Consultancy Job in Solidarites for Final Evaluation in Bardera (Somalia)

Final Evaluation Terms of Reference

Country: Somalia

Project title: Assistance to IDPs and host community vulnerable populations in South Somalia

ECHO Grant Reference Number: Assistance to IDPs and host community vulnerable populations in South Somalia

Grant funding amount: €1,209,700

Project duration and period: 12 months (01/12/2010 to 30/11/2011)

Location: Bardera and Elwak Districts of Gedo region

Starting date: 15th December 2012 (indicative and subject to the prevailing security/access context)

Duration of the field mission: 14 days in various project locations in Bardera and El Wak Districts of Gedo Region,Somalia

Time dedicated to the desk review: 4 days

Time dedicated to report writing: 7 days

Under responsibility of: Deputy Country Director for Somalia

Funding Sources for the evaluation: ECHO

Presentation of Solidarités Program in Bardera/Elwak Districts

Solidarités International is an international non-governmental organization which provides humanitarian assistance to population affected by natural disaster or man-made crisis.

For over 30 years, Solidarités has concentrated its action on meeting three vital needs: Water, Food and Shelter. In the Horn of Africa, Solidarités is currently implementing Food Security, Water and Sanitation projects in Somalia and Kenya.

Solidarités began its intervention in Bardera District of Somalia in 2007, with a seeds and tools distribution program for households living along the Juba River.

Since this first program, the intervention of Solidarités in Bardera District has been progressively increased and diversified.

From the initial farming support activities, Solidarités has expanded its program to include rehabilitation of water structures and other social infrastructure, improvement of sanitation and hygiene practices, and a significant emergency response capacity.

The target beneficiaries of the program include protracted IDPs and households living in the rain-fed area in addition to the riverine communities.

Presentation of the Context

Communities in Gedo Region are suffering from ongoing drought caused by the failure of both 2010 Deyr and 2011 Gu rain seasons. The drought has caused widespread crop failure, depleted local livelihoods, limited crop production and food availability especially in Bardera and Elwak districts.

The region is also being affected by insecurity as a result of ongoing conflict between the Al-Shabaab and TFG allied forces who are jostling for regional control. The project geographic areas covered by ECHO funded action ECHO/SOM/BUD/2010/01013 have been in control of Al Shabaab forces since 2009. The current security context is dynamic and potential evaluator(s) should be capable of accessing the area and managing the security risks.

Gedo Region has traditionally been a “bread basket” area, providing food to other regions of South Somalia, however the 2011 drought has led to collapse of the local farming production, increasing food insecurity and leading to high rates of malnutrition especially for children under 5 years of age.

The drought has also depleted water and pasture sources in the villages far from the Juba river, causing displacement of pastoral populations towards the riverine areas. There is also an ongoing influx of IDPs into Bardera Town from nearby pastoral zones (drop-our pastoralists) and other regions of South Somalia.

Large numbers of IDPs, host community households require immediate support in food aid, water, medical services and basic shelter (IDP) to save lives as well as to address the causal factors of malnutrition.

Presentation of the project to be evaluated

Background

This project (Grant reference No: ECHO/SOM/BUD/2010/01013) is a continuation ECHO funded interventions in Bardera district since 2007.

The project aims to provide assistance to drought and conflict affected communities in the district by improving access to safe drinking water and promoting sound sanitation and hygiene practices.

The project also aims to enhance food security through providing support to agricultural production and alternative livelihood options.

Objective

To improve sanitation, access to water and food security for vulnerable populations in Gedo region of Southern Somalia

Results

Result 1: Improved access to safe water, sanitation conditions and hygiene practices for vulnerable IDP and host population in Southern Somalia

Result 2: Improved food security for IDPs and vulnerable host population in Southern Somalia

Activities under Result 1.

1.1 Construct 5 infiltration wells along the river for common IDP and riverine population use

1.2 Flood mitigation response: embankment raising and opening up of water ways in flood prone villages through cash for work

1.3 Distribute 2,000 ceramic filters

1.4 Distribute 1,200 NFI kits to IDPs and other vulnerable populations

1.5 Construct 200 latrines in IDP camps with hand washing points (latrine to be shared by 5 households)

1.6 Rehabilitation of 6 shallow wells for pastoralists community in Bardera, Fafadun and Ceel Wak

1.7 Provide water trucking for at least 2 months to six pastoral villages during acute water shortages periods in the dry season

1.8 Rehabilitation and expansion of 10 rain water catchments (minimum 1,200 cubic meters each) and construction of 10 rain water catchment infiltration wells in rain fed areas

1.9 Maintain adequate stock of chlorine tablets and water maker sachets Pur for distribution in emergencies and during disease outbreak

1.10 Hygiene promotion with messages of basic sound hygiene practices using IEC materials and radio messages

Activities under result 2

2.1 Provide support to 500 households of IDPs and vulnerable host communities in riverine areas to have increased access to farmland and by providing agricultural inputs (seeds, land clearing, hand tools, oxen and ox-ploughs, water pumps) and agriculture extension services

2.2 Provide 200 bee-keeping kits and capacity building training sessions

Purposes of the evaluation

The purpose of this evaluation is to meet donor requirement as well to draw lessons from the experiences and challenges the programme team has built in the course of the project.

This evaluation will cover all the dynamics of the project including evaluating each and every activity as per the proposal. Recommendations from the evaluation will help in defining and improving the future Solidarités interventions in the area and the general development of the programme.

Scope and focus of the evaluation

The evaluation will focus on the operation’s approach, the implementation process and the performance of the programme.

The project should be evaluated through the following criteria:

Relevance (including adaptation to changing needs):

• Did expected results address the needs identified before the intervention?
• Has the project targeted the beneficiaries and communities according to the proposed criteria?
• Was the project appropriately adjusted to the context of the drought/food security crisis which emerged in mid-2011?
• What specific measures were taken to adapt the project to respond to the changing needs?

Efficiency:

• Is the relation between input of resources and results achieved appropriate and justifiable?
• How well were the project resources utilized in the course of project implementation?
• Are the monitoring tools adapted to the context and do they allow information to be delivered on time?

Effectiveness:

• To what extent has the project reached its stated specific objective and results
• To what extent have the project staff used mitigating measures to overcome any changes in context and needs?

Timeliness:

• Were the project activities implemented in a timely matter?
• Did the project team make any necessary adjustments in a timely manner

Coordination and coherence:

• How well was coordination and coherence achieved?
• Is the program coherent with local authorities’ policies? If no, is this a bad or a good thing?

Coverage:

• Who was supported by the humanitarian intervention?
• Does the action cover the initially targeted population?
• Which groups were taken into account and which not?

Impact:

• To what extent have the planned goal been achieved, and how far that was directly due to the project?
• What negative or positive influence of the project is already foreseen?
• Has any unplanned activity affected the overall impact of the project and how?

Non-discrimination:

• Have all of those in need of support received it according to humanitarian principles?
• How well did the project target and reach women, men, children and minorities?

Sustainability:

• Are results of activities sustainable and to what extend? In particular, how successful were the training activities?

Recommendations for improving each of the evaluation criteria should be presented in the evaluation report. A suggested action plan corresponding to each recommendation should also be included in the evaluation report. Recommendations for the strategic orientation of the next project should also be made.

The evaluation should also assess the appreciation of the program by the beneficiaries as well as their participation at various levels of the project management cycle.

Finally, the evaluation should assess if/how the implementation of the program is respectful of the ethics of humanitarian practice vis-à-vis the SPHERE standards and the Code of conduct for the Red Cross Movement and for NGO during emergency intervention.

Evaluation process and methods

• The evaluator(s) will travel to rural and urban communities of Bardera and El Wak Districts for a period of not less than 14 days.
• The evaluation methods should be clearly outlined in the report and their appropriateness, relative to the evaluation's primary purpose, focus and users, should be explained pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the methods. A description of the overall flow of the evaluation process (i.e. sequence of the key stages) should be given in the evaluation report. The evaluation approach and the methods used to collect and analyze data should also be described. The nature (e.g., external or mixed) and make up of the team (e.g. sectoral expertise, local knowledge, gender balance) and its appropriateness for the evaluation should be outlined.
• The evaluation report should outline the sources of biases that might affect the evaluation and how these have been addressed.
• The evaluation report should also present the key constraints to carrying out the evaluation (e.g., lack of baseline data, lack of access to key information sources, use of translators), and the effect of these constraints.
• Whenever secondary sources will be referred to, the evaluator should indicate the level of reliability of the given information.
• After the field work, the evaluation team will present and discuss with the project team the preliminary findings and the proposed recommendations.
• A first draft of the evaluation report should be shared with the coordination team of Solidarités before a final version is sent to the donor.

Procedures and logistics

• The evaluation team must comply with Solidarités’ rules and procedures related to security and relations with the media.
• The evaluation team must respect the ethic and the deontology related to evaluation practice
• Logistics, movement and security would be provided and organised by Solidarités team

Deliverables

The evaluation report should include at least:

• One narrative report (max 40 pages) including an executive summary (2 pages maximum).
• A separate table summarizing the main findings and the lessons learned.
• A separate table showing the different recommendations and tips for their implementation (who will be in charge of implementing this recommendations, when? dead line? necessary means? who will be in charge of checking that the recommendations are being implemented and when? etc.).
• Relevant maps and photographs of the assessed zone and programme.
• A Power point presentation of the main findings and recommendations of the evaluation must be submitted to Solidarités in order to facilitate dissemination of the results of the evaluation to stakeholders.

Documents of reference (on request)

• Proposal of the project – former proposals if necessary
• Last Interim report
• Current organizational chart
• Last Activity Progress Update of the programme
• Relevant maps
• Security guidelines

Qualification of the Lead consultant

• University degree in Project management, Water and Sanitation, Food Security or related field
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience with NGOs
• Proven experience in similar evaluation context (Somalia)
• Strong methodology and writing capacities
• Somali speaker would be a clear advantage

Main criteria for selection of the successful applicant

• Clarity of presentation in the proposal document
• Quality, relevance and coherence of the of evaluation methodology and work plan, including a clear and realistic strategy to reach women and child beneficiary of the project
• Capacity of the evaluator(s) to access the area and to be accepted by communities assisted by the project
• Level of demonstrated previous experience conducting similar project evaluations
• Competitiveness and feasibility of the financial proposal

How to apply

Please send your proposal, highlighting the following:

• A brief introduction of bidding firm or person attaching relevant CVs
• Your understanding of the Terms of Reference
• Proposed methodology and approach
• Proposed work plan and budget
• Your availability

All relevant information (CV, cover letter, copies of testimonials, certificate of works and 3 contact references) should be sent to info@solidarites-kenya-som.org before 28th Nov 2011.

Solidarites International encourages applications for employment and service provision opportunities from both male and female applicants.

Please indicate the consultancy you are applying for in the title of your email.

Only short-listed applications will be contacted.