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Finance & Aid => Medical Jobs & Trainings => Topic started by: Admin on June 30, 2010, 04:07:13 PM

Title: Project Evaluation Consultant, Nairobi + Travel to Somalia
Post by: Admin on June 30, 2010, 04:07:13 PM
Horn Relief
Horn Relief is an African based international development and humanitarian organization that aims to improve the lives of those who are living in marginalized areas in the Horn of Africa. We strengthen rural livelihoods through environmental awareness, training, technology transfer and innovative humanitarian projects in pursuit of a peaceful, self-reliant, and greener future. Horn Relief works in the following sectors: food security and livelihoods, natural resource management education (formal and non-formal), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and humanitarian programs, and sources its funding mainly from institutional US and European donors as well as from multi-lateral donors such as the UN.
Closing date: 11 Jul 2010
Location: Kenya - Nairobi, Kenya (with travel to Somaliland/Somalia for data collection)

QUALIFICATION PROFILE

•Post graduate degree in WASH or related field.
•At least five years of hands on experience in conducting assessments, mid term reviews and evaluations.
•Experience as team-leader in project evaluations/mid-term reviews is essential;
•He/she must have profound knowledge in economic analysis of development projects;
•Familiar with issues related to hygiene practices and water source management in Somalia
•Familiar with environmental issues and semi-arid and arid lands
•He/she must be experienced in developing and implementing gender sensitive evaluation methodologies in WASH and 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 Horn Relief.

ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY

Horn Relief is seeking a qualified Consultant specialized in evaluating Water and Sanitation projects in Somalia, to evaluate Horn Relief’s WSDP project in Sanaag region of Somaliland/Somalia. The consultancy is for a period of 28 days, beginning before the end of July and will include both desk work and field data collection. Horn Relief encourages Consultancy firms or groups who can assign at least two consultants specialized in Water and Sanitation, and livelihoods, with the former leading the team, Water and Sanitation being the major component/focus of the project.

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Sool Plateau and Gebi Valley pastoral zones of Sanaag region have experienced multiple environmental shocks over the past decade resulting in an ever increasing vulnerability of the communities. Water and Sanitation Development Project (WSDP) II is a follow-on of a previous Water and Sanitation Development Project (WSDP, phase I) in Sanaag region funded by the Government of Netherlands, that aimed at increasing sustainable access to water, improve hygiene and sanitation practices as well as address restoration of rangelands through proper rain water harvesting and mitigating erosion. The later is mainly for the benefit of the pastoral communities and their livestock. To address the livelihood needs of the community, the project was designed in such a way that some of the water facility construction and rangeland restoration activities would involve community labour through a cash for work component.

The project aimed at meeting three specific objectives namely:

1. To improve access to potable water for vulnerable communities through the development and rehabilitation of strategic water sources.
2. To provide access to basic food and non-food needs to vulnerable communities and restoration of productive assets of beneficiaries.
3. Reduce vulnerability to water borne diseases and environmental health risk among targeted populations.

This project aimed to target 1744 most vulnerable households in the Somaliland/Puntland districts of Badhan, Dhahar, and Erigavo. A short-term Cash Relief component targeted 400 households, while the cash for work targeted 1344 households respectively.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The overall objective of this assignment is to carry out the final evaluation, soon after the end of the implementation period, to assess how adequately the project has achieved its stated objectives as well as to determine the nature and extent of impact the project has had so far on the main target communities, in terms of access to clean water, sanitation and livelihood security. The final evaluation has also to assess lessons learned and to provide practical recommendations for replication and expansion of the approach, with particular attention to further improving access to clean water, sanitation practices and livelihood security of target populations.

DELIVERABLES

1. Data collection tools and training for Enumerators in the field
2. Presentation on the main findings of the draft evaluation report to the Programme management team in Nairobi for comments.
3. Final Evaluation Report in English (3 hard copies and a soft copy on CD ROM)

SCOPE OF WORK

The following key issues need to be addressed by the mission. The present list however is not exhaustive and additional issues might come up during the mission.

1) Relevance (including coherence and the appropriateness of project objectives to the problems that it was supposed to address, and to the physical and policy environment within which it operated)

•Did the main assumptions hold true and how did the project adapt (degree of flexibility and adaptability);
•Overall design strength and weaknesses, including quality and clarity of the indicators, in particular appropriateness to target primarily poor and very poor as direct beneficiaries.
•The consistency of Horn Relief’s planning and response and gender sensitive approach to programming

2) Efficiency (Cost effectiveness and resource allocation in relation to management efficiency to meet the stated objectives of the project)

•Project activity management and implementation, and resource allocation (including human resources and financial management);
•Involvement of the beneficiaries in the design and identification of water sources to rehabilitate/construct;
•Sustainability of the water structures constructed/rehabilitated
•Gender balance in relation to project benefits,
•Assessment of value of internal controls i.e. monitoring tools, information management, Activity plan and implementation;
•Assessment of money transfer company efficiency and effectiveness.

3) Effectiveness (assess the contribution from the project results and how assumptions have affected the project) in relation to:

•Project design as the best approach to achieving the set objectives
•Beneficiary targeting and selection criteria using the ICBT targeting model;
•Transparency and accountability to the communities
•Improving access to clean water, hygiene practices and range land restoration.
•Capacity building and behavior change activities success rate
•To what extent did the external assumptions in the proposal hold true and how well were the mitigating measures put into use?

4) Impact (the effect of the project on its wider environment, and its contribution to the wider objectives summarized in the project overall objective)

•Measure and asses the project impact and results based on benchmarks established in the proposal.
•Undertake a KAP survey to judge hygiene practices following hygiene trainings;
•Impact of the project on reducing hygiene based ill-health;
•Impact at reducing the prevalence of water-borne infections;
•Were there any unintended environmental impacts on project sites as a result of the project?
•Impact on the social status and the self-help potential of beneficiaries following the cash distribution;
•Assess the impact in inter and intra community relations as a result of the siting of water sources;
•Economic and financial analysis of the cash distribution on beneficiaries and the communities;
•Impact on power relations (i.e. at the HH level, community level, local governance structures)
•Occurrence of conflict/security incidents as a result of the project
•Any negative impacts e.g. did any groups stop other potentially viable income generating activities to seek inclusion in Cash for Work activities? Did the project affect the operations of any other implementing agencies interventions in the area?

5) Sustainability (the likelihood of a continuation in the stream of benefits produced by the project)

•Design of the project in relation to sustainability;
•Sustainability of project outcomes;
•Efficiency of activities geared at sustainability (e.g. management of water structures)

6) Additional tasks

In addition to the above, the final evaluation mission will specifically assess and evaluate the following issues:
•Assess the processes and systems used by Horn Relief to ensure the involvement of all the stakeholders, particularly women, youth and minorities in design, planning, implementation and monitoring stage;
•The mission will also identify lessons learnt and give recommendations of general and specific nature which are useful to the Horn Relief for the planning, preparation and implementation of WASH projects in the future;
•Unintended project impact.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology involves direct and indirect data collection, analysis and cross referencing, formulating recommendations and lessons learnt. The direct data collection will be done through visits to project sites in Sanaag in Somaliland/Puntland regions of Somalia and indirect data collection will be done through extensive literature review. To the extent possible, field data should be collected using participatory appraisal techniques. Village leaders, women, men, minorities and youth from pastoral, agro-pastoral and other livelihood groups in the community should be involved as much as possible. It is envisaged that the methodology used during this final evaluation will include, but not limited to, the following:

•Documentation review e.g. baseline, monitoring reports, existing data, etc.
•Discussion with key project staff in Horn Relief Nairobi, field staff and other key informants.
•Field visits in the implementation areas for sampling, data collection and observation.
•Conduct structured household interviews with sampled project stakeholders
•Focus group discussions and interviews with field staff and with sample beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.
•Field observations for triangulation of information.
•Data analysis and verification of analyzed data
•Other, as deemed necessary

WORKPLAN FOR THE EVALUATION

A work plan for this assignment should be developed in relation to the methodology suggested by the consultant, and the number of day set for this assignment. This will include a one day briefing on the findings to get input from project and programme staff, as well as build consensus around the recommendations.
How to apply
APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications should be submitted no later than 11th July 2010. Horn Relief will conduct interviews on an on-going basis. The selection committee will review all applications as they arrive. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above. Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Horn Relief is an equal opportunity employer.

Each application should include the following:

•An application letter addressing the selection criteria including how the candidate’s previous experience matches the consultancy objectives as well as his/her interest for the position. It should also indicate the candidate’s availability and consultancy rates. The letter should be no longer than two pages.
•An updated CV including relevant work experience and qualifications.
•A sample of recently written report for a similar assignment
•Contact details of 3 references.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

All applications should be sent to Horn Relief at vacancies@hornrelief.org with the subject line: “Final Evaluation – WSDP II” or by post to: Horn Relief Kenya - P.O. Box 70331 - 00400 Nairobi, Kenya. Applications should be submitted no later than 11th July 2010.

Reference Code: RW_86TM5D-11
Source: Reliefweb