Consultancy for the External Intermediate Evaluation of the AECID Emergency Agreement At Spanish Red Cross

The Spanish Red Cross publishes this consultancy (you can find the terms of reference attached) to carry out the External Intermediate Evaluation of the AECID Emergency Agreement. The main objective of this evaluation is to determine the degree of progress in the fulfillment of the expected results, the introduction of improvements in the intervention or corrections in case of deviation, as well as the identification of strengths and good practices in order to take advantage of them, replicate them and guarantee their maintenance.

Purpose and type of evaluation

The Terms of Reference that you can find in the following link: External Intermediate Evaluation of the AECID Emergency Agreement – The Coordinator of Organizations for Development , are related to the realization of an intermediate external evaluation of the Emergency Agreement entitled: Emergency assistance to the population affected by disasters with the objective of covering their basic needs and promoting their recovery.

The Agreement, signed by the Spanish Red Cross (CRE) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), has a duration of 4 years (March 2023 – February 2027), and is halfway through its period of validity.

The service to be contracted is an external interim evaluation carried out on the execution carried out and in progress at the time of contracting the service.

Use and expectations of assessment

The evaluation to be carried out has a fundamental formative purpose, that is to say: it is expected to provide learning based on the analysis of the execution carried out or in progress for impact assessment, in order to improve the Agreement in the remaining time of validity, through the application of the lessons learned by carrying out an improvement plan, or if appropriate, through corrective measures.

Additionally, and linked to the main purpose, it is expected that the evaluation will serve as an instrument for:

• To understand the alignment of actions executed or in execution with the objectives of the Agreement and their potential to achieve them.
• Accountability to donors, the public and all those involved in the implementation processes.
• To understand the analysis and lessons learned regarding good environmental practices carried out during activations.

The dissemination of the evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the agreement between the parties signing the agreement, AECID and CRE.

Scope of the assessment

The objective of the Convention is to strengthen, improve and expand the capacity to respond to disasters and crises . The evaluation is expected to determine to what extent the implementation to date allows for progress towards the Convention’s objective. To this end, the evaluation will analyse:

General element: results of the execution and, to what extent, they allow approximation to the specific Objective.

Concrete components:

• Accountability: analysis of the implementation of the accountability component, collecting good practices and specific recommendations.
• Integrating the gender and inclusion approach: with good practices and specific recommendations.
• Integration of good environmental practices: analysis of the implementation of the environmental component in activations.
• Cash-based programming: analysis of the impact of providing goods or services to the target population, via monetary transfers.
• Other elements: the possibility of analysing how implementation contributes to more general humanitarian commitments such as localisation or the humanitarian-development nexus, among others, will be assessed.

Ideally, the evaluation will include a field visit to one of the 8 activations developed to date, excluding those for which travel is not recommended for safety reasons.

The main objective of this evaluation is to determine the degree of progress in achieving the expected results, the introduction of improvements in the intervention or corrections in case of deviation, as well as the identification of strengths and good practices in order to take advantage of them, replicate them and ensure their maintenance. To do this, the evaluation:

1. It will analyse the design of the intervention, starting from the original design and its adaptation during the execution at the mid-term of the Agreement.
2. It will evaluate the results of the implementation in terms of compliance with the design and approach to the objectives of the Agreement.

Findings are expected to emerge from both points that will allow conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations to be drawn.

For more information External Interim Evaluation of the AECID Emergency Agreement – The Coordinator of Development Organizations