Consultancy to Conduct Monitoring and Evaluation for Farm Radio International in Ethiopia At Farm Radio International

1.Background

Farm Radio International is working with local partners in Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, to reach at least one million farmers in providing access to a variety of interactive digital extension services, through gender-sensitive radio programming on good agricultural practices, in particular specific value chains (2-3 per country), basic hygiene and health, gender equality and nutrition. These services are designed to promote interaction and dialogue between farmers (particularly women), radio stations, content experts, women’s organizations and wider stakeholders in an accessible way, which is known to increase impact and change in practice.

FRI will work with radio stations in these seven countries, to research, design, produce and evaluate participatory radio programs that will empower hundreds of thousands of women and men in family farming to access essential agricultural information. The aim is to promote improved livelihoods, gender equality and food security. We will use a combination of proven interactive radio formats, mobile phone-based interactivity tools and gender-responsive strategies to increase awareness, knowledge and uptake of practices related to select value chains, where appropriate.

During the 15 months (Oct 2020 – Dec 2021) of this intervention, FRI intends to research, design and execute interactive radio series, produced, broadcast and evaluated by a total of 3 to 5 radio partners selected in the seven countries. By end of June 2021, the project had completed formative research, selected partner radio stations and developed the first series of interactive radio programs which is now being aired in weekly episodes. This series will conclude in mid-September and a second series of programs will conclude in December. FRI is looking to recruit a consultant in each country to support monitoring, evaluation and learning activities. This will allow FRI to track progress, assess the results, learn from its work and to report to its major funder.

In Ethiopia, the project will be implemented in two Regional States: Amhara and Oromia and will focus on the following value chains: Wheat, Fab bean and Honey.

2.Objectives of the monitoring and evaluation and learning (MEL) activities

• To support the implementation of FRI’s Performance Measurement Framework by gathering, compiling and analyzing evidence on the results of project activities in targeted areas of Amhara Regional State and Oromia Regional state in Ethiopia.
• To compile the evidence into end line (January 2022) reports.
• To facilitate a half-day learning session with country project staff to present the end-line reports and discuss what is working well, what is working less well and lessons that can be used to inform future programming

3.The Assignment

The monitoring, evaluation, learning, and reporting will be conducted to:

-Review the following reporting based on FRI data analysis tools for entire project

• Project outputs
• Radio program quality assessments,
• Radio station staff capacity assessments,
• Radio station gender assessments, and
• Data analytics on interactive radio programs compiled by radio stations and FRI team.

-Conduct virtual interviews with representatives of key stakeholder groups selected by the FRI project team to gather their perspective on the uptake of knowledge and practice by farmers, and the use of interactive radio. (n=15, 3 per broadcast area)

-In-depth interviews with broadcasters at each radio station to discuss results, potential improvements and continued interested in this type of programming. (n=5) Note: The interviews would include a mix of closed ended “quantifiable” questions and open-ended qualitative questions.

-Conduct a household survey (or CATI survey) with male and female farmers (of up to 45 minutes duration) in 18 woredas across the country. (n=~300 responses) to collect evidence on change in knowledge, skills and practices as a result of FRI radio programs including:

• Translating the pre-designed survey into local languages
• Pre-testing
• Training enumerators and providing them with tablets for data collection
• Administering survey
• Ensuring quality of data and
• Analyzing survey data.

-Analyze and synthesize the findings from the different lines of evidence to produce a draft endline report in English based on FRI endline report template.

-Present endline report to FRI project team

-Revise endline report based on feedback from FRI project team.

4.Timeline

Deliverable & Timeline

• End line key informant interviews/compilation of FRI reporting: November 1–November 15, 2021
• Household (CATI) survey:November 15 – December 5, 2021
• Data analysis and synthesis December: 5 – December 10, 2021
• Endline draft report: January 7, 2022
• Endline final report :January 15, 2022

5.Scope of the Assignment

The MEL activities will target a total of 18 Woredas (10 in Amhara Regional States and 8 in Oromia Regional States). From each Woredas, the consultant is expected to survey male and female farmers, and interview broadcasters and representatives of key stakeholder groups.

6.Proposed considerations in MEL activities

• The MEL activities will rely on both qualitative and quantitative methods to gather the information required.
• The data collection will be done both face to face and remotely through mobile, email, or virtual meetings.
• The consultant will seek permission to record interviews with key informants and broadcasters.
• Interviews will be carried in the local language spoken in the target areas, as such, knowledge of local language(s) is mandatory for this assignment.
• For all question areas, please highlight where there are big differences between men and women.
• Carry out household survey (CATI survey)/key informant interviews/ for men and women separately in the targeted communities

Deliverables

Expected deliverables include:

• Transcripts of interviews with key informants in English
• Detailed information on key informants including name, position, email and involvement with the project.
• Survey data tabulation tables
• Draft and final reports: The consultant will submit the end line report in two phases. Upon completion of the research, the consultant will submit the draft report for comment within 10 days of data collection for end line. At that point, the consultant presents the findings to FRI program management. Within five days of receiving FRI’s comments on the draft end line reports, the consultant will submit the final report to FRI. The report will be submitted in hard and softcopies.

All the data and results generated through the evaluation are the exclusive property of FRI. The consultant is expected to sign a separate agreement in acceptance of the intellectual property as well as data ownership by FRI.

8.The Consultant and Required Qualifications
The competing firm for this particular assignment should possess the following competencies and qualifications:

• Similar experience to the assigned tasks.
• The lead consultant should have a masters’ degree in agriculture or social science fields.
• Extensive experience in monitoring, evaluation and learning including
• skill and knowledge in the use of qualitative and participatory methodologies,
• proven experience conducting household (or CATI) surveys in rural areas, and
• analysis and synthesis of quantitative and quantitative methods.
• Experience on evaluation of communication for development projects in rural and agricultural development is preferred.
• Experience applying gender equality principals to evaluative work.
• Testimonials and other supporting documents should be submitted.
• Ability to produce high quality reports in English
• Demonstrated capacity to deliver high quality outputs within the proposed time frame.

9.Budget and Proposed Payment Schedule
In the financial proposal, the consultant should estimate the time and professional fees payable for each of the assigned tasks.
Payment shall be made based on the following:

• 20% within 7 working days of the signing of the contract
• 80% upon delivery of the final endline report