Consultancy Services for the Final Evaluation of Sustainable Livelihoods Support for Earthquake Affe

Oxfam in Nepal

Oxfam has been working in Nepal since the early 1980s undertaking various development initiatives addressing the poverty and injustice faced by women and other socially and economically excluded groups. The level of Oxfam's engagement increased substantially after restoration of democracy in 1990 as it became easier for civil society to work in the new political environment. Over the years, Oxfam has worked in partnership with local civil society organisations and the government to promote rural livelihoods, and vulnerable communities' resilience to climatic shocks and disasters. It has also significantly contributed to empowering community people, especially women, to; negotiate with people in power, influence decision making processes, claim rights and essential services to which they are entitled, demand accountability on the part of duty bearers and engage larger masses in advocacy efforts. Oxfam also worked closely with UNHCR in providing assistance to Bhutanese refugees during the 1990s. Oxfam and its long term programme partners believe that the underlying structural causes and drivers of poverty must be addressed if improvements in peoples's lives are to be broad and lasting. Poverty is not one-dimensional; nor is it purely local in its causes and solutions. Therefore, Oxfam's work addresses not only material and technical change, but also the related economic, social, institutional and policy changes which are necessary to end poverty and achieve development and wellbeing. The Oxfam Nepal Vision is: The people of Nepal are empowered and work together to attain a life of dignity with justice and equal rights for all. The Overall Nepal Programme Goal is: to improve the well being of vulnerable people through strengthening their participation in development and governance processes and reducing poverty and suffering.

Details / requirements:

Title: Consultancy Services for the Final Evaluation of Sustainable Livelihoods Support for Earthquake Affected Families in Nepal

Proposal Submission Deadline: 26 April 2019

Send Proposal to: consultancy_nepal@oxfam.org.uk

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Introduction

Oxfam is seeking qualified individual or firms to undertake final evaluation of Sustainable Livelihoods Support for Earthquake Affected Families in Nepal that have been implemented by Oxfam in Nepal and Fair Trade Group Nepal with financial and technical support from Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Intermon and Oxfam Solidarity. The assessment will cover mainly two aspects i) Undertake the evaluation to assess the projects relevance, effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability and Impact, ii) Provide specific recommendations for Oxfam, partner organization and stakeholders that will be useful for similar projects in the future for the same sector.

A team with proven technical experience in the field of social research and evaluation proven experience in review studies, experience in Gender and Social Inclusion analysis, analytical skill and high quality report writing, with good understanding on knowledge of sustainable livelihoods and enterprise development be preferred. The team should have abilities on conducting social research and will be required to conduct household surveys.

All relevant team members including team leader will be expected to undertake field assessment for monitoring of fair trade business created by the project and consultation with the community members and local bodies.

The consultant will be required to prepare draft report after the assessment and give a presentation on the findings to Oxfam. A final report should be delivered along with the raw data, discussion and interview notes. The assignment is expected to start from 3rd week of May 2019 and is expected to be completed by end of June 2019.

Please read below for details regarding the assignments and application requirements.

Send in your financial and technical proposals along with CVs of expert and administrative documents to consultancy_nepal@oxfam.org.uk by 26th April 2019.

Background and Project Information

The Earthquake of 25th April 2015 and its aftershocks had killed 8,790  people, injured around 22,300 people and the detail survey conducted by National Reconstruction Authority in 31 Earthquake affected district shows that almost 800,000 personal houses were either damaged or destroyed. Several governmental and nongovernmental agencies and individuals such as donors, UN, INGOs, NGOs, private sectors have been responding to the victims for the post-earthquake recovery to continue their livelihood smoothly with regular income flowing in their household.

The earthquake has significant impacts on the lives and livelihoods of the small holder farmers, producers and artisans. Small producers and artisans have lost their homes, equipment, tools, raw materials and their livelihood options affecting entire supply chain of Fair Trade Group Nepal’s Members Organizations (FTGN-MOs). They had to face damages and lost businesses. That had resulted delays in deliveries and cancellation of the orders causing short term revenue declines as well as losing long term business opportunities to the member organizations.

With the technical and financial support from Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Intermon and Oxfam Solidarite, Oxfam in Nepal has been implementing Sustainable Livelihoods Support for Earthquake Affected Families in Nepal project in partnership with Fair Trade group Nepal (FTG Nepal) in five most affected districts named Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot. The duration of the project is 3 years and 5 months starting from 1st January 2016 to 30th June 2019. The goal of the project is to improve livelihoods and economic opportunities for 4,500 Earthquake affected men and women producers in 5 districts.

Expected Outcomes:

1.Earthquake affected 4,500 men and women producers are able to generate sustainable income.

2.Improved market access of earthquake affected men and women producers and FTGN member organizations.

3.Fair trade principles and practices are practiced in private and public sector actors.

Major Activities

• Organizing the producers in the Fair-Trade Producer Groups and group strengthening for their institutional development and sustainability.

• Entrepreneurship development and Business Management Training.

• Skill development trainings to increase knowledge on production.

• Equipment/tools and appropriate technology support.

• Access to market (local and FTGN-MOs) and Access to Bank and Financial Institutions (BFIs) for financial accessibility.

• Strengthening the capacity of the FTGN-MOs to increase their customers and sales.

• Establishment of the Fair-Trade Market Outlet

• Establishment of Fair Trade Business Development Service Center.

• Create awareness on Fair Trade principles and practices.

Objective:

The final evaluation is a requirement for the project as part of the Monitoring, Evaluation Accountability and Learning requirements. The main aim of the evaluation will be to systematically analyse the actual results of the programme and its underlying working mechanisms against the proposed outcomes and Theory of Change.

Specific objectives:

a.Undertake the evaluation to assess the projects

o Relevance: the extent to which the objectives were consistent with beneficiaries’ needs and priorities

o Effectiveness: the extent to which the targeted project objectives and outcome were achieved (or are expected to be achieved) with consideration of the how they are achieved. , What was project's contribution to changes or impact?, what impact (positive or negative) that has been achieved.

o Sustainability: the extent to which the benefits are likely to continue after the project (sustainability of the output/outcome created by the project and the partnership with Oxfam, local partner and local body)

b.Provide recommendations

Identify and generate lessons learned from the implementation of the project’s activities and the outcomes achieved that will be useful for similar projects in the future for the same sector. Based on the learnings, develop specific recommendations for Oxfam, implementing partners and stakeholders with consideration for how/what is specific to this geography or cultural context that might need to be amended for wide scale applicability of the model.

Mainly, the evaluation should assess the above in relation to two central broad questions:

o What changes / outcomes / achievements have taken place?

o How have these changes / outcomes / achievements been brought about?

In relation to this, the evaluation should consider the following sub-questions:

What?

o What have been the intended and expected outcomes of the project activities? To what extent do these achievements correspond to the objectives/outcomes/goal stated in the log frame?

o What have been the unintended and unexpected outcomes of the project activities? Positive or negative impact will be considerable and acceptable.

o Who has benefited (men, women, youth, people with disabilities and others), in what ways?  And who has not benefitted and why?

o To what extent has the overall achievement of the changes / outcomes been influenced/affected by internal, external / other factors? To what extent are changes attributable to the project activities?

o What was the Oxfams contributions to positive change?

o Did the achieved outcomes lead to long-term improvement in the general environment for earthquake affected producers?

o Are the exit and hand-over strategies adequate? What is the likelihood that the benefits of the project are sustained upon its completion?

o Was the project strategy flexible and responsible to address short comings during implementation or to make use of opportunities?

How?

o How accurate and relevant is the ‘log frame’ that was articulated near the beginning of the project? Is it effective, where were the gaps, how should it be adapted and improved for the future?

o What were the most effective approaches used by the project to bring about change? What worked, what didn’t, and why?

o What overall lessons have been learned? how can reflection and learning processes be improved?

o How have relationships between partners helped or hindered the ‘delivery of changes / outcomes’? How can these relationships be improved?

o How readily is project learning transferable to national and international knowledge development?

o How learning has been used to adapt the project at the local level and how can this be strengthened?

Methodology

The evaluation should consist of:

(a)Desk Review: Review of archived material related to the project. This could include, but is not restricted to: Project Proposal, Log frame, project related database systems, baseline survey and midterm review report, field visit reports, quarterly, biannual and annual reports, training and event reports, training tools and materials, other project related publications etc. These informations will be provided to the evaluator by Fair Trade Group Nepal and Oxfam in Nepal. Any other relevant statistics and secondary sources should also be reviewed by the evaluator.

(b)Development of an evaluation approach and data collection tools / methods: this should include;

• Detailed time line and work plan

• Outline of any proposed changes to the scope of the evaluation

• Participatory evaluation tools and techniques, key informant interview, FGD, outcome harvesting, contribution analysis and   or consultant is proposed to use appropriate approach, tools and techniques that will be suitable to the study. Sample to be taken from project staffs, Fair Trade Member Organisations, Producer Groups, Market actors (local traders) - Sample Questionnaire Survey (Fair trade producers / Entrepreneurs – Sample to be taken from 4900 total reached population)

• Proposed sampling framework

• List of beneficiaries and stakeholders to be consulted, and

• Development of associated data collection and evaluation tools.

Sample size: Based on a reach of 4,900 beneficiaries over 3 years, representative sample of beneficiaries is required for this evaluation; however, the exact sampling framework is to be proposed by the consultant with standard sampling method. The proposed approach should be submitted to Oxfam for approval prior to the fieldwork.

Stakeholders to be consulted: The consultant should plan to include the following groups of stakeholders in the evaluation:

• Direct project beneficiaries in 5 districts (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot)

• Fair Trade Member Organizations, Representative of Market Outlet and local market actors.

• Representative of local body

• Project implementing staffs (Partner and Oxfam)

• Board of FTGN

• Any other relevant stakeholders as required.

(c)Briefing with Oxfam and FTGN: This should take place immediately after the conformation of consultant and prior to the fieldwork.

(d)Field visits: Field visits will take place in the 5 project districts and should include the agreed sample of beneficiaries and stakeholders. This is expected to require within 1 weeks, depending on the exact methodology. This should also include interaction with project staff in Kathmandu.

(e)Provide a debrief: using either a draft set of results or PowerPoint presentation to summarise preliminary findings and recommendations a half day debrief meeting will be organized with project staffs and key stakeholder after the end of the field work.

(f)Submit a draft evaluation report: of no more than 50 pages that corresponds to the requirements outlined below in the ‘Deliverables’ section.

(g)Submit a final evaluation report: incorporating any relevant feedback from Oxfam and FTGN.

(h)Sharing of Final Evaluation report: Share the final evaluation report to wider stakeholders through a half day Sharing Workshop.

(i)The following basic principles are expected to guide the further development of the methodology:

Participation: Allow for the meaningful participation of Oxfam staff, partners and producers/entrepreneurs in the evaluation process. The consultants will take consent with all the involved participants before taking information/photographs in the format of developed by Oxfam. Gender Equality: The proposed approach should sufficiently consider the different ways in which women and men producers have been involved in and responded to the programme in two ways:

1)The evaluation should consider to what extent women producers were meaningfully included in project activities and processes. This should include, among others: numbers women and men producers involved in activities; number of women in leadership positions; improvement in skills and confidence among women producers to participate in the project activities, influence stakeholders, and raise awareness among their peers and other actors; analysis of blocking and enabling factors to women’s involvement. Positive and negative changes/effects in their lives within the household, wider community and the status of inclusion in the market

2)The evaluation methodology should ensure the meaningful participation and inclusion of women producers in the evaluation process (e.g. sex-segregated focus group discussions, creation of safe spaces, careful monitoring of gender dynamics in mixed spaces, gender specific evaluation tools)

(j)Data triangulation:

The evaluators will gather information through different complementary sources (such as direct observations of project activities, key informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions, sample survey data etc.)

Field Work

• One-to-one Interviews and focus group discussions with direct beneficiaries, Fair Trade Member Organizations and local community members in general in all five project districts.

• Survey of fair trade producers / entrepreneurs

• Consultation with partner project staff and Board members, key stakeholders including members of decision making structures, Municipalities and line agencies both in district and national level.

• Observation and analysis of support and services received by targeted beneficiaries from the project.

Deliverables

The expected deliverables of the evaluation are as below:

a.Inception report along with an evaluation work plan, including: planned timeline, methodology / approach, planned stakeholders to be consulted and sampling framework, data collection and analysis tools, qualitative and quantitative protocols for data collection and analysis.

b.A half day Debrief meeting to summarise preliminary findings and recommendations with project staffs and key stakeholder after the field work/survey.

c.Draft evaluation report written in English that meets the requirements outlined below.

d.An electronic file of the clean (final) qualitative and quantitative data collected

e.Final evaluation Report: Final Evaluation report should be jargon free, concise, clear and simply written not exceeding 50 pages.

f.A half day Sharing workshop to share the findings of the final evaluation to wider stakeholders.

In addition, the final report should contain at least the following annexes:

• Terms of Reference for final evaluation

• Itinerary

• List of meetings/discussions attended

• List of persons interviewed

• Details of evaluation methodology

• Summary of field visits

• List of documents reviewed

• Case stories/success stories

• Photographs

• Any other relevant material, including data collection tools

Timeline

The assignment is expected to take approximately 37 working days to complete starting from 13 th May to 30 June 2019.

- Define methodology and evaluation plan – 1 day

- Desk review, Questionnaire development and Orientation to the Enumerators – 6 days.

- Field visit for interview, FGD, KII – 14 days.

- Data Analysis (Qualitative & Quantitative) – 7 days

- Report writing and sharing draft report– 6 days Maximum.

- Report Finalization incorporating the feedback and comments – 2days

- Report sharing of Final Evaluation to wider Stakeholders – half day

Qualification/Skills required

We are looking for a national team of experienced evaluators with the following qualifications:

a.At least Master Degree in Social science, economic and any other relevant subject.

b.Minimum 10 years of proven experience in the field of social research and evaluation including relevant experience on sustainable livelihoods, experience on gender and social inclusion analysis and enterprise development

c.Proven experience of leading review studies, analytical skill and high quality report writing

d.Proven experience of conducting community level research and data gathering using participatory technique

e.Good understanding and knowledge of enterprise development, livelihood, food security and fair trade movement in Nepal.

f.Sound knowledge of existing legislative and institutional arrangements and policies related to enterprise development and Fair Trade Promotion in Nepal.

g.Proven professional analytical and writing skills

h.Excellent communication, writing and presentation skills in both English and Nepali

TEAM COMPOSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The survey team will include one Team Leader, one study Coordinator and maximum of five field supervisors—one each for three districts. Oxfam and partner organization’s staffs will be mobilized for the coordination support as required.

1.Responsibilities of the consultant:

• Share the overall study design including process, methods and questionnaires with project team in Oxfam, collect feedback and finalize the study design

• Ensure the adequate methodology so as to produce a valid document.

• Finalize survey tools and methodology, questionnaire etc.

• Coordinate/arrange to orient survey team on survey methods and survey tools

• Mobilize team for supervising data collection, data tabulation and coding process

• Ensure the quality of information collected from fields, cross check with the validity of information collected and verify/revise where needed

• Collect other necessary information, synthesize/analyse data.

• A half day Debrief meeting to summarise preliminary findings and recommendations with project staffs and key stakeholder after the field work/survey.

• Prepare and present draft review report with district-disaggregated results

• Finalize and submit the final report as per the requirements of Oxfam after incorporating the suggestion and feedback of the project team.

2.Responsibilities of Oxfam:

Remaining within the policies and practices of Oxfam Country Office, its primary responsibility is to help consultant to achieve objective of this ToR. Specifically, Oxfam is responsible to

• Prepare ToR and hire consultant in coordination with partner NGOs

• Provide inputs to finalize the study design and process

• Monitor, provide feedback and ensure effectiveness of study

• Provide inputs to draft and final reports

• Release the budget as per agreed budget disbursement schedule

• Support on developing common understanding with the consultant, partner (FTGN) and Oxfam.

3.Responsibilities of partner organization:

Partner NGOs will be involved from the beginning of the study. They will be responsible to support and coordinate for collecting field level data/information. Specifically partner NGOs will

• Mobilize project staffs in consultation with the consultant and Oxfam

• Facilitate and coordinate for survey with fair trade producers and member organizations

• Facilitate to arrange meetings with major district and national stakeholders

• Give inputs to draft and final reports

4.Reporting.

The consultant will report to Oxfam Project Coordinator for all issues related to the program and fieldwork.

Basic documents required during the submission of proposal

1. Technical proposal including

-An updated Bio-data of key persons involving in this initiative.

-Short overview of how the candidate meets the qualifications, experience and skills requirements (no more than one page)

-Copy of documents/materials with evidence of engagement in and successful completion of similar initiatives in the past.

2. Financial proposal in the format below:

SN

Activities

Person

Working days

Rate (NRS)

Total (NRS)

Remarks

Consultant remuneration

1

Team leader

2

Study Coordinator

3

Enumerators

4

Travel cost within Kathmandu valley

Will be paid as per actual

5

Travel (Sindhupalchowk & Nuwakot)

Will be managed by Oxfam

6

Accommodation (Sindhupalchowk & Nuwakot)

Will be paid as per actual

7

Data Analysis (Quantitative & Qualitative)

8

Report preparation (1 st Draft)

9

Sharing of draft report, feedback collection and incorporation

10

Report sharing of Final Evaluation to wider Stakeholders (Half Day workshop)

Logistic will be managed by Oxfam

Subtotal

Include VAT (13%)

Total

Note: All the expenses to be included in the headings mentioned in the format above.


3. Other required documents:

-Copy of VAT registration certificate.

-Latest tax clearance certificate.

-Detailed contact address including telephone, mobile, fax, street and postal address, email etc.

-Copy of firm registration with updated renewal, details of founder members, copy of Article of Association & Memorandum and any other relevant documents.

-Contact details (Name, Designation, Email address, Phone no. and Organisation) of at least 2 referees with whom the firm has worked before in similar consultancy assignment.

Selection Criteria

Criteria

Weightage

Team leader and members with adequate experience and background in Livelihoods and Enterprise related study/research including technical and social aspects

35

Quality of technical proposal

20

Financial competitiveness of proposal

30

Institution’s prior record and experience of conducting studies or work in study and research

15

Terms of Payment

The consultant will be paid in three instalments - 1st instalment (20%) after signing agreement; 2nd instalment (30%) after developing necessary tools and training completion and final instalment (50%) after successful completion of the field study, presentation and final report to Oxfam as per the quality and standards.

Response

The Consulting VAT Registered Firm should submit the proposal to Oxfam by 26 April 2019 via mail to consultancy_nepal@oxfam.org.uk, clearly mentioning the title of assignment in the email subject line and not exceeding 15 MB.

Confidentiality / Non-disclosure

All material issued in connection with this ToR shall remain the property of Oxfam and shall be used only for the purpose of this procurement exercise. All information provided shall be either returned to Oxfam or securely destroyed by unsuccessful applicants at the conclusion of the procurement exercise.

During the performance of the assignment or at any time after expiry or termination of the Agreement, the Consultant shall not disclose to any person or otherwise make use of any confidential information which s/he has obtained or may in the course of this agreement relating to partner organization/Oxfam, the respondents or otherwise.

The consultant will be required to sign a non-disclosure / confidentiality agreement as part of their undertaking of this work.

Intellectual property, Copyright, and Ownership of all prepared information

The Consultant shall retain all rights to pre-existing (background) intellectual property or materials used by the Consultant in the delivery of this study. All arising intellectual property, ideas, materials, processes or processes formed in contemplation, course of, or as result of this study shall be passed to Oxfam without restriction.

The Consult shall warrant that all arising Intellectual Property, materials and/or products produced in pursuit of this study shall be original, and shall not infringe on any third party’s claim. All technical or business information, in whatever medium or format, originated, collated or prepared by or for the Consultant in contemplation, course of, or as result of this assignment shall be transferred to Oxfam without restriction on completion and shall not be used by the Consultant for any other purpose without express written permission of Oxfam’s Head of Programme Funding.

Copyright of all arising documents, data, information or reports produced by the Consultant under this agreement shall belong to Oxfam and will be passed to Oxfam without restriction. Such documents, data, information and reports shall not be used by the Consultant for any other purpose other than in conjunction with this assignment, without the express written permission of Oxfam’s Head of Programme Funding.

Overview

Category Consulting & Professional Services
Openings 1
Experience Please check details below.
Education Please check details below.
Posted Date 19 Apr, 2019
Apply Before 26 Apr, 2019
City Lalitpur