Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The primary purpose of this summative evaluation is to assist the Government of Oman in assessing the CFE initiative in the Sultanate, to evaluate the CFE in the Sultanate after years of implementation to identify areas that need improvement and provide actionable recommendations to support decision-making in developing relevant policies and programmes.

The primary user of this evaluation is the government, particularly the MoE and its directorates across the 11 governorates. Secondary users include the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Health and the Vision 2040 Follow-up Unit.

The evaluation objective aims to ascertain the effectiveness and sustainability of the child-friendly inclusive approach in enhancing children’s learning, development, and wellbeing. Additionally, it aims to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and document the lessons learnt that can be disseminated to other GCC countries, as well as at regional and global levels.

2. THE KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE EVALUATION ARE:

• Assess the alignment of the CFE intervention with the national education policies and programs, focusing on Oman Vision 2040 priorities.
• Examine the educational interventions are child-friendly and beneficial for enhancing children’s learning and improving the educational system.
• Ascertain to what extent the CFE initiative in Oman supports inclusive learning for all children.
• Document lessons learned in the implementation of CFE initiative in Oman.
• Provide with actionable recommendations in the implementation of CFE initiative in Oman.

2.1. Evaluation Scope:

Timeline: The evaluation will focus on the CFE initiative in Oman from 2012 to 2023. It is expected to be conducted between August and December 2024.

Participation: The evaluation will seek responses to the evaluation questions from the Omani government and relevant stakeholders including educators, parents and caregivers and communities.

Location: The assignment can be done remotely with the possibility of travel to Oman for data collection.

Language: All deliverables must be provided in English and Arabic.

2.2. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND KEY QUESTIONS:

The evaluation aims to follow a selected OECD DAC evaluation criterion, focusing on relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. The impact criteria were excluded as the current initiative is relatively new, making it difficult to assess its impact at this time. It will also address cross-cutting issues, including children with disabilities.

The evaluation aims to answer key questions, which will be further refined by the consultant with an approval from the steering committee during the inception phase.

The consultant will develop sub-questions, indicators, and data collection methods as part of the evaluation matrix.

 Specific Evaluation Questions are formulated below as sub-questions:

Relevance

• To what extent does the CFE intervention align with the vision of the Omani government and the CFE framework set by UNICEF?
• Were the three-stage mechanisms suitably adapted to the context for implementing the CFE in Oman?
• Do the CFE indicators, based on the CFE principles, effectively monitor the progress of the CFE program in Oman?

Efficiency

• How have the teaching methods and resources been used in implementing the CFE initiative?

Effectiveness

• To what extent intended and unintended output level results have been achieved or not achieved and what are the factors contributed to achieve these results?
• To what extent the CFE mechanisms in the Ministry and directorates contributed to implementation of the CFE intervention?
• To what extent have the capacities of the educators to implement the CFE principles and implementation stages are strengthened?
• Are the teaching methods aligned with the learning outcomes and the resources provided to support the educational needs of the students?
• To what extent are parents, caregivers, students and communities engaged in the Oman CFE initiative?
• The extent to which the CFE interventions changed the students’ skills and knowledge?
• How well the monitoring system tracked the progress and mitigated the challenges encountered?

Coherence

• To what extent is the CFE intervention coherent with child-friendly education interventions in the Sultanate?

Sustainability

• How does the organizational structure of the CFE initiative in Oman support the institutionalization of the initiative?
• How can the CFE interventions be consistently maintained in all governorates and scaled up for the long-term benefits of the educational interventions?

Cross-cutting Issues

• To what extent are children with disabilities and in remote areas included in the CFE system in Oman?

Documentation of lessons learnt

• Document lessons learned in the implementation of CFE initiative in Oman.

2.3. LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS:

Key stakeholders in the CFE intervention in the Sultanate include the Ministry of Education, which initiated and managed the programme. Other crucial government stakeholders involved in ensuring sustainability and alignment with national child-related policies and programs are:

• Ministry of Education.
• Ministry of Social Development.
• Ministry of Health.
• Oman Vision 2040 Follow-up Unit.
• UNICEF Oman.

Secondary stakeholders are:

• Ministry of Finance.
• Environment Authority.
• Sultan Qaboos University.
• Non-Profit Organizations in Oman.

2.5. LIMITATIONS

Oman, like in many countries, conducting evaluations can be challenging due to various limitations that can impact the scope, quality, and applicability of the results.

One such limitation is the collection of quantitative data, typically done through the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) as required by law. This process can be time-consuming, costly, and subject to delays due to the Center’s current workload. As a result, the consultant will rely on secondary quantitative data collection in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to access available data. This limitation underscores the importance of establishing a robust framework that ensures the availability of relevant data, fosters collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders, and promotes a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.

Another limitation is the evaluation budget, as UNICEF Oman has allocated a limited budget for this assignment due to the office’s budget constraints. This may restrict the number of evaluation questions that can be addressed, so the focus will mainly be on effectiveness and sustainability questions that align with the evaluation’s objective.

Overcoming these limitations with alternative solutions is crucial for improving the efficiency, effectiveness, oversight, and stakeholder engagement in evaluations, ultimately contributing to the development of a culture of evaluation in Oman and the wider Gulf Council Countries.

2.6. ETHICAL CONDUCT AND CONSIDERATION

 The evaluation report to be produced must be compliant with the UNICEF Evaluation report standards  And must also be written in a style that is compliant with the UNICEF-Adapted UNEG Evaluation Reports Standards https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/media/816/file/UNICEF-Adapted-UNEG-Evaluation-Report-Standards.pdf and the GEROS Quality Assessment System https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/global-evaluation-reports-oversight-system-geros.

 The inception report, data collection tools and consent forms will go through an independent ethical review. Data collection will only proceed after ethical approval is granted.

The consultant must obtain verbal consent from participants before conducting any FGDs or KIIs. The inception report, data collection tools, and consent forms will undergo an independent ethical review before the evaluation enters the fieldwork stage. All data collected and confidential information shared during the evaluation must be securely stored in a password-protected system by the evaluation consultant.

2.7. DISSEMINATION AND DELIVERABLES CLEARANCE

 The evaluation consultant will present preliminary findings and recommendations to relevant stakeholders as part of quality assurance processes and validation. Stakeholders will have the opportunity to reflect on the preliminary findings to enhance their relevance to the CFE programme.

Following the finalization of the report, a dedicated dissemination workshop will be conducted to discuss the findings of the final report.

Primary stakeholders will be actively involved in all stages of the evaluation, including planning and design.

3. EXPECTED RESULTS:

The consultant is required to produce the following deliverables:

3.1. The Inception Report.

3.2. Presentation of preliminary findings and recommendations.

3.3. Draft evaluation report.

3.4. Final evaluation report.

3.5. Final evaluation presentation

Following is the proposed structure for the inception and evaluation report:

• Structure of the Inception Report (Tentative – to be discussed with the consultant for the final outline):

–Response to the Evaluation ToR.

–Evaluation matrix.

–Methodology included a detailed workplan with timeframe.

–Potential limitations of the evaluation according to data availability and reliability.

• Structure of the Evaluation Report (Tentative):

-The report shall be structured as per the UNICEF-Adapted UNEG Evaluation Reports Standards:

-Executive summary.

-Evaluation purpose, objectives, and scope.

-Evaluation methodology.

-Findings.

-Conclusions and lessons learned.

-Recommendations.