Тендер: Постачальник послуг для проведення фінальної оцінки

1. Background and goals of the evaluation 

The United Voices in Action (VIA) 2.0 program is implemented by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) and aims to empower internally displaced persons (IDPs) to lead community cohesion efforts and establish effective support structures that enhance their resilience and contribute to Ukraine’s national recovery.  United Voices in Action 2.0 expanded upon the foundations laid in VIA 1.0 by collaborating with the Government of Ukraine to provide resources for IDP integration, prevent exploitation, and support both IDPs and host communities in achieving sustainable integration. Through this program, IREX assisted IDPs and host community members across 18 oblasts in building resiliency, fostering social cohesion, and promoting economic viability. IREX’s efforts strengthened and expanded the existing IDP Council network.  

In our program we use the following definition of IDPs: according to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, internally displaced persons are persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border.  

 IREX is looking for a vendor to conduct a final program evaluation which will consist of quantitative and qualitative parts. 

The currency of the tender proposal is US dollar, however the payments will be made in UAH. 

The bid and the final price shall not include VAT. The Vendor is obliged to supply goods or provide services without VAT, in accordance with the law of Ukraine on VAT exemption for goods supplied within the framework of international technical assistance projects in accordance with international treaties of Ukraine. 

Payment for the services provided will be made in hryvnias (without VAT). 

The term of service provision: from the date of the contract conclusion (tentatively September 1, 2025) to November 30, 2025.  

Contextual Considerations and Limitations 

The evaluation will be conducted during an ongoing phase of program implementation. Some activities may still be underway, which will require adaptive and flexible evaluation methods beyond traditional summative approaches. Additionally, the evaluation must consider and plan for contextual limitations including: 

• Wartime conditions and related security risks; 

• Extended or ongoing migration, potentially affecting the availability and accessibility of both IDP and host community respondents; 

• Operational constraints due to safety concerns or logistical challenges in certain geographic areas. 

Bidders are expected to propose innovative, realistic, and context-sensitive methodologies for data collection and analysis that reflect these constraints while maintaining the rigor and integrity of the evaluation. 

Please note that IREX is not responsible for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of the proposal by the vendor, regardless of the outcome or method of the selection process.  

Main evaluation questions of the final evaluation:  

• What measurable outcomes have direct beneficiaries of the VIA Program (1.0 and 2.0) experienced? 

• What spillover effects, if any, has the VIA Program had on the broader population beyond direct beneficiaries? 

• Which implementation models of VIA 1.0 and 2.0 have proven to be the most efficient and sustainable over time? 

• To what extent have IDPs integrated into host communities? What types of interactions occur between IDPs and host community members? 

• How have attitudes, needs, and living conditions of IDPs and host communities evolved, and how do they compare? 

Target oblasts: 1) Zakarpattska 2) Chernivetska 3) Ivano-Frankivska 4) Lvivska 5) Volynska 6) Rivnenska 7) Ternopilska 8) Khmelnytska 9) Vinnytska 10) Zhytomyrska 11) Kyivska 12) Cherkaska 13) Kirovohradska 14) Mykolaivska 15) Odeska 16) Dnipropetrovska 17) Chernihivska18) Poltavska 

2.  IREX expects that the selected vendor will conduct quantitative and qualitative parts of the final evaluation:  

1) Qualitative part  

Objectives for qualitative part:  

• Explore sustainable changes in communities resulting from the VIA Program at individual, group, institutional, and systemic levels. 

• Analyze spillover effects from program participants to other IDPs and host community members (e.g., diffusion of practices, knowledge sharing, indirect engagement).   

• Assess the effectiveness and sustainability, where feasible, of key implementation models (e.g., IDP Hubs, support groups, advocacy and economic development projects) and the mechanisms that enabled their success.  

• Examine the unique contribution of VIA 1.0 and 2.0, including value-added compared to other similar interventions (e.g., by INGOs or government programs), as well as perceived limitations or gaps in VIA’s approach as identified by participants and implementers (e.g., unmet needs, missed opportunities, or areas requiring further development). 

Target audiences: representatives from VIA 1.0 and VIA 2.0 subgrantees and key implementers of the activities, including but not limited to personnel of IDPs Hubs, psychological support groups, IDP businesses receiving support, advocacy projects leaders, facilitators of projects aiming children and teenagers, members of IDP Councils, local government and CSO representatives.    

2) Quantitative part  

Objectives for quantitative part:  

• Identify IDPs and host community members awareness and evaluation of the Government initiatives on addressing IDP needs and their integration in the host communities; IDPs satisfaction with government responsiveness to their needs related to policy and regulation development aimed at supporting IDP needs; IDPs satisfaction with the benefits and impact of IDP councils on addressing their needs and their integration into the host community. 

• Study relations between IDPs and host community.  

• Identify the psychological state of IDPs and host community (using instrument of PHQ-9).  

• Study IDPs needs: integration-related, advocacy-related as well as the skills training, mentoring, networking, resources, employment or other assistance needs.  

• Assess the extent to which IDPs have access to psychological, employment, and legal support, and identify the roles of state, NGO, and INGO actors in providing such services. 

• Assess the sustained effects of VIA 1.0 on participants’ lives, including their follow-up actions, civic engagement, and the program’s indirect influence on IDPs who did not directly participate. 

• Assess the sustained effects of VIA 2.0 on participants’ lives, including their follow-up actions, civic engagement, and the program’s indirect influence on IDPs who did not directly participate. 

Target audience 1: IDPs in selected oblasts who were forced to leave their homes since 2014 and/or since 24th of February 2022. Sample size: at least 1200 respondents (the vendor is expected to build a sample).  

Target audience 2: Host community members in selected oblasts. Sample size: at least 1200 respondents (the vendor is expected to build a sample).   

Target audience 3: Participants of VIA 1.0 activities (up to 3000 people, contacts provided from IREX). Sample size: at least 250 respondents. 

Target audience 4: Participants of VIA 2.0 activities (up to 2500 people, contacts provided from IREX). Sample size: at least 300 respondents. 

3. Scope of work  

IREX expects that selected vendor to conduct the following tasks:  

1) Qualitative part of the final evaluation: 

Note: IREX expects the vendor to hire a consultant on IDP issues who will be involved in instruments design, analytical report preparation and recommendations development. 

• Develop design and methodology for the qualitative part. 

• In cooperation with IREX, finalize the guide for conduction of in-depth interviews. IREX will share the first draft of guide for in-depth interviews. 

• Conduct training for interviewers.  

• Conduct fieldwork: 36 in-depth interviews with representatives from VIA 1.0 and VIA 2.0 subgrantees and key implementers of the activities, including but not limited to personnel of IDPs Hubs, psychological support groups, IDP businesses receiving support, advocacy projects leaders, facilitators of projects aiming children and teenagers, local government and CSO representatives. Contacts will be provided by IREX.   

• Prepare narrative analytical report including section with recommendations. 

2) Quantitative part of the final evaluation. 

Note: IREX expects the vendor to hire a consultant on IDP issues who will be involved in instruments design, analytical report preparation and recommendations development. 

• Develop design and methodology for the quantitative part: including the most suitable data collection method for each target group, sampling procedures (sample size, quotas, method of recruitment). Base of IDPs contacts in target oblasts is not provided. Base of VIA 1.0 and 2.0 participants contacts is provided by IREX. IREX expects that survey is conducted only among adult population (18 years and more). 

• In cooperation with IREX, finalize the survey questionnaire. IREX will share the first draft of the questionnaire in English. Expected duration: 20-25 min. 

• Translate the final survey questionnaire into Ukrainian and conduct pre-test with a small sample of target groups (IDPs, community members). Integrate edits into the questionnaire. 

• Conduct training for interviewers. 

• Conduct fieldworks for all target groups. IREX will inform selected VIA participants in advance about the survey, including who may contact them and when. If needed, IREX may assist with the distribution of the survey among specific participant groups (e.g., elderly individuals or psychosocial support recipients); however, this support will not exceed 20% of the total sample. 

• Prepare technical report.  

• Prepare analytical report including section with recommendations. 

• Prepare PowerPoint Presentation with key results and recommendations. 

  Deliverables  

• Work plan (with timelines) in English for each part of the evaluation.  

• Methodology for in-depth interviews and survey, including detailed sampling plan, in English and Ukrainian.  

• Final guides for in-depth interviews in English and Ukrainian. 

• Final questionnaires for surveys in English and Ukrainian. 

• Pre-test survey report. 

• Instructions for interviewers for both parts of the evaluation. 

• Prepare transcripts for in-depth interviews in the language of respondents.  

• Narrative analytical report with recommendations for in-depth interviews in English and Ukrainian (broken down by different VIA projects as appropriate).  

• Final cleaned databases with coded open question and codebook for survey in Excel (xlsx/csv) or in SPSS (sav) with labels in English and Ukrainian. 

• Excel tables with toplines and crosstabs with basic social demographic disaggregations in English and Ukrainian. The disaggregation list will be agreed with IREX.  

• Technical report for survey (including sampling procedures, fieldwork description, response rate, data quality control results, etc.) in English and Ukrainian. 

• Narrative analytical report with recommendations for survey in English and Ukrainian (broken down by different target audiences and communities as appropriate).  

• Power Point presentation of survey results in both aggregated form and desegregated by key factors (to be agreed with IREX) in English and Ukrainian.   

 Timing/duration  

Work must be completed by November 30, 2025. 

4. Proposal requirements  

Proposal should be sent to [email protected] no later than August 26, 16:59. Questions can be asked via email [email protected] no later than August 20, 16:00. 

Elements of the proposal:  

• Narrative proposal (maximum size of the narrative proposal in MS Word is 5 pages (font size 12, 1.5 line spacing) which includes:  

• Methodology and design for conduction of in-depth interviews, list of deliverables.  

• Methodology and design of quantitative survey including sampling, method of recruiting respondents, methods of data collection, list of deliverables.  

• Ethical considerations of the evaluation, such as informed consent procedures, data protection and confidentiality, handling of sensitive topics (e.g., trauma, displacement). 

• Capacity of the organization. Relevant examples of completed similar assignments performed during the last 5 years, and specifically a description of one assignment performed during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine.  
  Only local vendors are eligible. Preference for vendors with experience in doing similar surveys with displaced populations. 

• Timeline for both parts of the evaluation (Gantt chart, can be provided in the separate Excel document), qualitative and quantitative parts may occur simultaneously.   

• Registration documents of the organization. 

• Budget calculations by budget lines. Budget calculations to be sent in a separate MS Excel file, using recommended Budget template   

Language of submission is English.  

5. Selection criteria