Rolling evaluation accompanying the concluding year of the “Skills for Success” project

Introduction

The National Centre for Culture and Arts (NCCA), established in 1987 under the King Hussein Foundation, is Jordan's pioneering institution in theatre-in-education and applied drama. NCCA is a national resource and a regional and international model for incorporating performing arts in all levels of education for academic, cultural and personal development of educators, children and youth.

DROSOS FOUNDATION is a non-profit organisation committed to empowering young people to navigate and address today’s global challenges. Together with partner organisations, it develops and supports projects that have a direct bearing on the effective and sustainable opportunities for young people. Established in 2003 as a private foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, Drosos seeks long-term impact through its supported projects in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Switzerland and Eastern Germany. In Lebanon, Drosos has been operational and active since 2005. It is ideologically, politically and religiously independent.

DROSOS FOUNDATION is supporting the project “Skills for Success” which is being implemented across Jordan by the National Centre for Culture and Arts. The project is implemented as part of Drosos’ thematic focus area of Skills Development.

1. Thematic Area Description

Skills development is one of the three thematic focus areas of Drosos’ Strategy 2025-2028. By prioritising skills development, particularly future-oriented competencies like digital literacy, critical thinking, adaptability and creativity, alongside vocational training, we prepare young people to meet the evolving demands of a rapidly changing world and job market. Providing creative spaces for self-discovery and collective action can nurture growth and resilience, enabling youth to adapt to change, innovate in the face of crises and strive to transform challenges into opportunities.

2. Project Description

Between November 2019 and October 2024, Drosos supported the NCCA through the project “Creativity in the Classroom”, which trained 300 public-school teachers in the use of drama and creative activities in the classroom.

Building on this partnership, the NCCA developed a second 3-year project “Skills for Success: Youth Embracing Vocational Education in Jordan” funded by DROSOS FOUNDATION. The project addresses the persistent social stigma attached to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Jordan and the weak work-readiness of TVET graduates. NCCA implements the project in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Vocational Training Corporation (VTC), the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) and Al Hussein Technical University's College of Advanced Vocational Training (CAVT).

The project pursues three objectives:

1\. Mitigate cultural barriers to youth economic participation and improve the attractiveness of vocational training as a viable pathway to employability, primarily through an interactive theatre production (Forum Theatre / Theatre-in-Education methodology) touring public schools, community-based organisations and national job fairs.

2\. Renew existing vocational training programmes by integrating a soft-skills component – delivered through drama and Theatre-Based Techniques (TBT) – to increase the employability and work-readiness of TVET trainers and graduates at VTC and CAVT centres.

3\. Advocate for vocational training through a national, multi-channel media and awareness campaign in partnership with ROYA Media Group and public broadcasters.

These objectives are addressed through three interlinked pillars. First, the project uses interactive theatre — built on Forum Theatre and Theatre-in-Education methodology — to engage students in grades 8 and 9, their parents and the wider community in public schools and community-based organisations across the country, using live performance as a tool to challenge stereotypes about TVET before students choose their education pathway.

Second, it provides soft-skills training, delivered through drama and Theatre-Based Techniques, to TVET trainers and graduates at Vocational Training Corporation (VTC) and Advanced College of Vocational Training (CAVT) centres, helping bridge the gap between technical qualification and genuine workplace readiness.

Third, it invests in a national, multi-channel awareness campaign — in partnership with ROYA Media Group and public broadcasters — engaging the Ministry of Education, employers and the wider public to reposition TVET as a credible and valued pathway to employment.

Together, these three pillars create a long-term ecosystem, from early perception change to skills development and workplace readiness, to public and institutional advocacy for TVET at a national level.

3. Purpose and objectives of the assignment

The overall purpose of the evaluation is to independently assess the results, relevance and sustainability of Skills for Success, and to generate credible, actionable learning for DROSOS FOUNDATION, NCCA and its institutional partners – on whether and how the project's guiding principles drove meaningful change in perceptions of, and pathways into, TVET in Jordan.

Specific objectives:

• Surface, articulate and validate the guiding principles that have shaped how NCCA and its partners designed and delivered the project, drawing on project documentation and stakeholder consultation.
• Assess the extent to which these principles were guiding, useful, inspiring, developmental and evaluable. And whether they were consistently applied across the three objectives and across different implementation sites and partners.
• Assess the extent to which these principles are plausibly linked to the outcomes achieved – changed attitudes towards TVET, improved work-readiness of trainers and graduates, and increased public awareness.
• Harvest, verify and interpret concrete outcomes (changes in behaviour, relationships, actions, policies or practices of MOE, VTC, CAVT, schools and CBOs) that have occurred during the project period and assess the project’s plausible contribution to each.
• Assess the strength, added value and sustainability of the multi-stakeholder partnership model (MOE, VTC, CPF/CAVT, ROYA TV) as the vehicle through which harvested outcomes were achieved and are likely to be sustained beyond the funding period.
• Generate forward-looking, actionable recommendations for Drosos and NCCA on the future design of TVET work readiness and perception-change-related programming in Jordan.

4. Methodology used for the assignment

The evaluator is expected to propose a detailed methodology, but it should, at minimum:

• be participatory and utilisation-focused, actively involving NCCA staff and key partners in validating the guiding principles and in sense-making of preliminary findings;
• use a mixed-methods design combining document and secondary-data review (proposal, log frame, activity and financial reports, VTC/CAVT graduate-employment tracking data, media analytics) with primary qualitative and quantitative data collection;
• include semi-structured interviews and/or focus group discussions with NCCA management and delivery staff (including the National Interactive Theatre Troupe), MOE, VTC, CPF/CAVT and ROYA TV counterparts, and a purposive sample of direct beneficiaries (students, parents, TVET trainers and graduates);
• include direct observation of at least one interactive play performance and one soft-skills training session, where feasible within the evaluation timeframe;
• apply an appropriate before/after or perception-change assessment for attitudes towards TVET;
• give explicit attention to the experience of underserved /stigmatized groups;

5. Deliverables

• An inception report that includes a detailed methodology, data collection tools, sampling strategy and workplan to conduct the assignment.
• Consultation meetings with NCCA in implementing some of the stakeholder’s meetings/key informant interviews.
• Presentation of emerging findings to Drosos and NCCA for validation and sense-making
• A draft final report in English addressing all evaluation questions, structured around the principles-focused framework and the harvested and substantiated outcomes
• A final report in English and Arabic (max. 30 pages without annexes) incorporating comments from Drosos and NCCA, with an executive summary, evidence-based recommendations and a one-page learning brief.

6. Timeline

The assignment is expected to take place between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2027 but to be discussed with evolving circumstances. The total effort for the evaluation is maximum 36 days.

7. Expected consultant profile

The evaluation may be carried out by an individual consultant or by a team of consultants.

The consultant(s) should have the following qualifications and skills:

• At least 7 years of relevant experience in conducting evaluations
• Demonstrated experience conducting principles-focused, developmental or utilisation-focused evaluations and demonstrated working knowledge of Outcome Harvesting;
• Substantive knowledge of TVET, youth employability and/or social-norm and behaviour-change programming, ideally in Jordan or the Levant region;
• Experience evaluating arts-based, participatory or theatre-in-education interventions is a strong asset.
• Excellent facilitation and communications skills and ability to build trust with various stakeholders.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English and in Arabic. Proficient command of local Levantine Arabic language is desirable.