The OSI Roma Health Project is recruiting a consultant in Romania to evaluate the Roma Health Scholarship Program.
Terms of Reference: Roma Health Scholarship Program Evaluation Consultant
Duration: up to 20 days
Time period: September 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010
Daily fee: tbd
Background: The OSI Roma Health Project is recruiting a consultant in Romania to evaluate the Roma Health Scholarship Program.
The Roma Health Scholarship Program (“RHSP” or “the Program”), also known as “Leadership in Health: A Generation of Professionals in the Health Care System,” is an innovative program funded by OSI and launched in 2008 by the Roma Health Project (RHP) of the Open Society Institute (OSI), which coordinates the media, mentorship and advocacy components, and by the Scholarships Program of the Roma Education Fund (REF), which coordinates the scholarship and tutoring/preparatory courses component of RHSP. The Program supports Roma students who study or intend to undergo medical or nursing studies in Romania beginning with 2008 and Bulgaria since 2009 and, starting from 2010, in Serbia and Macedonia as well.
For the first time in the region, this program provides academic assistance targeted specifically for Roma medical doctors and nurses. The premise for initiating RHSP is that increasing the number of Roma doctors and nurses is one of the most effective ways to combat discrimination and human rights abuses against Roma in healthcare settings. When given support and training, health professionals can be effective advocates for systemic changes. Most crucially, transformation on racist attitudes does not come through trainings, but through personal relationships with colleagues, neighbors and friends. Giving health professionals the opportunity to interact with Roma as peers will help to change negative stereotypes and attitudes. Roma communities will feel more comfortable interacting with healthcare systems knowing that there are Roma individuals acting in the system as equitable peers with non-Roma counterparts.
Main rationale for evaluation:
OSI has so far invested a total of $1.2 millions from 2008 onwards to support this unique scholarship scheme in Romania and Bulgaria. Between 2008 and 2010, 99 Scholarships were awarded in Romania and 23 in Bulgaria. Along with the Scholarships, the students have received a comprehensive support package including mentorship and advocacy training, altogether 6 scholars received conference participation support and 19 scholars attended foreign language courses.
Two years and two countries into the program, OSI would like to conduct an external evaluation of the Program to date and draw lessons to inform future program development. The objective of the evaluation would be to document whether the Program has been successful in increasing the access of Roma to medical studies (vocational, Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD as well as residence studies which are assimilated to post-tertiary education); explore the strength and weaknesses of the RHSP model as it stands, and identify possible areas of improvement for the project in view of its planned roll out in Macedonia and Serbia; examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the project activities as well as estimating the yearly cost per student to dates in its countries and per graduate over time.
Objectives:
The objectives of the evaluation are the following:
The objectives of the evaluation are the following:
· Assessment of the project implementation to date
· Assessment of whether the selection of implementing partners and decision making processes were appropriate, objective, transparent and applied consistently,
· Overall impact of the Program and assessment of the outcomes of each component:
1. Advocacy component
2. Media component
3. Scholarship component
4. Mentorship scheme
· Qualitative assessment of the program impact to date on beneficiaries (personal, academic and professional fronts) in particular
1. Student’s academic experiences in the program
2. Students’ professional prospects as enhanced by the program
3. Impact of the program on the beneficiary’s life
Tasks and responsibilities of the consultant:
The principal objective of this consultancy is to evaluate the RHSP (mentorship, media, advocacy and scholarship components) in terms of relevance, implementation process, and strength/challenges, so as to draw lessons to inform future program development. To that end, the evaluator will:
1. Review the related documents about RHSP in Romania;
2. Through discussions with OSI and REF staff, develop a list of key informants in Romania and Bulgaria to interview for an assessment report (including representatives of the implementing partners, different generations of beneficiaries of RHSP, trainers, mentors, professors, representatives from Roma NGOs, experts involved in positive measures in education, experts in Roma health and education, and relevant government officials; prepare questionnaires for each group of interviewees and propose a timetable;
3. Carry out field visits to Romania to conduct key informant interviews and develop recommendations. Interviews should determine:
a. the impact of RHSP in the beneficiaries’ lives (difficulties, successes, additional needs and suggestions);
b. the challenges encountered in relation to each component and recommendations for further work improvement by component as well as synergies between implementing partners;
c. the state of ongoing external challenges and opportunities to consider to further improve RHSP.
4. Synthesize the literature review, key informant interviews and recommendations into a draft assessment report; elaborate of at least 6 brief case studies/vignettes describing students experiences in the program, (outstanding student, drop out student, vocational student, graduate, resident doctor).
5. Incorporate comments from RHP and REF staff into a final evaluation report;
Qualifications:
· Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
· Excellent written and oral communication skills in Romanian
· Demonstrated familiarity and interest in Roma health issues (a good grasp of the situation of Roma education in Romania and of Roma health) or minimum five years of work experience on Roma-related issues (specifically education, public health, Roma health, human rights and advocacy)
· At least five years experience in work evaluation
· Ability to work independently while incorporating feedback
· Ability to listen and communicate clearly and effectively with people from marginalized communities
· Discretion and ability to handle confidential issues and data protection
· Strong analytical skills
· Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines
· Must not be involved in the administration of any of the RHSP components or in a subordinate position in relation to any of the implementing partners
· Should not be a beneficiary of the RHSP and/or any other OSI (Roma Health Project) and/or REF funded programs
Supervision, ownership and program’s contributions:
The consultant will be supervised by RHP staff. OSI will own the work product of any publications and materials, and share it with its partners in sprit of improvement of the RHSP program. REF/SP and RHP will assure full access of the evaluator to their internal databases.
Performance indicators:
The performance of work will be assessed based on the following indicators:
· Consultancy provided with required quality
· Compliance with the established timelines
· Demonstration of good cooperation with RHP and counterparts
Timeframe:
The consultancy should start on September 1, 2010 and end by December 31, 2010, lasting for a maximum of 20 working days, including a minimum of 10 days of travel to Romania and Bulgaria to be carried out during the second part of August, during the RHSP advocacy camp.
Fees:
The fees are negotiable. The consultant shall indicate their fee requirements (gross amount) for a maximum of 20 working days, including consultancy-related expenses. Please note the Open Society Institute does not pay benefits or overhead expenses in connection with any consultancy.
Recruitment Process:
All prospective consultants should send a cover letter, a CV/resume, and a brief concept note (1-page approx. or 400 words) for assessment methodology includingthe indicators against which the program is to be evaluated and the proposed financial request by August 12, 2010 to acovaci@osi.hu and stayler@osi.hu
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