Final Evluation of Evaluation of IMPROVE – Integrated Mechanism to Promote the Recovery of the Most Vulnerable Households At Concern Worldwide

Context:

Since August 2021, Concern and ACTED have been implementing a FSL Program in the Tanganyika province, in DRC. The partnership between Concern and ACTED provides life-saving assistance to vulnerable households through improved access to food and livelihoods whilst ensuring gender and protection is included throughout. The increased focus of the humanitarian community on rapid response has reduced attention on other lifesaving activities as well as on the necessity of understanding the context of interventions and community dynamics. The partnership focuses on the areas identified as most in need (Manono, Kabalo and Nyunzu territories) through an area-based approach. Simultaneously, it aims to maintain a contingency capacity through a flexible mobile approach to provide emergency response in all targeted areas after a food insecurity alert has been raised. The combination of both area-based (non-mobile), and a flexible mobile response, allows for a comprehensive approach in addressing needs of different vulnerable households in the province, including the displaced population as well as those remaining in their area of origin.

Concern’s Programme:

IMPROVE implements emergency and recovery agricultural assistance linked with food assistance, with a protection and gender focused approach. Support to restart agriculture activities for vulnerable and food insecure populations is provided to households with access to land, building on their initial agricultural activity and capacities. Agricultural activities increase the amount of food and income households have over time, contributing to a sustainable solution for participating households and therefore to food insecure communities.

With this approach and training on gender roles and equality specifically in agricultural activities accompanied by food assistance (protection ration and 2 rounds of distribution), the partnership aims to have a larger impact than just emergency food assistance by improving agricultural production in the most vulnerable households, which are predominantly women-led. IMPROVE’s approach seeks to support the recovery through:

  1. Supply of agricultural inputs (seeds and tools), accompanied by basic trainings.
  2. Building local capacity and governance through trainings and by setting up Farmer’s Field Schools, including support to local agriculture authorities (ITAPEL).
  3. Inclusion and support of the most vulnerable through gender and protection training and sensitization.

The agriculture recovery and food assistance activities are implemented through:

Area-based response (Sub-Purpose 1), which involves identifying communities with the most needs amongst those in Territories classified as IPC3+.

Alert-based response (Sub-Purpose 2), which will be a mobile response following a Food Security Alert, affecting food production.

IMPROVE incorporates temporary employment interventions into the activity design. Rehabilitation of roads that give access to respond to food security needs in the most remote and difficult to access areas and revive access to markets has taken place. These interventions involve minor rehabilitation activities helping to clear any obstacles obstructing the roads (i.e., road cleaning; weeding; etc.).

Scope of the Evaluation:

The purpose of the final evaluation is to assess:

1) The degree to which the programme has been successful in achieving the established results and objectives as laid out in the project proposal;

2) To identify future programme options to provide Food and Livelihoods Assistance to Vulnerable Households in Tanganyika. The data collected will be compared to the baseline data, routine monitoring data, and other information collected as part of the intervention. The endline data collection will be conducted by Concern and ACTED M&E teams in advance of the arrival of the external evaluator. The evaluator will be able to concentrate on broader elements to establish the degree of success of the programme. Information gained will be used in order to establish better practice and help formulate new interventions in the programme area.

Specific evaluation tasks to be undertaken:

  1. Assess the relevance, appropriateness, coherence, coverage, efficiency, effectiveness, connectedness and impact of the programme.
  2. Evaluate whether objectives, indicators and targets have been achieved and appropriateness of the targeting strategy used.
  3. Identify lessons learned and provide practical and innovative programme options for assisting the poorest and most vulnerable food and nutrition insecure households in Tanganyika.

The final evaluation will address the following USAID Key Evaluation questions:

Relevance & Appropriateness

  • How appropriate were the chosen interventions and programme design to the situation and needs of different stakeholders at different levels (micro, meso and macro, and considering the needs of men, women and others identified as vulnerable to hazards in the programme area)?
  • What was the level of participation of beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries in the programme? Was an adequate CRM system in place?
  • How appropriate was the food basket for the target beneficiaries, particularly for the Twa populations who have specific food practices?
  • How relevant was the introduction of other agricultural crops such as rice and sweet potato- taking into account the value chain of these crops but also the agroecological factors of the intervention area?
  • How relevant and adaptable were the agricultural products made available to participants?

Coherence

  • Was the intervention informed by and aligned with the fundamental humanitarian principles? Was the Red Cross Code of Conduct respected?
  • Was there evidence that the intervention adhered to relevant Concern policies (e.g. Equality, Protection, Approach to Emergencies)? Please provide examples.

Coverage

  • Is there evidence that our interventions reached the most vulnerable?

Efficiency

  • Were activities cost-efficient?
  • Were objectives achieved on time?

Effectiveness

  • To what extent were the objectives of the programme, as reflected in the project proposal and log frame, achieved?
  • What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?
  • How effective was the use of unconditional and the conditional assistance to increase community resilience to future shocks?

Impact

  • What, if any, were the unintended impacts of the programme intervention, both positive and negative? Was the programme able to monitor, mitigate and respond to any unintended negative effects?

Connectedness

  • Has the programme put in place an exit strategy?
  • Were the emergency activities carried out in a way that considered longer-term programmes and relevant approaches?

Mainstreaming Issues

  • Was due consideration given to gender equality, protection and social cohesion within the programme so as to ensure the intervention did not increase vulnerability of target?

M&E and Project Management

  • What are the key learnings that should be shared both internally and externally?

Evaluation methodology:

1) Desk Based research/preparation: the external evaluator will be expected to make a complete review of the project proposal, progress reports and other supporting documentation provided. The documentation provided will be in both French and English languages. In addition, documents published by organizations working within the same areas and communities will be reviewed to situate the programme within the wider context of humanitarian support in Tanganyika and Haut Katanga.

2) In the field: the external evaluator (with the support, as required, of Concern and ACTED field staff) will facilitate interviews and discussions with a sample of programme participants and non-participants, and staff through household surveys, FGDs and KIIs to provide an insight as to programme implementation, and alternative options for more sustainable solutions for vulnerable communities. The external evaluator will be encouraged to use a variety of techniques in the field to verify Concern and ACTED’s own findings on results and indicators through reviewing internal programme monitoring documentation and end line survey results. Qualitative information on beneficiaries’ own experience of the programme (involvement in design, targeting, delivery of assistance, follow-up, CRM/MGP) should be collected to complement quantitative output and outcome data. Programme and support staff will be useful sources of information regarding processes employed during the initiative and will provide insight in relation to some of the successes and challenges faced. The external evaluator will interview other main actors working on food security projects as well as the relevant sector leads, to compare strategies/approaches and developments within the sector, given the nature of the challenge in DRC, regional specificities and international humanitarian priorities.

3) Post-field analysis: sufficient time will be made available post-field work for the external evaluator to analyze and review data collected and prepare a draft report and finalize subsequent drafts based on feedback from Concern and other potential peer reviewers.

Roles & Responsibilities

The consultant/s will be responsible for:

  • Drafting inception report
  • Leading the Desk Review
  • Methodology and tool development/finalization
  • Field evaluation process
  • Writing and validation of the report.

The Concern/ACTED Area Coordinators and Head of Offices of Kalemie, Manono, Nyunzu and Kabalo will help him/her identify the relevant actors for interviews and field visits and will provide the consultant with available documentation.

Key Deliverables

Inception report, with the following sections include:

  • Detailed description of the methodology for the evaluation Data collection methods
  1. Data collection methods
  2. Data collection tools
  3. Sampling
  4. Approach to quality control
  • Data analysis methods
  • Justification for revising the Evaluation Questions (if relevant)
  • Detailed workplan
  • Data collection tools including FGD guide ahead of field work
  • Data analysis and presentation of preliminary findings through a PowerPoint presentation
  • PowerPoint presentation of the main findings
  • Final Report: minimum of 20 pages and a maximum 30 pages, excluding executive summary table of contents and annexes:

– Executive Summary

– Project background, with a project overview and a description of the theory of change

– Methodology, with details on: Logic model, data collection methods, data collection tools, sampling, quality control. data analysis, limitations of the evaluation

– Evaluation results.The evaluation report will include an appraisal of how well the programme has fared against each of the DAC criteria using the following grading scale, where:

5 – Outstanding/Exceptional Performance,

4 – Very good overall performance (above expectation),

3 – Good overall performances (as expected),

2 – Acceptable performance but with some shortcomings,

1 – Barely acceptable performance with some major shortcomings,

0 – Totally unacceptable performance or insufficient data to make an assessment

– Conclusions and recommendations

– Lessons learned

– Annexes, including the ToRs, the evaluation matrix and full detail of tools used during the evaluation.

Lines of Communication:

The external evaluator will report to the Concern Worldwide DRC Programme Director and liaise with the Programme Quality and Development Coordinator, National M&E Coordinator, and Programme Manager, and the Desk Officer in HQ. For field related data collection, the M&E leads for Concern and ACTED will be the external evaluator’s key points of contact. Any feedback, changes or challenges will communicated through the M&E leads for each organization to the Concern Worldwide DRC Programme Director.

Sample Size:

The consultant will determine the appropriate sample sizes considering the geographical areas, targeted groups, and the homogeneity of the target population.

Timeline:

This consultancy is expected to start on 25th July 2022 with approximately (28) days of consultancy. The Consultant is requested to remain available for reviews and improvements until the evaluation report is validated by the consortium partners.

General conditions of the consultancy:

  • Concern will provide accommodation for the consultant in team guesthouses while in Goma/Kalemie/Nyunzu/Kabalo and Manono.
  • Meals and other incidentals will be the responsibility of the consultant.
  • The consultant will conduct his/her work using his/her own computer.
  • Other miscellaneous costs directly related to the task that can include photocopying of questionnaires, etc. shall be covered by Concern. Any costs need to have prior approval from Concern.
  • The movement of the consultant and team to and from the field will be facilitated by the Concern/ACTED.
  • The cost related to travel from/ to field of the survey teams will be covered by Concern.

Minimum Qualifications:

At the minimum, the consultant/s must possess the following:

  • Advanced degree in food security and livelihood or equivalent. Knowledge on nutrition is an added asset
  • 5 years’ experience in project Monitoring and Evaluation, in managing final external project evaluations, in particular food security and emergency projects
  • Have proven knowledge and practical experience in quantitative and qualitative research.
  • Excellent organizing, facilitating, presentation and communication skills.
  • Excellent written and oral French and English is essential. Swahili is a plus.
  • Excellent report writing skills.
  • Strong knowledge of Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS).
  • Experience working in emergency context.
  • Excellent knowledge of the DRC context, especially in terms of security and culture, is required.

Budget:

The budget for the implementation of this activity is $ 15,000.

How to apply

Please submit an Expression of Interest to Elisa.Marcon@concern.net outlining exact availability in line with the approximate timeline. The expression of interest should contain:

Technical offer:

  • Up to date CV of the consultant(s) and cover letter explaining how the consultant(s) meets the skills and experience required.
  • Technical proposition detailing proposed methodology and resources needed (max 3 pages).
  • At least one example of an inception report and one example of a final report from similar work, which demonstrates evidence of the skills and experience, required.

Financial offer:

  • A list of all expenses expected to be incurred by the consultant including a daily rate.
  • Costs of transport in-country and accommodation will be covered directly by Concern and should not be included.

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