MEL4DP Case Study#1

Baseline, Midline and Endline evaluation for the programme “Transformative Gender
Responsive Governance through Empowering Elected Women Representatives” 1
Background of SDGs4All India:
SDGs4All India Foundation 2 brings together human, financial and technical resources to address some of the challenges
faced by the poorest and most marginalized communities in the world. Special emphasis is placed on investing in human
potential, expanding opportunity, and improving the overall quality of life, especially for women and girls. The Foundation
primarily works across seven thematic areas - agriculture and food security, building community resilience to climate
change, work and enterprise, education, early childhood development, health, nutrition, and WASH, and the strengthening
of community institutions to lead development interventions. SDGs4All is a member of the SDG4All International, a group
of 11 development agencies addressing the needs of poor and marginalized communities in more than thirty countries
where it operates. SDGs4ALL started its operations in India in 1978, and today implements programs in both rural and
urban areas across six states in India (Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Delhi).

Brief about the project:

As part of its thematic focus on strengthening community institutions, the Foundation works with different community
institutions in both rural and urban areas. The program- “Transforming Gender Responsive Governance through
Empowering Elected Women Representatives” proposes to strengthen gender transformative local self-governance in
selected geographies in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and build the capacity of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) to
address, respond and over time contribute to a reduction in cases of gender-based violence (GBV), improve
understanding and community action on gender equality, and ensure that the needs and priorities of women and children
are reflected in gram panchayat plans and subsequent implementation. This will be achieved through a multi-pronged
approach of building the capacities of Elected Women representatives (EWRs) on aspects related to leadership,
negotiation, confidence, empowering EWRs to address and navigate traditional social and patriarchal norms that prohibit
women’s participation in electoral and political processes. The initiative will also work closely with EWRs to enhance their
knowledge and understanding of governance processes and build their capacity on different aspects of local self-
governance relating to village planning and development, devolution of powers at the village level and their roles and
responsibilities.

Sensitizing community and family members, and government officials, championing women leaders and creating
supportive networks through the platform of women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), will be other key efforts under the proposed
initiative. All of this will contribute towards addressing societal norms and barriers that prohibit women to assume
leadership, and specifically constrain EWRs to actively discharge their duties. Sensitization efforts will be geared towards
also making the communities more knowledgeable about issues related to Gender based violence (GBV), the legal rights
for women and girls, and the available redressal ecosystem. Through these key efforts, EWRs will be empowered to
emerge as potential response platforms that assist and facilitate linkages with the existing referral ecosystem like One
Stop Centers/helplines within their communities and thus take up GBV issues within their own communities. Programme
activities also include a focus on ensuring the representation of women in gram panchayat meetings and building their
voice and agency to articulate the needs and priorities of women and children and ensure that these are reflected in
panchayat plans.

SDGs4ALL is the lead partner under the initiative and will be responsible for implementation in the selected geographies,
grant management, reporting and monitoring and evaluation. As a lead partner, it will also be leading activities related to
sensitization of EWRs on aspects related to governance, and village level planning, and spearhead engagement with
government officials. This will be centered towards working with and through EWRs to empower them to navigate societal
norms and sensitize community and family members along with government officials on a range of gender issues,
including GBV.The proposed intervention will work with Community-Based Organizations i.e., CBOs (e.g. SHGs, Village
Organization, Cluster Level Federation, School Management Committees) to facilitate the development of a supportive
network for EWRs. The state-wise bifurcated list of CBO’s with whom the programme will work closely is provided below:

State SHG Village Cluster Level School Management No. of Gram Elected women
Organizations Federations Committee Panchayat representatives
Unit
Unit Members Unit Members UnitMembers Unit Members Members

Uttar Pradesh 90 270 60 180 6 30 60 300 30 30

Bihar 90 270 60 180 12 60 60 300 30 60
Total 180 540 120 360 18 90 120 600 60 90

1
The following case study has been built based on extracts from a TOR floated by an international Foundation.
2
This case study has been anonymized for educational purposes. The organization is a fictitious organization.
 MEL4DP Case Study#1
Some questions of interest to the program include:
 Barriers to uptake of services: Reduction in Gender and social barriers in service and utilization of health, early childhood
& sustainable development services
 Knowledge & Skills: Enhanced Knowledge, skills, and attitude of community members and institutions on women’s
empowerment, gender equality, prevention of gender based violence etc., and ability to identify and respond to such
community issues.
 Leadership qualities: The following points should be probed to: (a) Identify the obstacles for women in context to their role
performance in Panchayat (b) highlight the factors which tend to promote or prevent women members from performing their
roles. (c) Know the nature and extent of participation and role performance in decision-making etc...
 Participation of Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions: The following points should be probed like: (a) Reason for
contesting the election (b) Freedom of Speech and Expression (c) Support from family (d) performance for better leadership
(e) factors that motivate EWRs to take active part as leaders in the Gram Panchayat and play an active role in activities of the
Gram Panchayat.

Methodology
The evaluation agency will need to propose the relevant sample size, develop a suitable methodology along with a Gantt Chart
depicting timeline of various activities for conducting the study. The agency is required to use a mixed method approach
(comprising both qualitative and quantitative tools) which will cover relevant stakeholders like government officials, PRI members
(especially focussing on EWRs), leaders of CSOs (SHGs, VOs, CLFs, SMCs) and community members.

Scope of Work for the Agency/Independent Consultant:

SDGs4All is planning to hire an agency/independent consultant to undertake a Baseline, Midline and Endline evaluation across
the three years of the programme. With the onboarding of the evaluation agency, SDGs4All seeks to strengthen evidence-based
decision making in project implementation contributing to strengthening the quality of implementation and enabling the wider
dissemination of project learning for policy dialogue. • The agency/consultant will be responsible for the overall evaluation design,
development of data collection instruments (including both quantitative and qualitative tools), data collection (both primary and
secondary), data entry and analysis, and report writing.

• Development of detailed methodology for the study that includes both quantitative and qualitative methods along with the
detailed study plan (list of interviews, focused group discussions, beneficiary surveys etc.)
• Development and finalization of data collection tools, mapped to the outcome indicators of the programme objectives. •
Selection, recruitment, and training of investigators for data collection; an in-depth overview of the tools and concepts used;
ethics and informed consent.
• Translation of data collection tools to Hindi and finalization of tools in Hindi and English.
• Pre-test of data collection tools in all the targeted geographies.
• Undertake timely fieldwork for the data collection in the targeted population as per agreed timeline.
• Consultations with the relevant stakeholders like Panchayati Raj Department, SRLM, Women Development Corporation etc.
at both district and state levels.
• Ensuring high quality data management and adherence to quality assurance mechanisms as per agreed protocols, plans and
schedules.
• Submission of cleaned and coded database for all the assessments for each intervention block.
• Data analysis and submission of data summarization separately for each block and intervention area.
• Submission of final reports and dissemination of the key findings as per the agreed timelines

# Evaluation Type Geography Timeline

1 Baseline Study Mihirpurwa and Chittaura Blocks in Bahraich district of 60 days from the date of signing
Uttar Pradesh contract
2 Midline Study Muraul, Bochaha, Sakra and Mushari blocks in September 2023 to October 2023
3 Endline Muzzafarpur district of Bihar January 2025 to February 2025
SDGs4All will be responsible for:
1) Sharing all the relevant information which will include project proposal.
2) Timely review and feedback on tools and draft reports for finalization
3) Providing list of Community Based Organization and Elected women representatives.
Key Deliverables:
• Following discussion with the SDGS4ALL team, the consulting agency will develop and submit an inception report, with the
proposed methodology, and a detailed plan on the sequence of activities (which will include list of all surveys/FGDs and the
field visit plan) in accordance with the scope of work and the given timeline
• Finalize and share tools post approval from SDGS4ALL.
• Data collection and analysis as per agreed timeline.
• Submission of cleaned and coded primary data (including qualitative transcripts) and analysis with SDGS4ALL. Submission
of data will include primary as well as secondary data.
• Share top line findings from fieldwork with SDGS4ALL periodically.
• Submission of draft report for each phase: - Baseline study - Midline Study and - Endline Study
• Submission of final report based on the review and feedback from SDGS4ALL on submitted draft report for each phase: -
Baseline study - Midline Study and - Endline Study