National/International consultant for carrying out the external evaluation of the ECHO project At DanChurchAid

• Context and rationale

The political-military crisis in the CAR resulted in the destruction of productive assets and the displacement of populations on displaced sites and in the fields.

Located respectively in Ouaka and Haute Kotto, the sub-prefectures of Ippy and Bria are shaken by multiple security incidents, armed clashes and/or military operations, putting the lives of many populations in danger, forcing them to leave their usual locations to displaced persons sites or with host families.

This situation has further affected the socio-economic fabric and exacerbated the humanitarian needs of already vulnerable populations. According to information collected from local authorities and the community, the majority of plantation fields have been abandoned or destroyed, leading to an exacerbation of the fragility of food security and livelihoods.

In order to save lives and reduce the suffering of vulnerable populations in distress, donors, the Central African government, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations provide continuous assistance, despite limited resources in the face of enormous needs in all areas. sectors.

It is in this context that DanChurchAid (DCA), which is a humanitarian organization, present in the Central African Republic since 2015, carries out humanitarian interventions in the most vulnerable areas of the prefectures of Ouaka and Haute-Kotto.

In 2019, it made its first intervention in the sub-prefecture of Ippy through the project “ Emergency support for populations affected by the crisis and conflict in the area ”, financed by DERF, and in 2020 with the project “ Emergency assistance to households most affected by acute food insecurity in Ippy ”, funded by ECHO. Then in 2021 DCA, through financing from DERF funds, implemented two projects based on food security in the sub-prefecture of Ippy.

Thanks to the success of previous interventions, DCA obtained new funding from ECHO in 2022 to implement the third modification of its food security and livelihoods and sustainable solutions project entitled “ Emergency Food Security and Response to the essential non-food needs of the most vulnerable households in the sub-prefecture of Ippy, in the prefecture of Ouaka and Bria in Haute Kotto in CAR .

In addition to agricultural inputs for vulnerable small producer households and support for market gardening groups, the project also made it possible to carry out three (3) monetary distributions and food coupons with the aim of increasing the purchasing power of households. the most vulnerable and to support them to meet their basic food needs. Also, multi-sector cash was distributed to spontaneous/voluntary returned households to enable them, in particular, the construction/rehabilitation of their homes, the creation of Income Generating Activities (IGA) and/or the sending of children to the school.

As part of the closure of the project after finalization of all planned activities, it is planned to carry out an external evaluation in the intervention areas and among the beneficiaries. The need for this external evaluation arises from DCA’s evaluation policy, according to which the evaluation decision is based on the duration and budget of the action, i.e. humanitarian projects whose budget is more than DKK 5 million are subject to assessment, regardless of their duration. This is to ensure organizational learning at a global level for best practices. The external evaluation will be carried out by a consultant, using the 6 OECD-DAC criteria to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and coherence of the action. As part of this study, DCA will also seek to evaluate and analyze the level of achievement of results according to the project’s logical framework. The evaluation will mainly serve two purposes which are learning and accountability. The evaluation will further inform future programming where lessons learned from this study will be used to reshape any other similar actions. These terms of reference are therefore established to allow the project team to launch the recruitment of an external consultant.

• Study objectives

The overall objective of this consultation is to evaluate the changes induced by the implementation of the project, not only by providing a critical and justified judgment on its performance (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and coherence) but also to measure and analyze the level of achievement of the indicators.

In specific ways this will be:

1. Evaluate and analyze the performance of the project (OECD-DAC criterion) in general;
2. Collect, calculate and analyze the level of achievement of indicators according to the expected results, in all municipalities/project areas of intervention;
3. Assess the level of achievement of the objectives defined by the project;
4. Appreciate the coherence of the implementation of project activities given the difficult context;
5. Collect some testimonies from people affected by the project in order to strengthen the results of the analyses;
6. Make recommendations to improve the implementation of future actions

• Evaluation Questions

The consultant will pay particular attention to the following aspects:

Relevance

1. To what extent were the different strategies put in place and the various activities carried out by the project to meet the needs of the beneficiaries relevant to the problems encountered by them?
2. Have there been changes in the needs of the target groups and the population in the action area since the program was designed?
3. How does the project fit into the country’s long-term food security strategy?

• Efficiency :

1. To what extent were the project objectives achieved and what were the successes and failures?
2. To what extent are gender issues taken into account when planning the action and at all stages of its implementation?
3. (iii) What are the main factors that influenced the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?
4. What were the factors of success and failure, and what are the areas for improvement in order to achieve a higher level of relevance and efficiency in the implementation of future projects?

• Efficiency:

1. What are the main factors that contributed to achieving, or not, effective management of financial resources during the project?
2. Were the objectives achieved within the prescribed time frame?

• Impact :

1. What lasting impacts or induced changes can we observe at this stage, due to the intervention on the beneficiaries and their environment, as well as on the overall objective of reducing food insecurity and improving diversity food for small farmer families?
2. How many people were affected?

• . Sustainability:

1. What measures are implemented to ensure the sustainability of the program?
2. What are the main factors that contributed to making the project sustainable or not?

• Consistency :

1. To what extent are the approaches used consistent, and to what extent have humanitarian principles been respected?
2. To what extent does this project contribute to achieving the objectives of the donor and DCA?
3. To what extent does this project contribute to achieving the objectives set by the humanitarian community at the national level (global objectives, sectoral objectives (clusters), etc.)?

• Methodology (Approach, collection tools, sampling and data analysis)

Taking into account the themes covered by the project, the objectives of the intervention, the expected results of the implementation of the project, a consistent methodology must be proposed by the consultant, and validated by the MEAL team and the Director of DCA Programs in the Central African Republic. This approach is expected to integrate qualitative and quantitative data investigations. Furthermore, the sampling approach must guarantee good representativeness of the community according to different levels of vulnerability (sex, status, age, etc.). A scoping meeting to discuss and jointly validate the collection tools will be organized in order to minimize inadequacies in data collection.

In short, despite the participatory and inclusive nature of the community-centered approach that would be proposed, the following elements will be decisive in the assessment of the methodological approaches of this evaluation:

• The sampling approach and its rationale;
• The method of evaluating the six (6) performance criteria;
• The method of calculating project indicators;
• The gender sensitivity of the methodological approach;
• Taking into account the collection of qualitative data via Focus Groups;
• Taking into account cross-cutting themes

  Study area

This study will be carried out in the following areas:

• Bria sub-prefecture: Bria center, Ouada axis, Irrabanda axis and Ippy axis
• Ippy sub-prefecture: Ippy center, Ouaka 2 axis, Atongo-Bakari axis, Ndassima axis, Bria axis and Bambari axis
  

  Expected deliverables

1. An inception report containing a methodological note detailing the approach, the sampling strategy, both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools that will be used in the evaluation of the report;
2. Provisional reports accompanied by a Powerpoint presenting the first results and which will be discussed during a workshop with the project team in Bria/Ippy. This provisional report will be submitted to DCA no later than 5 days after the end of the mission.
3. The final report with a maximum of 25 pages (annexes not included) will be submitted no later than 10 days after the end of the mission.

The final report will include at least:

1. Explanation and justification of the methodologies used for the evaluation;
2. Executive summary: independent, precisely written document focusing on the essentials which will include the key themes of the evaluation, the most important results, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations (approximately 5 pages);
3. Introduction: purpose and scope of the evaluation, key questions, brief description of the project evaluated;
4. Evaluation design/methodology;
5. Main results/findings: answers to the questions mentioned in this ToR (including analysis of the project and the context), assessment of the degree of integration of equity and gender issues in the project;
6. Conclusions (based on real data and their analysis);
7. Recommendations (areas for improvement in terms of approach/implementation/monitoring measures) for each of the evaluation conclusions;
8. A table of implementation of these recommendations;
9. Appendices (TOR, list of people and organizations interviewed, bibliography and documentation consulted, etc.).

Please note that the final report will be validated after a maximum of two comment sessions.

IV. Note of good practices and lessons learned during the project, in the form of lessons learned (generalizations of conclusions to systematize their use).

VI. A cleaned database;

Duration of the study

The duration of the mission will be 25 days.

Consultant profile

The members of the teams applying for this consultancy must hold at least a BAC+5 level covering one or other of the following fields: sociology, socio-economics or food and nutritional security with excellent experience in gender analysis and protection.

Experiences

• The proposed Consultant must have perfect mastery of project planning, monitoring and evaluation systems, and socio-cultural life in the CAR;
• Have at least 5 to 10 years of experience in conducting similar evaluations;
• Demonstrate good experience in gender-sensitive statistics in particular;
• Demonstrate good knowledge of the context and the field.

Functional skills

• Have a good knowledge of the humanitarian context and local issues with strong experience working with the financing mechanisms and structures of humanitarian emergency projects;
• Have skills in the field of evaluation and master qualitative approaches to collecting qualitative data (interviews, focus groups);
• Have excellent writing skills in French, as well as a good analytical and synthesis mind.

General skills

• Good understanding of the mandate, humanitarian standards and principles (CHS, SPHERE, etc.);
• Have competence based on gender, accountability mechanisms, participation processes.

With regard to the themes of the project, the evaluation team must have a consistent background covering the areas of food security and protection with a good mastery of cross-cutting themes (gender, environment).

Right

The ownership of the various reports produced as well as all the tools and other media produced as part of this consultation belong exclusively to DCA. Consequently, any document related to this consultation can only be shared by DCA or with the express authorization of its Country Director.

Selection process

Consultants and research firms interested in this study must send DCA a technical proposal and a financial proposal. These proposals will be examined and analyzed by a selection committee which will be set up for this purpose. In addition to the profile, knowledge and experience in similar studies, the existence of specific expertise in quantitative data collection, and especially in statistical analysis, will be decisive for the choice of the consultant. As well as the overall understanding of the mission, the methodological approach integrating the security context, sampling and the relevance of the tools.