Somalia: Final Evaluation of the Cash Assistance Project for Somalia and Somaliland Coastal Communities (CAPS)

Terms of Reference: Final Evaluation of the Cash Assistance Project for Somalia and Somaliland coastal communities (CAPS)

Organization: Adeso - African Development Solutions, www.adesoafrica.org

Project: Cash Assistance Project for Somalia and Somaliland coastal communities (CAPS)

Position Type: Short-Term Consultancy

Study/Assessment Topic: Consultancy Assignment to Undertake Caps Final Evaluation (Cash Transfers Effectiveness) of Assistance Project in Targeted Communities of Sool, Sanaag and Mudug

Position Location: Sanaag, Mudug and Sool

Duration: Thirty (30) Days

Reporting To: M&E Manager, working closely with the Deputy Country Director and Project Manager

Working With: CAPS Field Teams, Program Team Will Provide Support Throughout the Process (In Part Work With The Program Development and Quality Unit Team in Nairobi)

Starting Date: March 20^th, 2018

Application Deadline: March 16^th, 2018

Vacancy Contact: Please send applications to consultancy@adesoafrica.org– Adeso will only respond to short-listed applicants

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

Adeso is an expanding and vibrant African based international development and humanitarian organization. At Adeso, we work with African communities who are yet to realize their full potential; working inside these communities to create environments in which Africans can thrive. Our belief that economic, social and environmental security is the bedrock of a healthy community drives the nature and intent of our programming. We work to prevent and overcome situations that adversely affect community well-being by: reinvigorating the economy, developing skills for life and work, providing humanitarian aid, and influencing policy.

For the past 20 years we have strengthened rural livelihoods through environmental awareness, training, technology transfer and innovative humanitarian projects in pursuit of a peaceful, self-reliant, and greener future.

Adeso offers sound employment conditions with opportunities for personal growth and development.

BACKGROUND FOR CONSULTANCY

The Cash Assistance Project for Somalia and Somaliland coastal communities (CAPS) is being implemented in Sool, Sanaag and Mudug. The project will address the immediate food access to the drought affected households in the target regions. The project targets a total of 7,410 households in the target Regions.

The initial beneficiaries of 5,250 received a total of 8 months’ cash transfers effective from January to October 2017 with two months of break (July and August), and additional beneficiaries of 1,340 received 9 months’ cash transfers from April to October 2017, then January and February 2018. The final additional beneficiaries of 820 received 2 months’ cash transfers between January and February 2018.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the progress made towards achievement of the overall and specific objectives of the project, its immediate and long term impacts on the lives of beneficiaries who were directly involved in the project activities, including their families, communities after the end of the implementation period.

The assessment will also look at determining how effective the cash transfers provided to targeted beneficiaries has enabled them to meet their basic needs and improve their livelihoods as tied to the project objectives i.e. how the whole cash transfer interventions-system allowed the project to succeed or not. This is to assess the extent to which the various models of a cash operation did support or constrain effective cash based intervention implementation.

The assessment will also help determine any impact the project has produced on the main target communities and project beneficiaries in terms of meeting their food security needs, increasing livelihood security and improving of local markets. The evaluation will also gauge the level of community and other stakeholder participation and ownership of the implementation process including the identification of the intended and unintended outcomes, best practices and lessons learned as well as challenges arising from programme implementation. In addition, the evaluation will come up conclusions and recommendations on the way forward.

Specific Objectives

The evaluation will specifically assess the level of community, government and other stakeholder participation and ownership of the whole project process including the identification of the intended and unintended impacts, best practices and lessons learned as well as challenges arising from programme implementation. In addition, the evaluation will come up with conclusions and recommendations on the way forward for future programing.

The evaluation will also explore the nature and relations of the cash transfers, functionality of systems and performance management. The scope of the consultancy is to facilitate the process of reflective learning, to document lessons learnt and make recommendations for improvement. It is important that the lessons are documented in a structured manner.

More specific areas of focus for Adeso are as follows:

1.Appropriateness & Relevance

· The evaluation must report back on the appropriateness of this particular intervention in meeting the objectives.

· Has the cash transferred been effective in bringing about lasting change? Were there any gaps?

· What were the most effective cash modalities or methodologies used to bring about changes to people’s lives? What worked and what didn’t? What lessons have been learned? Whom have they been shared with?

· Were the activities developed necessary and were they implemented appropriate to the context and culture?

· Was the choice of objective appropriate to the context?

· To what extent has the cash outcomes been achieved? Were there any unexpected outcomes?

· Appropriateness on the project design verses implementation.

2.Connectedness

· Does this fit within international priorities such as the Millennium Development Goals?

· Does the project fit within wider organization, government and other stakeholder’s programmes?

· Did the work of Adeso compliment the activities of other stakeholders, such as INGOs, NGOs and UN agencies?

· Assess the processes and systems used by Adeso to ensure the involvement of all the stakeholders, particularly women, youth and minorities in design, planning, implementation and monitoring stage;

3.Coverage

· Evaluate the coverage of the project.

· Is the coverage too small to have an impact or is it too large that the benefits are spread too thin to have an impact?

· How has the coverage affected other aspects of the project such as monitoring?

· Was the area the right area chosen for this sort of project?

4.Effectiveness

· How well did the project design meet the objectives and extent to which the objectives were achieved?

· How good was the targeting methodology in identifying the most vulnerable/ pastoralist dropouts’ households/ beneficiaries as well as the targeted areas?

· Has the cash transfer performed against its targets? Which targets were met and which ones were not and why?

· How effective have the project’s management, monitoring, learning, and financial systems been?

· How have the relationship between partners throughout the relationship chain helped or hindered the effective delivery of change?

· Was the number of beneficiaries reached by the various activities acceptable?

· Were the activities implemented well?

· Could there have been better ways of implementation that may have led to improved outcomes?

· To what extent did the external assumptions in the proposal hold true and how well were the mitigating measures put into use?

· Has the cash transfer performed against its targets? Which targets were met and which ones were not and why?

· How has the type of project helped or hindered the delivery of lasting change?

· Has the project been cost-effective?

· How effective/efficient was the use of Mobile Money Transfer as a medium of transfer?

5.Efficiency

· Evaluate project activity management and implementation, and resource allocation and utilization (including human resources and financial management).

· Evaluate the involvement of stakeholders in the design of projects and identification of gender equalities and women’ empowerment support areas.

· How realistic is the potential sustainability of the infrastructures constructed?

· Evaluate the gender balance in relation to beneficiary participation and benefits.

· Assessment of value of internal controls i.e. monitoring tools, information management, activity plan and implementation.

· Evaluate the efficiency of working with local stakeholders, including government bodies.

6.Outcomes and Impact signs

· Determine the outcomes of the project activities to alleviate vulnerability in the target population.

· Assessment of the outcomes of the project activities to increase number of empowered women representing their communities.

· Assess the impact signs of project activities on gender and other vulnerable groups and especially its impact in addressing the needs of women and children.

· Evaluate the impact signs on conflict mitigation as a result of the project design.

· Highlight any unintended impacts of the project.

· Has the cash transferred been effective in bringing about lasting change? Were there any gaps?

· What were the most effective cash modalities or methodologies used to bring about changes to people’s lives? What worked and what didn’t? What lessons have been learned? Whom have they been shared with?

· To what extent has the cash outcomes been achieved? Were there any unexpected outcomes?

· Are those changes relevant to people’s needs?

· Who has benefited and in what ways?

· How relevant was the use of Mobile Money Transfer as a medium of cash transfer?

7.Sustainability

· Evaluate the design of the project in relation to sustainability and replicability.

· Evaluate whether the project activities implemented will live beyond the life of the project period and continue to contribute to improving the target regions.

8.Lessons Learnt

· Identify lessons learnt and give recommendations of general and specific nature which are useful to Adeso for the planning, preparation and implementation of integrated gender equalities and women’ empowerment programs/projects in future.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Overall the process must speak to the following broad evaluation questions:

· Have the right things been done? (Was the outcome and associated projects relevant, appropriate and strategic to national/local development goals and the Adeso mandate?);

· Have things been done right? (Were the actions to achieve the outputs and outcomes effective and efficient?);

· Are the results sustainable? (Will the outputs and outcome(s) lead to benefits beyond the life of the existing project(s)?);

· How might we do things better in the future? (Which findings may have relevance for future programming or for other similar initiatives elsewhere?)

DELIVERABLES

1. Initial work plan and proposal for study (including study methodology and process of data collection with clear timeline, budget), to be presented.

2. Final work plans and data collection tools for approval prior to fieldwork.

3. Interim evaluation report with preliminary analysis and observations, submitted for feedback and comments.

4. Presentation on the main findings of the draft evaluation report for final consensus building to the field team in Sanaag and Programme development and quality team in Nairobi for comments;

5. Final Evaluation Report in English (3 hard copies).

METHODOLOGY AND PROCESS:

Prospective consultants are encouraged to submit bids outlining their proposed methodology. Adeso will expect the use of various methods of organizational (Adeso-wide) introspective processes to learn from the cash transfer experience during the programming phase. The consultant should use a range of data collection and analysis techniques, including:

· Desk Review: This will include review of existing secondary reports and documentation available at Adeso level, Adeso documents like project proposals, M&E reports, external evaluation reports and related reference materials.

· Interview key Adeso members/staff: The consultant is expected to develop a structured approach to collecting information through interviews and discussions with key Adeso staff members.

· Interaction with beneficiaries and, if possible, head of households including other stakeholders. The consultant will have meetings and discussions with beneficiaries including key stakeholders to draw external views and opinions on Adeso-wide approaches.

· The consultant will provide technical training on the assessment methodology to the staff on the process including development of data collection tools, train the enumerator on utilization or administration of the developed data collection tools, undertake the analysis of collected data and finally reporting.

WORKPLAN FOR THE EVALUATION

Below is a tentative work schedule for the assignment, which provides a brief outline of likely tasks. This can be further reviewed and modified depending on the consultant’s proposal.

Period

Key tasks

Week 1

Review of reference materials and reports

Interaction with key the project partners

Possible participation in close out meeting

Week 2

Data collection and interaction meetings with beneficiaries

Possible participation in Adeso and other meetings

Undertaking interviews with Adeso staff

Week 3

Working on compilation of interim report

Preparations for (half-day) workshop to share findings and gather consensus on effectiveness of cash based interventions in the targeted areas.

Follow up on pending tasks

Week 4

Development of the final report

Final dissemination meeting (2 hours session)

Sharing of final report and follow up, if any.

QUALIFICATION PROFILE

· Consultant firm with vast experience and qualifications on the field of food security and livelihood,

· At least eight years of hands on experience in conducting assessments, midterm reviews and evaluations in similar context

· Experience leading project evaluations/mid-term reviews is essential;

· Must have profound knowledge in economic analysis of development projects;

· Familiar with environmental issues and semi-arid and arid lands;

· He/she must be experienced in developing and implementing gender sensitive evaluation methodologies in food security frameworks;

· Ability to assess/review critically the project activities and results;

· Good knowledge and experience in survey design, implementation of surveys and statistical data analysis is required;

· Experience in the use of participatory appraisal techniques in data collection;

· Previous work experience in Somalia and knowledge of Somali culture is essential.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS:

All documentation related to the assignment shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Adeso.

CODE OF CONDUCT

All evaluators and evaluation processes must abide by Adeso’s HR Code of Conduct and Adeso’s Child Protection Policy.

Applications should be submitted by 16^th March 2018. The selection committee will review all applications as they arrive. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above, and those unable to meet these requirements will not be considered. Adeso is an equal opportunity employer.

Each application package should include the following:

· An application letter addressing the selection criteria including how the firm’s/group’s previous experience matches the consultancy objectives as well as the interest for the position. It should also indicate the candidate’s availability.

· A technical and financial proposal for the consultancy assignment with methodology. All expenses should be included in the assignment cost; Adeso will not cater for any other expenses.

· An updated CVs of the survey technical team, with strong demonstration of solid experience of the assessment objective and sub component

· Samples of recently written report for a similar assignment;

· Contact details of 3 references.

Applications not including all of the above information will not be reviewed. All applications should be sent to Adeso at consultancy@adesoafrica.org with the subject line, CAPS Final Evaluation.