Solidarités Mid Term Evaluation Opportunity – Strengthening Coping Strategies to Drought in Turkana Central District Project

Mid Term Evaluation Terms of Reference
Country: Kenya
Location: Kerio Division, Turkana
Project to be evaluated: “Strengthening Coping Strategies to Drought in Turkana Central District”
Starting date: 17th May 2010 (17 days consultancy)
Duration of the field mission: 10 days
Time dedicated to the desk review: 2 days
Time dedicated to  report writing: 5 days
Under responsibility of: Deputy Country Director for Kenya
Funding Sources for the evaluation: OFDA
Presentation of Solidarités 


Solidarités is an international humanitarian organization which provides assistance to populations affected by natural disaster or man-made crisis. For over 30 years, Solidarités has concentrated its actions on meeting three vital needs: Water, Food and Shelter. In the Horn of Africa, Solidarités is currently implementing Food Security, Water and Sanitation projects in Somalia and Kenya. Solidarités has 2 areas of intervention in Kenya (Turkana and Nairobi informal settlements) and 3 areas of intervention in Somalia (Gedo, Lover Juba and Adaado).
Presentation of the project/ program to be evaluated
Background

Turkana Central district (TCD) is ranked as the poorest district in Kenya with over 64% (DDP Turkana Central 2008-2012) of its population living below the poverty line. TCD is located in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL).
Four livelihood zones are recognized in the District:

• Pastoralist: 60% of the population
• Agro-pastoralist: 20% of the population
• Fisher folk : 12% of the population
• Formal employment/casual waged labour/business: 8% of the population

Like Other ASAL areas, TCD has been facing two main structural challenges: increased human population and livestock population, while climate change resulted in decreasing availability of pasture and water by more frequent and longer droughts. This led to frequent cattle raids and resources control based conflicts between communities. On top of this, recurrent outbreak of livestock disease has further weakened pastoralist communities.
Solidarités intervention in Turkana started in November 2009 with the current OFDA project. The overall strategy for this intervention is to respond to immediate humanitarian needs, while reinforcing the drought resilience of targeted communities using a 2 axis strategy: by strengthening and diversifying existing assets and means of livelihood and by incorporating a capacity of emergency response during project implementation (destocking etc).
Solidarités has developed a result oriented approach to working in ASAL contexts. Solidarités has already been implementing a program in Chalbi District for more than 2.5 years and in other ASAL areas in southern Somalia (Gedo and Lower Juba), strengthening the drought resilience capacity of communities with water, sanitation, livestock and agricultural activities. The present OFDA project in Turkana has been designed based on the lessons learned during these earlier ASAL interventions.
WASH Objective:
To increase the quantity and quality of water available and to improve sanitary conditions and hygiene practices for targeted beneficiaries
WASH Activities

• Mobilisation and training of Water User Committees (WUC) for all water points covered by this project
• Construction of 5 concrete lined infiltration wells along the Turkwel River
• Construction of rain water collecting systems at 4 schools
• Rehabilitation of 5 existing concrete lined open wells
• Rehabilitation of 1 existing borehole
• Distribution of water containers for 900 targeted households
• Exploration and protection of 3 springs
• Mapping of Water Resources
• Hygiene behaviour change campaign
• Construction of School latrines
• Construction of Household latrines (pilot)

Food Security Objective:
The Agriculture and Food Security activities will directly assist 2900 households, of which 600 are agro-pastoralists, 300 are fishermen and 2000 are pastoralists.
Food Security Activities

• Training for 300 fishermen
• Provision of improved fishing equipment for 300 fishermen
• Training and equipping Community Animal Health Workers
• De-stocking
• Irrigation study
• Construction of water harvesting system for crop production
• Support to Agro-Pastoral Communities: Seeds and tools provision ;  Agricultural Training
• De-worming campaigns
• Set up of a veterinary products store

Purposes of the evaluation
The purpose of this evaluation is to meet donor requirements and to draw lessons from the experience that the programme team has gained so far.  This evaluation will address each and every activity as per the proposal. Recommendations from the midterm evaluation will also help to defining the current needs as Solidarites prepares to design phase II of its interventions in the area.
Scope and focus
The evaluation will focus on the operation’s approach, the implementation process and the performance of the programme. The evaluation must give answers to the following questions:

• Did expected results fulfill the needs before the intervention? (relevance)
• Do expected results meet the major current needs? (relevance)
• Does the program cover the initially targeted population? (coverage)
• Has the project appropriately targeted the right beneficiaries and the deriving villages? (relevance and coverage)
• Are the project activities timely implemented as planned? ( effectiveness of work plan implementation)
• Is project in course to meet expected results? (effectiveness)
• How are the resources being utilized in the course of project implementation so far? (efficiency)
• Are results of activities sustainable and to what extend?
• What negative or positive midterm influence of the project is already foreseen? (impact)
• Is the program coherent with local authorities’ policies? If no, is this a bad or a good thing? (coherence)

The evaluation should also assess the appreciation of the program by the beneficiaries as well as their participation at various levels of the project management cycle. Finally, the evaluation should assess how the implementation of the program is respectful of the ethic of humanitarian practice vis-à-vis the SPHERE standards and the Code of conduct for the Red Cross Movement and for NGO during emergency intervention.
Evaluation process and methods

• The evaluation methods should be clearly outlined in the report and their appropriateness, relative to the evaluation’s primary purpose, focus and users, should be explained pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the methods. A description of the overall flow of the evaluation process (i.e. sequence of the key stages) should be given in the evaluation report. The evaluation approach and the methods used to collect and analyze data should also be described. The nature (e.g., external or mixed) and make up of the team (e.g. sector expertise, local knowledge, gender balance) and its appropriateness for the evaluation should be outlined.
• The evaluation report should outline the sources of biases that might affect the evaluation and how these have been addressed.
• The evaluation report should also present the key constraints to carrying out the evaluation (e.g., lack of baseline data, lack of access to key information sources, use of translators), and the effect of these constraints.
• Whenever secondary sources will be referred to, the evaluator should indicate the level of reliability of the given information.
• After the field work, the evaluation team will present and discuss with the project team the preliminary findings and the proposed recommendations.
• A first draft of the evaluation report should be shared with the coordination team of Solidarités before a final version is sent to the donor.

Procedures and logistics

• The evaluation team must comply with Solidarités’ rules and procedures related to security and relations with the media.
• The evaluation team must respect the ethic and the deontology related to evaluation practice
• While working in Nairobi, the evaluation team will find office space in the offices of Solidarités.
• Logistics, movement and security would be provided and organised by Solidarités team

Deliverables
The evaluation report should include at least:

• One narrative report (max 40 pages) including an executive summary (2 pages maximum).
• A separate table summarizing the main findings and the lessons learned.
• A separate table showing the different recommendations and tips for their implementation (who will be in charge of implementing this recommendations, when? dead line? necessary means? who will be in charge of checking that the recommendations are being implemented and when? etc.).
• Relevant maps and photographs of the assessed zone and programme.
• A Power point presentation of the main findings and recommendations of the evaluation must be submitted to Solidarités in order to facilitate dissemination of the results of the evaluation to stakeholders.

Documents of reference (on request only)

• Proposal of the project
• Last Interim report
• Current organizational chart
• Last Activity Progress Update of the programme
• Relevant maps

Qualification of the Lead consultant

• University degree in Project management, Water and Sanitation or related field
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience with NGOs
• Proven experience in similar evaluation context (ASAL)
• Strong methodology and writing capacities

How to apply
Please send your proposal, highlighting the following:

• A brief introduction of bidding firm or person attaching relevant CVs
• Your understanding of the Terms of Reference
• Proposed methodology and approach
• Proposed work plan and budget
• Your availability

All relevant information (CV, cover letter, copies of testimonials, certificate of works and 3 contact references) should be sent to info@solidarites-kenya-som.org before COB 10th May 2010. Please indicate the consultancy you are applying for in the title of your email. Only short-listed applications will be contacted.

People who read this post also read :