About the organisations:

The Norwegian Mission Society (NMS) is a voluntary organization, rooted in the Church of Norway. NMS is one of the largest Christian organizations in Norway, with its head office in Stavanger. The organization consists of voluntary involvement from people and congregations who pray, give, and collect money for the work. Its history goes back to 1842 when it started the mission and diaconal work. NMS seeks, together with partner organizations, churches, and individuals throughout the world, to work actively to equip each other to share faith in Jesus, fight injustice, and eradicate poverty. NMS has a framework agreement with Digni which means that it is responsible for ensuring the quality of the applications and reports for projects which are receiving governmental funding.

Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) is a global, faith-based nonprofit that works with local communities around the world to develop language solutions that expand possibilities for a better life. SIL’s core contribution areas are Bible translation, literacy, education, development, linguistic research, and language tools. SIL Ethiopia is registered under the Ethiopian ACSO (Authority for Civil Societies Organizations) under license registration number 0906.

Digni is an umbrella organization for development projects and has 19 members. Digni receives funding from Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). NMS receives funds from Digni and Digni has delegated the responsibility for project management to NMS.

About the project:

“Children and Adults learning in the Mother Tongue in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State” aims to improve educational opportunities for children and adults from minority groups of the region, particularly for Benishangul, Shinasha, Gumuz, Komo, Gwama, and Mao Bambassi language communities. By using the mother tongue as the language of instruction, the language barrier to learning is removed and both learners and teachers can work and learn in the language they know best.

Work to develop the six local languages of the Benishangul Gumuz Region for use in education began in 2009 with the launching of the first Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB MLE) intervention by SIL Ethiopia. A combination of project-based capacity building and technical training by SIL Ethiopia and a long-term commitment of the Benishangul Gumuz Regional Education Bureau (REB) to expand from selected pilot classes to all schools of the region are producing large-scale and sustainable results.

The project phase under evaluation started in 2019 and ends in 2022. The main focus of this phase has been the development of mother tongue learning materials in Komo, Gwama, and Mao Bambassi languages, as well as functional women’s literacy materials and programs for the Gumuz language.

The purpose of the evaluation is:

The evaluation shall answer the following key learning questions:

To what extent has the project achieved the results at the outcome level as set out in the project document?
Assess the relevance of the project design to the desired output, outcome, and impact.
How has the project contributed to the empowerment of the individual, the community, and the society? Refer to Digni’s Empowerment Assessment Tool. The tool: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1luhAqefEoB4GyUKlSCRHqLJcQxN0DGgR/view
Evaluate the extent to which the partnership between Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State Education Bureau, BGRS Cultural Bureau, and SIL has built the implementation capacity of the regional state to deliver quality education with a special focus on MTB-MLE.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

Excellent analytical skills
Documented experience in project management and working on result frameworks.
Documented experience having conducted external evaluations, preferably in the region.
Knowledge in the field of education and specifically Multi-lingual Mother Tonge Based Education
Experience in working in the region with development organizations
Being culturally sensitive
Being familiar with quality benchmarks and collaborating with major donors is an asset, but not a requirement.
Excellent English written and oral skills.
Ability to work in a structured and independent way, yet to relate well with people in an interview setting.

Please contact Ingeborg Sæbø Oluka ([email protected]) for Terms of Reference or for other information or regarding any questions related to this posting.

How to apply

Please contact Ingeborg Sæbø Oluka ([email protected])

Application with CV including references, a description of how you would go about the evaluation and the tools/methods you would you would use and number of days needed, diploma, and certificates should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected] . Please mark your email with SIL-NMS Evaluator. Also send reports of similar evaluations that you have previously done if not confidential.

Deadline for applying is 21st October 2022.