Terms of Reference for Advocacy and Communications Officer

Introduction

PSD is a women/youth-led Non-Profit Organization that is committed towards advancing Social Justice and Development of women to be able to take shape of their destiny. PSD envisions a society without injustice, violence and poverty and the mission is to work with vulnerable communities to address social injustices, alleviation of poverty and violence

Interested persons with requisite qualifications and passion for excellence are hereby invited to seize this opportunity;

Location: Uganda, based in Kampala at Head Office
Application deadline: 28th July 2023 (Midnight East African Standard Time)
Type of Contract: Project Service Contract.
Languages Required: English, Luganda
Duration of Initial Contract: 1 year initially (Extendable).

Essential Requirements:

Required Education

Bachelor’s degree in Law, Mass Communications and Journalism, Media Studies, Development Communication or relevant discipline.

Required Education

i). Post graduate tertiary or equivalent is an added advantage in Law, Mass Communication, Public policy or other relevant qualification. At least three years of work experience in similar environment. ii). At least 2 years working experience of related advocacy and communication employment/assignment. iii). Experience in implementing organizational advocacy and communication strategies; coordinating communication and advocacy activities in NGO related contexts. iv). Track record in writing, editing articles, reports, and press releases. v). Ability to deliver oral presentations to various audiences. vi). Excellent command of written and spoken English and able to operate in the Luganda language.

Job Summary
The Advocacy and Communications Officer will contribute to PSD’s vision, mission and strategies focused on advocacy and communication. The Officer is responsible for designing and implementing strategies that can influence policy and practice change among young adolescents and leaders in relation to enjoyment of SRHRs.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Support the development and review of PSD’s communication and advocacy strategies.
• Manage and support the design and implementation of PSD’s SRHRs advocacy campaigns and partnerships with members and technical working groups.
• Manage and regularly update PSD’s online platforms including social media, twitter, website, Facebook and related platforms.
• Provide support to organization of conferences, workshops, seminars, training and delivery of outputs.
• Any other duties as may be assigned by supervisor.

Job Offers:

• PSD is an equal opportunity employer who do not discriminate against individual on ay basis and grounds.
• PSD offers competitive and attractive packages
• Young people are encouraged to apply

Application procedure:
Applications should be addressed to the Executive Director sent to info@paradigmforjustice.org and include the position applied for in the subject matter. Applicants should attach up-to-date Curriculum Vitae, Certified copies of academic and other relevant documents and indicate names and contacts of three (3) referees, two professional and one character. N.B: No hand delivery application will be accepted. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

General Information

Project Title	Empowering Women to Promote Peaceful and Gender Equal Societies in Wakiso District.
Work Description	Conduct End of Project Term Evaluation
Period of Evaluation	2nd January 2021 to 30th June 2022
Duration	15 Days
Expected Start Date	6th June 2022
Application procedure	Candidates should submit one PDF File attachment containing: A letter of interest, A personal CV with contact details of 03 clients for whom you have rendered preferably similar services, A sample of previous work relevant to the assignment Technical proposal and financial proposal, addressed to the to the Executive Director Paradigm for Social Justice and Development (PSD) with the subject End of Project evaluation. Email to: paradigmforjustice@gmail.com and copy in info@paradigmforjustice.org, latest by 5:00pm May 30th 2022.

1.0 Background and Rationale

Paradigm for Justice and Development (PSD) is a women’s right organization founded in 2019 by group of women lawyers and human rights activists committed towards advancing social justice and empowerment of the youth and women. The organization envisions a society without injustice, violence and poverty. Our mission is to work with vulnerable communities to address social injustices, alleviate poverty and violence. Our Program focus areas include; Strengthening Women’s Access to Justice; Promoting Women’s Peace and Security; Human Rights and Good Governance; Economic Empowerment for youth, women and PWD’s; Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and Research.

In partnership with the Women Peace and Humanitarian Fund and UN Women, PSD is implementing the Project entitled “Empowering women to promote peaceful and gender equal societies in Wakiso district”. The Project aims at increasing meaningful participation of women in decision making, conflict prevention processes and response.

This Project is being implemented in the areas of Busiro North and East, Nabweru and Gombe divisions; specifically, 12 sub counties/ Town councils that is Wakiso Sub County, Wakiso Town Council, Namyumba Sub County, Namayumba Town Council, Masullita sub county, Masuliita Town Council, Mende Sub County, Kyengera Town Council, Kakiri Sub County, Kakiri Town Council, Gombe division and Nabweru division.

PSD trained 60 community members from the Project areas and these were categorized into two; 30 (12 men and 18 women) Peace Coordinators whose main role is to sensitize the community on conflict resolution, Gender Based Violence prevention, role of women in peace building, early warning response and conflict referral pathway through community radio and mobile awareness clinics. The second category comprises of 6 Women Peace Groups each with 5 members whose mandate is to collect conflict early warning information, assess and analyze the conflict and with the local and religious leaders develop local solutions and responses. The group also conducts mediations for conflicting parties and outreaches the community on civic education, conflict, Gender Based Violence prevention and early warning response.

The intended project Impact is to increase meaningful participation and decision-making of women in conflict prevention processes and response, the Outcome is strengthened women-led Early Warning Systems for conflict prevention and the intended Project Outputs are: 1.1 Favorable attitudes of parties to the conflict & communities towards women’s participation in conflict prevention are promoted; 1.2 Communities enhanced to understand early warning systems and the role of women in conflict prevention; 1.3 Information on conflict prevention and the role of women in preventing conflict widely disseminated in the communities; 1.4 Women participate and lead in effective early-warning and conflict prevention mechanism; 1.5 Increased visibility of the Project and public engagement.

The Project was implemented through the following interventions; training of Peace coordinators to conduct community awareness sessions through community radio programs and mobile awareness clinics; training of Women Peace Group members to collect and analyze conflict data, work with community leaders to develop local responses to the identified conflicts, resolve conflicts through mediation, dialogue and negotiation, hold mobile awareness clinics; training of religious and local council leaders on the role of women and training of women council members.

PSD wishes to conduct an end of Project evaluation whose purpose is to assess the progress made towards achieving the Project goal and impact based on the Project design and strategy (Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability) and to come out with recommendations to guide future programming. PSD wishes to document evidence of its performance and results both intended and unintended, document emerging issues affecting service delivery in the five target districts of Uganda. The evaluation will be the basis to inform PSD’s future programming drawings from the lessons learnt and best practices documented in the evaluation as well as rendering accountability to donors and other stakeholders.

2.0 Objectives of the Evaluation

The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the Project’s achievements against the set outcome, impact and outputs, identify and document lessons learnt (including design issues, lessons and best practices that can be up-scaled or replicated), and assess how the program contributed to Conflict prevention, Women Peace and Security in Wakiso district.

The specific objectives include;

1. Make an overall assessment about the performance of the Project, paying particular attention to the outcomes and/ or impact of the Project interventions against its objectives;
2. Assess the intended and unintended outcomes of the Project and determine the level of the Project’s contribution to these outcomes. The evaluation will clearly identify the results/ outcomes achieved during the 18 months of Project implementation;
3. Assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of Project strategies and activities;
4. Identify and document key lessons learned and best practices and to propose practical recommendations for follow-up interventions.

3.0 Role and Responsibilities of the Consultant

• Review of the relevant project documents.
• Establish contacts with the various Stakeholders and intended beneficiaries.
• Prepare and submit inception report including methodology to be used, work plans and schedules for the assignment for review and feedback and approval by PSD.
• Conduct field visits.
• Submit an inception report (with detailed methodology, research tools and timeline/logistics) for further discussion.
• Develop data collection tools.
• Interview selected respondents during the evaluation.
• Hire and train the data collection team.
• Lead and supervise the data collection.
• Leading the data entry and analysis.
• Take lead in the validation meetings with selected stakeholders and beneficiaries.
• Submit a draft evaluation report and final evaluation report based on the stakeholders’ feedback.
• Attend and present the draft evaluation report during the validation meeting.

4.0 Role and responsibilities of PSD

• Briefing the Consultant about the project and the evaluation exercise
• Avail all the required facilitation and coordination
• Prepare and effect payment for the consultant according to the terms in the contract
• Review and approve the evaluation tools and methodology to be used during the evaluation
• Provide all the necessary documents and support to the consultant to ensure timely completion.

5.0 Expected deliverables
The end of project evaluation is expected to produce the following outputs;

1. An Inception Report from the consultant within one week of signing of the contract providing for the consultant’s understanding of the assignment, detail out the methodology, approach to be adopted by the consultant, draft data collection tools and detailed work plan for the entire exercise.
2. A Draft Evaluation Report for presentation to stakeholders for validation.
3. 3 Outcome matrices: First draft of outcomes to be submitted two days after desk review and before Outcome Harvesting session with PSD Project team. Second draft outcome matrix to be submitted 5 days after field visits/ data collection and before outcome analysis. Third Outcome matrix to be submitted together with a draft evaluation report.
4. Validation workshop and presentation of preliminary evaluation findings: validation workshop with PSD, project participants to share initial findings, generate consensus on results and collaboratively develop recommendations.
5. Final Evaluation report: maximum 35 pages, including a stand-alone executive summary, with further information included as references and annexes additional to the main report. This will be submitted to the Executive Director, by the date stated in the Agreement. It should be:
   1. Thoroughly edited, well-structured and designed.
   2. Clear and concise, limited to essential points.
   3. Detailed materials attached as annexes.
   4. Main findings of the evaluation should be presented with a view to making recommendations.
6. Two Significant Change Stories: each between 1 and 2 pages, font size 12. To be submitted together with final evaluation report.
7. Other documents/ materials: such as raw data files, quantitative data files, transcripts of interviews, photographs taken among other products during the evaluation exercise. To be submitted together with Final evaluation report.

6.0 Evaluation criteria
The proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria: –

Technical proposal (40%): This should detail their understanding of the work to be done and a general outline on approach the assignment and a list of previous related work experience. A detailed methodology and data collection tools should be included in the technical proposal. It would be important to include a capability statement of the individual consultant/firm. Including summary of proposed approach and methodology.

Financial proposal (30%): This should detail the cost of the proposed work.

Relevant experience (30%): This should include the experience and activities related to Project Evaluations undertaken before.

7.0 Competence

1. Education
   • A Master’s degree or post graduate degree related to any of; Peace and Conflict studies, Social Work, Gender Studies, law, Development Studies and evaluation
2. Experience
   • A minimum of 7 years of working experience in conducting evaluations including; proven practical professional experience in designing and conducting Project evaluation in conducting similar assignments.
3. Skills

• • High level data analysis skills in both quantitative and qualitative data;
  • Flexibility and Ability to work with teams in multicultural settings
  • Demonstrable ability to work under pressure to meet challenging deadlines
  • Must be able to or have team that understands and speaks Luganda.
  • Ability to conduct quality evaluation within the stipulate time and respond to requests in a timely manner.
  • Excellent probing, analytical, facilitation, written and communication skills.
  • Strong analytical and conceptual skills to clearly synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and to prepare well-written reports in a timely manner.

8.0 Reporting

The Consultant shall report to the Executive Director or designated person on all matters pertaining to this assignment.