Undertake an End-line Project Evaluation and facilitate a learning event and Project proposal application write-shop At Lutheran World Federation

1.INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is an international humanitarian organization that has global presence in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Central America. The global headquarters of LWF is in Geneva, Switzerland. The LWF Kenya Somalia Programme is headquartered in Nairobi Kenya to serve both the Kenya and Somalia country programs.

The Lutheran World Federation provides quality humanitarian assistance to displaced and affected communities and focuses on three priority programmatic areas; Quality services: covering the areas of education and WASH – with primary focus on education; LWF provides other life-saving humanitarian assistance occasioned by natural disasters (drought, floods, etc.) through quick impact projects in its areas of operations. Protection and social cohesion: protection services to support vulnerable and at risk persons with major focus on child protection, persons with specific needs (PWDs, older persons), child mothers, and women at risk, and also supporting community social cohesion/peace building activities and Sustainable livelihoods: climate friendly livelihood interventions in crop and animal production, vocational skills training and development, enterprise development, micro-finance and business development skills training. More information about the LWF Kenya-Somalia program can be obtained. https://kenyasomalia.lutheranworld.org/

The Bread for the World funded project ‘Promoting Community Resilience through Engaging the Somali Society (PRESS- DADOKI)’ is a three (3) year project implemented by LWF Somalia as the lead agency, together with American Friends Services Committee (AFSC). The DADOKI project seeks to address three issues i.e., intercommunal hostilities, denial of women’s and girls’ rights and prevalent poverty levels. The project is implementing interventions targeting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), returnees, Somali migrants, and populations on the move, along with less advantaged local communities, both rural and urban, and ethnic minorities who are vulnerable. Project pays special attention to women and girls, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and youth. Other key stakeholders include community leaders and duty bearers. The project aims to reach at least 26,500 people (16,600 females and 9,900 males, including 2,580 persons with disabilities).

The goal of this project is to “Enhance resilience and social cohesion among Somali communities in Dadaab, Dhobley, and Kismayu”. To achieve this overarching goal, LWF and AFSC have designed interventions aimed at realizing the following three key outcome objectives: (i) Communities’ social cohesion and community-based psychosocial support is enhanced, (ii) The enforcement of ‘ ‘women’s and girls’ fundamental rights to education and protection against gender-based violence are enhanced, and (iii) Target community’s livelihood opportunities are enhanced. The consultant will be required to evaluate and measure the progress made against the following project indicators;

• At least 80% of 3,600 (1,300 female) people who received psychosocial support confirmed that this intervention has helped to improve their lives.
• At least 3,000 (1,200 female) target communities report improved social cohesion within the community
• The primary education coverage for school-age girls from IDPs, refugee returnees and receiving/local communities in Kismayu and Dhobley is increased by 10%.
• At least 80% of SGBV cases reported through the referral pathways received protection assistance.
• At least 60% of 1,500 women, youth, and vulnerable households engaged in livelihood support increased their annual income by at least 50%.
• 80% of the trained and supported groups demonstrated utilization of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and practices in Kismayu

2. OVERALL, PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY

This Request for Proposals is to identify potential bidder(s) for the execution of an End line evaluation, validation of the evaluation findings, moderate a learning event and subsequently guide the consortium in the drafting of phase 2 of the project through a write-shop meeting.

Conducting an End-line evaluation is a best practice by LWF and is also a donor requirement as part of the program’s learning and accountability framework. The evaluation aims to comprehensively assess the extent to which the project has achieved the intended and unintended outcomes based on the objectives and indicators, provide in-depth analysis and understanding of why certain intended outcomes have or have not been realized, analyze the challenges encountered, provide recommendations and document lessons for improving future projects implementation. The result of this evaluation will be utilized by the project implementing agencies and partners, the community project participants, the financing partner as well as state and non-state stakeholders involved in the project, to inform reporting, learning and information exchange, the design and implementation of future projects by identifying successful approaches and areas needing enhancement besides demonstrating tangible results of the project.

The evaluation report will also be used during the validation and learning event workshop as well as during a write-shop where the project phase two application/proposal will be developed.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The assignment has the following objectives;

• a. Assess the extent to which the project has achieved its outcome objectives.
• Assess the project progress towards achieving relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability with special emphasis on the evaluation’s Key questions.
• Harvest and document lessons learned, best practices, challenges encountered and put forth practical recommendations for future program improvement.
• Building on the findings from the endline evaluation, the consultant will be required to come up with implementation plans to enhance next phase of the project design, scaling up successes, addressing gaps and aligning with strategic donor requirements.

4. SCOPE OF WORK

Period under review: The evaluation is anticipated to encompass the project duration from 1st August 2022 up to 30th December 2024.

Geographical Coverage: The evaluation will cover all areas targeted by the project and within Dadaab, Dhobley and Kismayo (Dadaab- Dhobley-Kismayo migration corridor).

Thematic Priorities**:** The end line evaluation will focus on specific interventions under the four identified thematic areas; Education, protection, social cohesion (Peacebuilding) and Livelihood.

Target Beneficiary Category and Stakeholders**:** All target beneficiary categories and relevant stakeholders outlined in the project documents. This includes a thorough evaluation of the impact on and engagement with these groups throughout the project implementation.

Evaluation exercise: To coordinate the evaluation exercise and submit the final report.

Validation and learning event: The consultant(s)/firm will lead the project team during the evaluation report validation and learning event.

Write-shop: Facilitate a write-shop for the project implementers and relevant stakeholders to design the phase two (2) project proposal/application.

5. TIME FRAME/DURATION

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Description

Dates

Number of days

1. Conduct the project endline evaluation, Dates; 20th December 2024 to 18th January 2025. Number of days; 30
2. Evaluation report validation/learning event. Dates; 19th January 2025 to 25th January 2025, Number of days; 7
3. Write-shop (phase 2) meeting, Dates; 26th January 2025 to 31st January 2025. Number of days; 7
4. Completion of DaDoKI 2 project proposal, Dates: 1st Feb to 22nd Feb 2025.Number of days; 22
5. Review of DaDoKi 2 project proposal, Dates, 23rd Feb to 3rd March 2025. Number of days; 9
6. Submission of DaDoKI 2 proposal to BftW, Dates; 5th March 2025**. Number of days;** 0

Total days = 75

6. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

The consultant(s)/firm is expected to recommend empirical approaches and methodologies that incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methods that are in line with the OECD DAC criteria. The consultant(s)/firm will use a gender-responsive and inclusive methodology to ensure the perspectives of women, youth, and other marginalized groups are adequately captured. The consultant(s)/firm is encouraged to expand on these criteria using key evaluation questions to assess various aspects comprehensively.

The recommended approaches and methodologies MUST prioritize inclusivity, active participation and adhere to ethical considerations. As LWF is a CHS-certified organization, the nine Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) commitments will guide and complement the OECD DAC criteria during the evaluation. For more information, refer to the Core Humanitarian Standard.

7. DELIVERABLES

The consultant will be responsible for preparing and submitting the following deliverables;

• An inception report.
• A draft report of the findings submitted to LWF and AFSC program team for feedback (including related materials from interviews conducted).
• A final report written in English (soft copy), maximum 40 pages including findings, best practices, lessons learned, recommendations and annexes. The structure and format of the final report will be agreed upon by LWF, AFSC and the consultant.
• Conduct the evaluation report validation/dissemination and learning event.
• Lead the facilitation of a write-shop for the development and submission of the phase two project application.

8. SUBMISSION CRITERIA

PART A: TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

The Technical Proposal shall be straightforward and concise, describing how the consultant intends to carry out and deliver on the above mentioned tasks. No cost or pricing information is to be included in the technical proposal. Technical proposals are limited to 12 pages in total

Technical Approach– Narrative not to exceed five (5) pages.

• The bidder shall demonstrate his/her understanding, ability, and overall approach to perform the requirements described in the Scope of Work/Tasks/Activities. S/he shall clearly explain how they propose to structure, design, manage, and execute the work required that meets LWF objectives.
• The Technical Approach must include a methodology, timeline or Gantt chart of the deliverables required to execute this project.

Capability Statement – Narrative – not to exceed two (2) pages.

• The bidder shall demonstrate his/her specialized competence about the requirements of the tasks/activities. S/he shall demonstrate they have the necessary personnel to successfully comply with the contract requirements and accomplish the deliverables.

Past Performance – Narrative not to exceed five (3) pages.

• The Bidder shall provide at least three (3) examples of past performance of implementing similar projects. The past performance examples must be within the last three (3) years and similar in scale and relevance. S/he must provide references for each example, including the reference’s name, title, phone number, and email address.

Personnel/Staffing – A narrative not to exceed two (2) pages.

• A summary describing the proposed staff for the project, including up to three team members. The summary shall include names, relevant qualifications of similar experience, and the proposed role for each individual.
• The firm’s technical lead person/ individual consultant must have at least a master’s degree or PhD specializing in peace, education, protection, livelihoods, food security, research and Monitoring and evaluation, or related qualifications, with extensive expertise and experience in evaluating development programs. S/he should have at least 10 years of experience working with international organizations and donors on monitoring, and evaluations or climate change-related programs, with particular experience in the context of Somalia.

Annex: Not included in the technical proposal.

• Bidders are encouraged to provide an Annex or “portfolio,” not exceeding 10 pages, of samples CVs (not exceeding 3 pages) of each of the proposed key personnel and samples of similar assignments. The Annex can include copies of photographs, reports, proposals, other visual representations, and media/social media clippings.

PART B: Financial PROPOSAL- (Separately)

• The bidder shall propose a realistic and reasonable cost for this work.
• The consultant is required to submit a financial proposal for the cost ONLY of the consultancy professional fees (e.g. Lead consultant, co-consultant, M&E and Data unit etc. as maybe relevant to the firm for quality outcomes).
• The cost should be in US Dollars and include all applicable local taxation. The financial proposal shall list all costs associated with the assignment.

9. EVALUATION CRITERIA

• The selected Consultant will be responsible for designing and executing all activities outlined in this Request for Proposal in coordination with LWF and AFSC.
• Proposals will be evaluated using the quality and cost-based selection, with a total score calculated out of 100% of which 80% is the weight of the technical proposal and 20% is the weight of the financial proposal.

Proposals meeting the mandatory requirements will be evaluated for technical merit based on the criteria in the below chart. Those proposals scoring 65 points or higher (out of 80 points) will be considered for cost-effectiveness Section

Technical Approach

Proposed structure, design, and approach to conducting the survey. (25 points)

Timeline or Gantt chart of the activities required for execution. (10 points) Maximum Points 35

Capability Statement

Demonstrate the necessary organizational systems and personnel to successfully comply with the contract requirements and accomplish the expected results. (15 points) Maximum Points 15

Past Performance

• Inclusion of at least three relevant past performance examples of similar projects. (10 points)
• References provided by past clients for these examples and their evaluation of the bidder’s ability to deliver on time and within quality and budget expectations. (5 points) Maximum Points15

Personnel/Staffing

Qualifications and past relevant experience of the lead consultant and up to 3 team members proposed to perform the requirements of this scope of work.

This solicitation is open to individuals, international or local firms/companies registered in Somalia and Kenya, specializing in peace, education, protection, livelihoods, food security, research and Monitoring and evaluation.

(15 points) Maximum Points15

**Technical Evaluation Threshold (**Only offers that receive a technical evaluation score of 65 and above points (out of 80) will be considered for cost evaluation.)

Cost Evaluation

The financial proposal will be evaluated using the following formula: FS=20*lowest price/F, where FS is the financial score, and F is the proposal’s price under consideration. Maximum Points 20

Total Points = 100

10. MANAGEMENT OF THE CONSULTANT

The Program Manager of LWF Kenya Somalia, will have overall responsibility for contract management.

LWF will be responsible for:

• Facilitating the coordination of the consultant and the LWF/AFSC field teams during field visits.
• Providing the consultant with necessary project related documents (progress reports, approved proposals, baseline and mid-line evaluations, etc.) and facilitate access to project sites and stakeholders, including local partners and community representatives.
• ALL administrative related costs (air tickets, visas, field logistics, on-boarding the data collection enumerators, field security and data collection fees e.t.c)

The consultant(s) will be responsible for:

• Submission of the inception report, detailing the objectives, methodology and data collection tools and other details as per the contract.
• Training enumerators and coordinating data collection and analysis, ensuring ethical principles and safeguarding measures are in adhered to.
• Submitting the draft evaluation report and the final evaluation report.
• Presenting the evaluation findings to consortium partners during the validation and learning event.
• Lead the discussion during the phase 2 project application drafting write-shop and submission of the final application to LWF.