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External Consultancy : Final Evaluation Cash for Food Security Support in Somalia (CAFSS)

Somalia

  • Organization: DRC - Danish Refugee Council
  • Location: Somalia
  • Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Security and Safety
    • Nutrition
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • Cash-Based Interventions
    • Food Security, Livestock and Livelihoods
  • Closing Date: Closed

1. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT 
The Community Recovery in Emergencies Food Support was a initially a 12 month project, which started 3rd of October 2016 ending 4th of October 2017, however prolonged drought the project was granted two (2) cost extension till 31st March 2018. The 2016/17 implementation year has witnessed a long dry period leading to massive displacement across the entire country. The project focused on improving beneficiaries’ access to food through provision of income support through conditional, unconditional cash transfers and community matching grants. The project activities were designed to improve access to food, in an effort to address food insecurity gaps thereby mitigating the use of negative coping mechanisms. The project also implemented the community matching grants (CMG) projects mainly in Afgoye district, these focused on promoting maintenance and usage of communal owned assets as these contribute to recovery and resilience.. 
 
a. Conditional Cash transfers  
DRC provided 1,974 HHs (11,844 individuals) with temporary employment opportunities in Lower Shebelle and Lowerr Juba regions, these were to receive a payment nearly equivalent to the minimum wage rate for casual labour offered in the target area. The CFW rate is close to the MEB cost (at least 75% of the MEB) and was to enable target beneficiaries to meet their basic food needs. CFW was noted to be an appropriate intervention in all the targeted areas as it meant to improve assets that were necessary to sustain the livelihoods and beneficiaries in a cash for work scheme earn a wage therefore increasing their household purchasing power to meet their basic food needs and again to use the surplus in investing in livelihoods to for resilience purposes. In cash intervention, the mobile platform was used mainly timeliness and security reasons. 
 
b. Unconditional cash Transfers 
DRC provided UCTs to a proportion of the vulnerable community members with high food needs but unable to participate in CFW activities, hence 3,446 HHs (20,676 individuals) were  supported with UCTs in various locations across Somalia, with the aim of saving lives of the most vulnerable households by allowing them to meet basic food needs.  
 
c. Emergency Food Insecurity Response  
DRC set aside funds to respond to unforeseen emergencies in Somalia. In the course of project implementation,  due to prolonged drought wide-scale displacements were noted country wide, which forced DRC to support 5,125 HHs (30,750 individuals), through emergency response where beneficiaries were received unconditional cash transfers mainly to save lives of the affected households. 
 
d. Community matching grants 
DRC piloted the use of Community Matching Grants (CMG) in Balad (Middle Shabelle), DRC used the methodology of its Community-Driven Recovery and Development (CDRD) program. The CDRD program methodology is to support communities to identify their own priorities and develop participatory action plans. CDRD provides cash grants, as well as training, to support communities implementing their own projects. The idea was for every dollar which the community invest, the organisation provided the same amount. As a pilot project, the strategy was the that the community were to be provided with grants not exceeding $5, 000, which was provided in proportion to the amount raised by five communities(7,700 households). The main purpose was to promote the maintainance and operationalising communal owned assets thereby promoting recovery and resilience through repair/maintenance/creation of community assets.  
 
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE EVALUATION 
The main objectives of the evaluation is to; 
O1. Evaluate the impact of cash transfers on food access, promotion of resilience. Assess  the significance of CGMs in promoting creation and usage communal owned assets, perception of beneficiaries on how these contributed to recovery and resilience.  
O2. Evaluate DRC’s timeliness in addressing food gaps resulting from unexpected disasters (drought and conflicts). Assess the effectiveness of the emergency response plans (ERP) in addressing food security in identified areas of Somalia.   
O3. Evaluate the usage of the mobile feedback mechanism/modality as part of consultation and participation from the beneficiaries 
O4. Assess and document key lessons learned, emerging and best practices from implementation of different components of the project 
 
3. METHODOLOGY 
 It is anticipated that both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection will be applied in collecting data and information pertaining to the key evaluation questions.  Additionally, the evaluator will use existing literature (primary and secondary sources) to enrich the study findings. The methodology must clearly show how both participatory and non-participatory approaches will be used in collecting data and how triangulation will be carried out to refine study findings. The evaluation consultant is expected to provide a detailed description of the evaluation methodology in addressing all the components of the terms of reference. The methodology description will constitute a critical part of the assessment and suitability of the consultant/s. 
 
4. EVALUATION QUESTIONS 
In line with the evaluation objectives, the evaluation should address the following evaluation questions;- 
Q1. How effective was the project strategy in terms of saving lives and promoting resilience in targetd areas? 
Q2. How effective is the emergency response plan modality in addressing food insecurity in identified areas? 
Q3. Did project timely and adequately addressed beneficiary needs caused by wide-scale displacements due to conflict and droughts related challenges?  
Q4. How did the existence of the mobile feedback system enhance project quality through community participation and consultation? 
 
5. EVALUATION CRITERIA 
The evaluation will focus on six of DAC criteria namely Relevance/Appropriateness, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability focusing mainly on AGED (gender, age and diversity). 
 
5.1 Relevancy/Appropriateness 
In assessing relevance, the overall focus will be to establish whether the project interventions project interventions mirrored the needs and priorities of target groups, and the policies of DRC and USAID-Food for Peace intervention? Another key area of focus will be to establish whether the interventions were appropriately designed to contribute to food access, building resilience through the provision of rehabilitated/created assets? In addition to the foregoing, the evaluation will also seek to answer the following questions:  
  • How relevant was the project to target groups’, including stakeholder especially governments’, needs and priorities? 
  • Did the targeted households meet some or all their basic food needs and livelihoods were promoted? 
 
5.2 Effectiveness 
In assessing effectiveness of the project, the overall focus will be to establish the  extent to which the project achieved its objectives and the key outputs and activities under each objective. Where there has been non-achievement, the evaluation should examine the reasons for the same. In addition, the evaluation is expected to answer the following key questions relating to specific components/aspects of the project design:  
  • Did the benefits reach the target groups as intended?  And, were the benefits distributed fairly between gender and age groups across social and cultural barriers 
  • Were there any deliberate actions taken to reduce risks of  diversion, insecurity, inflation, of the accessed cash?  
  • How effective were the ERP modality in  addressing food insecurity of the identified locations?  
  • For each of the above outlined areas of inquiry, what are the key lessons identified/learnt?  
Documenting Lessons & Best Practices 
As part of assessing the effectiveness of the project, the evaluation is expected to critically assess existing information and data as well as conduct further interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders with a view to documenting lessons and best practices on the following areas:  
 
5.3 Efficiency  
In assessing the efficiency of the project, the key focus would be on the timeliness in the implementation of the project activities and whether cost of the project interventions reflects value for money, based on the achieved results.  
  • Significance of community matching grants in emergency response ( Ref- Community Matching Grants in (Middle Shabelle) 
  • The usage and perception of beneficiaries on mobile feedback mechanism in promoting quality programming 
 
5.4 Impact 
What are the  positive and negative, primary or secondary, short or long terms effects produced by the intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended”, i.e. has the intervention made a difference, vis-a-vis the principal objective of the intervention, either short-lived or long-lived, contributing to enhance access to food for the vulnerable groups living in drought and disaster affected areas of Somalia? 
  • What was the average daily meals taken by beneficiaries as a result of the project? 
  • Did the project promote household food diversity ? 
Outcome indicators to be tracked 
a) Food access and utilization, including dietary diversity (HDDS) and food consumption score (HFCS). 
- Prevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger (Household Hunger Scale) 
- Average household food consumption scores 
- Average number of daily meals consumed per household 
- Total number (and quantity) of assets rehabilitated and being used by communities 
 
5.5 Sustainability 
Was there any deliberate effort by the project implementers to engage community through consultation and participation in different levels of the project? 
 
 
6. SCOPE OF THE EVALUATION 
The evaluation will be done in all geographical areas of the intervention (South Central Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland), within specific districts in each of these regions unless inaccessibility is highlighted by filed staff due to insecurity concerns. The evaluation will focus on the four major evaluation criterion namely relevancy/appropriateness, effectiveness, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. The evaluation is planned to take 30 days, starting from the 1st of March 2018. 
 
 
7. EVALUATION DELIVERABLE S 
The anticipated deliverables under this consultancy are as follows:  
  • A detailed inception report delineating a clear methodology, types of data collection tools to be used and a feasible work plan for the evaluation 
  • Debriefing meeting between DRC and the selected consultants to discuss and agree on the final data collection work plans 
  • A brief field report outlining data collection data collection activities undertaken and challenges encountered if any. 
  • Presentation of the Draft Report to DRC Somalia Country Office- Preferably through a power point presentation 
  • Final Report aligned to DRC Evaluation report format with the following annexes: 
  • List of respondents interviewed  
  • Summary notes of the interviews  
  • Summary of the lessons learned meeting with the respondents interviewed 
  • Separate Lessons Learned report describing in detail the key learnings from the findings 
8. INTENDED USE OF THE EVALUATION FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
A systematic report review process at country and regional level, where appropriate adjustments will be done to reflect the situation on the ground and furthmore to align the findings to the terms of reference. Key recommendations drawn from the study will be made use of by the regional and headquarter levels to inform future similar programmes. Key lessons learnt, identified and best practices will be identified at and shared with the region for either replication or employing different strategies/approaches on the identified lessons for learning purposes. 
 
These key lessons will be shared globally as part of promoting learning process within the organisation, where, DRC country operations might therefore support changes as backed by evaluation especially by improving quality of impact in implementing such interventions. In line with this, the consultant must provide a clear, section within the report which provides well defined lessons learnt, identified and best practices which will be shared with various stakeholders especially at clusters and beneficiaries levels. 
 
 
9. RECOMMENDED DOCUMENTATION 
The following list provides the minimum set of documents to be reviewed:  
  • Program proposal 
  • Program report 
  • Program activity reports  
  • Baseline, post distribution monitoring and market assessment reports 
  • DRC Somalia Policies (Supply Chain, Finance and Human resources) 
  • Evaluation/Impact Assessment reports of the previous projects 
 
10. CONSULTANT’S ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITES 
  • Establish working contacts with all relevant stakeholders in the targeted study areas 
  • Review relevant programme documents (i.e. programme proposal, LFA, quarterly reports, baselines, DRC/DDG process data, third party monitoring reports etc.). 
  • Prepare and submit the review proposal with clear illustration of the understanding of methodology (including suggested counterfactuals) to be used, including work plan and schedule for both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the assignment for review and feedback by DRC/DDG Somalia. 
  • Review of DRC/DDG process tracing tools and results focusing on measuring knowledge, attitude and/or perceptions and behavioural change  
  • Design, develop, critique (with DRC/DDG team) and refine data collection tools including translation into local Somali language, where appropriate.  
  • Hire all needed staff in field (enumerators, researchers etc.) 
  • Develop and/or train the field enumerators on the review design. 
  • Interview selected respondents during the review. 
  • Prepare and submit all evaluation deliverables as required in 7)DRC/DDG Responsibilities 
  •  Provide the consultant with all necessary documents and reports  
  • Pay the required consultancy fee as indicated in the signed contract. 
  • Where necessary, facilitate the making of appointments with all relevant stakeholders (government, partners, communities etc.) 
  • Provide necessary support in training of enumerators 
  • The terms and conditions of service will follow DRC/DDG terms of consultancies. Payment will be done according to the finance procedures of DRC/DDG. 
 
11. REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS 
The consultant will be reporting directly to the DRC Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning manager and to the field staff in the study areas will provide necessary support to the team, as needed. The consultant will also report to the Area manager in respective areas of the study particularly to get the required logistics and administrative in support of study undertaken. Updates on the progress of the study will be provided upon request from the DRC MEL manager/area managers. 
 
 
12. EXPECTED PROFILE OF CONSULTANT 
  • Advanced degree in development studies, social sciences or other relevant field. 
  • Significant experience in leading reviews of humanitarian programmes especially Food security, livelihoods, WASH and protection with knowledge on Core humanitarian Standards CHS as part of the local governance issues. 
  • Knowledge of strategic and operational management of humanitarian programmes, and proven ability to provide strategic recommendations to key stakeholders.  
  • Strong analytical skills and ability to clearly synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and prepare well-written reports in a timely manner. 
  • Demonstrated experience in both quantitative and qualitative data collection and data analysis techniques, especially in emergency scenarios, addressing food security, resilience, WASH and protection needs   
  • Experience, knowledge and clear understanding of Somalia’s humanitarian context; 
  • Good interpersonal skills and understanding of cultural sensitivities. 
  • Readiness to travel to Somalia and conduct direct standard assessment activities. 
  • Documented experience in participatory project assessments /review.  
 
13. TERMS & CONDITIONS 
The consultant should be willing to work in the target areas of Puntland and South Central Somalia, where security allows. The consultant may have his/her own team to work with and then they will entirely be under the jurisdiction of the consultant and at no time will DRC/DDG be held responsible for them.  
 
 
14. GENERAL 
DRC/DDG has a Humanitarian Accountability Framework, outlining its global accountability commitments. All staff are required to contribute to the achievement of this framework (http://www.DRC/DDG.dk/HAF.4265.0.html). 
 
 
15. APPLICATION PROCESS 
Interested applicants who meet the required profile and methodology are invited to submit an expression of interest including: 
A suitability statement including CV of participating consultants with details of qualifications and experience. 
Technical proposal that summarizes understanding of the TOR, methodology and tools to be used. 
Work-plan clearly indicating the activity schedule. 
Financial proposal providing cost estimates and consultancy fees. 
Contacts of three organizations that have recently contracted you to carry out similar assignment.  
 
Interested parties should forward the expression of interest, in English on this link: http://www.drc.dk under vacancies no later than 28th February 2018. If you have questions or are facing problems with the online application process, please contact job@drc.dk 
 
This vacancy is now closed.
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