Consultancy Assignment: Impact Evaluation of the Namibia Football Association's Galz & Goals Sports for Development (S4D) Programme- UNICEF Namibia

United Nations Children’s Fund in Namibia

1. Background

Namibia has made significant progress in the response to HIV and AIDS. With a reduction of new infections of more than 50 per cent between 2001 and 2012, the country has registered exceptional achievements in HIV prevention and roll out of HIV testing and treatment services. Despite these achievements, the National HIV prevalence remains high at 14 per cent with more than 10,000 people getting infected every year. Most of the new infections occur among young people especially young women and girls. According to Spectrum Modelling, approximately 208,000 of people aged 15 and above are currently estimated to be living with HIV. This figure is projected to increase to over 227,000 by 2016/17, and to over 245,000 by 2019/20¹. This calls for continued and sustained efforts to control the spread of HIV.

The Situation Analysis of Children and Adolescents in Namibia 2010, produced by the National Planning Commission and UNICEF reported that 79 per cent of Namibian girls proceed to secondary school after completing grade 7, while only 41 per cent of the girls proceed to grade 11. The Situation Analysis further states that 14 per cent of girls leave school early due to pregnancies, which equaled as many as 1,735 girls in 2010. The report suggests that 80 per cent of girls between 13 and 17 years of age have experienced sex. According to the national facts and figures on adolescents’ pregnancy and consequences, rural teenagers are more likely than urban teenagers to have started childbearing (18 per cent and 12 per cent respectively). Teenage pregnancy rates are unexceptionally high at 19 per cent (2013 DHS), an increase from 15 per cent (2006/7 DHS).

The national response on HIV&AIDS has placed emphasis on the need to pursue combination prevention strategies which comprise a wide range of methods to control and reduce new HIV infections. These include promoting safer behaviours, creating enabling environment and delivering proven biomedical interventions so as to contain the epidemic. Sports for Development (S4D) is one of the interventions that offers a unique opportunity to engage adolescents and young people in addressing risky behaviours including contracting of HIV, teenage pregnancies, alcohol and drug abuse and gender based violence. It is against this backdrop that the Namibia Football Association’s (NFA) Galz and Goals S4D programme was established to address the issue of vulnerability among adolescent girls and provide life skills education to empower and equip them with life skills for making healthy lifestyle choices.

The Galz and Goals S4D programme is the first national S4D programme of its kind, aimed at increasing the empowerment of adolescent girls aged 10 to 18 through participation in football leagues and the promotion of healthy lifestyles under the motto “Young Girls Changing Lives”. Established in 2008, the S4D programme was officially launched in 2009 where it was presided over by the former women’s football player, Nia Künzer from Germany. The overall aim of the Galz & Goals S4D programme is to increase access to football for adolescent girls by integrating HIV&AIDS education, life skills and healthy lifestyle components into their sporting activities in order to create a platform through which adolescent girls gain skills and knowledge.

The Gals and Goals S4D programme uses Sport2Life Tool to foster the development of skills necessary for young people to make healthy lifestyle choices. Sport2Life integrates the healthy life style components into sports context helping players to develop the skills to make consistent, long term choices. The Galz and Goals coaches are therefore trained in Sport2Life enabling them to foster high impact attributesincludingself-awareness, positive self and group identity, situational awareness, plan B thinking, future focus, discipline, social confidence and pro-social connections in all players participating in the S4D programme. To date, the programme is implemented in 10 communities from 8 regions of Khomas, Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, Karas, Erongo, Kavango, Ohangwena and Hardap reaching more than 3,000 adolescent girls with healthy lifestyle messages and seven of the S4D programme graduates are now participating in the national women’s football team.

2. Justification

Since its inception in 2008, the Namibia Football Association’s Galz and Goals S4D programme has not been assessed of its impact on the intended goal of empowering adolescent girls with knowledge and skills related to HIV&AIDS education, ability to making healthy lifestyle choices, and overall acquisition of life skills. The evaluation will thus assist to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of S4D by providing knowledge and evidence on what works and what doesn’t work so as to improve the delivery of S4D activities. Furthermore the evaluation will assess as to whether using the UNICEF supported sporting curriculum ‘Sport2Life’ tool for integrating delivery of learning outcomes from within sporting contexts facilitates positive outcomes on players to develop the skills to make consistent, long-term, healthy lifestyle choices on and off the field of play. The evaluation will also elaborate specific recommendations NFA and its partners on strategies for strengthening and improving the Gals and Goals S4D programme. Further, the evaluation shall highlight key recommendations for sustainable development and institutionalisation to the Ministry of Education, Arts & Culture and Ministry of Sport, Youth & National Service on effective strategies for rolling out sports for development in schools through school sports and physical education.

3. Purpose and objectives:

The purpose of this impact evaluation is to assess how the implementation of the Gals and Goals S4D programme has led to positive outcomes for the participating adolescent girls and their families, and the role of the Sport2Life tool in fostering the development of life skills. The evaluation intends to focus on programmatic results and short term impacts generated by the S4D programme.

The planned results for the Galz and Goals programme were;

• Development of adolescent girls aged 10-15 years by making football and information on issues affecting young girls across the country more accessible.

• Adolescent girls will gain the skills and experience to make informed life choices both on and off the field of play through participation in the Galz and Goals programme.

• Strong, healthy, self-confident young women who are skilled football players and active community citizens through participation in football and life skills activities.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are as follows;

1. Assess the extent to which the S4D programme increased access to football for adolescent girls 10-17 years old.

2. Assess the S4D programme’s contribution towards integration of HIV&AIDS education, life skills and healthy lifestyle components into the football framework as a sport using the Sport2Life tool.

3. Identify and document best practices and lessons learnt on programmatic outputs and processes with the aim to support the sustainability of the programme and institutionalization within Government.

Results of the evaluation will inform the development of an institutionalised school based S4D programme and the expansion and sustainability of the Gals and Goals S4D programme. The evaluation will thus be central to the school sports policy review by Ministry of Sport, Youth & National Service, and the revival of physical education curriculum in schools by Ministry of Education, Arts & Culture. These two key government Ministries together with the NFA and UNICEF will thus be the key audiences of the findings and recommendations from the evaluation.

4. Research questions

1. The Evaluation Questions

The evaluation therefore seeks to answer the following questions under the major areas of an evaluation exercise which include relevance, effectiveness, efficiency (cost effectiveness), impact, sustainability, scalability/reliability, coherence and coordination:

1. Relevance

• Was the design of the Gals and Goals S4D programme the most appropriate and relevant strategy for addressing issues faced by adolescent girls in accordance with the national development priorities and policies and norms of child/girls rights, priorities and needs?

• How has the S4D programme adapted over time to reflect changes in Global, Regional and National programming practices for adolescent girls?

• How has the S4D programme created change in services for adolescent girls during the period of operation? What is the value of the project in relation to the situation of children and women in the country?

• How has the S4D programme addressed the problems experienced in programming for interventions for adolescent girls and strengthening partnerships?

• Was the intervention supported by government, parents, community members, schools and other organisations? If so, how?

2. Effectiveness

• Has the S4D programme goal and objectives been achieved as originally envisaged and what gaps (if any) remain?

• Have the objectives being met on time and what is the access of the services provided by the programme? What is the quality of the services?

• How integrated was the S4D programme with other related national strategies for young people being promoted in the country.

• How inclusive and gender responsive were the activities and products of the S4D programme.

• How user friendly was the sport2Life tool and how effectively did it support programming for adolescent girls? What is the quality of the tool? How did the tool impact on the attitudes of the beneficiaries?

3. Efficiency (cost effectiveness)

• What components in the S4D programme has been achieved or delivered with the best value for money and in what specific ways?

• What have been the direct/indirect costs per beneficiary incurred through funding for the S4D programme?

• Could the same results be achieved at a lower cost or could more or better results be achieved with the same cost by using different instruments or approaches?

4. Impact

• What are the intended and unintended positive and negative outcomes of the S4D programme? What led the change and why? What are the strategic results of the programme?

• How has the S4D programme influenced or strengthened programming for adolescent girls in the country? Are there variations from one region to another? How many adolescent girls and which communities have been reached?

• How has the S4D programme brought changes in the lives of beneficiaries, positive, negative, intended, unintended to influence community development and enjoying quality of life?

5. Sustainability

• Does the S4D programme have the capacity to sustain its operations in terms of financial and programmatic implementation?

• How strong and sustainable are systems put in place through nationals systems to continue delivering quality services to adolescent girls in the country?

• What lessons related to sustainability can we draw from the execution of the programme.

• Is national capacity being developed to administer the project, in what sense?

6. Scalability/Replicability

• What components of the S4D programme show greater likelihood for scalability and why?

• How likely is the S4D programme or its components to be scaled or replicated by other agencies and/or by relevant ministries in government?

7. Coordination

• How have the activities in the S4D programme been coordinated with other related interventions/approaches in the sporting and HIV/AIDS sector for example?

2. Scope of Work

The Galz and Goals S4D programme was developed to increase access to football for adolescent girls aged 10-17 years and to integrate HIV&AIDS education, life skills and healthy lifestyle components into the programme framework, in order to create a platform through which adolescent girls can gain skills and knowledge through active participation. The evaluation will thus focus on the following six strategic areas that were intended to assist in achieving the goal covering the period inception to date (2008-2015). These are;

• Access to organised football and opportunities for the development of knowledge and skills related to HIV/AIDS education, life skills and healthy lifestyle choices.

• Capacity of regional coordinators and coaches in delivering the programme activities using Sport2Life, kicking AIDS out and Life Skills.

• Promotion and creation of pathways linking Galz and Goals players to the Namibian National Women’s Football team

• Supporting and development of adolescent girls into young leaders

• Enhancing programme visibility and creation of opportunities for participation in international competitions

• Performance of monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

4. Research methodology

The evaluation will use both qualitative and quantitative techniques based on available documents and gathered information. Key information sources including programme/project documentation, training manuals, monitoring system of the programme/project, activity reports, etc. will be critically reviewed. International and national literature and policy review on similar programmes will be conducted. Primary data collection would comprise collection of quantitative, statistically generalized data; collection of qualitative data, including through the use of participatory techniques; and key informant interviews at the national and regional levels.The principal aim would be to obtain, first-hand, insights into a broad range of the adolescent girls S4D programme. Specifically, the following will be administered; highly-structured quantitative questionnaire; focus group discussion; regional level key informant interview; national level key informant interview and a stakeholder consultative workshop.

The consultant will be responsible for developing an evaluation framework and broad methodology that addresses the key evaluation questions. The consultant will clearly define an appropriate sample size and specify what mechanisms will be adopted to avoid selection bias. Ethical considerations for the evaluation, especially with regard to the adolescent girls as respondents to the research shall be adhered to. Inavailability of baseline data might and recent national behavioural survey reports might limit the extent to which results of the programme would be effectively assessed. The consultant will be expected to explore ways of curbing this limitation.

The Consultant will therefore undertake the following specific tasks:

1.Develop the work plan and an inception report indicating the methodology on how the deliverables will be met, data collection tools and a matrix for the evaluation. This task shall be done in consultation with the core working group for the exercise as part of the process of endorsing the inception report and finalising the terms of reference.

2. Conduct a review of relevant literature related to adolescent girls and sports for development programme in Namibia, the Southern Africa region and a synthesis of global lessons learnt in delivering life skills education including HIV&AIDS, SRH, alcohol and drug abuse, gender based violence amongst young people.

a. Spot the key issues or success factors which could be promoted to scale to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of programmes.

b. Based on recent literature and current thinking in programming for adolescents especially adolescent girls and research findings, suggest innovative approaches and strategies that could be promoted in programming.

3. Conduct an in-depth analysis of the NFA’s S4D programme in terms of scope and coverage by evaluating a sample of regions and communities in addition to well-performing and under-performing programmes implementing the S4D programs in the rural, urban and peri-urban settings.

4. Extract substantive quantitative data regarding adolescents in the country especially adolescent girls and conduct secondary analysis of the information and identify the full range of analysis on the status for future use.

5. Conduct stakeholder consultations, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders including government ministries at national and regional level, regional programme coordinators and committees, NGOs and development partners.

6. Conduct interviews with a representation sample of adolescent girls participating in the programme, their families and communities to validate the impact of the S4D programme

7. Ensure that the sample of the adolescent girls includes both beneficiaries of the programme and those that have not been reached by the programme.

8. Conduct a half day consultation workshop with national and regional partners to analyse the outcomes of the evaluation in a participatory manner and validate the findings.

9. Provide an opportunity to assess the extent to which the programme’s priority areas reflect the priorities of adolescent girls, their families and communities.

4. Research management and specific responsibilities

The overall technical guidance of the consultancy shall be guided by a core working group comprised on Namibia Football Association including representative of the participating girls, UNICEF and GIZ to oversee implementation of the evaluation.The core working group shall meet regularly during the course of the evaluation in order to (a) review and approve the methodology, framework and tools to be used, (b) identify and help provide primary and secondary information sources and (c) review draft report and make suggestions for improvement and (d) assist in facilitating the dissemination and discussion of the final report to stakeholders in a workshop. The overall responsibility shall be under the Galz and Goals Programme Coordinator at NFA and the Adolescents Specialist at UNICEF.

4. Reporting and deliverables

The consultant shall report to UNICEF and the will be expected to achieve the following deliverables within the estimated timeline;

4. Payment Schedule

Deliverable will determine the payment as per the following terms;

• First payment (25 per cent) upon submission of the inception report including a detailed work plan.

• Second payment (30 per cent) upon acceptance of a complete draft report by the core working group.

• Final payment (45 per cent) upon submission of the final report of the evaluation and its simplified summary version.

Fees are payable upon satisfactory completion of the contract. Standard UNICEF procedures will apply for invoicing and all other financial management requirements set out in the contract. Standard UNICEF penalty clauses will apply for late and poor quality deliverables. In order to ensure quality and compliance with the final deliverable, UNICEF shall withhold 15 per cent of the final payment until the final acceptable deliverable is satisfactory met.

4. Qualifications required for completion of the assignment.

The successful consultant will demonstrate the following background and experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in conducting programme evaluations, with evaluation experience in Sports for Development, SRH, HIV&AIDS or child protection, preferably on adolescents and young people.

• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills, including research expertise in health, social development, education and child participation.

• Work experience in Southern Africa, preferably in Namibia in areas of development policy.

• Demonstrated understanding of social issues affecting adolescents and young people including adolescents pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, gender based violence and alcohol/drug abuse and its impact on children in Namibia

• Strong analytical and conceptual skills

• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines

• Excellent communication skills and fluency in English, written and verbal

• Expertise in gender equality and human rights, including child rights and child participation, with a demonstrated understanding of the evaluation responsibilities in this regard

4. Call for proposals

To apply for this consultancy, interested consultant should submit expression of interest together with:

1. a cover letter, no longer than two pages, and curriculum vitae showing how the consultant meets the required qualifications, experience and expertise

2. a technical proposal, no longer than three pages, highlighting:

   1. the methodology that the consultant will use, including sampling (of regions, beneficiaries, etc), data collection methods and tools, data capturing, processing, analysis and interpretation,

   2. the work plan, time frame with clear milestones,

   3. the understanding of this Terms of References, its qualifications and any suggestions to improve this Terms of Reference,

   4. accountabilities, logistics and resource requirements that will be needed,

   5. any ethic concerns that could affect people involved in the study, and

3. a financial proposal/budget including all eligible fees, except the cost of the stakeholders’ workshop, which will be covered directly by UNICEF.

4. Evaluation weighting

• 60% technical

• 40% financial

• 100% total

Only technically qualified proposals which receives more than 70 per cent (42/60) of the technical score will be considered for financial evaluation.

4. Conditions

• The contractor will work on his/her own computer(s) and use his/her own office resources and materials in the execution of this assignment. The contractor’s fee shall be inclusive of all office administrative costs.

• Local travel (outside Windhoek) and airport transfers (where applicable) will be covered in accordance with UNICEF’s rules and tariffs.

• Flight costs will be covered at economy class rate as per UNICEF policies.

• Any air tickets for travel, will be authorized by and paid for by UNICEF directly, and will be for the attendance of meetings and workshops (if contractor is from outside Windhoek).

• UNICEF shall normally be entitled to all property rights, including but not limited to patents, copyrights and trademarks, with regard to material which bears a direct relation to, or is made in consequence of, the services provided to the Organization by the consultant. In certain cases, UNICEF would be prepared to share intellectual property rights, requiring at a minimum, that UNICEF must be acknowledged in all use and publications of the data generated under the present consultancy, and retains the right to use the data for further analysis and publication with acknowledgement of the research institution concerned.

• Please also see UNICEF’s Standard Terms and Conditions attached.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested and suitable candidates should ensure that they forward their applications to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (a cover letter, CV, and signed P11 form which can be downloaded at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc), quoting the indicative fee range.

Applications submitted without a fee/ rate will not be considered. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Please direct any enquiries to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.