Ben mid term evaluation tor

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT BUILDING EFFECTUVE NETWORK - MID TERM EVALUATION:

1. Title: Consultancy.

Descriptive Title for the Evaluation: Midterm evaluation for the Building Effective Network (BEN) Uganda Program

Expected duration of assignment: 6 weeks

Reports to: Executive Director

Date of publication: 29th June 2026

2. Background information:

Katalemwa Cheshire Home for Rehabilitation Services (KCH) was established in 1970 and is a fully registered Non-Governmental Organization. At its core, KCH envisions a world where people with disabilities live dignified and productive lives. This vision drives its mission to promote access to quality rehabilitation and social services for persons with disabilities, with special attention to children and youth.

In order to achieve a broader impact towards empowering children and youth with disabilities, KCH is a grants manager who leads a strategic partnership of 18 local organizations that work with children and youth with disabilities funded by a Dutch based organization Liliane Foundation. The program is implemented in 3 regions with 3 regional networks in the East, North and Central Uganda. The Eastern network has 5 IPOs, Central 8 IPOs and Northern with 5. Of the 18 IPOs 3 joined the network towards end of 2025. Through this partnership, KCH aims at strengthening and expanding the network of support services available to children with disabilities by addressing structural barriers that prevent full inclusion and participation of children with disabilities in society. To address the noted challenges, KCH and partners promote Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) approach that entails collaboration between complementary stakeholders across the domains of health, education, livelihoods, social, and empowerment. This is in addition to exploration of a rights-based approach where service providers and duty bearers fulfil their obligations to protect, respect and promote the rights, entitlements, and well-being of children and youth with disability.

This program is working in context of a shift from the Child Empowerment Program (CEP) as its core strategy towards a new policy titled “Building Effective Networks” (BEN) developed by Liliane Foundation in 2021

The CEP interventions were concentrated around addressing the individual barriers that hindered inclusion of children with disabilities and as well supporting families to offer better care for their children with disabilities. BEN MAPP does continue to build on the CEP however it does offer more emphasis at strengthening communities to be able to include children and youth with disabilities through addressing social and structural barriers that hinder inclusion. The shift seeks to contribute to strengthening a complementary network of IPOs and their collaborating partners to effectively deliver jointly developed holistic multi-annual country program plan 2024-2028.

3. Project Description:

The program’s goal is to advance the rights of children and youths with disabilities by addressing underlying structures, systems, and norms that perpetuate discrimination, exclusion, exploitation, dehumanization and either harmful practice against children and youths with disabilities and their care givers.

4. Outcomes:

For this Multi Annual Programme (MAP), a Theory of Change (ToC) has been developed. This ToC consists of 5 pathways of change. The 5 outcomes are: 1) Every child/youth with a disability achieves their highest attainable standard of health and development/ rehabilitation. 2) Every child/youth with a disability participates in and attains quality education in an enabling and supportive environment. 3) Enhanced economic opportunities for youth with disabilities for their self-reliance. 4) Every child or youth with a disability lives in a barrier free community that adheres to disability inclusive cultural norms, practices, beliefs, laws & policies. 5) Every child or youth with a disability makes informed choices and decisions for their own lives and exercises their rights, including SRHR.

5. Purpose:

The purpose of the evaluation is to gather accurate and detailed midline data on the key indicators related to the program's objectives, generate lessons learned and provide lessons for improvement. This data will serve as a reference point for measuring progress and evaluating the impact of the program. The mid-term evaluation will include the OECD DAC evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the programme. This will done on critical areas that provide a comprehensive understanding of the initial conditions, enabling informed decision-making and strategic planning. The questions to be answered by the baseline study are designed to address the primary objectives of the program and ensure targeted interventions. Question will be focus on program relevancy, effectiveness, efficient, inclusive, sustainable, and beginning to show impact. Also, the evaluation questions will directly inform the program's strategic objectives and enable the measurement of key performance indicators. These questions have been selected based on their relevance to the program's primary goals of enhancing the quality of life for children and youth with disabilities through improved access to education, healthcare, livelihoods, and social inclusion.

6. Evaluation Objectives:

a). Main Objective of the evaluation:

The main objective of the midterm evaluation is; To assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of the BEN program’s implementation to date, with a focus on the Program Management Unit (PMU) set‑up, partner performance, and progress toward intended outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. Assess the relevancy and effectiveness of PMU as compared to former CEP. Identify strengths, challenges, and actionable recommendations lessons for program improvement.

b). Specific objectives:

Accurately measure Building Effective Network (BEN) progress against program objectives as well as compare mid results with baseline data to track change.
Evaluate PMU functionality and partner coordination for the partner network and current BEN program as compared to former CEP setup.
Provide reflective feedback and learning to the Uganda Network (and the broader partnership with Liliane Fonds) on the BEN transition from the Child Empowerment Program. This covers how the BEN transition has shifted towards more holistic child support, more CBR oriented approach and will include successes, challenges and lessons learned.
Determine the extent to which the program has achieved its intended outputs, outcomes by midline capture lessons learned to inform adjustments in program design, delivery, partnerships and generate evidence for modification and maximizing impact.

5. Scope of the Evaluation

a). Geographical coverage

The project will be conducted in Central, Eastern, and Northern Uganda. In each of these regions at local network has been established under BEN MAPP. Target beneficiaries include children and youth with disabilities, caregivers/ parents of CYWDs, local government, line ministries and OPDs. The project is implemented in collaboration with various stakeholders including Local government, Ministries, Partner organizations, /OPDs, local communities and Implementing Partner Organizations.

b) Network governance

The BEN MAPP is governed at several levels with the PMU consisting of 2 organizations KCH and UNAPD. KCH does play a double role as a Grant Management and CBR technical program lead. UNAPD supports the development of the Advocacy agenda of the program. Both organizations though independent play an organizer and facilitator role by conducting joint coordination that includes steering, as well as provide support supervision to the network members. In each of the clusters, there both Advocacy IPOs who lead on the advocacy agenda and the CBR IPOs who lead on interventions related to capacity building and individual support. The IPOs who are facilitators play an enabler role where they mobilize communities by bringing together various actors that include service providers, duty bearers, families, CSOs and private sector. They support the community systems and structures to be inclusive by building capacity of the community actors including families of children with disability, strengthening referrals and advocating for inclusive services. The regional networks meet quarterly where they do plan and reflect the network activities jointly. The network members are accountable to each other and their collaborating partners.

The consultant will visit each of the 3 networks meeting the network actors in the 3 regions. The network includes youth with disability working groups that work with each of the networks. They comprise of youth with disabilities and help shape the discussions of the partners during planning, implementation and evaluation. These networks are established by implementing partners with youth representatives from each of the IPOs. Within 3 years the program will reach 3500 children and youth with disabilities, 15000 caregivers and reach 28 sub-counties.

c). Time period covered:

The evaluation will cover the programme implementation period 2024-2026. The outcomes will also be used to further improve the programme planning and implementation of the remaining years (2026-2028). Evaluation outcomes can also be re-assessed during the end-evaluation in 2028, which will focus on the full five-year programme (2024-2028).

d) Target Group

Children and youth with disabilities (550), parents and caregivers (530), community leaders, service providers (30), and 6 Implementing Partner Organizations (IPOs). Of the parents and caregivers 178 will be from Northern region, 185 from Eastern and 165 From central region

6. Evaluation Questions: Based on the project model/theory of change, the evaluation will answer the following evaluation questions (EQs)

1) Outcome 1:

a) To what extent have children and youth with disabilities supported by BEN program demonstrated measurable improvements in their health, development, and rehabilitation outcomes compared to support provided during CEP implementation?

b) How accessible and effective are health services for children and youth with disabilities under BEN Mapp been?

2) Outcome 2:

a) How regularly do they attend classes compared to their peers without disabilities?

b) How enabling are school environments (physical accessibility, safe spaces, psychosocial support)?

c) How regularly do children and youth with disabilities attend classes compared to their peers without disabilities?

d) To what extent are children and youth with disabilities achieving literacy, numeracy, and other developmental milestones?

3) Outcome 3:

a) To what extent are youth with disabilities accessing vocational training, apprenticeships, or employment opportunities?

b) How and to what have youth with disabilities gained confidence and independence through skills development?

c) How effective are policies and practices in promoting inclusive employment?

d) How do youth with disabilities perceive their own economic independence and self reliance after interventions?

4) Outcome 4:

a) How have community attitudes and cultural practices toward disability changed over time?

b) How effectively have infrastructure improvements reduced environmental barriers (transport, buildings, communication)

c) To what extent are national and local disability laws and policies implemented at the community level?

d) What evidence exists of reduced stigma and discrimination against children and youth with disabilities?

e) Are improvements in barrier free environments sustainable beyond external project support?

f) To what extent are public spaces, schools, health centers, and community facilities physically accessible to children and youth with disabilities.

5) Outcome 5:

a) To what degree are youth with disabilities accessing inclusive health, SRHR, and counselling services?

b) Are children and youth with disabilities demonstrating increased confidence in making personal decisions about education, health, relationships, and daily life?

c) To what extent have children and youth with disabilities gained knowledge about their rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)?

d) How supportive are families, caregivers, and communities in enabling informed choices?

e) Are children and youth with disabilities actively participating in community dialogues, peer groups, or decision making forums?

PMU

a) To what extent has the PMU established clear roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines? b) How effective is the PMU’s coordination with the program’s steering committee, Implementing partner Organizations (IPOs), and donors?

c) Does the PMU have adequate staffing levels and the right mix of skills to deliver its mandate?

d) How effectively is the PMU coordinating with implementing partners at national and district levels?

e) To what degree has the PMU facilitated collaboration across sectors (health, education, livelihoods)?

f) Are communication channels between PMU, partners, and stakeholders clear and functional?

Outcome level evaluation Questions:

How effective has been the set-up of the PMU?
What is the value of partners working in the network?
The specific objectives of the evaluation are;
How has the BEN program been contributing to the CBR for children and youth with disabilities, and how can this be improved?
Is there evidence of change in the capacity of IPO’s since the shift from CEP to BEN MAP? For example, increased advocacy and lobby, improved policy and programming etc.

7. Methodology

The BEN Program mid-term evaluation will utilize a participatory, mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative data. This methodology is useful to assess the program's progress, identify challenges, and recommend actionable, real-time adjustments for the remaining period. We shall use facilitated sessions where partners reflect on progress, challenges, and adaptations, this is key as it builds ownership and generates qualitative insights and can be integrated in existing meetings. Key informant interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with stakeholders. Review of existing literature MEL data and program reports. In addition, we shall outcome harvesting and reflection sessions with partner organizations.

8. Scope of assignment:

The evaluation for the Building Effective Network (BEN) Uganda program will comprehensively review progress against outcomes and strategies, assess effectiveness of MEL system and partner learning, conduct network (with support from country assessment tool) and TOC review and identify areas for strategic adaptation.

9. Activities to be Evaluated:

Establishment and functioning of the BEN network at national and cluster level?
Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Strengthening and Coordination: Strengthening advocacy, reviving CBR structures, community awareness, and research on disability issues.
Progress towards the BEN MAP implementation and transition towards BEN approach including functionality if BEN network.
Inclusive Education: Implementing behavior change campaigns, providing educational support, and creating enabling school environments.
Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services: Strengthening service provider capacity, enhancing referral systems, and providing direct support.
Livelihoods Development: Offering skills development, facilitating employment opportunities, and supporting Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs).
Social Inclusion and Empowerment: Raising awareness on gender and disability inclusion, supporting access to services, enhancing advocacy capacity and youth empowerment.
Advocacy & Policy Engagement: Activities aimed at influencing local government policies on disability inclusion.
Networking & Partnerships: Establishment and strengthening of networks among CBR stakeholders (government, NGOs, community groups), health, education, and social service providers.

10. Key Deliverables

The consultant will provide the following key outputs:

a) An inception report comprising of the finalized detailed work plan, sampling methods based on agreed sampling approach and method of analysis and tools.

b) A draft and final midterm evaluation report for internal review by KCH and LF.

c) Presentation of the final report to KCH staff and partners.

d) Submit a final report after incorporating comments from KCH and LF.

e) All materials produced by the study including hard copy of the report and raw data either in SPSS, excel, FGD and in-depth Interviews (IDI) transcripts in soft form.

f) The consultant will be responsible to present most significant findings to the KCH and key stakeholders including beneficiaries, to get their feedback on critical areas.

g) Final presentation to KCH and invited stakeholders - soft copy of presentation and hand-outs for attendees

11. Principles and Approach that will Guide the Evaluation

The mid-term evaluation for the Building Effective Network (BEN) Uganda program will adhere to principles ensuring a comprehensive, inclusive, ethical, and effective process. Key principles include transparency, partnership, openness, cost-effectiveness, gender awareness, cultural sensitivity, and adherence to ethical procedures.

1. Transparency: Clear communication and documentation will be maintained, with regular updates to stakeholders on progress, methodologies, and results to build trust and accountability.

2. Partnership: A collaborative approach will involve donors, partners, implementing agencies, and beneficiaries, promoting shared ownership and commitment to the study’s recommendations.

3. Openness: The study will value and incorporate feedback from all participants, ensuring findings are relevant and actionable.

4. Cost-Effectiveness: Resources will be utilized efficiently by leveraging existing data, streamlining data collection, and using technology to reduce costs.

5. Gender Awareness: Gender-disaggregated data will be collected to address the specific needs and challenges faced by different genders.

6. Cultural Sensitivity: The research team will respect local customs and norms, engaging community leaders to ensure cultural appropriateness.

7. Ethical Procedures: The study will adhere to ethical standards, including informed consent, confidentiality, non-harm, and respect for participants, especially vulnerable groups such as children and youth with disabilities.

12. Requirements for the application

Express understanding of the evaluation purpose

Propose an approach and broad outline of methods to be employed
Be familiar with disability-inclusive development and community-based rehabilitation
Have a strong qualitative and mixed-method research skills
The evaluator(s) must demonstrate the ability to manage multi-stakeholder health programs and conduct mixed-method evaluations independently
Provide daily consultancy fees and overall budget
Include evaluator(s)’s competencies and proof thereof (include 2 evaluation/research reports related to the evaluation subject, evaluators’ CV, company profile)
Declare evaluator’s availability in the period June – July 2026
Include a declaration of no conflict of interests by persons and organizations involved in the evaluation.

13.Required Qualifications & Competencies:

a. Academic Background: Master’s degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Disability Studies, Public Policy, or related field.

b. Experience: A minimum of [5-10] years (frequently 7+ years in similar contexts) of experience conducting evaluations, with a specific, proven focus on disability-inclusive development.

c. Technical Knowledge: Strong understanding of rights-based approaches to disability, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

d. Methodological Skills: Proven experience in designing and implementing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies, including in-depth interviews, focus groups and Key informant interviews (KIIs)

e. Language Skills: Fluency in English (written and verbal)

b). Other Qualifications:

Advanced degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, or a related field.
Proven experience in leading/finalizing project evaluations and report writing.
Strong facilitation skills, particularly for workshops involving government officials and NGOs.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex project data into concise programme recommendations.
Previous experience working with disability-inclusive development is an asset.
Be familiar with disability-inclusive development and community-based rehabilitation
Have a strong qualitative and mixed-method research skills
The evaluator(s) must demonstrate the ability to manage multi-stakeholder health programs and conduct mixed-method evaluations independently

14. Suggested payment schedule

On commissioning: 20%
Approval of inception report: 20%
Completion of data collection: 30%
Approval of final report: 30%

Proposal submission

The proposal shall not be more than 7 pages excluding the financial proposal. Hard copies or soft copies of the proposal shall be delivered to the following address.

For those submitting hard copies, a sealed envelope clearly labelled Technical and financial proposal containing 1 printout of each document shall be hand delivered and soft copy submissions will send their application containing the same to the email address below not later than 5pm EAT on 6th July 2026.

To:

The Executive Director,

Katalemwa Cheshire Home for Rehabilitation Services

P.O Box 16548 Wnadegeya

Tel: +256414590739

Email: procurement@katalemwacheshirehome.org

Website: www.katalemwacheshirehome.org

Disclaimer

Any Proposal submitted will be regarded as an offer by the Proposer and does not constitute or imply the acceptance of any Proposal by KCH. KCH is under no obligation to award a contract to any Proposer as a result of this Request for Proposals (RFP). At any time prior to the deadline of proposal submission, KCH may for any reason, such as in response to a clarification requested by a Proposer, modify the RFP in the form of a Supplemental Information to the RFP. All prospective Proposers will be notified in writing of all changes/amendments and additional instructions through Supplemental Information to the RFP.