Evaluation of a scholarship programme

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) invites applications from suitably qualified consultants who will carry out an evaluation of a scholarship programme that has been funding the education of Southern African media leaders and managers at a leading South African university.

Background

To date the scholarship programme, which has targeted women, has funded around 20 media managers from across Southern Africa since its inception in 2006. Most of these managers today occupy mid-level or senior positions in their media organizations, contributing to staff diversity and transformation of how these media institutions are managed and led. Some of the beneficiaries have gone on to do further studies in media management and/or in journalism.

Terms of Reference

Suitably qualified and experienced consultants are expected to cover the following broad areas, although some of these do overlap:

Assess the impact of the scholarship programme on beneficiary media managers’ professional careers and on their organizations;

Assess the effectiveness of the scholarship programme in empowering beneficiary media managers to become better skilled and knowledgeable managers in their organizations;

Assess the relevance and utility of the programme to the beneficiary media managers and their organizations; and

Make appropriate recommendations on how the programme could be strengthened to better fulfil its key objective of mainstreaming women into leadership positions in the region’s media.

Scope of Work

It is anticipated that the evaluation will involve a fair amount of interviewing a representative sample of the scholarship beneficiaries, primarily using electronic and/or telephonic communication, and interviewing in person the key implementers of the project at OSISA and at its partner university. Using the Terms of Reference above, the appointed consultant will deliver an interim report by no later than 31 March 2014 and a final report by no later than 30 April 2014.

Candidates

Candidates must have a thorough understanding of the dynamics and complexities of Southern Africa’s educational and media sectors and ideally should have conducted a similar evaluation for a reputable organization, preferably an international non-governmental organization. Candidates will have postgraduate-level education and experience in research in the social sciences. Candidates should send their applications, which should include a detailed CV and a motivation on how they will approach the evaluation, their methodology and the expected consultation fees, to benedictk@osisa.org, with a drop copy to s.mbengashe@ru.ac.za. Applications close at mid-day on 28 February 2014. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.