The evaluation will consist of a desk review of existing project documents and monitoring data, key information interviews with the stakeholders involved in this project such as healthcare provides (e.g. county health management team, community health workers, specialist mid-level and tertiary eye health workers, etc.), other project delivery partners (e.g. Globcom, Kespa, etc.), government officials at county and national level, and focus group discussions with project beneficiaries including older people and caregivers of older people. Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following tasks for achieving the consultancy:

• Draw up a plan of action and timetable for accomplishing various components of the assignment in coordination with the Healthy Ageing Senior Advisor of Fred Hollows Foundation;
• Seek ethics approval for the evaluation where required;
• Undertake desk review based on available reports and documentation, and collect additional data if required;
• Translate the data collection tools provided by the Foundation into local languages as needed and ensure they are relevant to the local context;
• Implement data collection activities
• Analyse and synthesise the evaluation data consistent with the data collection tools guidance
• facilitate the evaluation sense-making workshop
• Prepare and ensure timely delivery of the evaluation report, following the guidance provided by the Healthy Ageing Senior Advisor of Fred Hollows Foundation, and adding additional information where required;
• Develop a short-overview of the evaluation findings in an accessible format with the identified good practices to enable adoption by the older people’s associations;
• Participate in a technical meeting for dissemination of the end product with Fred Hollows Foundation staff and other stakeholders as relevant; and
• Provide Foundation country office with the final evaluation report in English.
• It is foreseen that the following key representative groups will need to be consulted, among others, to complete this evaluation but the final list will be developed in collaboration with the project team and the Senior Advisor on Healthy Ageing at The Fred Hollows Foundation: beneficiaries (e.g., older people who received health education, screening and treatment to improve eye health), healthcare and other service providers who supported implementation of the project (e.g. community health workers, health management teams, mid-level and tertiary level eye health workers, KESPA staff, etc.), leaders of older people’s associations, government officials at county and national levels
• Note: the evaluation will require approval by the relevant Ethics Committee prior to commencement of data collection. This will be assessed based on the proposed methodology, with the ethics approval application to be managed by the consultant with support from the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant in completing the assignment:

• Evaluation/Inception Plan and methodology, including timelines and following the template provided.
• Adapted data collection tools in line with evaluation questions (note that a full set of data collection tools will be provided to the local consultant, which may require adaptations / translations to local languages).
• Prepare and obtain ethics review to conduct the evaluation.
• Presentation and validation of preliminary findings including outputs from data collection
• Presentation for the evaluation sense-making workshop
• The evaluation sense-making workshop is delivered
• Draft and final evaluation reports (following the outline provided)
• Summary report and summarized PowerPoint presentation for dissemination of findings
• Presentation of evaluation summaries (methodology, findings, recommendations, and learning) to broader Foundation staff. The content and timing of the presentation will be negotiated with the consultant.

NOTE: All raw data collected/generated during the evaluation will also need to be provided and a backup of raw data submitted in a format accessible to The Foundation.

The Foundation will provide the following:

• Focal person to support in undertaking the assignment.
• Provide documents required for desk review.
• Provide guidance, methodology, data collection tools and reporting template.
• Give feedback on the evaluation plan, methodology and evaluation report.
• Provide feedback on draft data collection tools, reports, and other deliverables.
• Support coordination between the consultant and partners and other relevant stakeholders during the entire evaluation activities so that data collection can be effectively conducted.

Schedule

• The evaluation is expected to start 1 January 2023 and be completed by mid-March 2024. This will include the preparation of an evaluation plan, an overarching submission for ethics review and the approval of the evaluation work, desk reviews, fieldwork including interviews and focus group discussions, data analysis and writing of the evaluation report and drafting of final presentations for FHF and stakeholders. The work is to commence in December 2023 to enable ethics approval to be obtained by early January. The estimated number of days required for this country evaluation is estimated to be 18-23 days.

Evaluation team & qualifications

This evaluation will be contracted to an independent evaluator or team who will work closely with The Foundation staff in the design and implementation of the evaluation. The independent individual or registered organization will have the following background and experiences.

• At least a master’s degree in medicine, Public Health, Ophthalmology, or related health sciences.
• Demonstrable experience in the evaluation of public health programs including health systems assessments.
• Extensive knowledge and practical experience in conducing evaluations including a proven track record conducting quantitative and qualitative research, including all phases of research (from data collection to management and data analysis).
• Experience in the development and use of quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and evaluation methods including, for example, FGDs and KIIs.
• Experience in preparing ethics application and obtaining ethics approval from a research institute for qualitative and/or mixed-method research.
• Demonstrable experience writing evaluation reports and developing presentations in English.
• Strong knowledge and experience working with the Kenyan health care systems and overall understanding of Kenyan health sector policies.
• Strong experience in using equity framework(s) to evaluate progress against equity objectives.
• Strong analytical skills and oral and written communication skills
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills in English.
• Computer literacy, including expert use of Microsoft Office package.
• Experience in eye health, healthy ageing and/or gender equity will be an advantage.