International Consultant Job Opportunity at Railway Children Africa (RCA)

International Consultant Job Opportunity at Railway Children Africa (RCA)

Position: International Consultant

Tanzania RAILway Children Africa

TERMS OF REFERENCE (ToR)

Background 

Railway Children Africa (RCA) is a Tanzanian NGO dedicated to protecting children and young people living and working on the streets, and to strengthening child protection systems. RCA is commissioning an independent, proportionate End-of-Project Evaluation of the Corridors for Growth ,Transport Hubs Project (July 2024 – September 2026), funded by FCDO, which strengthened safeguarding systems within transport hubs through the Safe Bus Terminal Model — centred on Social Welfare Service Desks (SWSDs), case management and referral pathways, multi-sector coordination, and government institutionalisation of safeguarding. 

This evaluation is delivered jointly by a Local Consultant and an International Consultant, contracted separately and directly by RCA. Both consultants are expected to coordinate closely throughout the assignment; RCA’s Programme and Advocacy Manager approves deliverables and milestones for both, but day to-day technical coordination (tool handover, data handover, joint report input) takes place directly between the two consultants. 

Evaluation Objectives 

The evaluation as a whole, delivered jointly across both consultants  addresses the following objectives: 

• Assess the project’s relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability against its stated objectives.
• Measure progress against key impact, outcome, and output indicators, using existing baseline, routine monitoring and programme data, and compare end-of-project results against baseline findings. Where necessary, undertake limited primary data collection to address specific evidence gaps.
• Assess progress toward institutionalising safeguarding within government policy, planning and regulatory frameworks, and the likelihood results are sustained beyond donor funding.
• Assess the effectiveness of the Safe Bus Terminal Approach, including for girls specifically and evidence of change in frontline duty bearers’ attitudes and behaviour, where existing data allows.
• Identify lessons learned and provide practical, evidence-based recommendations for future programme design and scale-up.
• Examine the project’s contribution to reducing children’s involvement in street situations, using available headcount, routine monitoring and case management data.

Scope of Work

• The International Consultant leads methodological design and report drafting, ensuring the evaluation meets OECD-DAC and FCDO standards, and works closely with the Local Consultant, who leads in-country data collection. Specifically, the International Consultant shall:
• Lead design of the inception note and all data collection tools and instruments (KII/FGD guides, observation checklist), incorporating the Local Consultant’s contextual input on sampling and site access.
• Review the baseline report, logframe, and RCA’s most recent internally collected data against logframe indicators (to be provided by RCA at inception) to determine what can be assessed using existing data, consistent with the methodology note in Section 2.
• Provide remote methodological guidance to the Local Consultant during data collection, as needed, without requiring in-country travel.
• Lead triangulated analysis of the compiled dataset delivered by the Local Consultant against baseline and routine monitoring data.
• Lead drafting of the Draft and Final Evaluation Reports, ensuring alignment with OECD-DAC criteria (relevance, effectiveness, sustainability) and FCDO evaluation standards, incorporating the Local Consultant’s contextual interpretation and case study input throughout.
• Co-facilitate the validation session remotely and incorporate validation feedback into the Final Evaluation Report.
• Provide the Local Consultant with draft tools and, in turn, draft report sections for factual/contextual review before submission to RCA.

Qualifications 

• Substantial experience leading donor-funded evaluations (FCDO experience preferred), applying OECD-DAC criteria. Strong report-writing and analytical skills, with a track record of producing evaluation reports for international donors.
• Experience in child protection or safeguarding programmes (highly desirable).
• Experience working with, or willingness to work closely and remotely with, a locally-based consultant/researcher/.
• Evidence of previous relevant assignments (completion certificates, contracts, or reference letters).

How to Apply 

Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application should contain the following: 

• A technical proposal with a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a detailed, clear methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment
• A financial proposal including a breakdown of costs.
• The technical proposal should also contain the personal Curriculum Vitae (CV) of the consultant, highlighting relevant experience as well as the contact details (email and telephone number)
• Contact details (email and telephone number of at least three professions references from previous similar assignments.

Applications should be submitted by 30 September 2026 to; [email protected] 

DOWNLOAD FULL TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) HERE

Only selected candidate (s) will be contacted about the outcome of their applications. 

Evaluation Criteria 

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria: 

• Relevant experience and qualifications including experience of working with Tanzanian Ministries 40%
• Methodology and approach, including stakeholder mapping 30%
• Financial proposal 20%
• References and previous experience with similar assignments 10%

Reporting and Supervision

• The consultant will report directly to RCA’s Program & Advocacy Manager, Rose Kagoro, with a dotted reporting line to the RCA Monitoring & Evaluation Officer and RCA Executive Director.
• Regular updates and progress reports will be required throughout the consultancy period.