Terms of reference (TOR) for conducting Proof of Concept Study in EduCare Program

Context and Rationale

About SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia

SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia (SOS Ethiopia) is a national member association of the global SOS Children’s Villages International Federation. Since its establishment in 1974, beginning with its first village in Mekelle, the organization has expanded its operations to several regions across Ethiopia, including Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Harari, Sidama, Southern and South-Central Ethiopia, as well as Addis Ababa. Its work focuses on delivering family-based alternative care for children without parental support, empowering youth for independent adulthood, and strengthening families and communities to prevent child-family separation. SOS Ethiopia collaborates closely with government entities, civil society organizations, and local communities to protect children’s rights and ensure access to essential services such as education, health care, and psychosocial support. In addition to long-term development programming, the organization responds to humanitarian emergencies to ensure continuity of care and support for vulnerable families.

About the EduCare Program

The EduCare Program was launched in 2014 in Bahir Dar with the support of SOS Children’s Villages USA (SOS USA) and is funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. EduCare reduces school dropout rates among previously out of school and at-risk primary and secondary aged students through the holistic support of children, caregivers, and communities. The program equips vulnerable families with the tools to provide for their households, achieve self-reliance, and overcome crises that lead to family breakdown and separation. It provides essential services, food stipends, scholastic supplies, tutoring, and training to vulnerable students; critical teaching equipment and materials, training, and professional development for teachers and administrators; training, income generating advice, start-up capital, and micro-loans for caregivers; and, community capacity building supports to reduce school dropout rates, strengthen family livelihoods and enhance resilience. Integrating services in education, health, nutrition, psychosocial support, WASH, and family and community empowerment, EduCare has reached more than 123,000 people across the Amhara region in Bahir Dar, Debre Tabor, Debre Markos, Woldiya and Gondar.

The program has been implemented and brought to scale across four phases, starting from September 2014 with the final phase reaching its conclusion in August 2025.

Proof of Concept Study

The Proof of Concept (PoC) study will analyse EduCare’s growth, impact and sustainability over the program’s lifespan and across its several phases from 2014 to 2025. The contracted consulting firm or consultant(s) will bear primary responsibility for the design, implementation, and delivery of the evaluation, including submission of the final evaluation report. The agreement will be formalized through a contract signed with SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia and SOS Children’s Villages USA. Please ready the following Terms of Reference and view Section 12 for detailed application requirements due no later than July 21, 2025.

Research Objectives

Primary Objective

The primary objective of the PoC is to assess the effectiveness of the EduCare model in reducing school dropout rates among previously out-of-school and at-risk primary aged students. The PoC will evaluate whether the program meets its core objectives related to education, family and community strengthening.

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of EduCare program Proof of Concept (PoC) study may include:

• To identify whether positive program outcomes are successfully sustained overtime.
• To examine scalability and contextual adaptability of the program.

Research Questions

The commissioned consultant is expected to refine research questions and methodology in consultation with SOS Children’s Villages USA and Ethiopia. Suggested research questions may include:

1. To what extent does EduCare improve children’s educational enrolment and academic performance?
2. How does participation in EduCare impact household economic stability and caregiver capacity?
3. How effective are EduCare’s community partnerships in sustaining positive program outcomes overtime?

Geographic Scope

Due to the current safety and security context in the Amhara region, the research will primarily focus on accessible locations in Bahir Dar, Debre Tabor and Gondar with possible additional input from Debre Markos. It is expected that the evaluator conducts on site key informant interviews, focus group discussions or surveys with the program’s former participants and stakeholders at the project locations.

Methodology

Design

The consultant(s) will collaboratively formulate a mixed-methods research design that integrates secondary quantitative analysis of extant program datasets with primary qualitative inquiry. They are expected to refine the overall study architecture to optimally address the core research questions listed above in Section 2.

Sampling

The consultant is expected to propose robust and statistically valid sampling strategies that ensure representativeness of the study population. The sampling framework must explicitly specify the proposed sample size, along with the associated margin of error and confidence level, in accordance with best practices in empirical research.

Data Collection

After an initial one-week co-design phase, the consultant(s) will assume principal responsibility for the implementation of data collection and subsequent analysis at purposively selected program sites. The study population will encompass parents and caregivers, children, and representatives from key implementing partners (KiPs)—including Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), Community Care and Support Coalitions (CCSCs), schools, and relevant government bodies.

The methodological framework must explicitly delineate which research questions are addressed by which data-collection strategies. Qualitative components should draw on established techniques such as focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), and small-group deliberative dialogues with participants who are representative of both the program’s primary beneficiary cohorts and KiPs.

Although university institutions will not serve as formal contractual partners, the consultant may engage qualified academic staff from local universities—selected based on their research experience and familiarity with data collection processes—as collaborators or field data collectors.

The consultant will be solely responsible for:

• Identifying, selecting, and supervising data collectors and collaborators at the field level.
• Ensuring that field teams are appropriately trained and experienced in both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, including household surveys, key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FGDs).

In coordination with SOS Ethiopia Bahir Dar program staff, the consultant may recruit university-affiliated personnel to serve as focal persons at each data collection site. These individuals may assist in coordinating local data collection efforts and contributing to site-specific contextual analysis.

All such arrangements will be managed under the consultant’s leadership, with SOS Ethiopia providing logistical support and local linkages as needed.

Data Analysis

A comprehensive data analysis plan must be developed, detailing the statistical techniques to be employed in the analysis of quantitative data as well as the analytic framework for qualitative data.

Ethical Considerations

All data collection activities must adhere to rigorous ethical standards, including but not limited to the acquisition of voluntary and informed consent, the assurance of participant confidentiality and anonymity, and the implementation of protocols designed to safeguard the physical and psychological well-being of all research and program participants. All methodological procedures must be culturally responsive and ethically sound, ensuring equitable participation opportunities for all respondents. The plan of work should incorporate safeguards that foster safe, inclusive environments conducive to open discourse, irrespective of participants’ gender, age, disability status, ethnicity, or religious affiliation.

Timeline and Key Deliverables

A comprehensive work plan is provided in Annex A. The contracted external consultant is required to complete and submit the findings within 8 weeks from the date of contract signature. The consultant is expected to develop her/his detailed work plan in line with Annex A.

The final deliverables must be presented in a comprehensive evaluation report, which will be subject to validation and approval by SOS Children’s Villages at the conclusion of the 8-week period.

The key deliverables are as follows:

• Inception Report: This report should outline the initial evaluation design, including the proposed methodology, sampling framework, sampling techniques, sample size, data collection instruments, and a detailed work plan.
• Draft Evaluation Report: A preliminary version of the full evaluation report, allowing for feedback and initial validation.
• Final Evaluation Report: A refined and complete version of the evaluation report, incorporating feedback, and including an executive summary. The final report must also include all data collection instruments in both electronic and hardcopy formats.
• Cleaned Raw Data: All raw datasets must be submitted in a cleaned and organized format. This includes original field notes from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, as well as any corresponding audio recordings.

All data collected during the study shall be the exclusive property of SOS Children’s Villages. Any use, reproduction, or dissemination of the findings or data is strictly subject to prior written authorization.

Governance, Reporting, and Management Arrangements

The external evaluation shall be conducted independently of SOS Children’s Villages to safeguard objectivity and impartiality. The evaluator will report primarily to the Associate Director for Programs and Partnerships, SOS Children’s Villages USA, and will liaise closely with:

• Program and project teams in the field;
• National Office personnel of SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia;
• Relevant partners

To facilitate rigorous implementation of the PoC study, the evaluator will also receive analytical and logistical support from a remote doctoral research intern within SOS Children’s Villages USA.

Report criteria

The reporting criteria for Proof of Concept study shall be in line with the SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia result based management (RBM) toolkit and should be shared with the winner consultant along with the data review process and/or for the preparation of the inception report.

Safeguarding

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to ensuring that all research, evaluation and data collection processes (i.e. evidence-generating activities) undertaken by SOS Children’s Villages and its partners are ethical and respect child safeguarding policy and procedure.

The consultant must respect the rights, dignity and protection of children and other vulnerable population groups and should ensure special protection for children and other vulnerable groups during any data-generating activities to minimize any potential risks. Any research, evaluation and data collection SOS Children’s Villages is directly carrying out or is involved in as a partner.

Ethical practices need to be ensured in the following circumstances:

• Any research, baseline, midterm or final evaluations and data collection SOS Children’s Villages has commissioned for ethical oversight of these processes.
• Any research, evaluation and data collection carried out by researchers/consultants on SOS Children’s Villages programmes and participants.

Hence, relevant Coordinator in SOS Children’s Village FCSP programme Educare 4. Project will ensure that any researchers, evaluators and data collectors should receive awareness training on, sign and adhere to SOS Children’s Villages core policies:

Obtaining consent from research participants is central to the research relationship and signals respect for the research participant’s dignity, their capability to express their views and their right to have these heard in matters that affect them. Informed consent is an explicit agreement which requires participants to be informed about and understand the research/assessment. This must be given voluntarily and be renegotiable, so that participants may withdraw at any stage of the research process.

Logistical Arrangements

The awarded consultant shall show feasible logistical arrangements for the assignment as part of the technical proposal. National or location-level staff (SOS Ethiopia) will be available to help organize the interviews including contacting SOS Ethiopia, announcing and local preparation of evaluation, and linking to community duty bearers and national authorities if required.

Contract Duration and Terms

Payment will be made only upon SOS Children’s Villages’ acceptance of the work performed in accordance with the above-described deliverables. Payment will be effected by bank transfer in the currency of birr.

Funding and Payment: The consultancy firm will be paid as per SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia payment procedure as follows:

• 30% on the submission and approval of the inception report/Technical Proposal.
• 30% on completion of the draft report.
• 40% on completion of the final report.

Duration of contract: the contract is effective from the moment it was signed until the acceptance of work by the SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia management team.

Notice of delay

Shall the successful bidder encounter a delay in the performance of the contract which may be excusable under unavoidable circumstances; the contractor shall notify SOS Children’s Villages in writing about the causes of any such delays within one (1) week from the beginning of the delay.

After receipt of the Contractor’s notice of delay, SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia shall analyze the facts and extent of the delay and extend the time for performance when in its judgment the facts justify such an extension.

Copyright and other proprietary rights

SOS Children’s Villages shall be entitled to all intellectual property and other proprietary rights including, but not limited to, copyrights, and trademarks, with regard to products, processes, inventions, ideas, know-how, or documents and other materials which the Contractor has developed for SOS Children’s Villages under the Contract and which bear a direct relation to or are produced or prepared or collected in consequence of, or during the course of, the performance of the Contract. The Contractor acknowledges and agrees that such products, documents, and other materials constitute works made for hire for SOS Children’s Villages.

All materials: interviews, reports, recommendations, and all other data compiled by or received by the Contractor under the Contract shall be the property of SOS Children’s Villages and shall be treated as confidential and shall be delivered only to SOS Children’s Villages authorized officials on completion of work under the Contract. The external consultant is obliged to hand over all raw data collected during the assessment to SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia.

Termination

The termination of the service agreement for the assignment will be in accordance with the contractual agreement to be included at the formal agreement’s actual signing.

 

Desired Qualifications

• Academic Background: Master’s or PhD in Social Sciences, Public Health, Development Studies, Education, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, or a related field.
• Evaluation Experience: Minimum of five years conducting assessments, baseline/mid-term/final evaluations, or impact studies. Submission of at least one relevant evaluation report is required.
• Thematic Expertise: Strong understanding of family strengthening, community empowerment, livelihoods, and development programming, particularly in the Ethiopian context.
• Ethical Research: Demonstrated experience conducting ethical research with children and vulnerable populations, in alignment with safeguarding standards. Familiarity with the SOS Children’s Villages model is an asset.
• Research Competence: Proven ability in both qualitative and quantitative methods, including participatory and age-appropriate data collection techniques.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Excellent facilitation, organizational, and interpersonal skills with a track record of working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including donors and community partners.
• Relevant Sector Experience: Previous experience conducting research or evaluations for SOS Children’s Villages or similar child-focused organizations, with demonstrated cultural sensitivity.
• Language Proficiency: Fluency in English; proficiency in Amharic is advantageous. Strong analytical and report-writing skills are essential.
• Legal Compliance: Legally registered consultancy firm with a valid business license, VAT registration, and TIN number.