Final Evaluation of Multi-country Programmes

Concern Worldwide is requesting the services of a highly experienced consultant or team of consultants to conduct an external evaluation of its Irish Aid programmes, namely the Irish Aid Programme Grant II (IAPG II 2017 – 2021) and the Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP 2019 – 2021).

These flagship programmes are implemented across 20 countries. The evaluation will assess the overall impact of the two programmes, the extent to which they achieved their stated objectives, the appropriateness of the current level of linkages between the two and provide recommendations for future programming.

The subject of Evaluation

A brief overview of the subject of the evaluation, Concern’s Irish Aid Programme Grant II 2017 - 2021 and Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP) 2019 – 2021, is provided below.

Irish Aid Programme Grant II (IAPG II):

The IAPG II (2017 - 2021) is a performance-based partnership arrangement that Irish Aid has with a small number of major NGO partners. It provides trusted partners with flexibility and predictability to implement ambitious interventions aimed at delivering results and making holistic changes for poor and marginalised people.

Concern’s IAPG II is broken down into 19 subsidiary programmes, one each in the following 17 programme countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, CAR, Chad, DRC, DPRK, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. The final two programmes are Ireland based and cover respectively “Public Engagement” and “Active Citizenship” (Development Education). Each of the 19 programmes has its own Theory of Change and Results Framework through which the achievements of the programmes are tracked from 2017 – 2021.

The objectives of Concern’s IAPG II are as follows:

1. Extremely poor people gain or retain access to, and increase the return on, assets.

2. Social and political structures and norms that maintain inequalities in society, as experienced by the extremely poor people, are effectively challenged and overcome.

3. Extremely poor people’s risk of experiencing a shock is reduced and their vulnerability to shocks that are likely to occur is reduced.

4. Concern will overcome systemic barriers and programme blockages through learning and policy influencing.

Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP):

The HPP is Irish Aid's main humanitarian funding mechanisms for NGO partners, supporting a number of major NGO partners with proven capacity to deliver effective humanitarian responses. It supports humanitarian interventions in contexts experiencing protracted, predictable or recurring crises. Partners’ HPP programmes may incorporate elements of preparedness, disaster risk reduction and early recovery. The previous cycle of the HPP programme was for two years (2017 – 2018) – the first time that Irish Aid had moved towards multi-annual funding for emergency responses – and was evaluated in 2018. In 2019, Irish Aid launched the current phase of HPP which will run until the end of 2021.

Concern’s HPP programme 2019 – 2021 is broken down into nine subsidiary programmes, one each in the following countries: Afghanistan, CAR, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria/Iraq.

The objectives of Concern’s HPP (2019 - 2021) are as follows:

· Saving lives and alleviating suffering in response to new and existing emergencies.

· Ensuring programmes maintain the dignity of disaster-affected populations.

· Identifying and building on existing community capacities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disaster, and build that capacity through interventions.

Evaluation Objectives and Scope

Evaluation Objectives

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide an independent assessment of Irish Aid’s funding to Concern Worldwide through the two main mechanisms of the Programme Grant and the Humanitarian Programme Plan (HPP).

The specific objectives of this evaluation can be summarised as:

· To assess both programmes against relevant OECD-DAC criteria and other commitments, as well as, against key Concern policies and approaches.**

· To provide evidence-based recommendations for informing and improving both emergency and development programmes, through the application of lessons to be learned and promoting good practice.

· To assess and advise on the appropriateness of the overall current relationship between the two funding streams.

Evaluation Scope

This evaluation will have several components reflecting the scale and diversity of the interventions, and the complexity of the interactions between the different components. The evaluation will cover Concern’s development programmes (under the IAPG) and humanitarian programmes (under the HPP), as well as the Public Engagement and Development Education (Active Citizenship) components in Ireland (which are also funded under the IAPG).

To bring all of this together, and ensure learning on a strategic level, this consultancy will need to research and develop the following three papers:

1. A ‘Chapeau Paper’ bringing together key learning from the different programmes and providing evidence-based recommendations for the future - for both Concern (as implementer) and Irish Aid (as donor)[1]. As well as, providing a snapshot of performance in the two programmes, this paper should also focus on the relationship between the funding streams; the application of core policy documents; how Concern has enhanced programme quality through Head Office initiatives; and the management structures we have put in place.

2. An Evaluation report on the Programme Grant presented against the OECD-DAC criteria. This report should include:

· An evaluation of the overall programme and whether it has achieved its stated objectives, incorporating the information contained in individual country-level evaluations, all conducted against the OECD/DAC criteria, as well as, a specific assessment of the Public Engagement and Development Education components that were implemented in Ireland. These country level evaluations and evaluations of the Public Engagement and Development Education components will be produced separately (see methodology section below).

· An assessment of the decision making and planning processes (including country selection and targeting).

· An assessment of the application of, and adherence to, key policies.

· An assessment of progress in the application of a results-based management approach.

· An assessment of how systemic barriers and programme blockages are being addressed through evidence-based policy influencing and advocacy.

· Achievements in each of Concern’s core sectoral areas of education, health and livelihoods should also be assessed as well as an assessment on efforts to scale up Resilience, Graduation, Sustainable Systems Strengthening and Urban programmes, as outlined in the programme proposal.

· Recommendations that will improve and inform Concern’s future development programmes of a similar nature.

3. Evaluation report on the HPP following the criteria outlined in the document Evaluating Concern’s Emergency Responses of January 2020. This report should include: **

· An evaluation of the HPP programme, and whether it has achieved its stated objectives, against the extended DAC criteria and drawing heavily on the HPP evaluation carried out in 2017 (see methodology section below). The evaluation will also take account of, and address, the Core Humanitarian Standard, the Sphere Standards, and the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief.

· An assessment of the decision making and planning processes (including country selection and targeting).

· An assessment of the application of and adherence to key policies.

· An assessment of the relationship between this humanitarian programme and longer-term development programmes where such a link exists, and the appropriateness of this link.

· Recommendations that will improve and inform Concern’s future emergency response programmes of a similar nature.

Expected products/outputs

Concern requires that the external consultant(s) conducting the evaluation of HPP and IAPG II produce three main documents as the final outputs and deliverables of this evaluation:

1. An overall ‘Chapeau Paper’ to provide an overall assessment of Irish Aid funding to Concern Worldwide

2. A standalone evaluation document for Concern’s IAPG II programme

3. A standalone evaluation document for Concern’s HPP programme

Timeline for Delivery

The appointed evaluator(s) will be expected to allocate a small number of working days (1-3 per month) for remote and face to face meetings in Dublin during the initial phases of evaluation design (April - May) and to input into country-level evaluation terms of reference. Draft copies of the three documents outlined above should be submitted by mid-February 2021.

Please follow this link to access the full Terms of Reference for this consultancy.

The evaluation team should have the following skills and experience:

· 5 years + of experience in evaluation of overseas development and humanitarian programmes utilising the DAC criteria and production of high-level evaluation reports

· Experience in conducting evaluations of complex programmes across multiple countries

· Technical expertise in the fields of livelihoods, health and education, and emergency responses in complex crises

· Experience of programming contexts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East

· Ability to analyse budgets, results frameworks, M+E reports and surveys, and other documents to assess programmatic value for money

· Ability to evaluate and assess the quality of programmatic data collection systems and excellent understanding of results-based management approaches.

· Commitment to participatory approaches to evaluation, and strong facilitation skills

Applications for this contract from qualified consultants must include the following:

· Evaluation Plan (including a timeline) / Methodology.

· Evaluation Team, their Roles and Responsibilities and Level of Effort.

· CVs of evaluators and examples of previous similar work.

· Comprehensive budget and costings.

Applications must be submitted to Mark Furlong (Mark.Furlong@concern.net ) and Elisa Marcon (elisa.marcon@concern.net ) by 31st March 2020. Concern Worldwide expects to be in a position to select the successful applicant no later than the 30th April 2020.