Consultancy Service to Conduct End line assessment

Terms of Reference (ToR)   

Consultancy Service to Conduct End line assessment 

Building Livelihood Resilience and Nutrition Security in the Kamala River Basin, Siraha District, Nepal 

1. Background

Province no. 2 has high poverty level based on multidimensional poverty index (MPI), second largest population density, a large GINI coefficient, poverty, low food and nutrition intake, instability, economic opportunity, and social issues.  Three municipalities i.e. Karjanha, Kalyanpur and Siraha from Siraha district are facing recurrent flood that severely affects life, property, and livelihood of the community. In other words, communities have low resilience and adaptive capacity for climate and disaster risk. The Nutritional status is poor and have less sustainable livelihood assets.  

2. Project Introduction

Welthungerhilfe Nepal (WHH) in partnership with Aasaman Nepal and FORWARD Nepal has been implementing " Building livelihood resilience and nutrition security in the Kamala River Basin project in three municipalities of Siraha district. Aasaman Nepal has been implementing the Nutritional and Disaster Risk Reduction component and FORWARD Nepal has been implementing the Agricultural components. 

The overall objective to the project is to enhance Improvement of resilience and food security of vulnerable communities in the catchment area of the Kamala River in Siraha DistrictIt has adopted the approaches of Sustainable Integrated farming system (SIFS) based Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) for reducing the cost of production. Nutrition promotion through NERP (Nutrition Education Rehabilitation Program/Camps) as immediate response and Participatory learning and trade cycles for Linking Agriculture and Natural Resource Management towards Nutrition Security (LANN+) for long term response were the two-way strategies adopted. Furthermore, strengthening the system on Disaster Risk Reduction was key approach.

Project has three sub-goals:

Sub-goal 1: Vulnerable households use nutritionally sensitive and climate-friendly integrated farming methods and have an improved income  

Sub-goal 1:Local Disaster Management Committees (LDRCs) are trained to help communities prepare for and manage disasters and 

Sub-goal 1: Target households use their improved knowledge of nutrition and hygiene 

Expected Outcome level results after the completion of the project:

• At least 50% of the 5,000 households have adapted at least one climate-friendly flood protection measure 
• 40% of all households show 20% increase in income compared to baseline by reducing input costs, spending on food and improving market access 
• MDD-W: 50% of women meet the minimum nutritional requirements for women in at least five food groups.  

Expected Output level results after the completion of the project:

• At least 70% (1,890) of the 2,700households have introduced a nutritionally relevant integrated agricultural method by the end of the project. 
• 60% (1,620) of the 2,700 households show an improvement in agricultural diversity with at least five food groups (cereals, pulses, vegetables, oilseeds, eggs/meat)  
• 3 comprehensive hazard and vulnerability maps prepared, and municipal DRR plans developed (1/municipal administration)  
• At least 80% (36) of the 45 LDRCs have developed, tested, and equipped emergency plans  
• 10 community-based early warning systems and 20 small-scale infrastructure reduction measures are established   
• 50% of target households apply improved nutrition and hygiene practices 
• 30% of children between 6-23 months eat the minimum amount of food specified in the MAD

Key Activities:

• Good Agriculture Practices for SIFS (Sustainable Integrated farming system)
• Cooperative based income generation  
• Increasing access to irrigation 
• Disaster Resilient infra structure like raised market shed and mitigation schemes 
• Local Resource Person (LRP) development and mobilization to farmers groups 
• Encourage local government for participatory planning     
• Participatory capacity and vulnerably assessment (PCVA) conduction and ward level contingency plan preparation 
• Local Disaster and Climate Resilient Plan (LDCRP) preparation of working municipalities  
• Emergency response fund (ERF) establishment at ward level  
• Awareness raising campaigns on disaster preparedness 
• Emergency rescue equipment support toward  
• NERP (Nutrition Education Rehabilitation Program/Camps) for malnourished under five children 
• Linking Agriculture and Natural Resource Management towards Nutrition Security (LANN+) 

Project Focus group:

• Children under five years 
• People with highly vulnerable to disaster 
• Municipal leadership 

Objectives of the End line study 

The end line study will aim:

• To assess the achievements and impacts of the interventions in developing resiliency of livelihood of marginalized and excluded beneficiary 
• To assess the achievements and impacts of the interventions in maintaining nutritional security of the right holders and develop end line progress status against each agreed results indicator.    

3. Scope of the study:

The scope of the Project comprises of evaluating overall results and achievements after the end of project implementation.  The benchmark of comparison will be baseline of the project prepared earlier. The comparison should be done against each indicator of the baseline findings. Resiliency and coping capacity of community will be equally important aspects of study. 

4.  Methodology 

The methodology for the evaluation team will be as follows: 

• Preparatory phase: The preparatory phase includes; i) desk review of documents like project document and periodic progress reports; ii) start-up meeting amongst the study team and WHH Nepal staff, Aasaman Nepal and FORWARD Nepal; and iii) design and finalization of questionnaires, field work plan and methodology, iv) Meeting with the WHH/Aasaman Nepal/FORWARD Nepal to finalize the study framework and tool.
• Field work: The End line assessment team will visit project areas, observe project sites, carry out household survey and focused group discussions with beneficiary groups, interact with stakeholders within the methodology developed above. 
• Analysis and write-up: The Endline assessment team will compile and consolidate relevant primary and secondary information/data (qualitative and quantitative) required drawing findings and furnishing recommendation. The team will draft a report highlighting key findings. A draft report will be shared to WHH/Aasaman Nepal/FORWARD Nepal for comments and feedbacks. The Endline assessment team will submit a final report to after incorporating their comments, if any.

5.  Time Frame for End line assessment 

The Endline assessment should be started as soon as possible and need to be completed by 20 October 2020. The assignment consists of 30 working days. A tentative schedule for the assessment is as follows

6. Study team

The endline team will be lead by a senior professional with more than seven years experience and expertise on research, preferably working on livelihood and nutrition with enough knowledge on disaster risk reduction. The composition of team should have the expertise of socio-economic survey, Nutrition and DRR and other social research. The team members should have relevant previous experiences in M&E and conducted similar types of survey. The table below summarises the role and responsibility of the survey team.

* must be local (project municipalities). Project team will support to hire enumerators

7. Deliverables

The following deliverables will be expected:

• Endline methodology and tools finalized in consultation with WHH/ASN/FORWARD Nepal team.
• Presentation of preliminary findings, at meeting with WHH/ASN/FORWARD Nepal team. 
• Draft Endline assessment report based on the findings of the comprehensive study.
• Final Endline assessment report incorporating inputs.

The Final Report should include:

• All the answers of the research questions as stated in the objectives as per this ToR, and 
• An adequate quantitative and qualitative substantiation of the findings

8. Requirement

Interested consultant/consulting firms should submit following documents, while sending their expression of interest (EoI).

• Letter of expression of interest (EoI)
• Technical and Financial proposal in separate file and folders
• Firms’ Profile detailing the past assignments (at least one end line report as a sample copy)
• CVs of all team member highlighting their areas of work and experience
• Company registration certificate
• Latest tax clearance certificate
• VAT registration certificate (For both firms and individual consultants)

9. Payment

The organization will provide fund in instalment basis. Forty percent of budget will be paid after signing of the agreement and inception report. Next 40 percent of budget will be provided to consultant after receival of first draft and remaining 20 percent amount will be paid after submission of final report.

10. Copyright

Copyright for the documents will remain with WHH/ASN/FORWARD includes the right to distribute the material or parts of it to WHH Nepal partners in Nepal and abroad.   

11. Application Procedure 

Interested consultant/consulting firms should submit following documents, while sending their expression of interest (EoI) at asnvacancy@gmail.com.The closing date for applications is 28th September, 2020. 

Please click here to download TOR [ Annex 1 and Annex 2 ] or by following the link below;

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1otpy4EEX39ZRMy_IRSbRWd4UWVECOz8s/view?usp=sharing

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted for interview. The short-listed applicant will be required to present their proposed methodology and previous similar experience. Any decision for disqualification rests solely with WHH/ASN/Forward Nepal.

The candidates must adhere to WHH/ASN/Forward Nepal policies and internal procedures, protocols, code of conduct with special attention to Child Safeguarding and Protection and Do No Harm Policies.

Aasaman Nepal, Mahalaxmisthan, Lalitpur

Website: www.aasamannepal.org.np

Email: asnvacancy@gmail.com