TERMS OF REFERENCE FINAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT “Youth Agri Skilling for Decent Employment (YADE)” At Horizont3000

Description of the project

The project Youth Agri Skilling for Decent Employment (YADE) is a 36 months project which started on April 1st 2021 and ends on March 31st, 2024. Implemented in West Nile, Uganda, by the local NGO Agency For Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD) in partnership with HORIZONT3000, the project is funded by Medicor and co-financed by DKA.

YADE project’s specific objective is to increase access to gainful agricultural employment opportunities for 500 youth in Pakwach district through marketable non-formal vocational and complementary skills training by 2024. YADE’s envisaged impact includes reduction of extreme asset poverty and gender-based violence among targeted youth as gainful employment will increase income, time-use in productive activities and also reduce drug abuse and violence.

To achieve this goal, 500 youth (60% females) form 24 Agribusiness Youth Investment Groups (a-YIGs) using a youth-led Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) platform that improve youth aspirations and entrepreneurship culture such as positive attitudes to hard and productive work, savings, and wealth creation.

During the project implementation, the project team coordinates with the following stakeholders:

• National networks – Uganda National NGO Forum and Participatory Ecological Land Use and Management (PELUM) – AFARD is a member of for skills and lessons sharing.

• Local government officials in project monitoring and learning events.

• Private sector firms for technical support and vocational skills training.

The expected results of the project are the following:

1. To establish and strengthen 24 agribusiness Youth Investment Groups (YIGs) with functional VSLA by 2024
2. To improve the employability of 500 youth through entrepreneurship, financial literacy, collective marketing and non-formal vocational skills training by 2024
3. To increase the ownership and growth of 500 youth agribusinesses for self-employment by 2024

HORIZONT3000

HORIZONT3000 is an Austrian Non-governmental organisation specialised in the implementation of programmes and projects and the deployment of technical assistance personnel. HORIZONT3000 works in close co-operation with local partner organisations, donors and other stakeholders such as international CSOs and research institutes to achieve common sustainable development goals. Through its presence in the regional and country offices, HORIZONT3000 cooperates and engages through an open and constructive dialogue with local partner organisations and beneficiaries guaranteeing a participatory approach and ensuring relevance and sustainability. HORIZONT3000 aims at targeting the most vulnerable population groups, such as smallholders, marginalised women, children and youth, human rights groups as well as indigenous populations. Gender equality and environmental protection are cross-cutting themes of the organisation. The methodological approach is strongly based on the empowerment of partner organisations and beneficiaries and on knowledge management.

AFARD

The Agency For Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD) is a local, leading Ugandan organization in rural development in the West Nile Province. AFARD’s formation was motivated by first, the political turbulence that left the extremely poorest region in Uganda next to Karamoja. Second, many development interventions have been external to local context leaving behind a people hardly changed. Third, decentralization had dismally improved people’s livelihoods given resource constraints and limited adherence to co-governance. AFARD has grown steadily over the past 10 years and today implements numerous projects in the field of smallholder agriculture, local value chains and vocational training. It operates in 8 of the 9 districts and is a member of national and district NGO networks e.g., Uganda National NGO Forum, Participatory Ecological Land Use and Management (PELUM), Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET) among others. In addition, it has accumulated vast knowledge, experience and expertise in the areas of sustainable agriculture, VSLA and micro-enterprise development, youth skilling, preventive community health, and community-led advocacy.

II Purpose and Objectives of the Evaluation

The purpose of this evaluation is:

• Learning: the project’s partner organisation in Uganda, donors and HORIZONT3000 are interested in learning from the implementation of the projects in order to continuously improve their own work and the cooperation with other actors. The findings, lessons learned and recommendations will be useful for the possible multiplication and replication of the chosen approach.
• Accountability and reporting: The evaluation should also examine the success and quality of the project’s implementation on the basis of the OECD DAC criteria.

Specific objectives:

• Analysis of the effectiveness and sustainability at the level of the YADE project
• Analysis of the strengths and potential for improvement
• Obtain recommendations for relevant stakeholders for further replication to improve the approach’s effectiveness.

Final beneficiaries and users of the evaluation

• AFARD and her constituencies that implement the activities and interact with the programme’s target groups. With regard to the learning objective of the evaluation, they are not only the main beneficiaries, but an important source of information
• HORIZONT3000, with a focus on the learning, accountability and communication objective.
• Donors / funding partners, in particular Medicor, DKA
• Other actors working on the same issues and interested in the lessons learned from this evaluation (NGOs, technical services, local authorities etc.)

III Scope

The evaluation covers the entire project implementation duration (01.04.2021 – 31.03.2024), from its inception to the end of the current funding phase.

The evaluation will start in the last quarter of 2023.

The OECD/DAC evaluation criteria – specifically effectiveness and sustainability – will guide this evaluation. The focus is on these two criteria to enable learning and application of recommendations in further programmes.

IV Evaluation Criteria and Questions

Key evaluation questions

Effectiveness of the intervention in terms of the objectives set

• To what extent have the objectives and results (outcomes and outputs) of the intervention been achieved?
• Cost efficiency – to what extend do the costs reflect the activities?
• Are there any unintended positive and negative outcomes?
• What changes have been brought about (or achieved) in the lives of the target groups, in particular female youth and other marginalised groups?
• What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives and results (outcomes and outputs)?

Sustainability

• What is the degree of ownership of the project by the partner organisations and their target groups?
• Which measures and strategies are put in place by AFARD to ensure the sustainability of the results?
• Which processes contributed to sustaining these benefits?
• Which tools for Knowledge management are used by the partner organisation?

The questions can be refined and restructured in agreement with HORIZONT3000 during the inception phase. Any changes should be explained and should adequately reflect the overall purpose and scope of the evaluation.

V Design and Approach

The methodology including conceptual framework and approach as well as appropriate data collection methods are to be suggested by the consultant(s), and subsequently fine-tuned and agreed with HORIZIONT3000 and AFARD. The methodology shall include and prioritise methods which facilitate participatory learning.

For the desk study, the consultants will be provided with the relevant project documents and reports, namely

– Project description

– Annual reports

Data should be collected and interpreted in a gender-disaggregated manner.

• Desk analysis of project documents, interim reports
• Data collection on project indicators for comparison with baseline and monitoring data
• Field visits
• Individual and group interviews / focus groups with representatives of the target groups (men, women), AFARD, the regional office of HORIZONT3000 East Africa in Kampala, Uganda, HORIZONT3000 Vienna for the triangulation of the results of the data analyses as well as for the elaboration of further knowledge and recommendations.

VI Work Plan

• Early September 2023 ( Publication of TOR)
• End of September ( Deadline for receiving offers)
• October( Interviews, selection & Contract Award)
• November ( Online inception meeting + Detailed planning meeting)
• November ( Field work + Data Collection)
• December 2023 ( Draft Report, with first conclusions and recommendations)
• Mid December 2023 & January 2024( Feedback n the major findings)
• January 2024( Approval of the draft)
• End of January 2024( Final report submission)

Deliverables

Draft report

The draft report follows the same structure as the final report

Final report

It must be written in English (max. 30 pages, without annexes) including an executive summary (max. 5 pages). The evaluation report must be structured as follows:

1. Executive summary

2. Introduction

3. Background and context analysis

4. Evaluation design and approach

4.1 Methodological approach

4.2 Data collection and analysis tools

4.3 Limitations, risks, and mitigation measures

5. Findings

6. Conclusions

7. Recommendations

8. Annexes

Estimated working days: 15 days

VII Coordination

The general coordination of the review including the selection, contracting and feedback processes is assumed by Mrs. Katrin Jordan (katrin.jordan@horizont3000.at)

VIII Requirements for Evaluators

A consultant (team) with local expertise and good knowledge of the project area is preferred. The team must be able to offer the following expertise:

• Evaluation of projects with relevant and proven experience in the youth programming;
• Gender
• Expertise in gender-sensitive, human rights-based approaches and sufficiently equipped in participatory approaches
• Knowledge management / capacity building of institutional actors
• Fluency in English for all team members
• Fluency in Luo/Alur/Jonam is an added value
• The team leader must have minimum 5 years’ working experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis as well as managing of evaluation teams proofed by a track record

The team’s composition must be detailed and explained in the technical offer, as well as the division of tasks between all team members and their added value.