Background:
Mahapach-Taghir (which means change) is a grassroots Jewish-Arab feminist organization for social change, which was founded in 1998. Our overall goal is to promote a shared society in Israel with equal opportunities for all, by: (a) Building leadership in Arab and Jewish communities in the periphery through empowerment and formal/informal education; (b) Promoting solidarity between social groups, as well as equality and (c) Facilitating participatory democracy, civil leadership and a more effective local governance. Our organisation has been working with disadvantaged communities for over 20 years and with women in particular. We have gained extensive experience in becoming part of the local communities, listening to their needs, building leadership and an Arab-Jewish partnership based on political values of democracy, feminism, equality and human rights.
The Context:
The marginalized communities where we work face some of the greatest barriers to quality education and jobs due to discriminatory policies. They are systematically excluded from decision-making processes at community, municipal and national levels. The main challenges we are facing during the global pandemic are:
● Neglect of the social and geographical periphery that has only been made worse during the pandemic — thus gaps in education, infrastructure, services, security in public spaces and more have increased this past year.
● Gender inequality—and specifically, an increase of incidents of violence against women—particularly in the Palestinian minority during the current health crisis.
Description of the projects that are funded by Secours Catholique:
Secours Catholique has been a major partner of MT since 2005, supporting MTs work with poor disadvantaged communities. The two partners have engaged in sharing of knowledge and experience through delegations to France and Israel, reports and evaluations.
The “Learning Communities” - is an intergenerational and comprehensive initiative. The Learning Community facilitates the active engagement of residents (mostly women) and encourages them to organise themselves and generate solutions to common problems. In parallel, university students provide children and youth with pedagogical and social tutoring. Our informal education model fosters a strong democratic civil society. Since we started, we have engaged some 3,000 college student volunteers, 500 women and 6,000 children. Currently we work in six Learning Communities in Israel that we established in: Yad Eliyahu (Tel Aviv), Acre, Maghar, Yafia, Nof Hagalil, Talpiot and Katamonim (Jerusalem).
The National Women's Council - The Council brings together Arab and Jewish women from disadvantaged communities in the social and geographic periphery of Israel, to promote a vision of a shared society and gender equality. The Council was launched in 2019 and includes 25 representatives from seven disadvantaged communities in which Mahapach-Taghir works. The communities share common challenges and the Council members work together on solutions and activities against racism and discrimination. In 2020 the Council chose a subject for its campaign - to combat economic violence against women. In addition, the Council serves as a platform for leadership development for local women leaders.
“Second Opportunity” – Higher Education for Disadvantaged Women - This innovative model makes higher education accessible to women from disadvantaged communities, as means to facilitate their social and vocational mobility, as well as their ability to become leaders in their communities. Participants are women over the age of 35 who were unable to attend higher education due to social, economic and gender-related barriers. The first cohort of the program featured 30 Jewish women in Jerusalem in partnership with the David Yellin College and the Yuvalim community center. 29 women were able to successfully graduate with a B.Ed. The second cohort is operated in Tamra in partnership with the municipality and the Open University, with 20 women who recently graduated with a B.A. degree. TA group of 26 women from Baqa al-Gharbiyye began the third year of their B.A. studies and a cohort of 28 women in Yafia began the second year of their studies. In the summer of 2021 a new group of 30 Arab from Jaffa women began the program. We were awarded the prestigious Genesis Prize for this program in 2018. The program is supported by several foundations, including major ones such as Yad Hanadiv Foundation and the Schusterman Family Foundation. Local municipalities, the Open University and the Israeli National Lottery also contribute to the program.
Assignment:
Secours Catholique and its partner Mahapach-Taghir are looking to select a consultant to evaluate its 3-years project funded by Secours Catholique.
Secours Catholique – Caritas France (SCCF) is a French association recognized for public interest and a service of the Catholic Church; it is also a member of the Caritas Internationalis global network. SCCF is committed to fight against poverty, exclusion and inequalities, and promote the development of each person. SCCF has been supporting MT for many years.
The primary objective of the evaluation is to provide clear evidence of the project’s relevancy, efficiency, efficacy, impact, and sustainability. This evaluation research will also serve MTs capacity building. It will enable MT to compile lessons learnt, trends and recommendations to support the development of MT as an organisation. In addition the research should also relate to the way the organisation has functioned under the circumstances of the Covid19 global crisis and how MT adopted innovative strategies and activities to promote social justice.
The evaluation should also assess the impact of the overall objective of MT’s project under the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic and answer the following question: Have the project objectives stated in the Contract between SCCF and MT been achieved in a time of a global crisis, a crisis which influenced strongly underprivileged communities such as the ones that MT is working with ?
The evaluation period should cover the entire project duration starting from January 2019 until December 2021.
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The research should be evaluating the outputs and impact of conducted activities, as well as to give recommendations on further activities, therefore the following questions should be answer by the research:
● How do we measure the impact (outcome) of MT’s activity in its communities?
● What are the measures and activities MT took in order to promote the vision mentioned above, specifically during the time of the Covid19 pandemic crisis?
● Did the new activities which MT adopted promote the vision of the organisation?
● What were the outputs of those activities?
● What measures can be taken to ensure long-term impact and sustainability of the activities of MT in the communities it is working with?
● Is there an added value to the community work of MT?
● How did MT benefit from the partnership with Secours Catholique? What was the added value of the partnership?
Objectives and Indicators for evaluation:
Goal: A contribution is made towards a just society in Israel in which everyone has the same socio-economic and educational opportunities and in which a strong democratic civil society can develop.
Objective 1)
Underprivileged children from eight selected partner municipalities have better educational opportunities. At the same time, the active participation of students, parents and local residents is strengthened.
Indicators:
1.1 In each community, the academic performance of at least 30 children per year has improved demonstrably through the students’ tutoring.
1.2 At least ten parents and residents per year are committed to regularly supporting the project.
Objective 2)
Women from marginalized communities have better job opportunities.
Indicator: At least 30 women in Tamra continue their studies in the educational program "Second Opportunity” .
Objective 3)
Meeting spaces for the dialogue between Palestinian and Jewish students in Israel have been created.
Indicators:
3.1 The involvement of at least 120 students per year has increased. At least 120 students per year take part in the weekly local meetings, regional meetings, study days and seminars and are involved in all activities of the "Learning Community".
3.2 The dialogue between Jewish and Palestinian communities has been strengthened through regional meetings and joint activities.
Beneficiaries:
● About 140 women, 80 university students and 150 children in six disadvantaged Arab and Jewish communities around Israel (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Nof Hagalil, Yafia, Maghar and Acre).
● 84 Arab women participants in the “Second Opportunity” program in Baqa Al Gharbiya, Yafia and Jaffa.
● 25 Arab and Jewish women of our National Women's Council”. The women are representatives from eight different disadvanatged communities where we work or worked in the past, across Israel.
Deliverables:
Under the supervision of a dedicated team comprised of MT’s staff and board members, the Consultant will be required to deliver the following outputs:
● An inception report, including methodology, sampling and data collection materials.
● A draft report detailing the key findings, lesson learned and in-depth recommendations that will inform future programming submitted for review and comments by MT .
● A final version of the evaluation report by June 15th, 2022.
● The report will be written in English and submitted electronically in a MS – Word document.
● A presentation and debriefing on the report, highlighting key results, lessons learned and future recommendations to MT’s staff.
Tasks will require the following:
In order to complete this assignment, it is envisioned that the consultant will undertake the following actions:
● Reviewing relevant project materials such as: proposals, progress reports; log frame, work plan & materials.
● Conducting one-on-one meetings with relevant stakeholders.
● Conducting interviews with sampled project beneficiaries.
● Conducting Focus Group Discussions in field sites with project stakeholders/ beneficiaries.
● Comparing the results of the research to the national data on similar communities, such as the emotional impact of the pandemic over children.
MT will be responsible for:
Provision of project documents for contextual background.
Provision of curriculum and materials including PPTs, handouts, videos, booklets etc.
Making the connection with the participants at the research
Skills, experience and qualifications required:
● University degree in relevant field.
● Proven capability and experience in conducting project evaluations.
● Experience in working with Palestinian and Jewish shared society initiatives, marginalized and underprivileged communities, and feminists causes, and in evaluating related programs in these sectors.
● Minimum of three years of experience in conducting participatory evaluations and impact assessments.
● Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques.
● Excellent writing and communication skills in Hebrew and English and preferably knowledge of Arabic.
● Availability and willingness to travel to various areas in Israel.
● Ability to work under strict and demanding timelines.
How to apply:
Submission requirements
Interested applicants should submit the following to missioncourteduree@secours-catholique.org ;
Titled: Project Evaluation Consultant.
● Cover Letter indicating clearly how the opportunity fits in with applicant’s skills and experience
● Up-to-date Curriculum Vitae(s).
● Technical proposal (including methodology, data collection tools, work-plan, with clear timeframe for each activity under work-plan and deliverable, and if relevant, details on team composition).
● Financial proposal.
● Names/list of previous evaluations for similar assignments where the applicant was the sole or lead evaluator and author of the work.
*Interested applicants ought to send their proposals including the budget breakdown and number of working days to finalise assessment and submit the report.*
➢ Only companies or free lance consultants duly registered may answer.
➢ The currency used must be euro.
➢ Financial proposal including an evaluation of the mission expenses (travel costs, daily allowances, etc.). These expenses will be reimbursed on the actual costs (with proofs of payment).
Consultancy work will start *at the end of March 2022.
Documents should be submitted by March 20th, 2022.
Submissions received after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.
Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.