Consultant: Promoting Education, Skills and an Enabling Environment for Ending Child Marriages

TENDER/BID INVITATION Promoting Education, Skills and an Enabling Environment for Ending Child Marriages (PROSE-ECM)-EX POST EVALUATION Plan International strive for a just world that advances girls rights and equality for girls. Our Ambition to 2027 is to see All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change. Plan International Zimbabwe, established in 1986, works across all 10 provinces through Southern, Eastern, and Northern clusters to improve the lives of children and young people. The organization focuses on girls' rights and gender transformative programming, aiming to strengthen civil society and build strategic partnerships for maximum impact. Its Country Strategy envisions becoming Zimbabwe's leading child rights-based organization by 2030, with a goal of directly reaching 4.5 million children and 500,000 young people. The organization seeks to create lasting community impact while delivering proven results for vulnerable groups, particularly girls and young women. Plan International Zimbabwe implemented "The Promoting Education, Skills and an Enabling Environment for Ending Child Marriages (PROSE-ECM)" project from October 2021 to November 2024 in Mutare and Mutasa districts of Manicaland Province. The project sought to reduce child marriage by promoting girls' retention in education, strengthening their agency and life skills, and creating an enabling environment that supports informed decision-making and the realization of girls' rights. Related, the purpose of the Ex-Post Evaluation is to assess the long-term impact, sustainability, and contribution of the PROSE-ECM project to reducing child marriage and improving the wellbeing of girls, adolescents and young people in Mutare and Mutasa districts. The evaluation will specifically: Assess changes in child marriage prevalence and related outcomes in project locations between baseline (2021), endline (2024) and the ex-post period (2027). Examine whether observed changes differ from trends in comparable non-project communities. Assess the sustainability of project-supported outcomes, structures and systems. Understand how and why change occurred, using the project's Theory of Change. Establish a credible contribution narrative regarding the project's role in influencing outcomes related to education, SRHR, gender equality, youth empowerment and child protection. Identify intended and unintended long-term effects on girls, boys, families, communities and institutions. Document how the project was implemented and produce a Technical Implementation Brief on ending child marriage. Generate actionable recommendations for future child marriage prevention programming, including BRIDGE. The consultant or consulting firm must have a varied mix of skills and competences and must have undertaken similar evaluations in Zimbabwe within the last four years. The following are required: A Team Leader with a postgraduate degree in social sciences, public health, development studies, statistics or a related field, and at least 10 years of evaluation experience, including theory-based and contribution-focused evaluations (end-of-project, impact or ex-post) of child protection, education, SRHR or gender programmes. Demonstrated experience in quasi-experimental and comparative designs (e.g. difference-in-differences, matched comparison) and in contribution analysis. A statistician or data analyst with strong quantitative skills (SPSS, STATA or R) and a qualitative specialist with experience in thematic analysis and child-friendly participatory methods. Demonstrated experience in recruiting, training and supervising enumerators and data entry clerks to high quality standards, including digital data collection (Kobo/ODK). Knowledge of child marriage, adolescent and youth issues, gender-transformative approaches, policies and service systems in Zimbabwe; experience with research ethics and child safeguarding. A gender-balanced team; fluency in English and Shona (familiarity with local dialects in Manicaland is an advantage). Proven ability to produce high-quality, well-written reports and learning products within tight timeframes. Application Requirements Interested consultants should submit: Letter of interest Technical proposal demonstrating a thorough understanding of this ToR, including: - Proposed methodology, including design, comparison strategy, sampling and analysis approach; - Ethics and child safeguarding approach, with identified risks and mitigation measures; - Plan for enumerator training, data collection, data entry and data management; - Detailed work plan and Gantt chart linking major activities to named team members; - Team composition and level of effort for each team member; - Previous experience in assignments of a similar nature (type of study, sector, organisation); - Approach to the Technical Implementation Brief; - AI-use disclosure as required in Section 15. Financial proposal with a detailed breakdown of costs, including: - Itemised consultancy fees; - Itemised field data collection expenses, including transport and accommodation; - Itemised administrative expenses; - Validity period of the quotation; and - Expected payment plan and method, linked to deliverables. Supporting documents: - Copies of registration certificate, VAT certificate and other relevant documents; - Three recommendation letters, with contact details, from organisations where similar work was conducted; - Curricula vitae of all proposed team members; - A copy of at least one previous report of a similar assignment (endline, impact or ex-post evaluation); - Company profile (if applicable), including full name, physical address, telephone numbers, contact person, date and number of registration, and names of directors or proprietors. TO APPLY Application Requirements The Terms of Reference for this evaluation can be obtained from this link https://bit.ly/47EZnV1 OR by contacting Plan International Zimbabwe at the address below OR by emailing zwe.procurement@plan-international.org The technical and financial proposals have to be submitted separately in sealed envelopes or electronically clearly marked "Promoting Education, Skills and an Enabling Environment for Ending Child Marriages (PROSE-ECM) Ex Post Evaluation" and addressed to: The Purchasing Committee Plan Zimbabwe No 15 Lezard Avenue, Milton Park, Harare OR Email: zwe.procurement@plan-international.org Closing date for submission of the application package is end of business day on 13th of November 2026. Plan International Zimbabwe reserves the right to reject any of the bids and only successful bidders shall be notified.