Project Overview
Sonke Gender Justice in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Health (WCDoH) established the Sonke Wellness project to promote healthy living among men. Started in 2012, the center serves the community of Gugulethu, Western Cape South Africa. It provides HIV and STI screening and promotes the spread of key health-related information through engagements and support groups. These activities encourage health-seeking behavior and addresses individual barriers such as incomplete or incorrect knowledge of sexual reproductive health and rights and provides a safe space for men to discuss their health and find support from their peers.
Purpose of this Consultancy
Sonke seeks to recruit the services of a consultant to conduct an evaluation of the wellness center project. The summative evaluation is aimed at assessing the following.
- Assess program adaptability and scalability for future initiatives, considering changing environments and potential expansion.
- Evaluate the quality and impact of project Outcomes in meeting objectives and contributing to overall success. (results and effectiveness of strategies)
- Measure stakeholder engagement and satisfaction, identify collaboration strengths, and pinpoint areas for improvement in preparation for potential future phases
- Make recommendations which will inform future projects and interventions and outline best practices.
Time schedule
The estimated duration of the summative evaluation is 3 months, starting 11 March 2024 and ending 10 June 2024 when the final report will be submitted. Within the first 2 weeks of the consultancy, the consultant is expected to produce an Inception Report, including a detailed work plan and methodology. The consultant is expected to convey the main findings and recommendations in a meeting with Sonke and partner staff before finalization of the report.
Kindly note all logistic and travel expenses should be covered by the consultant.
The final report should be well designed and include a summary infographic for dissemination.
Budget: ZAR 200 000
How to apply
Should you wish to apply, please send as four separate documents to Nombulelo Mazwi by COB 1 March 2024. If selected, induction will start on 11 March 2024.
Email: Nombulelo@genderjustice.org.za
- Brief 1-1.5-page cover letter citing your relevant expertise for the consultancy.
- Detailed CV including examples of similar evaluations completed (4 pages maximum)
- Detailed quotation
- Short proposal including work plan and budget.
- Example of similar work completed.
Background and context
Background and context of the project
Men’s health is a crucial component of public health, and their timely access to healthcare services is essential for the well-being of families and communities. South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world, currently 8.45 million people in South Africa are living with HIV (StatsSA, 2022). Access to healthcare services, including HIV testing and treatment, is essential to reducing transmission rates, managing the disease, and improving the quality of life for those affected (Shisana et al, 2014). Men play a crucial role in HIV transmission, both in heterosexual and same-sex relationships (Auvert et al, 2005). Knowing one’s HIV status and early access to HIV treatment if positive, can lead to better health outcomes by preventing the progression to gAIDS, and significantly reducing the risk of transmitting the virus to sexual partners (Granich, et al., 2013). Understanding and addressing these barriers are essential to promoting a healthier society.
Sonke Gender Justice in collaboration with the Western Cape Department of Health (WCDoH) established the Sonke Wellness project to promote healthy living among men. The project provides HIV and STI screening and promotes the spread of key health-related information through engagements and support groups. These activities encourage health-seeking behavior and addresses individual barriers such as incomplete or incorrect knowledge of sexual reproductive health and rights and provides a safe space for men to discuss their health and find support from their peers. Established in 2006, Sonke Gender Justice is a South African-based non-profit organization working throughout Africa that strives for a world in which womxn, children, men, and gender-non-conforming individuals enjoy equitable, caring, healthy, and happy relationships that contribute to the development of gender-just and democratic societies, free from poverty.
The project focused on
- Promoting and providing HIV counseling and testing services
- Targeted IEC talks (topics included, COVID, Vaccine information, HIV/AIDS, GBV, and health and wellness promotion.
- Promoting medical male circumcision (counselling and booking for MMC and providing referrals).
- Promoting, providing, and distributing male and female condoms as well as lubricants.
- Linking and refering for ART and other related health matters.
- Community mobilization for healthy and non-violent living with the focus on men and boys
- Recruiting and supporting Community Action Teams (CATs) / volunteers to assist in IEC talks, material distribution and the distribution of male and female condoms and mobilization for community activities.
The project started on 2012 and is currently ongoing.
Description of the project
| Organization | Sonke Gender Justice |
| Title of the project | Mens Wellness project |
| Project duration | 2012- ongoing |
| Geographical areas | South Africa |
| Main objectives of the project | Objective 1: Community education and raising awareness to motivate men and boys to access HIV Testing Services (HTS) including MMC, TB, STIs, PMTCT, COVID, Vaccine information, HIV/AIDS and GBV. Objective 2: Condom & material distribution and to engage & capacitate Community Action Teams (CATs)/volunteers through community dialogues, workshops, and trainings on COVID, vaccines, HIV/AIDS, STIs, TB, GBV, healthy lifestyles etc. |
| Description of targeted primary and secondary beneficiaries | The primary beneficiaries targeted under the project were men and boys in the Gugulethu community. The secondary beneficiaries included the broader community members. |
| Key partners involved in the project | DOH SonkeCity of Cape TownGugulethu Clinic Kliepfontein district managementSelimagwazaMosaic |
Strategy and Theory of Change/Results chain
Project Goal
To contribute to realization of human rights, gender equality, health equity and to the response and prevention of GBVF, HIV and Aids.
Project Outcomes and outputs
- Outcome 1: Improved HIV/Aids knowledge and attitudes of community
- Output 1.1: Community members have increased knowledge around HIV testing and services and the importance of getting tested.
- Output 1.2: Community members have an improved attitude towards HIV testing and services.
- Outcome 2: Improved health seeking behavior of men and boys
- Output 2.1: Men have increased access to health services
- Output 2.2: Individuals, including women and girls, men and boys, have an improved understanding of harmful social and cultural norms and their linkage to accessing health services.
Purpose of the evaluation
The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the performance of the project against its intended impact and objectives. The evaluation should determine whether the planned objectives and targets were achieved and what factors resulted in this achievement or lack thereof. Consultants will be required to:
- Assess program adaptability and scalability for future initiatives, considering changing environments and potential expansion.
- Evaluate the quality and impact of project Outcomes in meeting objectives and contributing to overall success. (results and effectiveness of strategies)
- Measure stakeholder engagement and satisfaction, identify collaboration strengths, and pinpoint areas for improvement in preparation for potential future phases
The results of the evaluation will be used by Sonke to identify challenges, lessons learned, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses from the partnership and provide specific recommendations for the next steps. The findings contribute to a broader evidence base related to Men’s health seeking behaviour and will be used to inform future programming, specifically workshop content and engagements, intervention methodology, best practices, and advocacy.
Evaluation Objectives and scope
Scope of evaluation
Time Frame
This is an end term evaluation exercise of an ongoing project, it will cover the duration of the project starting in January 2012 up to December 2023. The entire evaluation process must be completed within 3 months.
Geographical coverage
The evaluation will be undertaken in Gugulethu, Western Cape, South Africa.
Target Groups
This evaluation targets the primary and secondary beneficiaries as well as broader stakeholders listed in preceding sections of these ToR.
Objectives of the evaluation
- Assess program adaptability and scalability for future initiatives, considering changing environments and potential expansion.
- Evaluate the quality and impact of project Outcomes in meeting objectives and contributing to overall success. (results and effectiveness of strategies)
- Measure stakeholder engagement and satisfaction, identify collaboration strengths, and pinpoint areas for improvement in preparation for potential future phases
Evaluation questions and criteria
| Evaluation Criteria | Mandatory Evaluation Question |
| Effectiveness | To what extent were the intended project goal, outcomes, and outputs (project results) achieved, and how? To what extent was the Partnership effective in achieving project results? To what extent did the project reach its intended beneficiaries? |
| Relevance | To what extent do the achieved results (project goal, outcomes, and outputs) continue to be relevant to the needs the men in the community? |
| Efficiency | To what extent was the project efficiently and cost-effectively implemented? |
| Sustainability | To what extent will the achieved results, especially any positive changes in the lives of men and boys, be sustained after this project ends? |
| Impact | To what extent has the project contributed to ending to changing SRHR attitudes, knowledge and behavior? To what extent did the project influence the behavior of men to seek health services? |
| Knowledge generation | To what extent has the project generated knowledge, promising or emerging practices in the field of HIV/Aids that should be documented and shared with other practitioners? |
Evaluation design and methodology
Proposed evaluation design
The suggested evaluation approach is Collaborative Outcomes Reporting. Multiple lines of evidence, both quantitative and qualitative should be used to provide a credible, reliable and useful performance story. Program staff, beneficiaries and relevant stakeholders should be engaged in contribution analysis. As discussed, the evaluation approach should also be gender responsive.
See below the 6-step developed by Jess Dart:
- Scoping: an inception/planning workshop is held. In this workshop the program logic is clarified, existing data is identified, and evaluation questions developed.
- Data trawl. Can include both primary and secondary data sources. Generally, a data trawl of existing evidence is undertaken. Program staff may be enlisted to help with the collation of data.
- Social inquiry. Social inquiry can include any form of data gathering- qualitative or quantitative. If qualitative, volunteers who are given a short training session in interviewing and an interview guide can conduct interviews. This is a very effective way to involve staff in the data where there is sufficient enthusiasm around the process. Otherwise, consultants or the evaluation managers conduct all or a proportion of the interviews. In many COR examples, the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique is used at some point in the social inquiry process as a way of capturing stories of change, both expected and unexpected.
- Data analysis and integration. Quantitative and qualitative data can be analyzed together according to the outcomes in the program logic. A “results chart” is often used to integrate different sets and types of data.
- Outcomes panel. People with relevant scientific, technical, or sectoral knowledge are brought together and presented with a range of evidence compiled in step 4. They are then asked to assess the contribution of the intervention towards goals given the available knowledge and to explore rival hypotheses that could explain the data. It can be substituted for a citizen’s jury.
- Summit workshop. At a large workshop key findings and recommendations are synthesized, and examples of changes are identified and added (using material from MSC if available, and MSC processes to select the most significant stories). The summit should involve broad participation of key stakeholders such as program staff and community members.
An alternative approach can be proposed, ensuring that it includes both quantitative and qualitative data analysis and is participatory in its approach. Relevant stakeholders should be engaged to ensure comprehensive understanding of intended and unintended results. Multiple lines of evidence should be used to validate results. The proposed methodology must include a document review, inception workshop, reflection and feedback sessions with key stakeholders.
Data sources
Both primary and secondary data sources should be used, the proposed data sources include but should not be limited to:
- Desk review on men and health seeking behaviour with a focus on HIV: relevant project documents and secondary data sources such as the project’s results framework, work plan, budget, annual reports, and Internal monitoring, program, and financial reports.
- Quantitative data to be collected through a representative survey.
- Qualitative data to be collected through focus groups discussions and/or key informant interviews.
Proposed data collection methods and analysis
Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods should be used through a combination of field visits, desk studies (reviewing project documents, annual progress reports and other relevant evaluation documentation), and additional primary data collection required. Quantitative data collection can make use of tools such as Google forms or Survey Monkey. Where required online qualitative data collection can take place via telephone, Microsoft teams, Zoom, Skype etc, however in person data collection is recommended. All qualitative data must be recorded and transcribed accordingly to ensure data quality. Data analysis should be conducted on Stata, SPSS or any other relevant software. Additional follow-up field visits should take place to fill in any knowledge gaps and further validate findings.
Proposed sampling methods
Both primary and secondary beneficiaries should be selected via stratified random sampling/proportional random sampling taking into account beneficiary type, geographic area and any other key defining factor decided by the evaluator.
Field Visits
Field visits should be conducted across site in Gugulethu.
Level of Stakeholder engagement
The evaluators should engage with key project stakeholders namely government institutions such as the Department of Health, researchers, clinic and district management, partnering organisations.
Evaluation ethics
In preparing the proposal the evaluator/s must put in place specific safeguards and protocols to protect the safety (both physical and psychological) of respondents and those collecting the data as well as to prevent harm. Members of the evaluation team should understand and be sensitive to the political, socio economic, historical and cultural context across sites where data collection occurs and ensure the rights of the individual are protected and participation in the evaluation does not result in further violation of their rights.
The evaluator/s must have a plan in place to:
- Protect the rights of respondents, including privacy and confidentiality in line with the POPI Act provisions.
- Elaborate on how informed consent will be obtained and to ensure that the names of individuals consulted during data collection will not be made public.
- If the project involves children (under 18 years old) the evaluator/s must consider additional risks and the need for parental consent.
- The evaluator/s must be trained in collecting sensitive information and specifically data relating to health.
- Data collection tools must be designed in a way that is culturally appropriate and does not create distress for respondents.
- Data collection visits should be organized at the appropriate time and place to minimize risk to respondents.
- The interviewer or data collector must be able to provide information on how individuals in situations of risk can seek support (referrals to organizations that can provide counseling support, for example)
- Evaluators must adhere to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act) and ensure that confidentiality of individuals and data collection is preserved.
Key deliverables of the evaluator and timeframe
| No. | Deliverable | Deadline |
| 1 | Evaluation Inception Report | By 18 March 2024 |
| 2 | Draft Evaluation Report + summary infographic draft | By 16 May 2024 |
| 3 | Evaluation Findings Presentation | Week of 20 May 2024 |
| 4 | Final Evaluation Report + final summary infographic | By 10 June 2024 |
Evaluation team composition
Roles and responsibilities
The lead and co lead evaluator will be responsible for undertaking the evaluation from start to finish and for managing the evaluation team under the supervision of evaluation task manager from Sonke Gender Justice for the data collection and analysis, as well as report drafting and finalization in English.
Required Competencies
Team lead and co lead
- Evaluation experience at least 10 years in conducting external evaluations, with mixed-methods evaluation skills and having flexibility in using non-traditional and innovative evaluation methods
- Experience with program design and theory of change, gender-responsive evaluation, participatory approaches, and stakeholder engagement.
- Experience in collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data as well as data visualization.
- In-depth knowledge of Health, HIV, SRHR, mens health.
- A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results, i.e., credible evaluation and a report that can be used.
- A strong team leadership and management track record, as well as interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the evaluation is understood and used.
- Good communication skills and ability to communicate with various stakeholders and to express concisely and clearly ideas and concepts.
- Regional/Country experience and knowledge: in-depth knowledge of country South Africa
- Language proficiency: fluency in English; good command of local language such as isiXhosa are desirable.
Management Arrangements of the evaluation
The overall evaluation will be managed by Sonke’s Research Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (RMEL) manager with support of the Sonke RMEL unit. Evaluators will liaise with the Sonke RMEL unit and program staff for relevant project documentation and clarification, assistance in liaising and connecting with relevant stakeholders and primary and secondary beneficiaries. The Sonke RMEL unit manager will also set up feedback/check-in sessions to discuss any further support or clarification required.
Budget
The total budget for the evaluation is R200 000 which includes all travel costs for the evaluation team.
