READVERTISEMENT - CONSULTANCY - BRCiS Consortium - Endline Evaluation - Somalia

Terms of Reference

Background Information

BRCiS is a humanitarian Consortium that takes a holistic approach to supporting Somali communities in developing their capacity to resist and absorb minor shocks without undermining their ability to move out of poverty. The Consortium consists of five international NGOs with extensive experience in Somalia – Cooperazione e Sviluppo (CESVI), Concern Worldwide (CWW), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Save the Children International (SCI).

The programme received funding from the Government of the United Kingdom to target directly 30,100 households (around 210,700 individuals) for four years. The four years of its first phase is ending in December 2017. As part of the learning and reflection, the programme is looking for a consultant to conduct an independent and participatory end line evaluation for the programme in the September to December period. The primary purpose of this evaluation is to provide the BRCiS Consortium and the communities concerned by the projectx33333wz with valuable lessons learned to improve programme implementation as well as future resilience and livelihoods programming in Somalia.

The programme’s impact being “Men, women and children in vulnerable communities are more resilient to shocks”, with resilience being defined as “The ability of countries, communities and households to manage change by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses without compromising their long term prospects”, the project adopted a participatory and community-based approach to programming, with the objective to durably improve the communities’ capacity. The communities targeted by the intervention were either rural villages, pastoralists groups or urban poor / internally displaced persons settlements. Livelihood groups were also diverse with pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and urban groups being targeted. Most of the intervention remained focused at community level, and started by a participatory rural appraisal exercise and community consultations that determined the set of activities that were to be prioritized in each community. Activities were mainly selected across 3 sectors: WASH, Shelter and Food Security and livelihoods, with a basis of disaster reduction and community governance capacity building common to all communities.

The project is a complex one, with different layers of interventions combined throughout the project and necessary to build resilience to shocks in a fragile context. Recovery and rehabilitation, emergency, development and sustainable livelihood activities were sequenced at different times of the project according to each communities’ needs and capacities as well as to external events that kept influencing the implementation. In some cases, the resilience project was supplemented with emergency funding to protect the gains of the long-term project. These specificities complicate the task of evaluating the impact of the project on the communities’ capacity. The consultant will therefore be expected to design a dedicated methodology to measure the resilience of the communities by the end of the project.

Since the first year of implementation, BRCiS has collected a large quantity of quantitative data annually in the communities. This data covers household demographic elements as well as indicators related to water and sanitation, health and education as well as some important food security indicators (Coping Strategy Index, Food Consumption Score, Dietary Diversity Index). The analysis of the data will contribute to the final evaluation of the project but the object of this consultancy is to provide an assessment of the results at impact, outcome and output levels as well as to test its theory change, assumptions and project implementation strategy.

Consultancy Purpose and Objectives

In summary, the programme evaluation will focus on assessing/evaluating the impact of the programme, while – based on the findings of the above – generate a section of key lessons learned and best practices that make realistic and feasible recommendations for improving resilience programing in the Somali context. This will further look into ways of strengthening local disaster preparedness response capacity and overall community resilience to minor shocks and stresses for the BRCiS Consortium. The end line evaluation should provide an answer to whether or not the programme contributed to improving the communities’ capacity to manage change by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses without compromising their long-term prospects. The objectives of this final evaluation are to:

• test the relevance and appropriateness of the project theory of change, assumptions and implementation strategy;
• assess results of the package of services provided by the project to build resilience of target beneficiaries, households and communities;
• Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and opportunities for BRCiS next phase.

Specifically, the evaluation should assess each of the following dimensions:  

Project impact: The systematic analysis of the changes in beneficiaries’ lives brought about by the BRCiS program.

Relevance: Evaluate the appropriateness of the project design, strategies and approaches in the light of the operational context in Somalia and in particular the timelines and layering of the interventions as well as the adaptation to various livelihood groups.  

Effectiveness: Analyze the extent to which the project results and objectives as stated in the programme proposal have been achieved. This should include an analysis of programme implementation strategies employed to reach desired results by the consortium.

Efficiency: Assess how the programme resources were used to achieve expected results, both in reaching overall programme objectives and day-to-day tasks by the consortium partners and management/ coordination structures.

Sustainability: Assess the extent to which the project interventions took into consideration longer term needs of the target population and to what extent programme results will be sustainable after programme current phase closure.

Coverage and Target: Assess the extent to which the planned coverage and targets were achieved, the relevance of the selection process, and the implications of retargeting that has taken place over the course of implementation.

The consultant will be responsible for designing an inclusive and participatory research methodology including surveys, qualitative research and the use of proxy indicators for resilience. The consultant is encouraged to base its methodology on innovative approaches.

Specific objectives

Assess the extent to which the project achieved its objectives with special emphasis on the outcomes and impact and/or most significant changes attributable to the project.

Assess the participatory processes including the initial Participatory Community Analysis and the annual plans reviews and beneficiaries feedback mechanisms.

Assess the capacity building of target groups and its relevance to project implementation.

Assess the efficacy of processes of beneficiary engagement against best practices in the sector

Assess the project sustainability at various levels (households, livelihood zones, local authorities) with focus on technical, financial, institutional sustainability.

Assess the impact that the project had on cross cutting issues of gender and environment

Assess project efficiency in utilisation of mobilised and committed resources in the implementation of the programme by the consortium.

Assess and provide an independent summary review of the effectiveness and efficiency of the project monitoring and evaluation system with reference from the already existing documentation on the same.

Assess the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of networking and/or coordination with other actors in the resilience sector in Somalia e.g. OCHA, clusters, other resilience consortia, other humanitarian and development actors, and the government.

For each of the above, make key observations, draw conclusions and make recommendations to inform future interventions of a possible scale up of the BRCiS programme.

Timeline

The consultancy is expected to begin the 1st November 2017 and all deliverables should be submitted before the 31^st of December.

The consultant will be expected to do the following;

Develop a methodology that encompasses all previous aspects to assess the impact and the quality of the four-year programme in a participatory way. This methodology will be developed thanks to key informants interview and review of the Consortium database, reports and learning material. The methodology will be submitted for validation to the Consortium. (1 month)

Proceed to the collection of the data necessary to the completion of the evaluation and its analysis.

Submit a preliminary report to the Consortium for review and validation (2 weeks)

Present methodology and key findings to the Consortium Management and the donor.

Reporting:

The consultant will be working primarily with the BRCiS M&E Manager, the Chief of party and the technical working group in consultation with the field-site Programme managers.

Deliverables

• Inception Report: with detailed methodology, research questions, data collection plan, work plan, an evaluation matrix and an outline of the final evaluation report.

• Draft Evaluation Report: the report will include an executive summary and the contents of data collection, focus groups and interviews as annexes.
• Presentation: of the key findings for the Consortium and key stakeholders
• Final Evaluation Report: the findings of the evaluation will be reported in a report available in English and in Somali.
• Review Brief: The Consultant will provide a condensed version of the report with highlights and main lessons learned, ready for dissemination in English and Somali.
• Evaluation factsheets for communities: the Consultant will provide a digested version of the project impact and lessons learnt to be shared with communities.
• In addition, the consultant should develop a deliverable on an innovative support including visual elements (videos, photograph, dynamic graphs and results representations).

Essential Qualifications:

The evaluation team will be comprised of one team leader supported by national M&E staff members. The presence of an international consultant is deemed desirable given the complexity and sensitivity of some of the issues concerned, and therefore to safeguard the independence and impartiality of the review.

• Minimum Master’s Degree in social sciences, economic development, rural development and agriculture studies or related subjects and, experience in resilience. PHD is an added advantage.
• Experience as a team leader for similar complex project evaluations.
• Possess strong analytical and writing skills, with the ability to conceptualize, articulate, write and debate about resilience issues.
• Experience in implementing a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection tools and methods in project evaluation.
• Rich blend of linking relief rehabilitation and development programming including livelihood analysis and intervention strategy development, food security, education and microenterprise skills development.
• Experience with food security and rural livelihoods programmes in humanitarian and conflict contexts especially in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is added advantage.
• At least 10 years of working experience in development evaluations along with demonstrated experience in conducting evaluation of large-scale donor(s) funded programs on Food Security / resilience/climate change/disaster/adaptation.
• Three or more similar evaluation exercises with DFID funded development programmes (Or Previous solid experience of evaluating complex integrated resilience programmes fragile humanitarian contexts.)

Desirable Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience of and willingness to work in an environment with unpredictable security situation.
• Excellent English language writing and presentational skills, especially in writing project evaluation reports
• Good knowledge of DFID evaluation guideline is desirable
• Previous experience in Somalia is desirable

Implementation Arrangement

The BRCiS Consortium - NRC will be responsible for initiating, coordinating and managing the evaluation throughout the entire process, and will provide required necessary supports including technical, logistic and administrative issues.

How to Apply: visit www.nrc.no/vacancies to send CV's

Candidates should submit the following documentation to: perrine.piton@nrc.no

• A detailed expression of interest that includes a brief summary of previous evaluation experience, a description of the approach to the evaluation, and a rough methodological outline (2-4 pages);
• A work/activity plan (1 page maximum);
• A Curriculum Vitae;
• A detailed budget;
• Three samples of past evaluations;
• Two referees for programme evaluation work completed in the last year

This Request for Proposals will close at 5pm GMT (+3:00) on Sunday 29th October 2017. Any applications submitted after this time will not be considered.

We thank all applicants for their interest, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.