Final Evaluation for project “Emergency Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Livelihood support for Vulnerable Populations in and around Syria” At Mission East

Terms of Reference for:

Final Evaluation for project “Emergency Humanitarian Assistance, Protection and Livelihood support for Vulnerable Populations in and around Syria”

Mission East is an international non-governmental relief and development organization founded in Denmark in 1991 and working in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Mission East has been engaged in humanitarian and development work in Lebanon and Syria since 2019. To date, these interventions have centred around livelihoods recovery, protection, and emergency response (including COVID-19 response activities).

Implementation modality and Partnerships: Mission East has been operating in both countries since October 2019 working through our partners Dorcas International and Tabitha. Project implementation continues for activities structured around emergency response, livelihoods, and protection; however, Mission East also utilized flexible funds to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs across Syria and Lebanon following the Covid-19 lockdown. The project strategy exploits the complementarities in project management, presence, and technical competencies of the partnership between Mission East, Dorcas International, and Tabitha in Lebanon. Other sub-contracted partners include Migration Services and Development (MSD) in Lebanon and the Orthodox Church of Homs in Syria.

Mission East is currently searching for a Final Evaluation Consultant for the project “Emergency Food Assistance, Protection, and Livelihood Support for Vulnerable Populations in and around Syria”. The project aims to “To meet immediate humanitarian and protection needs of vulnerable populations and contribute to sustainable livelihoods recovery.”

This final evaluation is intended to assess and evaluate the project at strategy, outcome, and output level for the emergency response and protection activities undertaken by the project in targeted locations in Lebanon (Mount Lebanon-Aley, Batroun and Achrafieh-Beirut), and for emergency response, protection and livelihood recovery activities undertaken in several locations in Syria (Homs and Aleppo governorates) during the project period between 1 November 2020 – 30 April 2022.

Mission East’s organizational strategy calls for the periodic independent evaluations of its programmes, projects, and operations. The results contribute to better informed decision-making, transparent and credible programming, foster an environment of learning by doing and promote greater accountability for performance.

The objectives of this consultancy are:

· Assess how the activities undertaken by the project have led to the achievement of its results and objectives and with what degree of efficiency.

· Measure the effectiveness of the project activities in empowering the primary target group of the project, namely, crisis-affected women, girls, boys and men, especially with regards to helping them to meet their immediate lifesaving and protection needs and to start on the process of sustainable recovery. Assess the unintended positive or negative consequences of project activities and get beneficiary/community feedback regarding efficiency and quality of assistance received in terms of implementation and ease of access to available services.

· Measure relevance of action at community and household level: did the project correctly identify and address the priority needs for each of its different target groups and was the modality of implementation adopted well suited to beneficiary needs and preferences (eg.in-kind vs cash)?

· Evaluate the impact of the programme in building sustainability, community ownership and social cohesion in targeted communities. Did the project address intra-community needs/issues/tensions that may pre-condition the impact of activities on building social cohesion and trust, especially between host, displaced and refugee communities? What was beneficiary/community/stakeholder perception of the process? Did they feel that this was a participatory process? Was it inclusive for different groups?

· Analyze the outcomes and impact of the emergency response as part of the project activities, coherence of the response with other project activities, and other actions by Mission East and partners. How agile, flexible and adaptable were processes and systems to accommodate any changes in planned programming?

· Identify good practices, lessons learnt, failures and areas of improvement which can be used for improving and strengthening (i) overall project design and the linkages between different project components, and (ii) the partnership approach adopted and how this could be improved to build local partner capacity and agency?

· Assess the coherence and synergies of the project with other Mission East-funded projects (SYR-SHUM-001 and SYR-SPA-021) implemented by the same partners in the same target areas.

· Assess to what extent the project contributed to achieving collective outcomes through its use of HRBA and LNOB/Inclusion approaches, and contributed towards building synergies between humanitarian-recovery-development/peacebuilding activities? (Nexus approaches)?

The outputs / deliverables of this consultancy are:

· A final written Inception Report (see details below)

· A final written Evaluation Report outlining recommendations, findings, lessons learnt, and best practices etc.

· Annexes to the final evaluation report including data collection and evaluation methodology and tools (semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions, well-being and asset ranking exercises, outcome mapping etc. with different beneficiary/community groups) as well as lists of respondents with their contact information, description of cases, lists of information materials used etc.

· A power-point presentation to disseminate the results of the evaluation to all implementing partners and other stakeholders to further promote learning and accountability.

More detail on the objectives and outputs of the consultancy will be discussed during interviews and after contracting.

Consultancy timeline:

The consultancy has been scoped for 20 days of work with the following provisional schedule:

· July – August 2022 (more detail to be provided after contracting)

· 10-12 days of fieldwork with 7-8 days of (pre-departure) desk review, final report preparation and finalization. Travel days will be included in the billable days.

It is envisaged that the consultancy will start around 1 July 2021 (exact dates to be confirmed).

Method of work:

To fulfil the objectives of this exercise both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods should be employed. We require a participatory methodology whereby the work engages all key stakeholders including beneficiaries, community members, partner staff, local government staff and Mission East staff, collecting both primary and secondary data. The consultant will:

· Develop an Inception Report outlining tools and methodologies to be used and a schedule of field activities. It will be approved by the Mission East Consultancy Manager and act as an agreement between parties for how the evaluation is to be conducted. This Inception Report should include:

1. A Work Plan (with accompanying timeframe) for the fieldwork
2. Data collection and evaluation Methodology and Tools
3. Initial findings from desk review

· Use participatory/consultative methods (including but not limited to focus group discussions, pictures/video diaries, case studies) and should provide details of the approaches/methods to be used.

· Develop and prepare a Final Evaluation Report and power-point presentation.

Logistical arrangements:

The work will be carried in Syria (Homs and Aleppo governorates) and Lebanon (Beirut, Batroun and Mount Lebanon-Aley). Mission East and the partners, Dorcas International and Tabitha, will arrange the accommodation, transport and security arrangements for the consultant. Translation services can also be provided if needed. Any other logistical arrangements will be the responsibility of the selected consultant.

Background Information:

The following documents and materials will be made available to the consultant in English:

· All relevant programme and project documents (including Results Frameworks/logframes, monitoring reports, Monthly Reports, Work-Books etc.)

· Any relevant previous studies or evaluations conducted.

· Relevant Mission East and partner strategy and policy documents

Selection criteria:

· Advanced degree in development studies, social sciences or another relevant field.

· A minimum of 8 years of experience in conducting impact assessments and evaluations of humanitarian and development projects, particularly protection and livelihood recovery projects.

· Strong conceptual knowledge and understanding of theories of change, logic models, M&E systems, data quality assurance, sustainable livelihoods approaches, protection approaches, and Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) approaches and discourse, and Accountability to Affected Populations/Core Humanitarian Standard.

· Ability to produce high quality analytical reports in English.

· Familiarity with the specific (crisis) context in Syria and Lebanon and previous experience of working on humanitarian and development projects in Syria, Lebanon or the Middle East would be highly desirable.

· Demonstrable knowledge and experience of evaluating and assessing the strategy, design and implementation of humanitarian-development (nexus) programmes in protracted, fragile contexts

· Good research, monitoring and evaluation skills including use of participatory methodologies.

· Excellent verbal and written skills in English are essential. Knowledge of Arabic is preferred.

Exclusion criteria:

If any of the following are true for the applicant at the time of submitting their application or at any time during the procurement process, they will be excluded from consideration for winning a contract with Mission East. The bidder may also be blacklisted for participation in future Mission East procurements.

Violations of sanctions & support for terrorism

a) The company, organisation or an individual associated with the tender are listed in the sanction and embargo list of the UN Security Council, the European Union or EU Member States, United States (OFAC) or United Kingdom (OFSI).

b) They have provided support (material or other) or any resource to any individual or entity that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in terrorist activity; or to anyone who acts as an agent for such an individual or entity;

c) They have association with a designated terrorist entity or their ownership, control, or influence;

d) They are not compliant with laws and regulations stipulated by the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism and Sanctions policies, as well as those stipulated by the European Union and its member states, the United Kingdom, or the United States of America.

Unacceptable interaction with Mission East

e) They have engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive or coercive practices in their interactions with Mission East or its partners in relation to the current procurement process or any time in the past;

f) They are subject to a conflict of interest. If there is any personal or business relationship between the bidder and Mission East staff, its partners or its donors, the bidder must state this at the time of tendering, and this may result in exclusion of the bidder;

g) Following another procurement procedure or grant award procedure with Mission East, its partners, or financed by the European Union, they have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations;

h) They are guilty of misrepresenting the information required by Mission East as part of the procurement procedure or fail to supply this information.

Unethical practices by the bidder

i) They are engaged in the exploitation of child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings;

j) They do not respect their employees’ basic social rights and working conditions as per international labour standards;

k) They are actively supporting a conflict or are engaged in the manufacture of arms and/or landmines, or the sale of such to governments which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, or where there is internal armed conflict or major tensions, or where the sale of arms may jeopardise regional peace and security.

l) They are involved in unethical exploitation of natural resources, in particular sensitive commodities such as precious metals, stones, and rare earths.

m) They are engaged in activities which directly cause harm to the population that Mission East is aiming to assist, including environmental harm to their communities.

Unacceptable legal situation of the bidder

n) They are bankrupt, subject to insolvency, or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;

o) It has been established by a court’s final judgment or by any means that Mission East can justify that the bidder is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the bidder belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes a wrongful intent or gross negligence.

p) They have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with applicable laws;

q) They have been the subject of a court’s final judgement for acts of fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering, hiding unlawfully obtained financial benefits, or any other illegal activity detrimental to Mission East or its donors’ financial interests;

Applicants must complete and sign the ‘Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility’ below and submit the signed ToR together with their application package to confirm that that they are not in one of the situations listed above. Even if such confirmation is given by a bidder, Mission East will investigate any of the situations listed above if it has reasonable grounds to doubt the contents of such confirmation.

Anti-Fraud Policy:

Mission East has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and fraud in all its forms. Mission East aims to prevent fraudulent activities and to respond to any allegations or potential fraud swiftly and effectively. In line with Mission East’s Anti-Fraud Policy, which can be viewed on the Mission East website, Mission East requires the consultant to report any suspected fraud, waste, theft or abuse to Mission East. Any reports of such misconduct can be reported to Mission East headquarters through contact details on their website.

Other Requirements if Selected:

• Mission East will require the successful consultant to sign our organisational Code of Conduct.
• Mission East upholds high standards in Counter Terrorism (COTER) and sanctions regulation compliance. In view of the nature and location of Mission East’s work, Mission East will conduct background checks of the successful consultant including checking through relevant sanctions lists.
• The successful candidates will also be required to commit to the following clause relating to the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment: The consultant agrees to actively prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), and to ensure, in the best way possible, that the intervention is carried out in an environment free of all kinds of exploitation, abuse and harassment, sexually or otherwise, especially in the case of particularly vulnerable groups.
• Mission East upholds high standards in all aspects of Safeguarding. In view of the nature of this role potentially requiring unsupervised access to children or vulnerable individuals (including situations where there are potential imbalances of power), you may be required to provide a formal certificate of good conduct.

Application:

Interested individuals should send the following by email to recruitment@missioneast.org:

· Financial Proposal (Please note that per-diems are not issued as part of consultancies with Mission East. Please take this into consideration in the financial proposal)

· Signed Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility (see below)

· Cover letter, individual CV, consultancy proposal including description of methodology to be used and financial proposal, example of past work, etc.]

Deadline for applications: Applications must be submitted by 20^th March 2022.

Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility:

By signing this Terms of Reference, the consultant certifies that that they are not in one of the situations listed above under ‘*Exclusion Criteria’*. The consultant also certifies that all the information provided, and any related documents submitted are truthful and correct at time of signature.

Name: _________________**Signature:________________** Date: ________