladesh, Myanmar and/or Vietnam;
• Native-level fluency in English (written and spoken);
• Strong experience in qualitative data analyses is required, experience in quantitative data analysis is preferred especially as part of a mixed method evaluation experience.

Call for Expression of Interests

Parties interested to conduct this evaluation are invited to submit a two-page Expression of Interest, plus the CVs of the evaluators. The Expression of Interest should:

1) Indicate the consultants’ experience in relation to and added value for this evaluation, especially regarding:

• Multi-country capacity building and lobbying and advocacy programs;
• Expertise and understanding of the work of unions, federations and the international trade union movement;
• Expertise and understanding of working with Ready Made Garment brands and their supply chains.

2) Outline the team proposed to work on the end-term evaluation indicating their experience in relation to this assignment and their proposed role in the end-term evaluation. Please note that, as mentioned above, the SP is looking for an evaluation team which is headed by or includes in significant roles consultants from South or South-East Asia.

3) Include an indicative budget, including consultant fees.

Deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest plus CVs of the evaluators is November 17, 2019, 23:59 CET.

Based on the Expressions of Interest, the SP will shortlist three candidates. End of November 2019 the shortlisted teams will receive a Terms of Reference and an invitation to develop a concrete evaluation proposal before December 10th, 2019. From these proposals a final selection will be made by December 22nd, 2019.

For more information on the evaluation you may contact Arja Schreij ([email protected]).

For more information on the programmes, see the SP newsletters: May 2019, June 2019, September 2019, October 2019.