Terms Of Reference For End Of Project Evaluation – Somaliland

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR  END OF PROJECT EVALUATION

Name of implementing partner organization: Candlelight for Environment Education and Health

Project funding Agency and contracting Agency: Kindernothilfe (KNH)

Project number: 69041

Title of the project:  “Abandoning FGM/C/C through Community Empowerment and Food Security Improvement”

Project background information

In July 2016, a survey on attitudes towards FGM/C practice was carried out by Candlelight among woman of the reproductive age (15-49) randomly selected from Sheikh Hospital, Sheikh MCH and health posts in Suuqsade and Gugux villages. Interviewers collected data on the prevalence of FGM types, women’s attitude towards the practice and their perception of their husbands’ attitudes. Results indicated that 89% of the respondents had undergone some form of genital cutting, varying 65% in Sheikh town to almost 99% in Suuqsade and Gugux rural villages. Some 25% of the respondents said that their daughters had not reached the age of circumcision will not undergo any form of FGM/C, compared to 16% of previously interviewed respondents in 2015 who completely denounced the practice and supported zero tolerance. 60% of the respondents supported Sunni type compared to 70% in 2015, while 8% remained with pharoanic type compared to 9% in the previous year. This data showed a significant change in the prevalence of FGM/C practice in all its forms.

Parents are primarily responsible for the protection of their children, unfortunately, being an age-old rite of passage; it is well tolerated, despite the risks involved, mainly to avoid peer pressure and the belief that an uncircumcised girl is not only marriageable, but also not good for family’s reputation.

Food insecurity is another prevalent factor in the area.  For the past two decades or so, rains have been erratic due to a combination of global climate patterns and environmental degradation. As most of the rural communities of Somaliland depend on pastoralism and agro-pastoralism, those communities are pushed over the edge, due to weakened coping mechanisms.

It’s against the above background that Candlelight with funding from KNH implemented the project “Abandoning FGM/C/C through Community Empowerment and Food Security Improvement”. The project duration is 1^st Mar 2017 – 31^st December 2021 targeting 5 villages (Ximaan, Iskudar, Dawdama, Cagaarey, Hudisa and Sheikh Town in Saahil Region.

The project specific objectives include;

• Objective one: To increase community knowledge on the health, psychological, social, economic and cultural consequences of FGM/C through training and awareness creation.
• Objective two: To increase access for underprivileged poor girls/women in underserved areas (specifically 5 villages in the district of Sheikh) to literacy/numeracy with the aim of improving their knowledge and self-esteem.
• Objective three: To alleviate poverty and mitigate vulnerability of agro-pastoral communities to adverse climatic conditions in five villages and Sheikh town in the District of Sheikh, viz. Dawdama, Ximan, Huduse, Iskudar and Cagaarey through rehabilitation of water infrastructures, agricultural inputs and environmental conservation activities.

Purpose of the end line evaluation

The primary purpose of this evaluation is to assess the extent to which the project has achieved the project outcomes.

Specifically, the evaluation will;

• Evaluate the project in terms of effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, with a focus on assessing the results at the outcome and project goals levels
• Generate key lessons and practices for learning
• Identify gaps and areas for continued community engagement in order to increase community resilience
• Outline recommendations which can inform future such interventions.

Scope of the evaluation

An appropriate and representative sample of villages, project beneficiaries and key informants will be selected by the consultant in close collaboration with Candlelight MEAL and project staff. The assignment is expected to be carried out within the timeframe of not more than 30 days and the final report should be submitted preferably not later than 25^th  Dec .2021.

Methodology

The evaluation will provide quantitative and qualitative data through the following methods:

• Desk study and review of all relevant project documentation including baseline, project documents, annual work-plans, project progress reports, annual project reports, or any other relevant documents
• In-depth interviews to gather primary data from key stakeholders, staff and community members (project beneficiaries) using a structured methodology (criteria for selection of interviewees are to be established)
• Focus Group Discussion with project beneficiaries and other stakeholders.
• Interviews with relevant key informants (Line Ministries, Community education committees (CECs), Teachers, Village leaders, Religious leaders, Regional/ district officers, Project staff etc.)
• Observations (field visits using checklists)

Key issues and evaluation questions

The key issues that Candlelight and KNH would like to learn through the evaluation are:

Evaluation Criteria	Evaluation Questions
Effectiveness	·      To what extent were the intended project goal, outcomes and outputs achieved and how?·      To what extent did the project reach the targeted beneficiaries at the project goal and outcome levels? ·      How many beneficiaries have been reached; in case they can be counted? ·      To what extent has this project generated positive (or negative) changes in the lives of targeted (and untargeted) beneficiries. Please describe those changes. ·      What internal and external factors contributed to the achievements and/or failure of the intended project goal, outcomes and outputs? ·      How does the assignment assess  the planning, implementation, and monitoring of Candlelight? ·      How effective has been the communication with the community? ·      To what extent have gender perspectives been included and in what way were children involved in this project?
Relevance	·      Are the activities and outputs of the programme consistent with the intended impacts and effects?·      To what extent was the project strategy and activities relevant to the needs of beneficiaries? ·      To what extent do achieved results (project goal, outcomes and outputs) continue to be relevant to the needs of the beneficiries? ·      What relevance do the outcomes of the project have in order to address the overall project objects? ·      What kind of changes, or additional components could be incorporated in the upcoming project to make it more coherent with the needs of the target groups?
Efficiency	·      How efficiently and timely has the project been implemented and managed in accordance with the project documents?·      What can be done in terms of improving project management? Assess the efficiency of the project in terms of the strategies, approaches, structure and organizational capacity base.
Sustainability	·      To what extent are the benefits of the project likely to be sustained after the completion of this project?·      What activities and/or benefits of this project will continue after the project ended? What can be done best and by whom to ensure these are sustained? ·      How does the evaluation assess the ownership of the community? Has cooperation been build among similar actors? Has their participation increased? ·      What are the major factors which influenced the achievement or non achievement of sustainability of the project? What are the lessons learned? ·      What improvements are needed, if any, to improve participation in the follow up project? ·      What key factors will require attention in order to improve prospects of sustainability of project outcomes and the potential for replication of the approach? ·      What are the recommendations for future similar interventions?
Impact	·      What are the consequences (positive and negative, intended/ unintended) that resulted from the project?·      Which activities can be recommended to increase positive and decrease possible negative impacts? What has been the main result of the project’s activities, what has it achieved? ·      How and to what extent has the project contributed to the abadoning of the FGM/C in the target villages. ·      How and to what extent has the project contributed to improving food security in the target villages.
Knowledge Generation	·      What are the key lessons learned and best practices?  ·      What improvements can be made in view of a possible follow up project?

Expected deliverables

The inception report shall describe the evaluators’ understanding of what is being evaluated and why, show how each evaluation question will be answered by way of: proposed methods; sources of data; and data collection procedures. The inception report should include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables, designating a team member with the lead responsibility for each task or product.

Draft evaluation reports – The draft project evaluation report shall be provided to the contracting agency within 14 days after completion of the field work. This will be reviewed and feedback given to the evaluator for incorporation into the final report.

Final evaluation report – This will be submitted in not more than 10 days after receiving comments from the contracting agency. The content and structure of the final report with findings, recommendations and lessons learnt should meet the requirements of the contracting agency and should include but not be limited to the following:

• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Description of the evaluation methodology
• Situational analysis with regard to the outputs, outcomes and results
• Analysis of opportunities to provide guidance for future programming
• Key findings, including best practices and lessons learned
• Conclusions and recommendations
• Appendices: charts, terms of reference, field visits, list of people interviewed, documents reviewed, Photos

. Furthermore, the evaluation report must provide all essential information in a form that is logical and easily understandable. The findings must be discussed with representatives of the target group, who must also be actively involved in planning the follow-up of the findings that affect them.

Essential skills and qualifications for the consultant

General criteria

• Demonstrable expertise on women’s rights and gender equality, livelihoods, Agriculture or any other relevant field
• Thematic expertise on violence against women and girls, harmful traditional practices, or FGM/C
• Knowledge and experience of the rural areas of Somaliland
• A financial proposal that offers good value for money and that maximises potential efficiencies to deliver the outputs within budget

Technical criteria

• Experience in quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis, participatory research, action research
• Experience in project monitoring and evaluation systems, including those using
• participatory approaches and ‘hard to measure’ indicators (i.e. empowerment,

well-being, etc.)

• Experience in use of ethical considerations and methodological measures for conducting research with girls, women, boys, men on sensitive topics
• Evidence of successfully designing and managing large-scale, rigorous and robust research processes and evaluations
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; knowledge of Somali is advantage.
• Excellent report writing skills.

Application and selection process

We invite interested applicants to submit the following documents:

• Expression of interest reflecting track record
• Technical proposal for the evaluation including proposed activities schedule/work plan with time frame
• CV(s) of applicant(s) to be attached
• Detailed Budget
• a copy of previous similar work if applicable

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Technical experience and expertise.
• Quality of proposal.
• Cost-effectiveness of proposal.

Guiding Principles and Values

The consultant shall adhere to the “Do No Harm” principle and any other humanitarian principles. The consultant will be required to respect cultural norms and values of the local communities.

Consultant must ensure safeguarding and protection of children that he/she will directly or indirectly contact in course of evaluation exercise in accordance to the Kindernothilfe Child Protection Policy which will be part of the contract.

The consultant shall ensure at all times the confidentiality of data, respect the privacy of all individuals concerned and make all data collected available to CANDLELIGHT AND KNH in a usable format.

Payment modality

Based on terms of agreement, Candlelight will pay 40% upon signing of the contract, 30% upon submission of the first draft and the final payment which is 30% will be paid subject to submission and verification of the final report by contracting agency.

Application 

Interested candidates can submit their application together with an updated CV clearly showing experience in similar assignments and price quotation of consultancy fees to the email hr@candlelightsom.org or hand deliver to Candlelight offices in Hargeisa in Sha’ab area not later than 20^th November 2021.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

 

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