Midterm Evaluation Consultant At Welthungerhilfe

1. Background/ Conditions for Deployment:

Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V. (WHH) is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in Germany operating in the humanitarian assistance and development fields. It was established in 1962, as the German section of the “Freedom from Hunger Campaign”, one of the world’s first initiatives aimed at the eradication of hunger. WHH’s work is dedicated to the following vision: All people have a right to a self-determined life in dignity and justice, free from hunger and poverty.

WHH has been operating in the Central African Republic (CAR) since 2014 where the ongoing violence in the country as well as the population’s vulnerability to external shocks create a continuing need for humanitarian assistance and transitional assistance. The agriculture and environment sector is at the centre of WHH’s activities in the CAR. By introducing techniques for sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, supporting the local production of quality seeds and promoting small animal husbandry, WHH contributes to the increase of agricultural production of the target communities and therefore to improve food availability and access, higher revenues and ultimately an improved food security. WHH also places a particular emphasis on strengthening the resilience of rural communities to climate change.

In addition, WHH CAR continues its activities in civil society empowerment. On an individual level, this includes the development of skills such as literacy classes for women while on an institutional level, WHH plans capacity building activities to strengthen rural producer’s associations and civil society organizations. Moreover, WHH aims to continue to work with and strengthen state institutions. The support of these structures is an essential element of the sustainability of the activities of WHH in the CAR across all sectors.

2. Project Context

To contribute to a sustainable improvement in the living conditions of the rural population, through the introduction of improved seeds and the increase in agricultural productivity in the region, WHH is implementing a project called CAF 1014 “Promoting the use of quality seeds of adapted varieties in the Central African Republic”. At three years of planned project implementation (Octobre 2021), WHH is looking for an international consultant to carry out a mid-term evaluation for this project.

Country:

Central African Republic

Project title:

Promotion of the use of quality seeds of adapted varieties in the Central African Republic**

Project no.:

CAF 1014-18

Project holder:

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Approved budget:

3,000,000 Euro

Project period:

01.10.2018 – 30.09.2023

Project targets groups

· Two government institutions: the Central African Republic Agricultural Research Institute (ICRA) and the Central African Agency for Agricultural Development (ACDA)

· 5,000 agricultural producers and their associations (6 REPROSEM, 23 GAMS and 258 private seed producers).

Indirect target groups

Total population of the project area (five prefectures)

3. Objective of the evaluation

The objective of the mid-term evaluation is to establish a progress report on the activities of the above-mentioned project. It will also have to demonstrate whether the activities carried out take into account the objectives and expected results as well as the indicators that have been identified and compiled in the logical framework and operational planning. The analysis should also focus on the relevance of the methods, tools and strategy used during the implementation of the project to date. Further, the mid-term evaluation will collect quantitative and qualitative data and mainly evaluate questions against the standard OECD-DAC criteria. The scope of the evaluation focuses on this single project, its processes at operational level from the start of the project period.

a) OECD-DAC standards as listed below need to be taken into account:

· Relevance Is the project doing the right thing? This criterion measures the extent to which the objectives of a project/programme align with the needs of the beneficiaries and strategies (policies) of partners and donors.

· Effectiveness Are the objectives of the project/programme being achieved? This criterion measures the extent to which the objectives of a project/programme will (foreseeably) be achieved.

· Efficiency Will the objectives be achieved in an economically viable manner? This criterion measures the adequacy of the deployed resources in relation to the achieved results and effects.

· Impact Will the project/programme contribute to the attainment of overall development goals? This criterion assesses whether and to what extent the project/programme will contribute towards the attainment of the intended primary and secondary long-term objectives under development policy. Additionally, whether and, if so, which other positive and negative changes have occurred will be investigated.

· Sustainability Will the intended positive changes (foreseeably) have a lasting effect? This criterion assesses the extent to which the positive effects of the development intervention will continue beyond the end of the project period.

b) Cross-cutting themes such as gender balance, inclusion of people with reduced mobility, environmental respect need to be taken into account in this evaluation.

c) The partner institutions and beneficiaries need to be included in the evaluation vis-à-vis meeting BMZ standards and requirements as the implementation goes on.

**

*Is the evaluation tied to decisions in a funding cycle or decisions about the agency’s future strategy?

This evaluation will be crucial for the way forward, especially as some project services (e. g. rehabilitation of ACDA buildings) only take place if the cooperation of partners is satisfactory during the first year of the project. This needs to be clearly defined for future decision-making.

This mid-term evaluation will also be focused on:

• How is the cooperation with the local government structures (ACDA, ICRA and ONASEM) and possible suggestions on it?
• Are the indicators on objective and results level realistic and achievable during the remaining project time? Are adjustments necessary?

How will the evaluation be further utilized?

The mid-term review is intended to provide comprehensive feedback to the project holder and implementer and all partners about the progress of the activities (against the initial planning, targets and objectives, as specified in the project proposal), and the appropriateness of the methods, tools and strategy used/utilised during the implementation of the project so far. The review considered as an important institutional learning tool and should help the project implementer to improve their performance and implementation strategy if necessary and ensure the good accomplishment of all envisaged targets until the end of the project running time.

4. Length of Deployment:

The mid-term evaluation will be carried out during the month of August 2021. The duration of the mission is 24 calendar days from November 15^th to December 8^th, 2021. The detailed timetable and itinerary of the evaluation will be discussed and agreed with the consultants before start with the project team.

Location: Central African Republic in the prefectures of Ouham, Ouham Pendé, Lobaye, Nana Mabéré, Ombella M’poko respectively in the sub-prefectures of Bossangoa, Bouar, Bossembélé, M’baiki, Paoua, Bangui and its surroundings.

5. Duty Station:

The international consultant will be deployed in CAR. However, he is free to recruit himself a national sub-consultant based in CAR to collect data in the project area under his supervision.

6. Products and deadlines for reports in FRENCH

The deliverable outputs of this assignment will include a

· Rapport de démarrage (4 à 6 pages pour le texte principal, hors page de couverture, table des matières et annexes).

· Short debriefing session with ACDA, ICRA and WHH

· Executive summary report

· Evaluation report (visual elements are welcome such as pictures, infographics)

· Short internal end of mission report

· Presentation of the draft report to the partner and WHH

· Implementation plan with all recommendations made in the final report

7. Role of the Sponsor

WHH will play an active role and interact with the consultant throughout the evaluation. It will organize the meetings necessary for the smooth conduct of the evaluation and will provide logistical support and any additional information requested by the consultant. It will also ensure the neutrality of the consultant and the implementation of the proposed methodology. WHH will ensure that project stakeholders are available and open to the consultant’s approach.

8. Confidentiality

All documents and data acquired from documents, interviews, or meetings are confidential and should be used only for the purposes of the evaluation. The documents to be produced as well as all material related to the evaluation (produced by the evaluators or the organization itself) are confidential and remain at all times the property of the contractor.

9. Consultant Profile and Expertise Sought

An evaluator whose expertise should include the following

· More than 5 years of experience and expertise in evaluation of emergency and development projects;

· Experience and knowledge of the issues, practices, and actors of international solidarity and development cooperation;

· Experience and knowledge of food security, resilience and livelihoods (smallholder market development) in emergency, recovery and development contexts.

· Fluency in French. Knowledge of one of the local languages and German is an asset.

10. Proposals should include the following

· A technical and financial proposal

· The technical portion of the proposal should include reference to the estimated feasibility of the ToR (if applicable, with suggestions for specific evaluation questions). It should also include a brief description of the overall design and methodology of the evaluation a work plan / possible work plan adaptations (maximum 4 pages)

· The financial section includes a proposed budget for the entire evaluation. It should indicate the costs per working day (plus value added tax – VAT, if applicable), the number of proposed working days and other costs (e.g. visa costs). Proof of professional and tax registration is also required (e.g., evaluators’ tax number).

· CV with references.