Terms of Reference - National or International Individual Evaluator(s) / Company to Conduct the Final External Evaluation of the Project “Empowerment of Kosovo Vulnerable Communities Through Better and Equal Access to the Labour Market”

TERMS OF REFERENCES

National or International Individual Evaluator(s) / Company to Conduct the Final External Evaluation of the Project “Empowerment of Kosovo Vulnerable Communities Through Better and Equal Access to the Labour Market”

Background on Save the Children

Save the Children is the leading global independent organization for children. Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children’s unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our vision: A world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development, and participation.

Our mission: To inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Our values: Accountability, ambition, collaboration, creativity, and integrity.

We are committed to ensuring our resources are used as efficiently as possible, to focus them on achieving maximum impact for children.

General information about the project

Through the project “Empowerment of Kosovo vulnerable communities through better and equal access to the labour market” funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), with funds of Austrian Development Cooperation, Save the Children Kosova/o (SCiK) and its project partners aim to empower girls and boys from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities with the knowledge, capacity, skills and opportunities to transition into adulthood, as well as dignified, decent and sustainable work. Implemented from 01.10.2023 to 30.09.2026 across seven municipalities (Ferizaj, Fushë Kosova, Gjakova, Peja, Prizren, North Mitrovica & South Mitrovica), the project addresses social exclusion, high dropout rates, low educational attainment and limited labour market access, which are compounded by broader economic challenges and skills mismatches.

The project is aligned with national policies and reforms, including the Youth Guarantee scheme, Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and the National Development Strategy 2030, as well as EU frameworks such as the Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation (2020–2030) and relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 4, 5 and 8). Using a multi-tiered approach, the project implements interventions at child- and family-, school-, municipal-, labour market- and national levels to improve access to secondary education, provide vocational and life skills training and promote equal opportunities for sustainable employment.
 

Purpose and OBJECTIVE

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo face persistent structural barriers to education and employment, including poverty, discrimination, low educational attainment and limited access to labour market opportunities. Young people from these communities experience: high dropout rates in lower secondary education; limited access to vocational training; low participation in the labour market; gender inequalities and early marriage among girls.

SCiK is seeking National or International Individual Evaluator(s) or Company to conduct the project’s final evaluation in line with ADA’s Guidelines for Programme and Project Evaluation. 

The evaluation will assess the project’s progress and achievements against the indicators and targets outlined in the project logical framework, while also exploring additional questions and areas of interest beyond the log frame to provide actionable evidence for future programming. Evaluators are encouraged to identify emerging issues, lessons learned and opportunities that can inform and strengthen future interventions for vulnerable communities.

 The purpose of the final evaluation is to:

• Assess the relevance, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the project accordance with OECD/DAC[1] and ADA criteria [2].

• Assess the extent to which the project achieved its objectives and results.

• Identify lessons learned and best practices.

• Provide recommendations for future programming on education and labour market inclusion for vulnerable communities.

The specific objectives are to: 

• Assess the project’s contribution to improving education retention and labour market opportunities for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children and youth.

• Determine the extent to which targeted girls and boys completed lower secondary education, using available EMIS data and project monitoring information. 

• Assess the extent to which targeted young people acquired vocational and transferable life skills, confidence and practical experience for labour market access and/or further education, including through LS4S training, VET participation and career guidance interventions.

• Examine the effectiveness of project interventions at school, community and institutional levels, including the appropriatness of cash support, gender-specific barriers, the role of the home and caregiving environment and the potential need for stronger family and caregiver level support mechanisms.

• Analyse the sustainability of results and institutional capacities developed. 

• Identify lessons learned for future programming.

The evaluation will support accountability to the donor, local stakeholders, project participants and partners and contribute to organizational learning and inform future programming and interventions.

Primary users: Project stakeholders: students (direct and indirect beneficiaries, including from target communities), parents/caregivers, teachers, representatives of local companies, government and educational institutions (Ministry of Education and Science (MES), formerly known as the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Municipal Education Directorates (MED)), Save the Children staff, implementing partners (Nevo Koncepti, Syri Vizioni); ADA and other co-donors. 

Secondary users: Policymakers and programme designers and implementers of other organizations that engage in interventions on empowering marginalized communities.

The evaluation will pay particular attention to gender equality, social inclusion and the specific needs and experiences of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, in line with ADA’s commitment to inclusive development, ADAs Environmental, Gender and Social Standards (EGSS)[3] and relevant EU gender equality frameworks.

SCOPE

The scope of these Terms of Reference covers the final external evaluation of the project “Empowerment of Kosovo Vulnerable Communities Through Better and Equal Access to the Labour Market”, implemented in the targeted municipalities throughout the project implementation period, ending on 30 September 2026.The evaluation will assess the project’s relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, with particular focus on its contribution to: (i) supporting girls and boys from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities who are at high risk of dropping out to complete lower secondary education; and (ii) enabling young people from these communities to acquire the skills and confidence needed to access the labour market and/or further education. The evaluation will cover the full implementation period, all relevant project components, outcomes and outputs, as well as the perspectives of key stakeholders, including beneficiaries, families, schools, municipalities, partners and relevant institutions (see Annex 1 for the list of beneficiary schools and targeted municipalities). The evaluation thematic scope should cover: education access and retention; vocational training; life skills development; labour market integration; gender equality and social inclusion; community engagement and institutional strengthening.

Geographical scope: 

The evaluation will be conducted across the seven municipalities where the project is being implemented, namely: Ferizaj, Fushë Kosova, Gjakova, Peja, Prizren, Mitrovica North and Mitrovica South. These municipalities represent the full geographic scope of the project and include the schools and communities targeted through the intervention. For more detailed information on the beneficiary schools that were part of the project, please refer to Annex 1.

Evaluation Questions: 

The final external evaluation will be guided by the following key questions, aligned with the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria and the objectives of the evaluation.

OECD-DAC evaluation criteria:

1. Relevance

   1. To what extent did the project respond to the needs of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian youth, their families and schools in the target municipalities?

   2. How well did the project align with national and local policies and strategies?

   3. Were the project design and interventions appropriate for addressing the identified challenges?

2. Effectiveness

   1. To what extent were the expected results achieved?

   2.  To what extent has the project contributed to reducing dropout rates among targeted communities and what factors have enabled or constrained this progress? How and to what extent did the project improve access to vocational education and training? How effective were the support mechanisms (mentoring, financial support, career guidance)?

3. Impact

   1. What positive or negative changes occurred as a result of the project?

   2.  What factors helped or hindered labour market participation among youth from the targeted communities? What observable changes, intended or unintended, positive or negative can be attributed to the project and how do these changes differ across gender and community groups?

   3. How and to what extent did the project contribute to reducing discrimination and social exclusion among the target groups?

4. Sustainability

   1.  To what extent are the project interventions and results likely to be sustained after project completion and what institutional or community-level conditions support or hinder sustainability? Are local institutions able to maintain the interventions?

   2. What mechanisms were established to ensure sustainability?

   3. Which interventions and implementation approaches demonstrated the greatest effectiveness, institutional ownership and sustainability and should therefore be considered by the donor for future programming, replication, or scale-up?
       

Design and Approach

The evaluation will use a mixed-methods approach based on a non-experimental design, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. This design will explore the extent to which changes have occurred among project beneficiaries. The methodology will include a desk review of relevant project documentation, including baseline, project proposals, logical framework, reports, monitoring data, manuals and pre- and post-questionnaires. 

The evaluation will draw on multiple sources of verification defined in the project logical framework, including EMIS data, beneficiary monitoring databases, LS4S pre- and post-assessment tools, project monitoring reports and consultations with key stakeholders.

Primary data collection will consist of activities conducted in the project’s targeted municipalities: Ferizaj, Fushe Kosova, Gjakova, Peja, Prizren, South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica and will include:

• 26 key informant interviews, with one interview conducted in each of the 26-beneficiary school, representatives (teachers, school principals, TPRAANS teams and other relevant school staff involved in the project),

• at least one interview with representatives of MESTI,

• two focus group discussions with VET school students, 

• two focus group discussions with parents and students of lower secondary students, 

• two focus group discussions with teachers from VET schools, 

• two focus group discussions with teachers from lower secondary schools. 

• at least 10 interviews with employers

• at least one interview with representatives of Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education (AVETAE)

• at least one interview with representatives of municipal authorities (7 municipalities)

• SCIK project staff

• local partners

The detailed methodology will be further refined and agreed with the Evaluator(s) during the inception phase.

The evaluation will be guided by the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria and conducted in line with ADC evaluation norms, standards and ethical guidelines[4]. Multiple methods will be applied, drawing on different data sources and triangulating evidence to ensure the robustness, credibility and usefulness of the findings.

The Evaluator(s) must adhere to Save the Children’s Child Safeguarding Policy and ethical research standards[5], ensuring informed consent, confidentiality and protection of participants, particularly when engaging with children and vulnerable communities.

To achieve the expected results outlined in the table below, the selected Evaluator(s) will be engaged for 48 working days, during the period of May 11, 2026, until August 21, 2026.

Evaluation Management Arrangements

The evaluation will be managed by Save the Children Kosova/o, which will oversee the overall process, coordinate communication with the evaluator and review key deliverables. A Reference Group may be established, composed of relevant SCiK staff and key stakeholders, to provide technical input, review deliverables and ensure the evaluation’s relevance and quality. Evaluation management will respect the ethical standards and guiding principles for evaluation, including impartiality, independence, credibility and transparency throughout the process.

Roles and Responsibilities

Evaluation Team is responsible for:

• conducting the evaluation
• ensuring methodological rigor
• preparing all deliverables.

Save the Children is responsible for:

• providing documentation
• facilitating access to stakeholders
• organize validation workshop with project team and steering committee.
   

Requirements for the Evaluator(s)

• An advanced university degree in education, social sciences, development studies, economics, public policy, evaluation, or another relevant field.

• At least 5 years of proven experience in conducting external evaluations, preferably final evaluations of development programmes or projects.

• Demonstrated experience in applying internationally recognised evaluation standards and approaches, including the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria and in using mixed-methods and non-experimental evaluation designs.

• Proven expertise in one or more of the following areas: education, inclusive education, youth empowerment, vocational education and training, labour market transition, social inclusion and the empowerment of marginalised communities.

• Familiarity with the Kosovo context and experience working with Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities or other marginalised groups will be considered a strong asset.

• Demonstrated understanding of and experience in applying human rights-based, gender-responsive, child-sensitive and inclusive approaches in evaluation design, data collection, analysis and reporting.

• Proven capacity to design evaluation tools, linked to project indicators and the log frame, conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis and produce clear, evidence-based findings, conclusions and recommendations.

• Excellent report-writing skills, with the ability to deliver high-quality evaluation reports aligned with ADA Results Assessment Forms (RAF) in a clear, concise and professional manner.

• Excellent written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of Albanian and/or Serbian is considered an asset. Where needed, the evaluator/team should ensure adequate language capacity for fieldwork and stakeholder engagement.

• In the case of a team of evaluators, a gender-balanced and diverse team is encouraged.

The Evaluator(s) must not have been involved in the design, implementation, or management of the programme or project being evaluated, to ensure independence and impartiality.

Payment information

SCiK will remunerate the Evaluator on a daily gross fee from which the income taxes and pension contribution will be withheld and paid, based on Kosovo Law, or in an amount free of VAT in the case of the company. SCiK will make the payment through bank transfer in the Evaluator’s or company’s bank account upon completion and approval of the assignment and submission of the completed timesheet and invoice.

The estimated budget for the external final evaluation is up to EUR 36,700. Payment will only be made upon receipt of a valid invoice accompanied by the timesheet/s for the relevant period. The fees are inclusive of all costs, overheads and expenses, including travel, subsistence and accommodation.
 

Child Safeguarding Policy

As a condition for entering into a service agreement, the service provider / company must sign the Save the Children International Child Safeguarding Policy[6] and abide by the terms and conditions and comply with the Austrian Development Agency's Code of Conduct.

Specifications for the Submission of Offers

Interested candidates or companies are invited to apply by submitting an application package with the following documents to  procurementkosovo@savethechildren.org, with the subject line: “Final Evaluation” latest by 30 April 2026 16:30 hours.

1.    Curriculum Vitae (CV)

2.    One (1) sample of previous work of similar complexity conducted by the applicant

3.    Technical proposal (max. 1 page)

4.    Financial proposal per working day, including the offer in the gross amount before legal deductions according to the legislation in Kosovo (for individuals), or financial proposal per working day in amount free of VAT (for companies)

5.    Business Certificate (for companies).

Specifications for the Submission of Offers and Selection criteria 

Applicants are required to submit both a technical offer and a financial offer. The technical offer should clearly describe the proposed methodology, workplan, relevant experience and qualifications of the consultant/research team and any other information requested in the ToR. The financial offer should present the proposed budget and cost breakdown for carrying out the assignment.

Submissions will be evaluated in consideration of the evaluation criteria as stated below:

Annexes

Annex 1: List of the beneficiary schools

Annex 2: Guidelines_for_Programme_and_Project_Evaluations_ADA_2020.pdf

Annex 3: Barriers to On-The-Job Training Access for Youth from Vulnerable Communities in Kosovo:   A qualitative research - Save the Children’s Resource Centre