Baseline Survey Consultant At Nonviolent Peaceforce

Terms of Reference

BACKGROUND

Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), an International NGO founded in 2002, uses Unarmed Civilian Protection to reduce violence and protect civilians in conflict-affected areas. NP has been operating in South Sudan since 2010, and currently implements over seven projects across the country.

In June 2020, Nonviolent Peaceforce South Sudan (NPSS), in partnership with the European Union (EU) Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP), started implementing an 18-month project. The expected impact of the project is that enhanced community involvement will ensure strengthened social cohesion, peaceful coexistence and contribute to the smooth implementation of national peace agreement processes. The project objectives are to mobilize gender-responsive community protection mechanisms to prevent and respond to violent conflict and promote peaceful coexistence at the community level to protect civilians and consolidate peace through conflict management, reconciliation and social cohesion.

PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION

Monitoring and evaluation is an integral part of the overall project management cycle to ensure effective oversight of the project. The end-line evaluation is intended to assess the progress made by the project in fulfilling its agreed objectives through the planned activities; to evaluate the relevance of the project in the implementation areas; and to assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which resources have been used to generate results and achieve project objectives.

Specific Objectives include:

• To assess the extent to which the project outputs have been achieved considering the indicators given in the project document.
• To evaluate the level of contribution of the outputs towards the achievement of the expected project objectives, goal and impact.
• To assess the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of interventions as well as the sustainability of the results and the degree of satisfaction of the beneficiaries.
• To evaluate the appropriateness of the strategies and approaches used for implementing the project.
• To identify major external factors that influenced or impacted on the implementation of the project and evaluate their implication on future interventions.
• To highlight lessons learned from the project and make recommendations

EVALUATION DESIGN AND METHODS

A cross sectional study will be conducted in project implementation areas. The external evaluator is expected to conduct a participatory evaluation providing for meaningful involvement by project partners, beneficiaries and other interested parties. Primary and secondary data is expected to be gathered using a mixed method to evaluate program implementation. Thus, evaluation will involve collecting the following data:

Quantitative data: It will be used to measure indicators of the project expressed in terms of numbers/percentages (quantitative indicators). Information will be collected using questionnaire survey which will be administered to a sample of households. The consultant is expected to determine the sampling technique and size which would be representative, and adequate to detect the changes observed and do basic descriptive statistics.

Qualitative data: Qualitative information will be collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews KIIs) and In-depth Interviews (IDIs) with key stakeholders including beneficiaries, community leaders, community/traditional leaders, local government offices, civil societies, donors, local implementing partners and others to complement the information collected through quantitative approaches.

Secondary documentation: Review of project related documents will also be important to establish key insights relevant to the effective implementation of the project.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITES OF THE CONSULTANT

The consultant will be expected to:

• Design methodology for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data for the assessment.
• Revise the baseline tools and create any new tools necessary to answer the evaluation questions.
• Organize and facilitate training workshop for data collectors (NP will hire the data collectors) and other evaluation team members on evaluation implementation, including the evaluation protocol and tools to be used and pilot testing of the tool.
• Plan and coordinate the necessary logistics to collect the data in accordance with the selected methodology.
• Conduct the evaluation at the project location to measure key indicators as defined in the project log frame.
• Develop the data collection form on KOBO
• Collect and analyze available secondary data to strengthen the evaluation findings.
• Based upon a reading of the program documents, propose any additional topics or issues for analysis in the final evaluation.
• Analyze and interpret data to develop a comprehensive evaluation report.
• Share key findings and insights from the evaluation with relevant staff through consultations.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES:

• Submit an inception report/proposal which responds to the scope of work by adding any further detail or clarification regarding the study approach, method, or implementation arrangements,
• Field work implementation plan (to be submitted before field work begins). This field work plan should be presented to NPSS for comments, and revised as necessary prior to commencing field work.
• Overall report that outlines the field work and the data cleaning.
• Cleaned data files (including Questionnaires) in SPSS format with data correctly organized, variables named and labeled.
• A comprehensive evaluation report that meets agreed formats.
• High quality validation of the information collected through a validation workshop of the findings.

TIMEFRAME

The evaluation is anticipated to last between 3-4 weeks, with submission of final deliverables before the end of the project. Tentative start date for the task will be September 27, 2021.

RESOURCES

NP will facilitate all visa requirements, transport to South Sudan and to all field sites. In addition, NP will provide accommodation and communications equipment while in country. All necessary logistical arrangements for the assessment will be coordinated through the NP logistics department. The chosen consultant will coordinate with the Research Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser, Research Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Program Manager and field staff in the planning and implementation of the evaluation.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Education

• Master’s degree in International and Political Affairs, Law, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related field.

Required Experience and Skills

• At least 7 years’ experience in the design and implementation of evaluations, assessments or baseline surveys including qualitative and quantitative data collection.
• Previous work experience in the area of human rights, civic engagement, and/or protection of civilians.
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of research methodologies and processes.
• Experience in the development of Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks and log-frames.
• Experience in gathering and systematizing large amounts of data.
• Experience managing a diverse team and providing capacity building and training support.
• Experience developing protection projects in war and/or emergency settings.
• Proven ability to manage highly confidential and sensitive information through a protection lens.
• Experience managing projects in complex and dangerous environments.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL

The proposal shall include financial and technical proposals sealed in separate envelopes. The proposal should include:

• Consultant profile including past achievements
• Introduction: A brief overview of the assignment as understood by the bidder
• Detail methodology and approach including work plan (i.e. research techniques to be used, sampling, field operation plan, quality assurance and time frame)
• Current CVs of the consultant
• Detail itemized work plan
• Detailed itemized budget and price justification by unit cost per activity being proposed under the financial proposal.
• Three references from organizations that proves the capacity of the consultant to carry out an assessment/evaluation
• Annexes: Any documents, which the consultant feels will assist proposal review team in evaluating the proposal