Evaluation of Concern Worldwide’ s International Advocacy Strategy (2021-2025)

Background

Concern is seeking a consultant to undertake an external evaluation of progress against our International Advocacy Strategy (2020 – 2025) and provide guidance on the development of a new strategy. The evaluation should focus on progress towards the five advocacy strategic objectives and work that compliment this across the organisation (e.g. Global Citizenship programme, campaigns, communications and institutional fundraising) with an eye to how advocacy work has contributed to the delivery of Concern’s organisational strategic objectives (2021-2025).

The International Advocacy Strategy sets out the advocacy objectives from 2021-2025 for Concern Worldwide. The goal of Concern’s advocacy work is to contribute to securing sustainable improvements in the lives of extremely poor people by influencing national and international policies, actions and practices of governments, donors, aid counterparts, the private sector and the public. To achieve this there are five strategic priorities: hunger, conflict, climate change, country advocacy and support, and internal commitment to advocacy.

A previous evaluation was conducted in 2021 and covered the period of 2018-2021. At that point, the International Advocacy Strategy had just been approved and was in the process of being rolled out. The strategy articulates Concern’s ambition around being an influential organisation at the global level and outlines how we strive to ensure that when we advocate, policymakers and decision-makers and other influencers listen. Concern’s advocacy is informed by evidence and programme experience that can influence governments and other key organisations, ensuring their policies and practices recognise and respond to the significant challenges faced by the most vulnerable people in fragile and conflict-affected contexts (FCAC).

Purpose of the Evaluation

The purpose of evaluations in Concern is primarily for learning and accountability, and where necessary, to course correct. This TOR outlines the scope of this evaluation – from mid-2021 to date. This evaluation is expected to look forward as well as look back and include recommendations on how Concern can build on the strategic shift towards coherent and connected advocacy in recent years, but also how to adapt in the changing global context.

Evaluation Objectives

To produce a report with findings, conclusions and recommendations on improving on the quality of Concern’s advocacy and to inform the development of the new advocacy strategy. This report must be informed by an inclusive and transparent assessment of progress towards the strategic objectives and the overall goal of the advocacy strategy. The evaluation will also need to assess the coherence and synergies between the work of the advocacy team, the global citizenship team, the communications directorate and their respective strategies.

Specific Tasks

The following list outlines the specific tasks the consultancy is expected to undertake in order to deliver a high-quality final report with actionable recommendations.

1. Refer to the previous evaluation of Concern’s advocacy work to ensure the institutional memory is reflected in the consultant’s report.
2. Reflect on whether the recommendations of the previous evaluation have led to changes in Concern’s advocacy work.
3. Design a relevant methodology using the OECD DAC criteria as an evaluation framework[1] to evaluate the totality of advocacy conducted by Concern Worldwide since 2021. This will include the following wide range of advocacy across the organisation and how they interact with each other:
   • International Advocacy Team (IAT) advocacy, coordination and technical assistance.
   • Country offices’ programme advocacy or those explicitly linked to programmes, and wider influencing work, including advocacy within coordination mechanisms, clusters, working groups, advocacy partnerships.
   • The influencing work done by the CEO, key SMT members, Regional Directors, Institutional Fundraising, Technical Advisers and members of senior management in the US, UK and South Korea and how this work can be further strengthened and interconnected.
4. Assess progress around strengthening complementarity between the work of the International Advocacy Team and the (a) Concern’s Global Citizenship Programme and (b) the Communications Directorate and global communications work.
5. Explore the views of key informants including key advocacy targets and peers on Concern’s advocacy work, and it’s overall effectiveness, relevance, and impact.
6. Explore to what extent Concern has effectively promoted equity in voice, influence, and participation of the communities and partners we work with, and how this can be improved.
7. Review the effectiveness of the monitoring, evaluation and learning processes and tools that support advocacy work across the organisation and propose improvements including smarter M&E tools for advocacy.

Expected Outputs and Timeline

A concise report with key findings and recommendations, as outlined above. The report should be concise (if possible, less than 30 pages) following the proposed content structure:

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Findings – comprehensive reporting of findings
• Analysis – distillation and analysis of findings
• Conclusion:
• Recommendations based on findings as well as scoring against the DAC criteria
• Annexes which include the list of internal and external stakeholders interviewed

In addition to the report, the consultant should deliver a presentation to an appropriate senior forum.

[1] Use the OECD DAC criteria to guide the evaluation as much as possible and ensure the report scores against the DAC criteria (see Concern guidelines).