Introduction
Plan International positions itself as a strong global civil society actor that resonates with all those who want to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. We have a bold statement that strives for “a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls”
Plan engages globally and takes action where children are not enjoying the rights they deserve and where we can add value. We empower children, young people and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion and vulnerability. To realise this change, we drive change in practice and policy at local, national and global levels through our reach, experience and knowledge of the realities children face.
In 2013, the Plan AU Liaison Office, developed a 5 year (2013-2017) advocacy strategy focused on addressing the challenges facing children and especially girls, and to the address seemingly gap between policy making and policy implementation at all levels
The strategy recognised that, the challenges facing children in Africa today are fast eroding traditional boundaries between local, national and or regional challenges, creating a scalar dynamic of a continental catastrophe. The strategy called for a new approach, within Plan and its partners, to deal with the multi-dimensional and multi- faceted challenges facing children in Africa. The strategy recognised the need to facilitate and draw together political and economic resources in a way that complements and reinforces efforts at different levels. The strategy also identified the African Union (AU) as a powerful, legitimate and credible regional and international player with increasing influence on the policies and practices of its members.
PAO’s advocacy strategy was therefore anchored on the AU (and its regional bodies) as an emerging platform that Plan International could continue to utilise as a means to enlarge its reach, widen its scope, and scale up impact and sustainability of its interventions in Africa.
The strategy
The strategy has a goal that resonates Plan’s global ambition of working at multiple levels and through sustained interventions that place the wellbeing of children at the centre of development. The goal of our strategy was: “Just policies and fair practices, that reflect, respond to, promote and protect children’s rights in Africa”. Specifically the goal is about, ‘Improved legislation, policies, resource allocation and practices of national and Pan-African institutions that respond to, promote and protect children’s rights in Africa’. The strategy aims at ensuring that Plan’s engagement with the AU is focused, concerted, coherent and complementary.
To support the achievement of the goal, the strategy focused on the four (4) key priority areas below
Gender equality and inclusion are crosscutting issues in these four priority areas. The four thematic priorities were agreed by both regional offices (Plan RESA and WARO) after negotiations and consultations of Plan’s operations in the two regions. The priorities are also aligned to the Plan International global policy, advocacy and campaigns strategic framework, the two regional programmatic focuses and frameworks, as well as Plan’s ‘One Plan, One Goal’ strategy.
The strategy was defined through seven (7) interrelated objectives (please refer to the PAO advocacy strategy document). Implementation of the strategy was done mainly through direct support to the African Union (AU), its organs, institutions and mechanisms. We also implemented the strategy through regional and sub-regional CSOs and coalitions.
The Task - Strategy ReviewThe 5 year strategy which was implemented mainly through partners ended in June 2017 and there’s now the need to review the strategy in line with Plan’s Program Quality Procedures (PQP). The review will cover all of PAO’ operations, programs, activities and strategies. The strategy review will assess the relevance and effectiveness of POA’s partnership model and overall program strategy. The evaluation will cover all the four key areas and their corresponding grants and sponsorship funded activities.
Overall Objective of the review
The main objective of this review is to assess the overall performance of PAO’s advocacy strategy and the extent to which the program objectives were achieved, the contributing factors to the achievement (both intended and unintended) and any deviation from the agreed objectives and the implementation strategies.
Specific Objectives of the review
The strategy review will cover the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria of (i) relevance, (ii) effectiveness, (iii) efficiency, (iv) sustainability and (v) impact. Beyond these review criteria, the consultant will also apply the following lens to the review process. This is in recognition of the fact that, these other factors contribute to project quality and impact. These additional criteria are: (i) partnership management, (ii) accountability, (iii) scaling up of best practices, (iv) learning & documentation, (v) effectiveness of our advocacy initiatives and (vi) effectiveness of collaboration between PAO and other Plan Offices (Country Offices, National/Liaison Offices and our International HQ, including the efficiency of our operations and structures (viii) our funding model.
Scope and Coverage
The advocacy strategy review will cover PAO’s programs and projects implemented between FY 2013 and FY 2017. The review will target all partners and collaborators – CSOs, NGOs, Coalitions and the respective AU bodies who were covered and/or supported under the strategy.
Methodology
The Strategy review will be carried out by an external consultant. It will mainly employ participatory qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The use of the Most Significant Change and other outcome mapping techniques to document and demonstrate Plan’s program outcomes and impact. Due to the nature of our interventions, the consultant will use evidence gathered through secondary data and primary data collected through the use of online surveys and telephone/skype conversations especially for partners that are based outside Ethiopia.
The consultant will be responsible for developing the review questions, tools and sampling framework and will share this with Pan Africa Office for review before undertaking the assignment. This will form part of the inception process and report. To an extent possible, the data in the report should be disaggregated by age and gender.
Utilization of Results
The results of the strategy review will support and feed into the design of PAO’s new strategy.
Timeframe
The Strategy review will be conducted between November and December, 2017.
Consultants’ Qualifications:
Expected Outputs and Reporting Requirements:
The consultant shall submit the following reports related to the strategy review:
A summary version of the final report (10 pages).
Child Protection Policy
Proprietary Right