Consultant, Baseline Assessment of Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Project at Palladium Group

Job ref.: req10554
Location: Abuja, Nigeria

Project Overview

• Nigeria SCALE project is a USAID-funded 5-year project (Oct 08, 2020 – Oct 07, 2025), implemented by Palladium in collaboration with the local resource partners. The goal of the Nigeria SCALE project is to strengthen the financial, management and advocacy capacity of local civil society organizations (CSOs) and Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) in Nigeria to create a more accountable, transparent, peaceful, and democratic Nigeria with more effective and efficient public service delivery.
• The SCALE project supports civil society organizations (CSOs) and business membership organizations (BMOs) across all of USAID/Nigeria’s programmatic sectors with a basket of managerial, business strengthening, and advocacy capacity-building interventions aimed at advancing Nigerian CSO sustainability combined with targeted grants to advance mutually agreed upon priorities. The project is designed to enhance local civil society organizations’ ability to be positive and responsible change agents in Nigeria.
• The project has five main technical components: 1) Component One – Improve CSO organizational capacity, 2) Component Two – Enhance capacity for CSO advocacy, collaboration and management, 3) Component Three – Improve the policy and regulatory environment for civil society, 4) Component Four – Countering Trafficking in Persons (CTIP), and 5) Component Five – Sector strengthening and advocacy.

Purpose of Consultancy:

• The purpose of the consultancy is to conduct a baseline assessment for the SCALE project. Findings from the baseline will inform setting up a point of reference by which change will be measured through SCALE performance indicators throughout the implementation of the SCALE project.  
• In addition, the baseline assessment findings will reveal the existing formal and informal policy and regulatory environment for civil society, and the extent of programming as it impacts some vulnerable members of the society.
• The baseline will also provide the overall status of social inclusion aspects such as participation of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in bringing about change in governance, accountability, and transparency practices of the Government of Nigeria in key development sectors.
• Palladium is looking for a two consultants to support the baseline assessment.

Objective of Consultancy:

• The objective of this assignment is to obtain reliable data that can be used as baseline for SCALE’s key performance indicators in each of the five technical components.
• The consultants will use the most appropriate sampling methodology to conduct the assessment within the specified timeframe and available resources.
• Findings of the baseline assessment will be documented in a written report highlighting the main findings of the assessment, the methodology used, data sources, limitations, references, and any other information that will be necessary to substantiate the validity and quality of the baseline findings.

Scope of the Assessment:

• The baseline assessment will cover all the interventions of the project by the five technical components as well as the crosscutting interventions including private sector engagement, gender and conflict sensitivity integration. This includes identifying baseline values for all key performance indicators from SCALE’s AMELP.

Specific Tasks
The consultants will be responsible for conducting the assessment, gather and analyze data, and submit a report to document the findings of the assessment. Specific tasks include the following:

• Review relevant project documents including the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (AMELP), reports from the predecessor project (SACE), similar assessments of the civil society conducted in the past 5 years in Nigeria, and any other existing secondary data of relevance to the objectives of the baseline assessment.
• Design and conduct an online survey among CSOs / BOMs in Nigeria to assess current practices across the five technical components of the SCALE project.
• Design and conduct qualitative inquiries with key informants in Nigeria, including members of CSOs, BMOs, and the Government of Nigeria.
• Analyze all primary and secondary data collected, including triangulation of data to substantiate the findings of the assessment.
• Identify baseline values for all key performance indicators included in SCALE’s AMELP.
• Provide specific recommendations for target setting for SCALE’s key performance indicators.
• Document the baseline assessment, including overall design, methodology, data collection tools, analysis, baseline values, limitations, technical references and any other additional information that will be relevant to inform the findings of the assessment.

Contract Type and Deliverables:

• This consultancy will be a deliverable-based contract. Acceptance of the deliverable will be determined by the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Advisor. Final report will be approved by SCALE’s Chief of Party.

The Consultants will submit the following deliverables to SCALE’s MEL Advisor at an agreed schedule as follows:

• Baseline inception report: This is a detailed description of the baseline assessment, including the overall design, sampling framework, data collection tools, data sources, data analysis plan, quality assurance criteria, limitations, and a work plan for the implementation of the assessment.
• Completion of online survey among CSOs / BMOs: This is a brief online survey to be conducted among select CSOs and BMOs in Nigeria to collect key data across the five technical components of the SCALE project that will support the establishment of baseline values and any additional information of relevance to SCALE’s technical components
• Completion of qualitative inquiries with key stakeholders: This includes a small number of semi-structured interviews with key informants to supplement the data from the online survey and existing secondary data.
• Baseline report - first draft:This is a report to document all the aspects of the baseline assessment, including its design, analysis, findings, limitations, references, data collection tools and any other information to inform and support the baseline findings. Report should be no more than 40 pages in length, excluding annexes.
• Baseline report - final version: This is a final report of the baseline assessment that should include all the components of the first draft and addressing all comments, edits and observations from the review of the first draft. Report should be no more than 40 pages in length, excluding annexes.

Anticipated Period of Performance and Level of Effort:

•  Period of Performance: From contract inception to March 31, 2021
• Level of Effort: The LOE for the consultants should not exceed 45 days each.

Required Qualifications
The consultants should have the following:

• Post-graduate degree in Social Sciences, Policy Studies, Education of Development Studies with proven experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis
• Experience with working with policy development, civil society, government, the private sector, trafficking in persons, Early Child Marriage, Sexual and Gender-based Violence
• Proven experience in conducting research/baseline surveys
• Strong command of the English Language
• Strong evaluation report writing and documentation skills. Demonstrated analytical (statical and data analysis) skills
• Ability to work on own initiative and to meet deadlines
• Good interpersonal skills including the ability to conduct discussion with a diversity of people ranging from senior government officials to ordinary citizens
• Willingness and ability to travel to different parts of Nigeria across the six geopolitical zones