VAC-7406 National Consultant - Rebuilding Livelihoods & Capacities of Conflict Affected Small Scale Fisheries Households (RELACC)

Yemen is considered not only the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, but also one of most disproportional & devastating development crises. As per our clients recent report, assessing the impact of war on development in Yemen at November 2021 the war in Yemen had thrust development back by more than 2 decades. Should the war continue through 2030, this will become nearly 40 years of development lost. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic & the global evidence, the impact on socio economic situation of the already stressed Yemeni population, would be severe & compounded with multiple shocks & stresses. The 2021 HRP stated that at least 40% of Yemeni households have lost their primary source of income. Agricultural production & fishing, employing nearly 70% of the workforce, has shrunk by a 3rd. Between March & August 2015, 26% of businesses closed due to the war. Business run by women have been the hardest hit with 42% closing. The WB estimated that economic output has contracted about 50% since the outbreak of the 2015 conflict & poverty has significantly increased with 52% living below the US$ 1.90 a day PPP & 81% at a rate of US$ 3.20 a day. Moreover COVID-19 impacted the fisheries production & employment significantly because of business shutdown measures & social distancing. Yemen has, since 10th April 2020 when the 1st case of the COVID-19 was confirmed in the country, registered an exponential increase in the number of infections to 11,808 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 2,144 deaths as of 4th April 2022. These numbers may not be representative of the severity of the outbreak, as Yemen’s health system is overwhelmed & does not have adequate capacity to test all the suspected cases. The CFR in observed cases is alarmingly high at around 24% about 4 times higher than the worldwide observed CFR. Reports indicated that many more people are symptomatic & are dying with COVID-19 like symptoms. Livelihoods of thousands of Yemenis are being affected by 3 streams of influences mainly loss of jobs & incomes as a result of containment measures & closure (temporary & permanent), disruption in the local, national & global supply chains distortion of consumption patterns due to reduced purchasing power as a result of job & income loss. Business owners with no financial cushion such as savings or credit lines were forced to use their business capital for consumption & close their informal business, temporarily or permanently. This lead to loss of jobs & incomes for both owners & employees, with decreased consumption & demand having spiralling effects on production decline, shortages, price increases, further loss of income, lasting damage to the economic fabric & deepening poverty, in a vicious circle. As per the fisheries value chain study, retailers, restaurants & street vendors are the most affected actors, with normal fishery outlets no longer working properly. Due to closure of fishery outlets & restaurants, trade has sharply decreased by more than half. Consequently, almost half of the workers have been laid off or suspended & only critical workers retained. Curfew has also forced employers to reduce working hours to half. Moreover, cessation of fish exports has resulted in huge losses for the fishery associations, as export is considered the main source of income for them. Fishermen with big & small boats, usually carrying a crew of up to 20, temporarily suspended & lay off most workers & went fishing using smaller boats. However, fish being an essential food item, demand will continue to exist during the outbreak. Fishing was the main occupation of about 83,400 artisanal fishermen directly supporting about 583,600 members of their families. Relatively high number of people were also engaged in different aspects of fishery products processing & marketing. The fish processing plants, spread along the Yemen Red Sea & Gulf of Aden coastal zones, employed large number of people, including women, in fish processing, canning & lobsters processing plants. In line with Japan’s positions advocated during the G7 Ise Shima summit, oour clients rebuilding livelihoods & capacities of conflict affected small scale fisheries households in Aden & Hadhramout. The project provided the following outputs & activities:

• Community livelihoods are improved to strengthen resilience.

• Capacity building & training on self learning of affected households in fisheries asset building skills for 1,000 household 10% of whom were women.

• Provision of self learning equipment / inputs for improvement of skills for building productive assets for 1,000 households 10% of whom were women.

• Business skill development training for targeted households on micro & small scale enterprise development for 1,000 household which 10% of whom were women.

• Provision of seed grant for micro / small scale enterprise establishment for 500 households.

• The general fisheries authority in both governorates Aden & Hadramout were the main stakeholder, all coordination & activities facilitations went through them. The project contributes to SDG (1, 5 & 8).

Evaluation purpose, scope & objectives:

With an anticipated RELACC project end date of 1 June 2022, this evaluation is being conducted to assess the project’s contribution towards strengthening the resilience capacity of poor & vulnerable communities & households to effectively cope with the impact of the crisis, mitigating the impact of the current crisis on local households & communities & assisting their recovery from the bottom up using local systems, capacities & institutions to progressively resume & scale up service delivery. Our client commissions a project final evaluation serving as an important learning & accountability tool, providing the GoJ, our client, national stakeholders & partners with an impartial assessment of the results achieved by the project. The evaluation also assesses the internal & external factors affecting the project’s outcomes. The evaluation will assess the project’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency & sustainability; identify & document lessons learned & provide recommendations to inform key stakeholders; relevant national institutions / partners, donors, our client, UN agencies, CSO's on any adjustment / redirection that may be necessary for future social safety net support in emergency contexts. The principal objectives of the evaluation are to ascertain the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, human rights & gender equality & women’s empowerment of RELACC support interventions on the well being of most vulnerable households & communities in the project’s targeted areas & provide actionable recommendations to the GoJ, our client & its partners’ implementation strategies, polices, approaches & activities on RELACC interventions. The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

• To assess the relevance & strategic positioning of the project in strengthening the rebuilding livelihoods & capacities of conflict affected small scale fisheries, mitigating the impact of the current crisis on local households & communities & assisting institutions to progressively resume & scale up service delivery.

• To assess the progress made towards project results & whether there were any unintended results that could have been avoided or were they due to factors beyond the project’s control.

• To assess whether the project management arrangements, approaches & strategies were well conceived & efficient in delivering the project. It will also assess whether there were other approaches that could have achieved the same objectives in a more cost effective way.

• To analyze the extent to which the project enhanced the application of a rights based approaches, gender equality & women’s empowerment, social & environmental standards & participation of other socially vulnerable groups such as children & the disabled.

The evaluation will focus on project interventions implemented by our client & its national RPs in Aden & Hadhramout governorates in Yemen from the project’s inception in November 2020 to June 2022. The evaluation will cover the RELACC conceptualization, design, implementation, monitoring, reporting & evaluation of results & will engage all project stakeholders. The evaluation will assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency & sustainability of the project, explore the key factors that have contributed to the achievement or non achievement of planned results including the impact of COVID-19 pandemic & determine the extent to which the project contributed to improving the resilience of vulnerable Yemenis & responded to COVID-19 to the targeted beneficiaries & communities, addressing key challenges & gaps, crosscutting issues of gender equality & women’s empowerment & human rights that may have affected / limited the attainment of the project development objective & recommend actionable intervention & forging partnership at different levels, including with donors, UN agencies, national partners & communities.

Evaluation criteria & key guiding questions:

The evaluation will answer the following questions structured around the OECD / DAC criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. Furthermore, the evaluation will also answer specific questions related to human rights, gender equality & impact of COVID-19 & limitations.

Relevance/ coherence:

• To what extent was the RELACC project in line with national development priorities, country program outputs & outcomes, our clients strategic plan 2022 - 2025 & the SDGs?

• To what extent does the project contributes to the theory of change for the relevant country program outcome?

• To what extent were lessons learned from other relevant projects considered in the design?

• To what extent were perspectives of men & women beneficiaries who could affect the outcomes & those who could contribute information or other resources to the attainment of stated results, taken into account during project design processes?

• To what extent does the project contribute to gender equality, the empowerment of women & the human rights-based approach?

• To what extent has the project been appropriately responsive to political, legal, economic, institutional, etc., changes in Yemen?

Effectiveness:

• To what extent were the project outputs achieved, considering men, women & vulnerable groups?

• What factors contributed to effectiveness or ineffectiveness?

• In which areas does RELACC have the greatest achievements? Why & what have been the supporting factors? How can the project build on or expand these achievements?

• In which areas does the project have the fewest achievements? What have been the constraining factors & why? How can or could they be overcome?

• Are the project objectives & outputs clear, practical & feasible within its frame? Do they clearly address women, men & vulnerable groups?

• To what extent have different stakeholders been involved in project implementation?

Efficiency:

• To what extent was the project management structure as outlined in the project document efficient in generating the expected results?

• To what extent were resources used to address inequalities in general & gender issues in particular?

• To what extent have our clients project implementation strategy & execution been efficient & cost-effective?

• To what extent has there been an economical use of financial & human resources?

• Have resources (funds, male & female staff, time, expertise, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve outcomes of the RELACC project?

• To what extent have resources been used efficiently? Have activities supporting the strategy been cost effective?

• To what extent have project funds & activities been delivered in a timely manner?

• To what extent do the M&E systems utilized by our client ensure effective & efficient project management?

Sustainability:

• To what extent will targeted men, women & vulnerable people benefit from RELACC interventions in the long term?

• To what extent will financial & economic resources be available to sustain the benefits achieved by the project?

• To what extent did our clients pose an environmental threat to the sustainability of project outputs, possibly affecting project beneficiaries (men & women) in a negative way? What is the chance that the level of stakeholder ownership will be sufficient to allow for the project benefits to be sustained?

• To what extent do mechanisms, procedures & policies exist to allow primary stakeholders to carry forward the results attained on gender equality, empowerment of women, human rights & human development?

• To what extent do stakeholders (men, women, vulnerable groups) support the project’s long term objectives?

• What could be done to strengthen exit strategies & sustainability in order to support female & male RELACC beneficiaries as well as marginalized groups?

Human rights:

• To what extent have poor, IDPs & vulnerable, indigenous & physically challenged & other disadvantaged & marginalized groups benefited from the intervention of RELACC in Yemen?

Gender equality:

• To what extent have gender equality & the empowerment of women been addressed in the design, implementation & monitoring of the project?

• Is the gender marker data assigned to this project representative of reality?

• To what extent has the project promoted positive changes in gender equality & the empowerment of women? Were there any unintended effects?

• How the project has contributed to the empowerment of women & reduced gender inequalities (keep women in poverty, accelerate transformations for sustainable development, reduce structural vulnerabilities to shocks & crisis)?

Disability:

• Were persons with disabilities / IDPs engaged in project planning & implementation?

• What proportion of the beneficiaries of the project were persons with disabilities / IDPs?

• What barriers did persons with disabilities / IDPs face? How it was overcome?

• What is the impact of the project on the lives of people with disability & IDPs. Have any positive changes have been added?

Methodology:

The evaluation will be carried out in accordance with our clients evaluation guidelines & policies, UN group evaluation norms & ethical standards; OECD / DAC evaluation principles & guidelines & DAC evaluation quality Standards. The evaluation will employ a combination of both qualitative & quantitative evaluation methods instruments. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory & consultative approach that ensures close engagement with the evaluation manager, implementing partners, project direct & indirect beneficiaries & communities with gender balanced. However, final decisions about the specific design & methods for the evaluation emerge from consultations with our clients OST, the evaluators & key stakeholders about what is appropriate & feasible to meet the evaluation purpose & objectives & answer the evaluation questions, given all limitations including time, security situation, accessibility, budget & data. Suggested methodological tools & approaches include:

• Document review of all relevant documentation. This includes a review of project document, theory of change & results framework, contribution agreement, RPA with national RPs & proposal; project quality assurance reports, annual workplans, annual reports, RELACC results oriented monitoring report, highlights of project board meetings / donor’s; & technical / financial monitoring reports.

• Interviews & meetings with key stakeholders (men & women) such as key national counterparts, donor community members, representatives of key CSO's, UNCT members & implementing partners.

• Semi structured interviews, based on questions designed for different stakeholders based on evaluation questions around relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency & sustainability, human rights & gender equality & women’s empowerment.

• Key informant & FGD's with beneficiaries, communities & stakeholders with gender balanced.

• All interviews with men & women should be undertaken in full confidence & anonymity. The final evaluation report should not assign specific comments to individuals.

• All surveys & questionnaires including direct & indirect beneficiaries, respective communities with gender balanced (at least 10% female to be engaged during the evaluation survey), UNCT members & / or surveys & questionnaires to other stakeholders at strategic & programmatic levels (if necessary).

• Field visits & on site validation of key outputs & interventions. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory & consultative approach that ensures close engagement with the evaluation manager, project team, implementing partners & direct beneficiaries.

• Other methods such as outcome mapping, stakeholder analysis / consultations, observational visits, group discussions, etc.

• Data review & analysis of monitoring & other data sources & methods. To ensure maximum validity, reliability of data (quality) & promote use, the evaluation team will ensure triangulation of the various data sources.

• Gender & human rights lens. All evaluation products need to address gender, disability & human right issues.

• The evaluator will need to conduct funding analysis to answer the related evaluation questions. Our client will provide the needed funding data to support the analysis.

• The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits & data to be used in the evaluation will be clearly outlined in the inception report and be fully discussed and agreed between our client, stakeholders & the evaluator.

Evaluation products (deliverables):

The evaluation will be expected to deliver the following:

• Evaluation inception report (maximum 15 pages except annexes). The inception report should be carried out following and based on preliminary discussions with our client after the desk review & should be produced before the evaluation starts (before any formal evaluation interviews, survey distribution or field visits) & prior to the country visit / project site visits in the case of international evaluator / national evaluators respectively. The evaluation inception report should highlight how the evaluation is planning to integrate major gender aspects during data collection & reporting.

• Evaluation debriefings. Immediately following an evaluation, the evaluation team will conduct a preliminary debriefing of findings & key critical observations including gender issues.

• Draft evaluation report (maximum 60 pages including 4 - 5 pages executive summary). Our client & stakeholders will review the draft evaluation report & provide an amalgamated set of comments to the evaluation team within 10 days, addressing the content required (as agreed in the inception report) & quality criteria as outlined in our clients evaluation guidelines.

• Evaluation report audit trail. Comments & changes by the evaluation team in response to the draft report should be retained by the evaluators to show how they have addressed comments.

• final evaluation report. The final report should address comments, questions & clarification.

• Presentations to stakeholders & the ERG.

• Evaluation brief & other knowledge products / impact case studies (potentially, focusing on project components / sub components / intervention sectors (capacity building, assets, livelihood impact of beneficiaries & communities, gender / women empowerment) agreed in the inception report.

• Standard templates that need to be followed are provided in the annexes section. It is expected that the evaluator will follow our clients evaluation guidelines & UNEG quality check list & ensure all the quality criteria are met in the evaluation report.

• In line with our clients financial regulations, when determined by the country office & / or the consultant that a deliverable or service cannot be satisfactory completed due to impact of COVID-19 & limitations to the evaluation, that deliverable or service will not be paid.

This role reports to the Project Manager.

• The candidate should have at least a Master’s Degree in Economics / Development Study / Social Sciences / or related field especially advanced academic Certificate / Diploma courses on International Humanitarian & Emergency Action & Social Safety Net Program will be added value.

• At least 5 years or more of experience in designing / implementing, monitoring & evaluating livelihood interventions & experience in implementing / M&E economic inclusion & / or cash assistance & / or the graduation approach.

• At least 5 years of relevant work experience & must have completed minimum 2 high quality evaluations in the areas of emergency employment & livelihood, social safety net program, humanitarian response or actions, at least 1 of them being related to emergency crisis response support in Yemen. Provision of sample work is required.

• Extensive experience on gender equality & women’s empowerment & in conducting relevant studies / research.

• Experience in applying results & human rights based & community driven approaches for assessing social safety net, community development, humanitarian response actions / programs.

• Teamwork skills & experience of working as a member of evaluation team to be considered as one of key technical competencies for the national consultant.

• Strong familiarity with solid knowledge & skill on our cleints work in social safety net, emergencies & work experience with our client is an advantage.

• Familiarity with the socio cultural context of Yemen & the cultural, political & religious sensitivities relevant to the Yemen crisis.

• Excellent writing & communication skills in English & Arabic, with sufficient experience in applying all required tools & methods for conducting project evaluation in crisis settings including participatory appraisal techniques in data collection, sensitive to gender issues etc.

• Explicit statement of the evaluator’s’ independence from any organizations that have been involved in designing, executing, or advising any aspect of the intervention that is the subject of the evaluation should be provided

This role has no team management responsibility.    

Evaluation ethics:

• This evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’.

• The consultant must safeguard the rights & confidentiality of information providers, interviewees & stakeholders through measures to ensure compliance with legal & other relevant codes governing collection of data & reporting on data.

• The consultant must also ensure security of collected information before & after the evaluation & protocols to ensure anonymity & confidentiality of sources of information where that is expected.

• The information knowledge & data gathered in the evaluation process must also be solely used for the evaluation & not for other uses with the express authorization of our & their partners.

Implementation arrangements:

• Our clients Yemen country office will select the consultant through a competitive process in line with our cleints rules & regulations.

• Our client will be responsible for the management of the evaluator & will in this regard designate an evaluation manager & focal point.

• PM will assist in facilitating the whole evaluation process, providing relevant documentation, constituting the evaluation reference group, support to conduct selected project site visit s /interviews with key informants, reviewing evaluation products stated above etc.

• The evaluation manager will convene an evaluation reference group comprising of technical experts from partners & our client with gender balanced to enhance the quality of the evaluation. The reference group will review the inception and the draft evaluation reports, providing detailed comments related to the quality of methodology, evidence collected, analysis & reporting. Comments & changes by the evaluator in response to the draft evaluation report should be retained by the evaluator to show how they have addressed the comments (audit trail). The reference group will also advise on the conformity of the evaluation process to our cleint & UNEG standards.

• The national consultant will be responsible to conduct the evaluation.

• S / He will ensure the quality of the evaluation process, outputs, methodology & timely delivery of all products.

• S / He will be responsible on the conceptualization & design of the evaluation & shapes the findings, conclusions & recommendations of the report.

• As the livelihood specialist, the national consultant in accordance with the nature & structure of the project interventions, will be responsible for the implementation of the evaluation inception guideline including application of all agreed evaluation methodologies to collect, analysis & draft report (plus drafting case studies / knowledge products) in line with field findings covering all agreed approaches such as consultations & meetings with selected different stakeholders, FGDs, etc. the consultant will conduct a debriefing to our client & key project stakeholders & consolidated the comments to the draft report.

• The national consultants should have M&E technical knowledge & experience in key critical cross cutting areas such as gender equality, empowerment, disability issues, rights based approach & capacity development.

Time frame for the evaluation process:

• A tentative time frame for the evaluation is provided below. The evaluation is expected to be completed by 35 workdays within 2 months. This might be subject to change depending on the prevailing situation on ground at the time of the evaluation. However, the consultant should propose a timeline to submit the deliverables in his proposal. Necessary & adequate time (at least 2 weeks) should be allocated for review & quality assurance processes of the deliverables by our clients team & their partners.