Terms of Reference (ToR) for for the EU Project Final Evaluation

Project Title
Twubake Umuryango Twita ku Bana Bafite Ubumuga  (Let's Strengthen Families through Care and Support for Children with Disabilities).
Donor
European Union (EU)
Implementing Organization
Hope and Homes for Children (HHC ) Rwanda
Local Partners
Ubumwe Community Center (UCC) ; Wikwiheba Mwana (WM)
Districts
Musanze, Gatsibo, Rubavu
Project Period
2023–2026 (3 years)
Evaluation Duration
~13 weeks from contract signing (see Section 7)

Application DeadlineSeptember 10, 2026

• Background

Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) is an international NGO committed to ensuring that children grow up in safe and loving families and to ending institutional care. HHC works with governments, communities, and partners to strengthen families, prevent unnecessary separation, and promote the inclusion of vulnerable children, including children and youth with disabilities (CYWDs).

In Rwanda, HHC has partnered with the Government of Rwanda and other stakeholders since 2002 to advance family-based care and child protection reforms. Through its programmes, HHC has supported the transition of children from residential care into families, strengthened community-based support systems, and contributed to the closure of 16 residential care institutions, including four serving children with disabilities.

Despite progress in childcare reform and deinstitutionalization, children and youth with intellectual disabilities and rare impairments continue to experience stigma, discrimination, limited access to specialized services, and increased risks of exclusion, family separation, and institutionalization. Families often face challenges in accessing appropriate care, rehabilitation, protection, and livelihood support within their communities.

To address these challenges, HHC Rwanda, with support from the European Union (EU) and in partnership with Ubumwe Community Center (UCC) and Wikwiheba Mwana (WM), implemented the project “Twubake Umuryango Twita ku Bana Bafite Ubumuga”  (Let’s Strengthen Families through Care and Support for Children with Disabilities) in Musanze, Gatsibo, and Rubavu districts. The project implemented an integrated package of interventions aimed at strengthening families, improving access to inclusive services, and enhancing community and partner capacity through four complementary approaches: ACTIVE Family Support (AFS), Inclusive Day-Care Hubs, Community Capacity Building, and Partner Institutional Strengthening.

As the project approaches completion, HHC Rwanda is commissioning an independent final evaluation to assess the extent to which the project achieved its intended objectives and outcomes. The evaluation will assess the project’s relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact  in line with OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. It will examine achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and good practices, while generating evidence-based recommendations to inform future programming, strengthen accountability to the European Union and stakeholders, and guide potential adaptation, replication, and scale-up of effective approaches supporting children and youth with disabilities and their families.

• Project Objectives & Targets

Overall ObjectiveImprove the protection, inclusion, and rights realization of CYWDs in Rwanda.

• Improve equality and inclusion of CYWDs, especially those with intellectual disability and rare impairments.

• Strengthen parent, caregiver, and community capacity to meet CYWD needs.

• Increase access to disability-inclusive prevention and family support services.

• Raise awareness of disability rights and protection mechanisms.

• Institutionalize sustainable-service-delivery capacity within WM and UCC.

Key targets:  110 Local Leaders, 88 Inshuti Z’Umuryango (IZU), 120 families and 118 children and youth with disabilities, 8 peer-to-peer support groups, ·64 children in day care, and 50 Disability Coordination Forum (DCF) members.

• Purpose of the Evaluation

An independent, evidence-based assessment of the project's achievements and contribution to CYWD protection and inclusion — for EU/HHC accountability and for learning that informs future policy advocacy and model replication. Specifically, the evaluation will:

• Assess progress against planned outputs, outcomes, and impact.

• Test the effectiveness of the AFS and Inclusive Community Hub models, including for children with rare/complex disabilities.

• Assess organizational capacity growth in WM and UCC.

• Determine value for money using the 4-E framework (Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Equity).

• Assess cross-cutting performance on gender, disability inclusion, child rights/safeguarding, and environment.

• Deliver actionable recommendations for scaling and policy influence.

• Scope & Evaluation Criteria (OECD-DAC, 2020)

• child separation, greater community inclusion, and family transformation.