2017 - 2018 Country Strategy Midterm Review at Plan International

Plan International Nigeria began operating in Nigeria in 2014 with a three-year Business Plan designed to operate from 2014 to 2017, but was reviewed and revised
in 2015 fiscal year into a two-year Country Strategy that started in July 2016 and to end by June 2018. The revision was a response to the significant changes that occurred between 2014 and 2016 in the country, and also with the fact that the country program began experiencing a rapid growth in the later and early part of 2015
and 2016, respectively. The goal of the current country strategy is “Children, adolescent and youth,
especially girls, enjoy their basic rights in safety and achieve their potential as citizens including, during and after disasters.” The country strategy focuses on six thematic areas, namely, health, governance, economic empowerment, education, child protection, and disaster risk management. It on the basis of the thematic areas
that the country aims to achieve the following strategic objectives: The specific objectives of the country strategy are:
Health: Children, adolescents and women of reproductive age have increased access and awareness and utilize quality basic minimum package of gender responsive health care
Governance: Youth (boys and girls) participate in public finance management, accountability, human rights and decision-making processes at all levels.
Economic Empowerment: Youth (boys and girls) participate in public finance management, accountability, human rights and decision-making processes at all levels.
Education: Children and youths have inclusive access to quality basic and non- formal education within a safe environment to realize their potentials as citizen.
Child Protection: Children are protected from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation through appropriate prevention and response interventions in-line with the child protection minimum standards.
Disaster Risk Management: Children and youth affected by disaster realize their rights in safety and with dignity during and after the emergency and in situation of protracted crisis.

Purpose of the Review
So far, the country strategy has completed half of its duration, which is one year from FY2016 to FY2017, thus, the need for it to be reviewed. The review is incompliance
with Section 4.0, Sub-section 4.1.1. of Plan International Country Strategy Cycle Procedure and Step 3.1.1. of the Annual Cycle Procedure. Secondly, the purpose of the review is to independently assess Plan International Nigeria performance and
progress against her predetermined strategic objectives and to use the learning from the process, the changed internal and external contexts to sharpen the Country Program’s focus for the remaining period of the strategy. Moreover, with the development of “100 Million Reasons”, the new Plan International’s Global Strategy
that runs from 2017 to 2022, it has become imperative that Plan International Nigeria’s country strategy align with its theory of change, purpose, commitment and
values, thus the need for a new country strategy. Instead of a two-year country strategy, like the current one, the new one will be for a duration of five years starting
from July, FY18 to June, FY23.

Scope of the Review

• The review will measure the impact of the program's interventions in response to the basic rights of children, adolescents, youths, especially girls, and achievement of
• their potential, including during and after disasters. It will specifically assess the overall progress made in relation to the Country Program’s strategic objectives and outcomes.
• In addition, it is expected to provide some sights on the future country context and an assessment of the risk to inform our priorities and focus during in coming years. The
• process will contribute significantly to the Country Program’s effort to align with Plan International Global Strategy.
• Apart from desk reviews, the Consultant will visit at least five states where Plan International Nigeria projects are being implemented, and will involve critical
• stakeholders of the organization at all levels. The period of the review will cover from July 2016 to June 2017, which is the FY17.

Objectives of the Review

• Specifically, the Country Strategy review will aim to achieve the following:
• Assess the progress and performance on strategic objectives and impact on the lives of children, adolescents, youths, especially girls in safety, during and after disasters in relation to the CS objectives.
• Assess the organization’s structure, human resource, systems and policies such as finance, fundraising, M&E, Communications, procurement and administration, security, and the entire governance system and how these have affected the delivery of the organization’s mission priorities.
• Assess the impact Country Program’s work on children’s Rights and how women and girls’ lives have changed.
• Document major learnings from the County Program’s work that will be used in improving program quality, refining focus in the remaining period of the strategy, and developing a new country strategy that is aligned with the current Plan International Global strategy.

KEY AREAS/REVIEW QUESTIONS
The objectives will be assessed within the broader key evaluation questions of effectiveness, impact, relevance, efficiency, sustainability, coordination and
coherence, focus, appropriateness organizational structure, functions and identify.

Therefore, the review will be responding to the following questions:

• Effectiveness- Are the projects being effective in achieving the intended objectives and outcomes? In its current configuration, is the Country Program coherent and able to build on its incremental successes? What can we learn to advance the gender transformative and right- base approaches? To what extent have we advanced alternatives / developed innovative frameworks and approaches? What have been key changes to the external context that have impacted on our ability to achieve our objectives?
• Impact - What (positive and negative) changes (knowledge, attitudes, behaviors/practices) are the programs of work having on our priority groups directly and indirectly at various levels? What has happened as a result of the program or projects? What real difference has the interventions made to the
• beneficiaries? Relevance - How relevant are the projects to the priorities and needs of the target groups, partner organizations and other stakeholders? Are the local partners relevant for the key changes that Plan International Nigeria Country Program is seeking in its CS? Analysis of the influence and reach of its current partnership portfolio. Recognizing that Plan International Nigeria is only one of many INGOs operating in Nigeria, in which areas of work is Plan International Nigeria able to add value? What are Plan International Nigeria niche areas and are they still priority areas of concern in the country?
• Efficiency - Is the country program being efficiently delivered (duplications and value for money issues, etc.) in achieving the intended outcomes and objectives?
• Sustainability - Will the benefits of the program be sustained in the longer term, and if so, how? Is Plan International Nigeria diversifying its funding
• portfolios? Is there continuity in trajectories of Program Development to address increasing competition for restricted income from the institutional donors? Is the size and shape of our operations in the country sustainable in the context of funding trends?
• Coordination and Coherence – Is there internal coherence across our program streams? Are the different components of our work building on each other and complementing to achieve bigger impact? Externally, how have the programs of work been integrated with the activities and priorities of other agencies and organizations at national and provincial levels? What are the working groups and committees of the local government, state and federal governments in which Plan International Nigeria has been formally invited?
• Focus - Is there a need for Plan International Nigeria to focus in on more specific areas of work (both in terms of geography and programmatically), and if so, which ones?
• Appropriateness of Organizational Structure, Functions and Identity - Do the current structure and functions of Plan International Nigeria Country
• Program enable it to be flexible, agile and responsive to changes in operational context at the national and international levels? How has our current organizational structure helped or hindered the delivery of the strategy? To what extent did our structures at Country office enabled us to achieve our strategic objectives, change promises and organizational priorities? How are projects incrementally integrated for a broader credibility and branding of Plan International in Nigeria? Given the current operational space for INGOs in general, what are the key structural changes required in the organizational workforce? Are the decisions making structures effective, transparent and accountable?
• Gender equality and inclusion responsiveness in the organization - Are we ensuring gender equality in our structure, policies and practices? To what
• extent did we advance women’s advancement, representation and leadership within the organization? What have we learned that we can take forward as we develop our new strategy? Additionally, examples of lessons learned and models of good practice should be captured to inform the review.

METHODOLOGY

• The reviewer will use both qualitative and quantitative research techniques in data collection and interpretation. To generate qualitative data it will employ participatory
• and learning approach. Desk review will be carried out on related documents such as country strategy document, project reports, monitoring and evaluation reports, global
• strategy document, organizational policies, program frameworks, relevant government papers, multilateral and bilateral documents, and others. At the field level, interviews and participatory group exercises will be conducted with girls, young women, children, and other priority groups in the communities. Also interviews and/or
• participatory group exercises will be carried out with staff, implementing partners, government agencies, donors, traditional leaders, and critical others. The review will also employ key informants and focus group discussions to generate data.
• To ensure participation, we will be requiring a process that is facilitative and provides
• for sufficient time and space for open participation of all relevant stakeholders, including community members in areas where Plan International Nigeria works. The proposed review methodology should not be extractive but allow joint analysis of the issues under review and equal and active participation of children, women, girls and
• other people living in safety, poverty and exclusion, including during and after
• disasters. The review should identify best practices and provide more insights into what worked or did not and why, affording opportunity for active learning.

KEY EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

• Facilitate Plan International Nigeria staff meeting in 2018 to conduct a whole staff review of the CSP.
• Detailed work plan of the whole mid-term review process.
• Develop data collection tools including questionnaires for key informant interviews.
• Specific reports based on key areas of the CS review (program, influencing, children’s rights, gender equality and inclusion, partnership, and
• organizational prioritise).
• Internal review reports by each unit/functions and compiled version.
• Preliminary findings report of the Mid-term Review.
• Final Mid-Term Review Report and Recommendations.
• The raw data (all transcripts, quantitative data, and data collection tools) must be submitted to Plan International Nigeria together with the review report.

KEY EXPECTED TASKS

• Facilitate Plan International Nigeria Staff meeting during the review process.
• Desk review of relevant documents including annual, quarterly and monthly reports, project terminal reports, donor reports, monitoring and evaluation
• reports, activity and work plans, financial reports, budgets and funding documents, etc.
• Development of questionnaires for the Key Informant Interviews and Focus Groups Discussions (FGDs) and collection of data/information from the
• relevant persons as would be identified.
• Coordinate with Plan International Nigeria, partners and other relevant stakeholders to organize data collection for KII and FGDs.
• Develop draft of Mid-Term Report.
• Produce the final Mid-Term Report after incorporating inputs.

SUPPORT TO BE PROVIDED

• Plan International Nigeria will make available all the necessary and required literature that are of Plan for review; support all the logistical arrangements including
• constituting the CS review Team that will work closely with the successful consultant.
• The organization will also organize a dissemination workshop for the final report with staff, the Board, regional staff, and partners.

REVIEW TIMELINE
The external review process is envisaged to take no more than 29 days, commencing in January 13, 2017.
Key Output Responsibility By when

• Submission of a work plan and data gathering instruments
• Consultant/s Jan.8 – 12, 2018
• Feedback on work plan and data gathering instruments
• Plan International Nigeria
• Logistical arrangements for field data collection
• Plan International Nigeria
• Contract Signing with Consultant Plan/consultant
• Field data collection Consultant/s Jan.15 – Feb.9, 2018
• Facilitate a whole staff team review of the CS

Consultant/s

• Submission of a draft report on the Country Strategy review report
• Consultant/s Feb. 13, 2018
• In house review of the draft country strategy review report
• Plan International Nigeria Feb. 14 - 15, 2018
• Submission of the final country strategy review report
• Consultant/s Feb. 19, 2018

KEY REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

• Plan International Global Strategy – 2017 - 2022
• Plan International Nigeria Strategy – 2017 - 2018
• Annual and quarterly Plan reports
• Project reports to donors
• Annual plans and budgets
• Financial reports
• Organizational policies, procedures, systems and structures
• Risk management reports
• Child Centered Community Development Approach
• Monitoring and Evaluation reports
• And others

CONFIDENTIALITY

• All official documents of Plan International shared with the consultant in the course of this assignment must be treated as confidential, including all
• documents developed from the course of this consultancy work which must be submitted, and which will be, and remain the intellectual property of Plan International.

QUALIFICATION/REQUIREMENTS

• Interested individual candidates/firms should possess:
• Individual experts are expected to have a minimum of Master’s Degree in relevant courses and over 10 years’ experience.
• Knowledge and experiences in Strategic Planning and Reviews, Organizational Development and Program Management at national and international level
• Senior level Management Experience (preferably executive level) at
• national and international levels (at least one consultant) is must.
• Experience of designing and managing change processes.
• Knowledge and experience in children’s rights and gender analysis.
• An excellent understanding of theory of change concepts.
• Good understanding of M&E methodologies and participatory research methodology such as PRA, etc.
• Experience of conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
• Excellent English writing and communication skills.
• Ability to work and travel within disaster risk areas. The evaluation team will be expected to sign and abide by Plan International values and compliance statement and key policies.