Request for Proposals! A youth evaluation and communication project
Posted: April 24, 2017
Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Opportunities / Volunteer. Job and Writing Opportunities
Sustain Ontario, in partnership, with Foodshare Toronto, have received a PGP grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in the evaluation stream. The project is entitled Growing Out: Evaluation and Impact Youth-Grown Tools and is intended to empower youth who participate in food programs throughout Ontario to evaluate and share their experiences of the impacts and processes of these projects, in ways that are authentic to them. Sustain and FoodShare are looking for an experienced consultant that has worked with northern and indigenous communities, youth and food systems to help shape and build the project. The deadline for proposals is May 15th before 5:00 pm. Please see below for more details about the request for proposals.
Invitation
Sustain Ontario is inviting qualified consultants with experience in northern and indigenous communities, youth and food systems to support the evaluation of the Growing Out: Evaluation and Impact Youth-Grown Tools program and to help train youth participants in culturally and demographically appropriate evaluation methods as participant-researchers.
Background
Sustain Ontario is a province-wide, cross-sectoral alliance that promotes healthy food and farming. Sustain Ontario’s mission is to provide coordinated support for the development of food systems throughout the province that are healthy, equitable, ecological and financially viable through collaborative action. In 2016 Sustain Ontario, in partnership, with Foodshare Toronto, applied for and received a PGP grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in the evaluation stream. The project, entitled Growing Out: Evaluation and Impact Youth-Grown Tools is intended to empower youth who participate in food programs throughout Ontario to evaluate and share their experiences of the impacts and processes of these projects, in ways that are authentic to them. Initially these youth will be recruited by and from four partner organizations in the food sector in two different communities, Roots to Harvest in Thunder Bay; and Greenest City, Green Thumbs Growing Kids, and FoodShare all in Toronto. Sustain Ontario and FoodShare, as the lead partners will coordinate and provide administrative support for this project, with the other partners all forming part of the project steering committee.
The Purpose of this Project
This is a project designed to build the youth food, environment and employment sector capacity in just and meaningful ways. Indigenous youth, youth leaders and youth participants from diverse backgrounds, and the partner organizations will work together in two different regions of Ontario, as co-creators of an evaluation plan, indicators of success, and culturally and demographically appropriate evaluation tools. A core team of youth participant-researchers along with the staff of the partner organizations will be trained as evaluators and appropriate tools and methods will be co-created. Examples of the types of methods anticipated include, but need not be restricted to surveys conducted with phones and tablets, storytelling, photovoice, and focus groups. These core participants, once trained will collect data on the experience of youth in food sector projects throughout the province. Finally, the consultants will assist in the co-creation with the youth of a ‘Sharing the Impact’ plan and over the period of three months, the youth, youth leaders and partners will co-create a variety of pieces, including video to share the impacts uncovered.
The consultants must be comfortable and proficient in working from an indigenous perspective, and a diversity framework to co-create just and meaningful tools to implement across the youth food sector. This will securely place the evaluation and impact youth movement on a strong foundation. All the partners will share the templates, manual, evaluation tools and sharing the impact tools through events, online, webinars, blogs, and with the 100’s of organizations and thousands of people in our collective networks. Each partner is rooted in the firm belief that, through a facilitated shared expertise process, we will co-create evaluation and impact tools that
will resonate with youth, youth leaders and organizations in the food, environment and employment sector across Ontario.
Scope of Work
The Successful Consultant will be involved in three distinct phases of the project, in the two program regions of Thunder Bay and Toronto:
- The Consultant will work with the steering committee to develop and deliver a curriculum for training the core group of youth participant researchers in their role.
- The Consultant will work with the core team of the steering committee and youth participant-researchers to co-create culturally and demographically appropriate evaluation approaches and tools, to empower them to gather stories of the impact of food sector projects from their fellow youth.
- The Consultant will work with the core team to develop a “Sharing the Impact Plan” as well as facilitate the team’s development of various communication and knowledge translation pieces for implementing this plan.
Deliverables
- Framework and project plan for participatory / empowerment evaluation by youth participants in food sector programs with emphasis on how this can role out in Thunder Bay and Toronto
- Co-created Training / curriculum for youth participant-researchers (including a manual)
- Co-created diverse set of culturally and demographically appropriate evaluation tools
- Sharing the Impact knowledge translation plan
- Support and training of youth in the implementation of this KT plan
Timelines:
Over all timeline: May 2017 – March 2018
Timeline details
Consultant Hired (May 30, 2017)
Youth-based curriculum developed and confirmed with partners (June 30, 2017)
Develop indicators of success, methods of implementation, evaluation tools with youth, youth leaders and staff working with youth (July – September 2017)
Evaluation tools tested and implemented with youth, youth leaders, and staff working with youth (September 30, 2017)
Workshop / Presentations at Bring Food Home 2017 Conference in Ottawa (October 26-29, 2017)
Events, and other Sharing the Impact Activities / Communications Pieces (March 31, 2018)
Consultant Roles and Relationship Sustain Ontario, FoodShare, and Steering Committee:
The Successful Consultant will report to the project steering committee, and work with the core group of participant-researchers throughout the 10 months of the project. Staff at Sustain Ontario and FoodShare will provide support and guidance to the Consultant for the duration of this project. The Consultant will meet with the organizational leads at Sustain and FoodShare, and with the broader Steering Committee as specified dates throughout the project.
Consultant Qualifications and Considerations:
- In‐depth knowledge of performance measurement and program evaluation, particularly from a participatory and empowerment perspective
- In‐depth knowledge of indigenous ways of training, evaluating and sharing stories
- High quality collection and documentation of information
- Facilitation and training skills with youth
- Available on weekends and evenings for training over spring and summer
- Media Savvy, particularly with Social Media (for Sharing the Impact / KT planning and training)
- Experience working with organizations who will be recruiting and have relationships with youth leaders
- Experience with large scale gathering of data by youth
- Demonstrated experience in applying quantitative and qualitative research methods
- Ability to work collaboratively with Steering Committee and Core Team
- Ability to manage project to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality deliverables
- Ability to provide additional support to northern and indigenous participants, as necessary, an organization with a presence in Northern Ontario and in particular the Thunder Bay area may be given priority.
- Price
Proposal Requirements
- Executive Summary
- Understanding of this Project, Scope, Approach and Methodology
- Project Management Approach and Work Plan
- Detailed and Itemized Pricing
- Declaration of Experience and Qualifications (Attach a separate CV if needed.)
- References
Budget:
The budget for this project is $20, 000, excluding HST.
Application Deadline:
Please submit one (1) electronic copy of your complete proposal (including scheduling, hours needed, and project budget) before 5pm on May 15th, 2017 to:
Phil Groff
Executive Director
Sustain Ontario
301-253 Danforth Avenue
Toronto, ON M4K 1N2
Questions/Inquiries:
If you have any questions regarding this RFP please contact:
Phil Groff at phil@sustainontario.ca / (647) 588-2336 or
Yara Janes at yara@foodshare.net / (416) 363-6441 EXT: 241