Somalia: Terminal Evaluation of Building Resilience in Puntland and Somaliland, Nothern Somalia

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) FOR THE TERMINAL EVALUATION

OF BUILDING RESILIENCE IN PUNTLAND AND SOMALILAND, NORTHERN SOMALIA

1. Introduction

Save the Children Somalia/Somaliland program is conducting terminal evaluation for integrated Food Security and Livelihood projects funded by the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Government of Germany, to assess the level of achievements against the intended results. The project seeks to strengthen resilience at two levels: at the household level (by focusing on individuals in vulnerable households) and at the community level (enhancing adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities).

While keeping a focus on building community adaptive capacity and sustained risk reduction, the proposed project approach takes into consideration the issues of 1) seasonality, which implicitly changes the levels of need in households, and 2) flexibility, an essential element to address the dynamic nature of fluctuating needs in Somalia. SCI’s strategy recognizes and builds on the strengths of combining humanitarian relief efforts with early recovery responses to provide an avenue towards sustainable transition from relief to development, while involving key stakeholders in the process. It also will focus on the reduction of inequity. In doing so, SCI applies a diverse approach to programming built on existing systems in the communities that are being served. SCI has also build relations with district and regional level non-governmental and government institutions to enhance collaboration between SCI interventions and development efforts by other agencies.

The Project Goal: Children, women and men in vulnerable communities in Somalia / Somaliland are better able to resist and recover from cyclical shocks and stresses from conflict, environmental and economic crises.

Objective 1: To build on the ecological, social, and economic capital of HHs and communities affected by recurrent shocks

Indicators

-% decrease in coping strategy index

• Decerease in # of hunger months

Intermediate Result 1:Targeted households are able to meet their basic food and non-food needs and reduced their exposure to hazard throughout the year.

Indicators

-% of targeted households have access to sufficient resources to meet their essential food and non-food needs during at least three seasonal hunger gaps with at least 45% recipients being women

-% of target households have increased purchasing power of 20% over one year at least 40% direct women beneficiaries

Objective 2: Increase the capacity of HHs and communities to adapt to recurrent shocks

Indicators:

• Improved community disaster risk management practices

Intermediate Result 1: Community capacity and resilience to livelihood related shocks has improved.

Indicators

# of integrated community-level plans for managing natural resource, conflict and disaster risks are developed

• ## of communities have managed at least one seasonal shock successfully through community DRR groups, if shock occurs.

Intermediate Result 2: Enhance the communities’ capacity resilience through improving appropriate child feeding and caring practices as through providing lifesaving support to SAM children.

Indicators

• % increase (against baseline) in improved Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of IYCF

• % increase of food diversity score from the baseline

• % of SAM cases referred successfully treated to date

Intermediate Result 3: Enhance the community resilience through improving access to essential WASH Services.

Indicators:

• % of households collecting all water for drinking, cooking and hygiene from improved water sources

• % of people practicing appropriate hygienic behaviours

Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of the terminal evaluation is to assess the overall impact (positive as well as negative) observed as a result of the project intervention. It is expected to generate well documented findings, lessons learned and recommendations which will be shared with children, MOH&HS structures as all levels and key stakeholders and used by respective consortium members to guide and implementation of the second phase of the project.

Specific objectives of the consultancy are

• Assess to which extent the project has achieved its objectives and created the expected changes in children’s lives.
• Assess whether the project objectives and strategies were relevant in addressing the identified problem(s).
• To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the different approaches used to implement the project
• Review project contribution towards improvement of the education Authority management system, ability to take over the project implementation and give strategy and way forward to improve them.
• To generate learning (positive and negative) and good practices in implementing the project that could be applied in future programming.
• Assess the employability of the trainees graduated from the project supported TVEVT institutions/enterprises and determine the various variables that facilitate/hinder the employment of the graduates in the labor market with due gender consideration.

• Based on the findings of the evaluation make specific recommendations for different stakeholders for improving cohesiveness and Harmonization of education System.

• Scope of the evaluation

Standard criteria based on the OECD DAC criteria namely: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact should be used to structure the evaluation as outlined below.

Relevance

• The extent to which the project design was relevant to the delivery of the expected interventions and how well it was executed; the importance of the project relative to the needs and priorities of the intended beneficiaries; whether the project as was operationalized was acceptable and feasible within the local context; whether it addressed the needs that the intended beneficiaries perceived to be important
• The extent to which the project and its intended purpose and expected results were consistent with national and local policies and priorities and the needs of the intended beneficiaries
• The project responsiveness i.e. the extent to which SC and other consortium members namely NRC & CARE was able to respond to the changing and emerging development priorities and needs in a responsive manner during the project implementation & the implications thereof
• The project appropriateness i.e. the cultural acceptance as well as feasibility of the activities or method of delivery in the project locations
• The extent to which the planning, design and implementation of the project took into account the local context.
• Assess the logic of the project design.

Efficiency

• How economically resources or inputs (such as funds, expertise and time) were converted into expected results; could they have been used more efficiently to achieve the intended results
• How the partnership strategy with the government, associate partners & TVET training centers influenced the efficiency of the project.
• How significant is the efficiency or utilization ratio of the resources used (Comparison: resources applied viz a viz the total number of primary beneficiaries reached?)
• Adequacy of management arrangements as well as monitoring and evaluation, technical backstopping support given to the project by all parties concerned coordination and communication.

Effectiveness

• The extent to which the project’s intended overall objectives, purpose and expected results have been achieved or the extent to which progress toward overall objectives, purpose and expected results has been achieved
• An assessment of cause and effect (attribution of observed changes to project activities and results)
• Extent of consortium’s contribution/s toward accomplishment of the project’s intended objectives
• The extent of the project effectiveness or impact compared to the objectives planned (comparison with the project baseline)
• Judgment on the value of the change brought about by the project (positive or negative)

Impact

• To what extent did the project intervention contribute to reaching the project impact?
• Intended or unintended results of the project interventions.
• Level of ownership of the project by the community and local authorities and their commitment to support the project.
• Project impact on enhancing co-operation among other stakeholders involving education sector.

Sustainability

• The extent to which benefits of the project continue after end of the project phase
• The extent to which a sustainability strategy, including capacity development of key national stakeholders, staffs and partners has been developed and implemented
• The extent to which suitable organizational arrangements have been made to sustain the collaborative and coordination of the future project interventions
• Assess if policy and regulatory frameworks are in place that will support continuation of benefits

• Assess the extent to which the requisite institutional capacity (systems, structures, staff, expertise, etc.) exists

• Geographical coverage

The evaluation of the project will be undertaken in six districts, four in Puntland (Hafun, Iskushuban, Rako and Gardo) and two in Somaliland (Hargeisa and Zeyla) and will cover all relevant stakeholders (relevant government officials and representatives, community members & children) who participated in the implementation of the project to collect the necessary information. The end term evaluation is expected to provide information that enables Save the Children and its partners to develop future strategies to further improve their program interventions.

1. Methodology

The study shall adopt both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect information from both primary and secondary sources. Following the scope of work, the consultant shall propose specific methods for collecting given data from sources that will also be specified. Envisaged methods will include but not be limited to desk review, Key Informant Interviews, focus group discussions, and documentation of case stories. Household food security assessment, nformation on womens empowerment also need to be collected. More over, the extent the HH have been reached/ affected by the project also need to be evaluated. Overall the evaluation methodology should endeavor to follow the methodology applied at baseline as well as midline collected in 2016 with a panel of data analysis to enable comparison of results. Children’s participation in the evaluation from different backgrounds must be ensured.

The methods to be used for the evaluation should be participatory in order to make the activity a positive learning process. Hence, a team that consists of an external professional consultant, supported by staff from respective consortium members and the ministry of education at all levels will be involved.

The consultant is responsible for carrying out the evaluation in an objective manner. However, SCI MEAL and project staff will be actively involved as respondent and in mobilizing other respondents.

• Key Deliverables

• Evaluation inception report: detailing the methodology including methodology, the sampling framework that will be used, proposed sources of data; and data collection and analysis procedures and tools.

• Draft evaluation report: A draft evaluation report that effectively and exhaustively addresses the evaluation criteria shall be submitted to SC for internal review within the agreed time frame.

• Final evaluation report: A final evaluation report addressing all the criteria and inputs from SC and the donor will be delivered in 1 hard copy and 2 CDs to SC within the stipulated time

• Timeline The evaluation is expected to last for 25 consultancy days. Below is a draft schedule of activities

• CONSULTANT’S PROFILE

  The potential consultant should meet the following requirements

  1. CONSULTANCY PROFILE

  2. Higher university degree in relevant field

  3. Proven experience in conducting quality evaluations and assessing development programmes

  4. Thorough knowledge on the relevant thematic area and East Africa context

  5. Strong child rights programming skills (child participation skills an asset)

  6. English essential; local language skills would be helpful

  7. Application Requirements

  Candidates interested in the position will be expected to provide the following documentation:

• A technical proposal with detailed response to the TOR, with specific focus addressing the scope of work and methodology to be used

• Initial work plan based on methodology outlined, and indication of availability

• A financial proposal detailing the daily rate expected and initial work plan

• Company profile or CV including a minimum of 3 traceable, recent and relevant references to this task.

Candidates interested in the position will be expected to provide the following documentation:

• A technical proposal with detailed response to the TOR, with specific focus addressing the scope of work and methodology to be used
• Initial work plan based on methodology outlined, and indication of availability
• A financial proposal detailing the daily rate expected and initial work plan
• Company profile or CV including a minimum of 3 traceable, recent and relevant references to this task
• Candidates should send the above-mentioned documents via email to Somalia.Consultants@savethechildren.org not later than 31st May 2017. Please be informed that only qualified candidates will be shortlisted and invited for interview.