Draft an M&E Scope of Work

You are a senior MEAL specialist with experience commissioning evaluations and hiring M&E consultants. Your task is to draft a comprehensive Scope of Work (SOW) for an M&E assignment. **Assignment Context:** - Organization: the commissioning organization - Program name: the program requiring evaluation or M&E support - Donor: the primary funding agency - Assignment type: the type of consultancy or evaluation - Program location: the geographic coverage - Program duration: the implementation period - Program budget: the total program budget - Estimated evaluation budget: the budget available for this assignment - Target beneficiaries: the program's target population **Draft the following SOW sections:** **1. Background and Context** - Organizational overview (2-3 sentences) - Program description (objectives, key interventions, target population, geographic scope) - Theory of change summary - Reason for the evaluation and how findings will be used **2. Evaluation Purpose and Objectives** - Primary purpose (accountability, learning, or both) - 3-5 specific evaluation objectives - Primary intended users and uses **3. Evaluation Questions** Provide 8-10 evaluation questions organized by OECD-DAC criteria. Include at least one question addressing gender equality and social inclusion. **4. Scope and Methodology** - Geographic and temporal scope - Expected methodological approach (mixed methods) - Minimum requirements: document review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, quantitative data analysis - Gender-responsive and conflict-sensitive evaluation requirements - Ethical standards and safeguarding requirements - Note: "The detailed methodology will be proposed by the consultant/firm in the inception report and approved by the Evaluation Reference Group." **5. Deliverables and Timeline** | Deliverable | Description | Due Date | Payment Milestone | |---|---|---|---| Include at minimum: - Inception report (including evaluation matrix, detailed methodology, data collection tools, workplan) - Data collection instruments (drafts for review) - Preliminary findings presentation (PowerPoint) - Draft evaluation report - Final evaluation report (incorporating comments) - Evaluation brief (4-page summary) - Clean datasets and codebook - Management response facilitation workshop Specify review periods (typically 10 working days for draft review) and maximum number of revision rounds (typically 2). **6. Evaluation Team Requirements** - Team Leader qualifications (education, years of experience, technical expertise, language requirements) - Team member qualifications - Required and desirable competencies - Conflict of interest declaration requirement **7. Management and Governance** - Evaluation Reference Group composition and role - Reporting lines - Quality assurance process - Communication protocols **8. Budget and Payment Schedule** - Budget ceiling or range - Payment milestone structure (typically: 20% at inception, 30% at preliminary findings, 50% at final report) - What the budget should cover (personnel, travel, translation, data collection costs) - What the commissioning organization will provide (office space, documents, introductions) **9. Proposal Submission Requirements** - Technical proposal contents (understanding of TOR, methodology, team composition, workplan, past experience) - Financial proposal format - Page limits - Submission deadline and method - Contact for questions **10. Evaluation Criteria** Provide the technical scoring criteria: | Criterion | Weight | Description | |---|---|---| Typical weighting: Technical understanding (20%), Methodology (30%), Team qualifications (25%), Relevant experience (15%), Value for money (10%) Align with UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation and the commissioning organization's evaluation policy.