Call for tender: Consultant for final evaluation of the project “Phae 2: Leave No one Behind! Mainstreaming Disability in Humanitarian Action” At Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion

1) Context / Background

The “Phase 2 – Leave No One Behind!” project promotes the anchoring of disability in humanitarian action. It is financed by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented in cooperation with the Christoffel-Blindenmission Christian Blind Mission e.V. (CBM) and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

Handicap International (HI) is a non-profit organisation for humanitarian action and development assistance, active in over 60 countries around the world. We aspire to a world of solidarity and inclusion. We strive to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in a sustainable way and support those in need of specific protection. Furthermore, we advocate for a world without cluster bombs or mines as well as against bombing of civilian populations. HI is a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Price of 1997. Handicap International e.V. is the German association of the international organisation Humanity & Inclusion.

HI and the Christoffel-Blindenmission Christian Blind Mission e.V. (CBM) are working together on this project to pass on their pooled technical expertise and long-time experience in the field of inclusive humanitarian action to state and humanitarian non-state actors in Germany.

As a leading research institute, with broad experience in the field of humanitarian studies and international humanitarian and human rights law, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at the Ruhr-University Bochum joined this project as a partner. The IFHV is also a member of the European inter-university Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA).

The project “Phase 2 – Leave No One Behind!” is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Phase 2 of the project (2018-2021) builds onto the knowledge and experience of Phase 1 (2016-2018) “Leave no one behind! Capacity building for German actors of humanitarian action for mainstreaming disabilities.” The previous project was also funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented in cooperation with the CBM. Read more

2) Project Summary

Title of the project: ‘Phase 2 – Leave no one behind!‘: Mainstreaming of Disability in Humanitarian Action

Anchoring of disability in humanitarian coordination mechanisms, improved data on inclusion of disability and capacity building for German actors and their local partners

Duration of the project: 09/2018 – 31/12/2021 (40 months, including 4 month non-cost extension)

Total Budget of the project: 1.368.818,50 €

Overall Objective: Persons with disabilities enjoy equal and meaningful participation, safety, and protection in international humanitarian action both in general and in German-funded assistance in particular.

Specific Objective: Humanitarian actors in Germany and their partners in countries of operation acquired core competencies on disability mainstreaming and on effectively engaging persons with disabilities. Further, an inclusive global policy framework, an improved evidence base, and documented experiences are developed.

Core components: The project works on four different levels (global, regional, national, and institutional) and meets the overall objective through three expected results:

1) Support for the development of the global IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action and sharing good practices on disability mainstreaming in global coordination mechanisms.

• Support for the IASC Task Team for the completion of the final draft of the IASC Guidelines for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action (IASC Guidelines) for their submission to the IASC.

• Support for the dissemination of the IASC Guidelines after approval by the IASC Secretariat, based on a strategy developed by the Task Team in a participatory process.

• Participation in selected global coordination and network mechanisms to share among others good practices, mainstreaming approaches and research findings.

2) Capacity and awareness-building activities for humanitarian actors in Germany and their local partners at the field level on both an operational and organizational level to mainstream disability and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action.

• 8 half- or full-day in-house awareness-raising seminars for middle and senior management of state and non-state actors on inclusive humanitarian action.

• 6 sector-specific technical introduction and/or in-depth trainings (2-4 days) for up to 15 participants from German humanitarian organisations (programme and project-level staff) based on the initial needs assessment and refined by detailed knowledge assessments prior to the trainings. Trainings were planned and covered during the project:

§ Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (face2face);

§ Disability-inclusive Project Cycle Management in Humanitarian Action (face2face);

§ Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the Humanitarian COVID-19 Response (online);

§ Disability-inclusive Primary Health Care in Humanitarian Action (online);

§ Meaningful Participation of Persons with Disabilities and Partnership with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Responses (online)

§ Disability-inclusive WASH Programming in Humanitarian Action (planned)

• 2 regional online trainings (5-6 days) for local implementing partners of German humanitarian actors in East Africa and Southeast Asia

• Anchoring disability inclusion and mainstreaming of disability through technical inputs in 8 humanitarian trainings facilitated by other actors and experts in Germany.

• Offering inclusion audits, providing coaching measures for 7 humanitarian organisations and technical support for 12 German humanitarian actors. • Development of 7 E-Learning Modules on inclusive humanitarian action.

3) Collaboration with two German universities and applying accompanying research to strengthen the evidence base for disability-inclusive programming and coordination of humanitarian action.

• Continuing cooperation with Ruhr-University Bochum on the NOHA Master’s programme in ‘International Humanitarian Action’ and the AKKON University Berlin Bachelor’s programme in ‘Emergency & Crisis Response,’ with annually two guest lectures (one each) and one module supervision in the NOHA Master to anchor disability as a crosscutting human rights-based topic in the curriculum.

• Accompanying research to identify factors that promote an effective anchoring of disability inclusion in humanitarian action and the dissemination of its findings, through two field research missions, literature review and a theory of change, which is revised yearly.

• Placing disability as a crosscutting topic in humanitarian action in two specific events per year in Germany. Target Groups

• German state and non-state humanitarian actors and their local partner organisations in 2 humanitarian crisis settings.

• Students and lecturers of humanitarian courses at German universities.

• Humanitarian staff and member organisations of global coordination mechanisms.

• With the accompanying research and the IASC Guidelines: the humanitarian community and in particular non-disability specialised humanitarian organisations, states, donors, UN organisations/agencies, organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and local partners.

• Indirectly, persons with diverse disabilities affected by humanitarian emergencies. Theory of Change

The Postdoctoral Researcher, together with the project team, has formulated a theory of change. The ToC is included as an annex to the ToR to provide the evaluator with a better understanding of the project.

More Information about the project is available on the project website.

3) Description of the Required Service

Handicap International, CBM and IFHV are looking for a consultant or team of consultants to conduct the external end evaluation of the “Phase 2 – Leave no one behind!” project.

The objective of the evaluation is to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the project’s activities and to provide all project partners with an independent comprehensive review of project performance, processes and results.

In addition, examples of good practices initiated/implemented in the organisations that can be attributed to the impact of the trainings and/or technical support will be documented..

The evaluation will focus on the 40 months of project implementation (September 2018December 2021).

The evaluation will be used to ensure accountability towards donors and target groups by reflecting the voices, opinions and experiences of the participants and stakeholders reached and involved in this project. In addition, the evaluation will also be used to inform further planning and possible development of a follow-up project.

4) Evaluation Criteria and Questions

The evaluation shall follow OECD-DAC criteria and principles, as much as they apply, and be aligned to HI criteria and framework, as project lead.

Questions will address key criteria, including:

• Relevance of the project approach and implementation;

• Effectiveness and efficiency of project in achieving results;

• Sustainability of the project,

• Good Practice examples from organisations as results of project activities.

Questions will be structured according to the main components of the project. A preliminary list is presented below. This list will be refined and adjusted during the inception phase.

1. Relevance:

• To what extent did the project respond to and consider the needs, capacities and knowledge of the respective target groups?

• Has the project team sufficiently adapted its actions and project modalities to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic?

2. Effectiveness

• To which extent are the project results (outputs) attained, and contributed to achieving the project objective (outcome) and the overall objective (impact)?

• What remaining gaps and needs are identified by the target group that can be addressed in a next project phase?

3. Efficiency

• To what extent have the resources (human, logistical, financial, timing, technical) available enabled the achievement of the project’s objective?

• Was the internal and external communication of the project (partners) adequate and adapted to the needs and expectations of the different target groups?

• Did the project partners put in place sufficient management and coordination mechanisms for an efficient implementation of the project? What were achievements and challenges in the cooperation and contribution to project results between project partners?

4. Sustainability (of outcomes, outputs and impact)

• To what extent did the project transform directly/indirectly and intended/unintended short-/midterm change, in line with the Theory of Change and the overall objective?

• Has the project put in place sufficient and adequate means to ensure continuity of change processes towards inclusion (e.g. building the capacities of the target group, increasing the evidence base on disability-inclusive humanitarian action)

5. Good and Promising Practice Examples

• Identify concrete improvements and examples from the target group to mainstream disability in their programming and their organisational practices, brought about by the project.

• Identify methodological approaches and content that supported the target group to develop the necessary skills to mainstream disability in their programming and their organizational practices.

5) Evaluation Methodology, Proposed Time Plan and Location

The evaluation will be conducted through remote interviews (e.g. telephone, meeting platform such as Zoom or Skype, email). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we currently do not envision any face-to-face meetings.

• This consultancy is to be completed remotely.

• There will be two rounds of revisions before the assignment is completed (revision of inception report and evaluation report draft).

• HI aims to start the service contract at the beginning of November, 02.11.2021

• HI aims to have the evaluation report ready no later than 23.12.2021

• Based on the proposed timetable, the consultant must set up a work schedule for the performance of the service.

• It must clearly specify the manner in which the consultant will approach the activities required to perform the service.

6) Documents and Source of Information

The majority of resource documents is available in English; however, official grant documents, including logframe reports are only available in German language. If translation is necessary, please highlight and/or include it in your offer.

• General information and blog articles on the project website

• Project proposal and interim / final reports to the German Federal Foreign Office

• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HI and CBM, as well as between HI and IFHV

• Minutes of Project Progress Meetings, Technical Meetings and Steering Committee Meetings

• Training materials: concept papers, presentations, documentations, participant lists and evaluation reports

• Documentation of technical support and coaching measures provided, including concept paper, road maps, meeting memos and final reports

• Documentation of events at global level (through the Disability Reference Group) and national level supported through and working group/cluster meetings attended by the project

• Documentation of meetings conducted with and presentations given for students of the two target universities

• Documentation of public relations work

• Access to research findings, reports and documentation

7) Resource Person:

Within the framework of the service provision, the contracted consultant will be asked to collaborate with Handicap International’s team and, in particular, with Haakon Spriewald (h.spriewald@hi.org) and Sabrina Ebert (s.ebert@hi.org), who will be the point of contact.

8) Deliverables

• An inception report (in English) after the kick-off meeting and desk review for validation prior to the data collection

• A power-point presenting the main findings to project team at the end of the data collection phase (in English)

• Evaluation report (in English, template will be provided) that includes the following main sections with a recommended amount of 30 pages:

o Cover page (title of the evaluation report, date, name of consultants) o Table of contents o Abbreviations list o Executive summary (that can be used as a stand-alone document) o Introduction outlining the background of the project and the evaluation o Purpose and objectives of the evaluation

o Analytical framework of the evaluation including methodology/approach, indicators used, ethical issues and limitations of the evaluation

o Major findings o Good and Promising Practices (that can be used as stand-alone document) o Recommendations

o Annexes: details of data collection tools, schedule of visits and meetings; list of people interviewed; bibliography of key documents consulted; ToR for the evaluation.

• Presentation of final evaluation report to project team, including Q&A discussion with evaluator