End of Project Evaluation” (INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT ONLY) At Norwegian People’s Aid

PROJECT: Expansion of Rural Agricultural Inputs Supply and Extension Services (ERAISE) – (FED/2017/387-2019)- EU Funded Project

POSITION: *“End of Project Evaluation” (INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT ONLY)*

REPORTING TO: The consultant will be required to report regularly to the Rural Development Program Manager on the progress of the assessment, which will have the overall responsibility.

LOCATION: *Lake State in Six Counties (*Cueibet, Wulu, Rumbek Centre, Rumbek East, Yirol West and Yirol East Counties)

PROVISIONAL TIME FRAME: 30 Days- Including Weekends for data collection and Final Report

TENTATIVE START DATES: 15^th May – 15^th June 2021

INTRODUCTION:

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) South Sudan is an International Non-Governmental Organization involved in humanitarian, relief and long-term development cooperation in South Sudan. NPA has worked in South Sudan since 1986 and currently runs three programmes: Civil Society Development, Rural Development, and Emergency Response. The NPA Rural Development Program implemented a three-year grant funded by the European Union, ZEAT- BEAD Programme, for a Project entitled ‘Expansion of Rural Agricultural Inputs Supply and Extension Services (E-RAISE) in 6 Counties of Cueibet, Rumbek Central, Rumbek East, Wulu, Yirol West and Yirol East in Lakes State. The E-RAISE project is a follow up of a similar SORUDEV project, which NPA implemented from 2015 to 2017 in the same State.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:

The overall objective of the Expansion of Rural Agricultural Inputs Supply and Extension Services (E-RAISE) is “to contribute to improved food security and income of the population of the Republic of South Sudan”, with three main specific outcome results:

Improved conflict mitigation capacities of targeted communities
Improved food production and productivity
Diversified income-generating opportunities

The objective of this intervention was to increase agricultural productivity and incomes of smallholder producers through facilitating access to agricultural inputs, extension services and output markets in Lakes State. By achieving these outcomes, this intervention was to contribute significantly to the alleviation of multiple constraints faced by smallholder producers, such as persistent conflict across smallholder farming communities; minimal level of production and productivity; limited availability and very low uptake of improved agro-inputs and improved agricultural practices/ technologies; High post-harvest losses; and highly undiversified income sources from both on-farm and off-farm livelihood sources.

To increase agricultural productivity, the project implemented integrated strategies that increase availability and access to locally produced certified seeds of high performing sorghum varieties, groundnuts and cowpeas and improved tools focused mainly on ox-drawn implements. The project also focused on increasing the number of rural enterprises (agro-dealers) selling agricultural inputs to reach smallholder farmers, especially those in remote areas. A farmer demand-driven agricultural extension system has been implemented to increase farmers’ knowledge and practice for more effective utilization of improved agricultural inputs. To capitalize on productivity gains arising from investments made in increasing smallholder producer access to improved agricultural inputs, the action was involved in strengthening post-harvest management and market linkages, focusing mainly on farmers and fisherfolk. Through the action, Women and youth were empowered towards resilience with specific attention paid to addressing climate-related challenges. The action resulted in higher incomes realized through increased quantities of products sold on the market and a significant reduction in post-harvest losses and improved value addition and linkage to market centers. Furthermore, the project intervention was expected to result in increased household income by supporting targeted households to establish and enhance their on-farm and off-farm livelihoods sources within the target communities.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The purpose of the assignment is to assess the extent the ERAISE project has achieved in delivery of planned outputs and outcomes as well as progress towards achievement of the respective objectives, while highlighting enabling factors and challenges encountered. The end term evaluation also seeks to render accountability to beneficiaries, stakeholders and the EU as the donor.

The evaluation is expected to provide data on the performance of project interventions as per the DAC Criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. The consultant is also expected to evaluate project achievements, implementation approach, replication and scaling-up approach of the ERAISE project. The findings and recommendations will contribute to a learning process that enables principally ERAISE Partners (NPA & GAIS), the donor (EU) and other project stakeholders (Line ministry and its directorates) and other partners (NGO/ UN Agencies) to draw lessons from its experience in order to improve the quality of service provision to target communities. Through this evaluation, findings will inform the implementing partners (NPA/ GAIS) on the effectiveness of the beneficiary accountability system and mechanisms used during the project implementation.

METHODOLOGY:

The desired methodology for this survey is participatory and all the consortium members (Norwegian People’s Aid- NPA and Global Agricultural Innovation and Solutions- GAIS) will be part of the evaluation survey process. The consultant will however provide leadership and bear responsibility for the process, the findings, the recommendations and the content of the final report.

The end of project evaluation survey methods will be based on quantitative and qualitative data collection method through literature review of relevant report from reliable and trusted sources, household interviews, key informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussion (FGD) and should include detailed data on target beneficiaries as well as secondary data. Disadvantaged household, age and gender per location must be disaggregated for all data collected through the assessment.

The design and implementation of the end of project evaluation (EoP) should also ensure that principles of gender equality, inclusion and non-discrimination are considered and acted upon throughout, and that the meaningful participation of the most vulnerable groups and other key stakeholders is promoted in the design and implementation processes.

LINE OF INQUIRY:

During this evaluation, the consultant is expected to consider the following DAC Criteria, as laid out in the DAC principles for evaluation of development assistance. This includes; – Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability as outline below.

a) Relevance

This examined the extent to which the project objectives and design responds to beneficiaries, and partner needs, interests, policies, and priorities and continue to do so if circumstances change. The consultant is expected to; –

Review the appropriateness of the Project’s Immediate Objectives, Outputs, Indicators and Activities including the preparatory activities and assessments undertaken at the start of the project;
Review the interrelationship of the project team, local community and the co-funding aspects of the project in terms of complementarity and coherence in activities undertaken;
Review the overall design and provide an overall assessment of the ERAISE project.

b) Effectiveness

A measure of the extent to which the technical assistance attains its objectives. This includes an analysis of the attainment of outcomes and impacts, project objectives, and delivery and completion of project outputs and activities as shown by the project indicators. The consultant expected to; –

Review how the project’s outputs and results were used, and the project’s goal realized;
Review the intended beneficiary groups and identify how far planned benefits have been delivered and received by all key stakeholders, and how unplanned results may have affected the intended project benefits;
Review activities and outputs in relation to objectives defined in the project document, with emphasis on the defined indicators of targets and achievements;
Review the quality of internal organizational and managerial structure of the project in relation to the fulfillment of project objectives, the human resources employed, and the overall management of the project’s resources.

c) Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness

Efficiency measures the outputs – qualitative and quantitative – in relation to the inputs, costs and implementing time. It is an economic term which signifies that the technical assistance provided used the least costly resources possible in order to achieve the desired results. Cost effective factors include:

The project completed the planned activities and met or exceeded the expected outcomes in terms of achievement of the immediate objectives, in accordance with schedule and as cost-effective as initially planned. The consultant will review how the various activities implemented transformed the available resources into expected project outcomes, considering quantity, quality and timeliness. The review should include quality of day-to-day management (including risk management), costs and value for money, quality of monitoring and other unplanned outputs arising from the project.

d) Impact

The positive and negative changes produced by this intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. This involves the main impacts and effects resulting from the activity on the local social, economic, environmental and other development aspects. The consultant will therefore; –

Review the relationship between the project purpose and goal and the extent to which the benefits received by target beneficiaries had affected large number of people in the project sites.

Review the project impacting positively on key groups and on issues that have been identified as key important in project design – particularly peace and security, food security and nutrition, income activities, gender, youths, and environment

e) Sustainability

Sustainability measures the benefits of an activity that are likely to continue after the project has been completed and no more donor funding is available. Relevant factors to improve sustainability of project outcomes include:

Is there evidence that the small holders’ farmers supported through the project are likely to grow – scaling up after the phase out of project in Lakes State
What significant changes have occurred in people’s lives (Especially the small holder’s farmers, VSLA groups, vegetable groups, seeds producers’ group etc) and to what extent are these likely to be sustained
What strategies are in place for the sustainability of these project activities (VSLA groups, vegetable groups, seeds producers’ group and animal traction? Are the strategies being put into action by both NPA and GAIS
What mechanisms have NPA and partners put into place in order to sustain the key programme Outputs and Outcomes
How has the programme worked with local partners to increase their capacity in a sustainable way?
Assess the ownership of objectives and achievements by the beneficiaries/stakeholders, policy support, institutional and management capacity, economic and financial factors, socio-cultural aspects, appropriate technology, and the cross-cutting issues of gender equality, environmental impact and good governance were appropriately accounted for.

f) Project Achievements

Evaluate the achievements of the project against the expected project outcomes taking into consideration the various factors that contributed to the successful implementation of the project. Refer to the immediate objectives, outputs, indicators and activities specified in the project document (Log frame).

g) Implementation Approach

Analyze the project’s approach vis-à-vis the development problems being addressed, adaptation to changing conditions, partnerships in implementation arrangements, changes in project design and overall project management. This may include:

Effective partnership arrangements established for implementation of the project with relevant stakeholders involved in the project sites; and
Lessons from other relevant projects incorporated into the project’s implementation.

h) Replication and Scaling-Up Approach

Based on the lessons and experiences in the project, this is the process of duplicating the design and implementation in adjacent communities and other sectors to create a multiplier effect that will expand the coverage of the project.

SCOPE OF WORK AND EXPECTED DELIVERABLES:

The scope of ERAIS end of project (EoP) evaluation survey is limited to collecting data and generating information based on the project document and logical framework that will be used to assess the performance of the project. Particularly for impact level indicators, this may also include reference to very credible secondary data sources with time and relevance to the project overall goal. To accomplish the scope of work, the consultant shall;

Holding consultative meeting with staff and management of NPA in Juba, implementing partner (GAIS) staffs at field level and other key stakeholders including relevant government departments of Agriculture and rural development.
Work with NPA staffs to develop questionnaires, prepare the sample size, identify and train the survey enumerators on use of Mobile Data Collection tools (Tablets/ smartphones), survey questionnaires and methodology
Holding Focus group discussions (FGD), Key informant interviews (KII) and conduct household interviews through use of household questionnaires with project direct beneficiaries and stakeholders (including in all livelihoods sectors-fisheries, pastoralists, agricultural workers, blacksmith workers, associations of rural women and producer organizations, local women’s groups, community leaders and service providers).
Validation workshop with NPA, GAIS including key stakeholder’s relevant government departments from field office in Rumbek and at Juba office upon completion of data collection processes.
Preparation of a detailed Final Evaluation report of not more than 30 pages. The report should contain very clearly detailed values for all project indicators at Impact, Outcomes and Outputs level with a table detailing these values presented in a matrix should form part of the executive summary in the report.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONSULTANT:

The consultant will be required to report on regular basis to the Emergency Program Manager on the progress of the survey, which will have the overall responsibility of the survey.

Prepare questionnaires
Prepare the sampling strategy and sample plan for the survey
Conduct survey enumerators trainings
Coordinate and supervised data collection in target location
Checks for data quality throughout the data collection period, data entry and final data cleaning
Conduct data analysis and draft report write up
Collation of inputs from relevant programme staff, finalization of recommendations
Conduct validation workshop for presentation of preliminary findings
Produce the finalized End f Project Evaluation (EoP) Report.
Provide welfare support to Associate consultants
Prepare invoices for Instalment (30%) and Last payment (70%)

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE NORWEGIAN’S PEOPLE AIDS- NPA

The Norwegian’s Peoples Aid will be responsible to;

Provide survey enumerators training materials and incentive
Provide relevant security briefings and organize relevant travel permits if required for international consultant.
Provide payment and cover other necessary cost with the evaluation survey enumerators.
Provide SMART phones for data collection
Logistical/ Fleet Support
Provide vehicles to facilitates the data collection processes
Provide accommodation for the consultant while in the field and in Juba throughout the evaluation period
Provide flights/ transport to and from field location

CONDITIONS OF WORK:

During the period of this job, the consultant will be based in NPA Field office in Rumbek town with frequent travel to field locations for data collection supervision and monitoring. He/she will be asked to overnight in the far counties of the target project sites (Yirol East and West) under NPA cost if in hotel and with no cost in NPA guest house.
The consultant will be required to abide by NPA security procedures provided by the NPA safety and security coordinator and other relevant policies, such as Code of Conduct, Conflicts of Interest from the human resources, which are outlined in the contract for this Job.
All raw data collected and reports generated will remain the property of the Norwegian Peoples Aid- NPA and the consultant will have no any rights of ownership after the end of the survey.

TIME FRAME:

This assignment will last approximately for 30 days starting 15^th May 2022 – 14^th June 2022. The consultant is expected to accomplish the task in the period provided. The timeframe assumes data collection with electronic handsets, and as such does not include time for data entry. For applicants intending to propose data collection using paper questionnaires please indicate this clearly in the proposal document. The overall work should be completed in not more than 30 days including the final approved report for the End of Project (EoP) Evaluation.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

a) Required

The successful candidate should:

Have an advanced university degree/ PHD desired or the equivalent in Agriculture, public health, development studies, economics, social sciences qualitative and quantitative research studies, M&E with at least five years of experience in conducting similar research for food security and livelihood (FSL) and nutrition, with a specific competency in humanitarian emergencies setting.
Experience in conducting Evaluation for EU funded project in South Sudan or else where
Have significant experience in undertaking nutrition surveys using quantitative and qualitative methods (Design and Methodologies, staff recruitment and training, field supervision and data analysis/write up).
Be familiar with the use of mobile data collection tools (MDC) and able to upload and manage cloud data as required by the organization.
Familiar with statistical data analysis tools such as SPSS, STATA
Able to work in difficult and hostile environment
Have experience in negotiating tangible ideas with opposing parties
Able to manage work stress while keeping high performance
Able to travel long distant in rough roads with minimal nutritional support

· Be fluent in English with excellent writing and presentation skills

Experience in conducting trainings
Experience/exposure to similar contexts

b) Desired

Previous experience in South Sudan of similar job is desired
PHD holders in any relevant field desired

ALL APPLICANTS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
Technical proposal:

The technical proposal should include;

Brief explanation about the lead and associate consultants with particular emphasis on previous experience in this kind of work
Understanding of TOR and the task to be accomplished
Proposed methodology
Draft work/implementation plan
Copies of reports of previous work conducted.
A written submission on understanding of TOR, methodology / approach the consultant will use; time and time-bound activity schedule, financial issues (budget, number of people he/she will hire, costs per activity line – people, logistics etc.)
Organizational (if it is a company applying) or personal capacity statement (if it is an individual that will hire data collectors)
Resume and 3 references

THE EVALUATION CRITERIA ARE BASED ON TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL CRITERIA

Education background of lead/ and or for co associates (Minimal- Advance Degree for both lead and co-associates, PHD Desired)
6 Years of experience in conducting similar tasks especially for EU funded project
Known reliability in delivery of timely and quality services to EU funded projects
Relevant field/ country experience especially fragile country like South Sudan
Relevant sector specific technical experience & qualifications especially in agriculture and livelihood programming (FSL)
Experience in conducting and designing research methodology (Both Qualitative and Quantitative)
Relevant experience in project monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
Demonstrate excellence skills in use of mobile data collection tools using XLS form
Realistic and Cost-effective budget
Realistic and clear work plan with define deliverables within the allocated time period.
Clear referencing (3 referees’ maximum) and latest sample of previous work done (one sample minimum)