Terms of reference for the final external evaluation of the outcome: “A comprehensive offer for children in street situations and vulnerable youngsters in Bacolod City, Philippines”

1. Introduction and Context

1.1. Mission results stakeholders and users:  Empowering Tomorrow’ s generation (ETM), our partner: Virlanie Foundation Inc. (VFI), DGD.D3, teams and management committee of VFI, direct beneficiaries of the program, Belgian and other NGO’s active in the Philippines and working with children in street situation, and the general public (via the publication on ETM’s websites).  Mission Commander: Empowering ToMorrow’ s generation

 

1.2. Rationale and program context:

General:

Geographical and demographic framework Bacolod City is a highly urbanized city, capital of the province of Negros Occidental, located in the heart of the Western Visayas region (Region VI) in the Negros Island. In 2021, the city had an estimated population of 624,783, with an annual population growth rate of 1.85%. The population is relatively young, with the 15-19 and 5-9 age groups together accounting for more than 22% of the total. This demographic structure offers significant potential for development, but also highlights the need for education, social protection and socio-economic integration for young people.

Political and security situation  The Philippines continues to face security challenges related to terrorism, maritime piracy and political tensions, particularly in the run-up to national elections. The Duterte presidency (2016-2022) has prioritized universal healthcare and free access to education up to university level. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated structural weaknesses, causing a profound health and social crisis. Potential political instability after the 2022 elections has also been a risk factor for stability in major cities, including Bacolod.

 

Economic situation

Before the pandemic, the Philippines was one of the most dynamic economies in East Asia, with growth supported by remittances from the diaspora, a competitive labour market and a booming construction sector. The 2020 health crisis led to a 9.5% contraction in GDP, plunging the country into recession. The government responded with a four-pillar socio-economic strategy, including a £12 billion support package for vulnerable households, workers and SMEs. The unemployment rate reached 10.4% in 2020, before falling back to 7.4% in 2021. However, social inequalities have widened, with an estimated 2.7 million more people falling into poverty.

 

ODC program in Bacolod, Negros Island:

Virlanie Foundation’s Open Day Center (ODC) Program supports Bacolod City’s most disadvantaged children and youth towards an autonomous life. It aims to provide street children, children in conflict with the law (CICL) and vulnerable young adults from 0 to 25 years old with basic necessities and skills they need to be able to fully integrate into society.   This Program continues to be relevant in this country considering the Philippines’ political and economic condition. Without focus on reducing widespread poverty, the gap between the social classes grows.

An analysis of children in the Philippines shows that 31.4% of the children live below poverty line. An estimated 2.85 million girls and boys aged 5 to 15 years old are out of school, and 8 in 10 children experience some form of violence, including physical, psychological, sexual, or online abuse. There are 246,000 street children believed to be roaming around the country.   Since it became fully functional in March 2018, VFI-ODC has been addressing the multidimensional issues of homelessness in the City of Bacolod. Activities and services are implemented in close collaboration with other public and private stakeholders in order to help the beneficiaries progress to better living conditions. With the use of a holistic human rights-based approach, VFI-ODC empowers the children and youth to become more responsible individuals.

The new program, 2022-2025 (3 years+1)  is a logical continuation of the previous program. However, there have been significant enhancements on the strategic approaches as well as key innovations on the interventions carried out during the past four consecutive years of program implementation. Even though the objectives and design of the programs are aligned to the global challenges identified in the analyses of the Philippine framework, the program responded to the evolving needs of the Children in Street Situations (CiSS) and the  youth at risk living in poverty within the City of Bacolod.
 

1. Object of the evaluation and methodology

Object of the evaluation: The evaluation aims to assess how effectively the program has been implemented by the partner association, to what extent it has promoted more responsible behavior, and how it has strengthened operational, organizational, and institutional capacities to ensure the partner’s long-term sustainability.  ETM insists on an essential approach, namely the significant participation of partners and beneficiaries in the collection of information, in data analysis, in coming to the main conclusions and possible recommendations.

 

The evaluation will be both formative and factual:

Productive: The steering committee, staff, management team, representatives of direct beneficiaries are involved in the preparation and organization of the evaluation mission, with the aim to improve ETM’s and partner’s future interventions and strategies.

Factual: an autonomous view of an objective judgment will be required, independently, allowing all the parties concerned to evaluate the effectiveness and the quality of the results achieved and the use of the allocated funds; also, to adapt, if necessary, the new planned program or implement new methods.

 

2. Evaluation criteria & questions with a gender lens

The evaluation mission will take place in Bacolod City, on Negros Island and will address all criteria determined by the DAC including for each criterion, a gender equity view. but the evaluation will focus on 2 main criteria, sustainability and impact, considered most relevant in the context and at the end of the program. A 3 th criteria, cost effectiveness is also important.  Specific attention will be included in the adopted methodology by the external consultant, to the crosscutting theme "gender". Finaly, recommendations will be given in order to review the theory of change according to final results.