Consultant (End-term Evaluation of AQ TEVET Project) At WorldFish Center

Location: Remote Base & Travel to Fieldwork

Application Deadline: 8 November 2021

Type of contract: Consultancy contract (30 working days)

Language(s) required: English (proficient /fluent writing and oral skills)

About WorldFish

WorldFish is an international, non-for-profit research organization that works to reduce hunger, malnutrition and poverty by improving fisheries and aquaculture. With a 45-years track record of leading-edge science, WorldFish generates research evidence and innovations to inform sustainable practices and inclusive policies that enable better livelihoods and healthier diets for millions of poor people, particularly women, who depend on fish for food, nutrition and income. WorldFish is a member of CGIAR , the world’s largest global partnership on agriculture research and innovation for a food secure future. Headquartered in Penang, Malaysia and with regional offices across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, WorldFish leads the cross-disciplinary CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH).

Project Background

WorldFish is implementing the Aquaculture Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training for Improved Private Sector and Smallholder Skills (AQ TEVET) project, a 3 ½ year project (2018 to 2021) with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). The project is implemented in Lusaka, Northern and Luapula Provinces of Zambia in partnership with Musika, Blue Planet and Natural Resources Development College (NRDC). The overall goal of the project is “To increase the number of human resources working for the private sector, and the number of smallholder commercial fish farmers with enhanced aquaculture knowledge and up-to-date practical skills to help sustainably grow the sector and make it more inclusive.”

The project comprises two components. The first component focuses on upgrading the fisheries/aquaculture curriculum (long- and short-term courses), training tools, online training platforms, and internship programs of TEVET institutions in Zambia, namely NRDC but with links to other TEVET institutions to scale the upgraded training “package” over the course of the project. The second component focuses on enhancing the technical education, vocational, and entrepreneurship skills of rural women, men, and youth smallholder commercial fish farmers and increasing their linkages to input/output markets and entrepreneurship opportunities via private sector extension support and services delivery.

Purpose of the End-term Evaluation

WorldFish is soliciting competitive bids from reputable, qualified, and competent service providers/ individual international and/or national consultants to conduct an end-term evaluation of the AQ TEVET project. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide a concise assessment of the achievement of the project against project objectives, outcomes and outputs. This must include:

• Assessment of project’s performance in terms of outcomes and impact generated.
• Identify the enablers and/or constraints to the attainment of the envisaged results and impacts.
• Generation of lessons learned and recommendations for future interventions.

Methodological Approach

The assessment will employ a mixed-methods approach to data collection. The consultant(s) are expected to use different approaches, comprising literature review and primary quantitative and qualitative data collection. Evaluators must use Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for data collection.

Key Evaluation Questions

• Relevance: To was extend was the project relevant?
• Effectiveness: How effective were the project delivery mechanisms?
• Efficiency to what extend what the project implementation efficient?
• Visibility: Was communication and dissemination of project outputs adequate?
• Impact: to what extent did the project contribute to the intended impact?
• Sustainability: How sustainable are the project benefits?
• What are the recommendations for the future and for scaling activities and models?

Roles and Responsibilities

Working closely with the WorldFish MEL Team and the Project Leadership in Zambia and WorldFish Headquarters in Malaysia. The consultant will:

• Review project documents and reports available from WorldFish and project implementation partners.
• Design a robust mixed-methods evaluation methodology.
• Collect high-quality data.
• Analyze the data and write a high quality publishable end-term evaluation report.
• Identify lessons learned and develop practical recommendations for WorldFish/FISH, the Donor, and the project stakeholders that may help inform the design and implementation of similar future projects (with defined sustainability pathways) and activities in the future.
• Incorporate feedback from stakeholders in a timely, objective and transparent manner.
• Submit the draft and final end-term evaluation report, and both raw and clean electronic data sets to WorldFish.

Technical Bid Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria and sub-criteria will be the basis of the selection of the successful bidder:

a) Qualifications of the service provider:

• The lead consultant must possess an advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in any of the following: Agricultural Economics, Social Science (Sociology/ Social Anthropology), Statistics/Population Studies, Project/Program Management or Project/Program Evaluation. Preference will be given to a candidate with a Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation from a reputable university.
• The evaluation team should comprise a lead consultant (internationally recruited) and a nationally recruited Research Assistants who must possess academic qualifications in fisheries and aquaculture.

b) Experience

• Experience in implementing end-line evaluations in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus in aquaculture, fisheries or agriculture sector(s).
• Must have executed similar assignments in Zambia or other southern African countries in the last 5 years.
• Experience in developing and implementing mixed methods research designs.
• Demonstrated experience incorporating ethical considerations that arise with researching human subjects.
• Track record of writing detailed and yet concise evaluation reports. he/she must provide two similar or related evaluation reports done in the past 5 years.
• Experience in leading or co-leading evaluation teams.

c) Skills

• Data management and data curation.
• Data analysis and report writing.
• Proficiency in the use of technological aids for enhancing collection of quality data, analysis and presentation.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

d) Methodology

• Clear, practical, robust, logical and complementary methodological approaches are desired and,
• Clear justification of study site/location choice and intended respondent numbers and selection, whether random or otherwise.

Ti**meline and Deliverables, please refer to this link.**

Term of Appointment

This position is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge and experience with an international research and development organization. The consultant will be carried out both remotely and in country. Consultants are required to travel to fieldwork.

Only shortlisted candidate will be notified and expected to attend the virtual interview. The successful candidate should be available to commence as soon as possible, under a consultancy contract, with a maximum of 30 working days. This position is open to international applicants.