Project Evaluation-Consultant

Project Summary

IRC partnered with Stichting Vluchteling to initiate Project Frontline to advance humanitarian access in selected crises through strategy development, operational support, capacity building and technical assistance for country programs. Project Frontline established partnerships with the IRC Country Programs in Burkina Faso, Myanmar and Yemen and conducted access strategy and planning activities as the first phase of partnership. Subsequently, it provided operational or technical support and training to IRC country teams in Ukraine, Niger, CAR, Cameroon, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan and engaged with key actors in The Netherlands working on humanitarian access issues to promote learning and knowledge development. In years 2 and 3, Frontline also worked with Intersos in Venezuela, Colombia and Syria.

In the first three years, IRC has improved access in six countries, developed a range of learning and facilitated knowledge exchange with partners in The Netherlands and elsewhere. The third year will also conclude access partnerships and review the success of the project as a whole to learn lessons and inform future collaborations on humanitarian access in an ever more challenging environment.

The main goal of this project is to strengthen humanitarian access for people who have no or limited access to aid in crises. It will unlock access for humanitarian purposes so that project partners can deliver programs and funds for people most in need and it will contribute to learning and improved practice by humanitarian actors to promote and protect humanitarian access more broadly as risks and challenges continue to evolve.

IRC and SV will build on this foundation and continue to advance humanitarian access in selected crises, expanding to work with more partners and strengthening learning among partners and for the broader humanitarian community. This will be delivered through three results:

·         Improve humanitarian access for people who have no or limited access to aid

·         Contribute to and promote humanitarian knowledge and learning on humanitarian access

·         Provide technical/peer support to complementary initiatives

Purpose

International Rescue Committee is planning a project evaluation which will be conducted by an external evaluator. The findings of the evaluation will form a detailed description of key aspects of the project overall and in selected country programs, such as Burkina Faso, CAR, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, and Ukraine.

The external evaluator is expected to deliver a comprehensive evaluation report no later than April 30, 2023, with a first draft submitted for review on April 15, 2023. Note that these are estimated and/or anticipated deadlines to be finalized with the consultant during inception. However, initial findings from the project evaluation would be available on March 31, 2023 as this will inform planning for a roundtable in The Hague to learn from progress to date, reflect on trends, challenges and opportunities and promote action among the humanitarian community on humanitarian access. Furthermore, the findings from the project evaluation will be used to establish a framework for the development of an approach for a potential next phase of the project.

The consultant will report to the Director, Humanitarian Action for the duration of the consultancy.

Evaluation Questions

The evaluation will focus on the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of the project and its three project results stated in the project summary to date. The illustrative evaluation questions that will be considered as cornerstones for this assessment are: How relevant, effective and impactful were the different processes, strategies and approaches adopted in the implementation of the project?

1)      Relevance: Assess planning, design, responsiveness and coherence of the project.

a)       Was the project relevant to the identified needs of its partners/countries?

b)      What is the level of satisfaction of stakeholders including partners, participants / beneficiaries, and others on the project approach as well as in areas of inclusion and responsiveness?

c)       To what extent were the following modalities relevant to the project and stakeholders:

i)        Deploying alongside teams to provide technical support and coaching

ii)       Accompaniment and coaching during decision-making, project management, negotiation support, coordination and planning activities

iii)     Complementing skills and knowledge on the ground with perspectives, specialisms and additional time and effort from outside

2)      Effectiveness will examine factors contributing to achievement of the results in time.

a)       How effective has the project been in achieving its planned results?

b)      What and how much progress has been made towards achieving the overall outcomes of the project (including contributing factors and constraints);

c)       How effective were the strategies, tools, guidance notes, training materials and other technical materials in the implementation of the project?

d)      How effective were the adaptative mechanisms of the project in respect to the changing context? Were they more effective for specific countries?

3)      Impact: This will explore what intended and unintended outcomes (beneficial or harmful) have been established due to the project activities. This can be negative or positive.

a)       What aspect of the project support might have produced a positive impact rather than their intended impact that was never anticipated?

b)      What aspect of the project intervention might have produced a negative impact rather than their intended impact?

4)      Sustainability and lessons learned will look at the aspects of the project that are contributing to the continuation of the results after its completion. Suggestions on further strategies or approaches to improve sustainability of the project can be made. Inclusion of sustainability in the evaluation will be agreed during inception.

a)       To what extent are the benefits of the project likely to be sustained after its completion? Taking into consideration the major variables that affected access.

b)      What is the likelihood of continuation and sustainability of project outcomes and results after completion of the project?

c)       Describe key factors that will require attention to improve prospects of sustainability of project results and the potential for replication of the approach? 

d)      Describe the main lessons that have emerged? What are the recommendations for similar support in future?

It is expected that the above questions will be adjusted in collaboration with the project team and evaluator during inception.

Deliverables:

·         Inception/design report – mid-February

o   To include background, methodology, data collection and analysis plan and tools

·         Presentation of preliminary findings (online) – end of March

o   Online briefing and 3-4 summary slides with preliminary findings

·         First draft evaluation report – 15 April

·         Final report – end of April

o   15-20 pages including 1-2 page executive summary/overview plus annexes as relevant

o   To include background, methodology and tools, analysis of relevance, effectiveness and impact (sustainability TBC), key findings and recommendations.