Mission East
CONSULTANCY PROCUREMENT:
End of Project Evaluation of PATRIP Funded project: ‘Improving Social Infrastructure in Border Areas (AFG-TAJ-MIEAST-004)’
Background
Mission East is an international relief and development organisation founded in Denmark in 1991. Mission East has been engaged in humanitarian and development work in Tajikistan since 1997. To date, our projects in Tajikistan have centred around humanitarian nexus development and inclusion.
Since 2011, Mission East has been a PATRIP Foundation partner in WASH and DRR interventions with a special focus on the border communities of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Mission East’s aim is to respond to community needs by assisting communities in organizing and assisting themselves, both through local partners and directly. Mission East is certified compliant with the Core Humanitarian Standard, is a signatory to the Red Cross Code of Conduct and applies the Sphere standards in its work.
Mission East is looking forward to recruiting a consultant to evaluate its project “Improving Social Infrastructure in Border Areas” implemented in GBAO region of Tajikistan. The project aims to ‘to improve the health and resilience of selected border communities by providing water and sanitation infrastructure, initiating behaviour change in hygiene and increasing resilience to disaster’. The project will come to end in September 2022. As we have been implementing PATRIP funded projects since 2011, the evaluation might not be limited to the above mentioned project but might include elements of previous projects as well.
Specific objective of the project/outcome/impact
To improve the health and resilience of selected border communities by providing water and sanitation infrastructure, initiating behaviour change in hygiene and increasing resilience to disaster.
The results and outputs planned under this project are as follows:
- Result 1: Improved access to WASH infrastructure including the construction of drinking water systems and latrines in line with SPHERE standards.
- Result 2: Improved use of WASH infrastructure through hygiene training of adults and children and the creation of water user groups responsible for infrastructure maintenance.
- Result 3: Improved resilience to disasters through the creation and training of Village Disaster Management Boards and, in collaboration with local authorities, the creation and training of Community Emergency Response Teams to ensure disaster preparedness at community and government levels.
Objectives of project evaluation:
The overall objective of this consultancy/end-project evaluation is to assess impact, and sustainability of undertaken WASH and DRR intervention on the well-being of the people of the remote border communities of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), with a focus on improving overall health and building better disaster resilience among the target population.
Specific objectives of the evaluation will be answering to these core questions:
- Assess how the activities undertaken by the project have led to the achievement of its results and objectives and with what degree of (cost)efficiency.
- Measure the effectiveness of the project activities in empowering the primary target group of the project, namely, rural communities and within that, vulnerable members such as women, girls, PWDs, especially with regards to helping them to meet their WASH needs and reduce vulnerability to disease and malnutrition.
- Assess the unintended positive or negative consequences of project activities and get beneficiary/community feedback regarding efficiency and quality of assistance received in terms of implementation and ease of access to available services.
- Measure relevance of action at community and household level: did the project correctly identify and address the priority needs for each of its different target groups and was the modality of implementation adopted well suited to beneficiary needs and preferences?
- Evaluate the impact of the programme in building sustainability, community ownership and social cohesion in targeted communities. Did the project address intra-community needs/issues/tensions that may pre-condition the impact of activities on building social cohesion and trust? What was beneficiary/community/stakeholder perception of the process? Did they feel that this was a participatory process? Was it inclusive for different groups especially women and girls? Were dispute resolution mechanisms put in place at the community level?
- How agile, flexible and adaptable were processes and systems to accommodate any changes in planned programming?
- Identify good practices, lessons learned, failures and areas of improvement which can be used for improving and strengthening (i) overall project design and the linkages between different project components, and (ii) the community engagement approach adopted and how this could be improved to build local community and government capacity and agency?
The outputs / deliverables of this consultancy are:
- Assessment of overall delivered targeted infrastructure projects
- A final written Inception Report
- A final written Evaluation Report outlining recommendations, findings, lessons learnt, and best practices etc.
- Annexes to the final evaluation report including data collection and evaluation methodology and tools (semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussions, well-being and asset ranking exercises, outcome mapping etc. with different beneficiary/community groups) as well as lists of respondents, description of cases, lists of information materials used etc.
- A power-point presentation to disseminate the results of the evaluation to all implementing partners and other stakeholders to further promote learning and accountability. If for practical reasons we cannot organize one presentation session, two sessions will be held preferably one in-country (Tajikistan) and one online session with Mission East HQ staff.
More detail on the objectives and outputs of the consultancy will be discussed during interviews and after contracting stage.
The report produced by consultant should follow the Evaluation Report Guidance Note from Mission East, which will be shared with the selected consultant before signing the contract.
Consultancy Timeframe:
The consultancy has been scoped for 15 days of work with the following provisional schedule:
The whole program evaluation process will take a maximum of 15 working days (excluding weekends) that include desktop research (1 day), preparation (1 day), field visits and work with communities, field office visit and meetings with beneficiaries and relevant Mission East staff (10 days), and report writing, debriefing and presentation (3 days). The evaluation should start no later than mid-September 2022. Final Report will be submitted no later than October 15, 2022.
Methodology:
The consultant is envisaged to work via:
- Analysis of project secondary information i.e. project document, progress reports, training reports, etc
- Development of detailed checklist for each key evaluation questions
- Meeting with staff/field visit to Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). The consultant will meet with stakeholders and visit the project communities as well
- Post-evaluation de-briefing to Mission East in Dushanbe office
- Development of draft evaluation report against the evaluation objective
- Finalisation of report after receiving feedback and comments
- Presentation of the report
Logistical arrangements:
The evaluation will be carried in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of Tajikistan. Mission East will arrange travel and stay in Tajikistan during the field work. Mission East will also arrange translation services if required. Any other logistical arrangements (other than assignment related) will be the responsibility of the selected consultant.
Background information:
The following documents and materials will be made available to the consultant [in English]:
- Project proposal
- Progress Reports
- Baseline and if available by the time of evaluation-the Endline report
- Monitoring reports
- Training reports
Selection criteria:
Qualifications Requirements for the Evaluation Consultant:
- Advanced university degree in social science, monitoring and evaluation, or any other relevant field.
- At least 10 years of relevant expertise and a demonstrated track record in program/project formulation and execution, including at least 5 years of experience conducting evaluations and reviews for international and local organizations (INGOs).
- Professional working experience demonstrating good understanding of evaluation and assessment techniques.
- Technical expertise and awareness of community-level development, humanitarian and development programs undertaken in rural areas, with focus on WASH and DRR themes.
- A thorough awareness of the local environment (in this case Tajikistan, particularly GBAO region)
- Knowledge of how to evaluate programs and initiatives using results-based techniques.
- Strong analytical capability, openness to adapt, and ability to absorb and incorporate feedback
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, as well as the ability to adhere to agreed-upon schedules and fulfil deadlines to meet
- Excellent report writing skills
# Evaluation Criteria Points
1 Demonstrated understanding, objective and completeness of the assignment 30
2 Methodology and implementation plan 30
a. Details and quality (adequacy) of methodology proposed for the assignment
b. Detailed implementation plan indicating time frame
3 Organization 20
a. Profile (including administrative and logistics facilities available), experience in similar assignment in last 10 years, client list, management control system.
b. Exposure in working with Mission East, International Donor and development agencies
4 Detailed financial proposal 20
Total points: 100
Exclusion criteria:
If any of the following are true for the applicant at the time of submitting their application or at any time during the procurement process, they will be excluded from consideration for winning a contract with Mission East. The bidder may also be blacklisted for participation in future Mission East procurements.
Violations of sanctions & support for terrorism
- The company, organisation or an individual associated with the tender are listed in the sanction and embargo list of the UN Security Council, the European Union or EU Member States, United States (OFAC) or United Kingdom (OFSI).
- They have provided support (material or other) or any resource to any individual or entity that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in terrorist activity; or to anyone who acts as an agent for such an individual or entity;
- They have association with a designated terrorist entity or their ownership, control, or influence;
- They are not compliant with laws and regulations stipulated by the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism and Sanctions policies, as well as those stipulated by the European Union and its member states, the United Kingdom, or the United States of America.
Unacceptable interaction with Mission East
- They have engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive or coercive practices in their interactions with Mission East or its partners in relation to the current procurement process or any time in the past;
- They are subject to a conflict of interest. If there is any personal or business relationship between the bidder and Mission East staff, its partners or its donors, the bidder must state this at the time of tendering, and this may result in exclusion of the bidder;
- Following another procurement procedure or grant award procedure with Mission East, its partners, or financed by the European Union, they have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations;
- They are guilty of misrepresenting the information required by Mission East as part of the procurement procedure or fail to supply this information.
Unethical practices by the bidder
9.They are engaged in the exploitation of child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings;
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They do not respect their employees’ basic social rights and working conditions as per international labour standards;
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They are actively supporting a conflict or are engaged in the manufacture of arms and/or landmines, or the sale of such to governments which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, or where there is internal armed conflict or major tensions, or where the sale of arms may jeopardise regional peace and security.
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They are involved in unethical exploitation of natural resources, in particular sensitive commodities such as precious metals, stones, and rare earths.
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They are engaged in activities which directly cause harm to the population that Mission East is aiming to assist, including environmental harm to their communities.
Unacceptable legal situation of the bidder
- They are bankrupt, subject to insolvency, or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
- It has been established by a court’s final judgment or by any means that Mission East can justify that the bidder is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the bidder belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes a wrongful intent or gross negligence.
- They have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with applicable laws;
- They have been the subject of a court’s final judgement for acts of fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering, hiding unlawfully obtained financial benefits, or any other illegal activity detrimental to Mission East or its donors’ financial interests;
Applicants must complete and sign the ‘Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility’ below and submit the signed ToR together with their application package to confirm that that they are not in one of the situations listed above. Even if such confirmation is given by a bidder, Mission East will investigate any of the situations listed above if it has reasonable grounds to doubt the contents of such confirmation.
Anti-Fraud Policy:
Mission East has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and fraud in all its forms. Mission East aims to prevent fraudulent activities and to respond to any allegations or potential fraud swiftly and effectively. In line with Mission East’s Anti-Fraud Policy, which can be viewed on the Mission East website, Mission East requires the consultant to report any suspected fraud, waste, theft or abuse to Mission East. Any reports of such misconduct can be reported to Mission East headquarters through contact details on their website.
Other Requirements if Selected:
- Mission East will require the successful consultant to sign our organisational Code of Conduct.
- Mission East upholds high standards in Counter Terrorism (COTER) and sanctions regulation compliance. In view of the nature and location of Mission East’s work, Mission East will conduct background checks of the successful consultant, including checking through relevant sanctions lists.
- The successful consultant will also be required to commit to the following clause relating to the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment : The consultant agree to actively prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), and to ensure, in the best possible way, that the intervention is carried out in an environment free of all kinds of exploitation, abuse and harassment, sexually or otherwise, especially in the case of particularly vulnerable groups.
- Mission East upholds high standards in all aspects of Safeguarding. In view of the nature of this role potentially requiring unsupervised access to children or vulnerable individuals (including situations where there are potential imbalances of power), you may be required to provide a certificate of good conduct.
Annex 1.
Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility:
By signing this Terms of Reference, the consultant certifies that that they are not in one of the situations listed above under ‘Exclusion Criteria’. The consultant also certifies that all the information provided, and any related documents submitted are truthful and correct at time of signature.
Name: _________________________ Signature:_________________________ Date: _______________
Annex 2.
PATRIP’s Declaration of Undertaking (to download viahttps://missioneast.org/current-vacancies.)
How to apply
How to apply:
The full Terms of Reference (incorporating Annex 1 Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility Criteria) and Annex 2 PATRIP’s Declaration of Understanding may be downloaded via Mission East’s website: https://missioneast.org/current-vacancies.
Interested individuals or firms should send the following by email to [email protected], quoting code AFG-TAJ-MIEAST-004 in the email subject line:
- Cover letter explaining why you are the best fit to conduct this evaluation
- Consultancy proposal
- Detailed resume
- Financial Proposal (Please note that per-diems are not issued as part of consultancies with Mission East. Please take this into consideration in the financial proposal)
- Signed Consultant Statement Confirming Eligibility (see ToR, Annex 1)
- A signed copy of PATRIP’s Declaration of Undertaking (see Annex 2 – download viahttps://missioneast.org/current-vacancies)
Deadline for applications:
Applications must be submitted by Sunday 7th August 2022. Any application submitted after the given deadline will not be entertained.