Consultant Expert evaluation

1. Context

IOM office in Central African Republic (thereafter IOM-CAR) will complete the implementation of the project: “Improving the Resilience of Marginalized Communities in Ouham Pende Region, Central African Republic” funded by Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

This project aims at enhancing 1) accountability of the political-administrative system and 2) economic empowerment in consideration of promoting gender equality. The project has taken a holistic approach to improve the resilience of targeted communities, namely by restoring basic social and economic activities through the construction/rehabilitation of essential community infrastructures through Cash-for-Work (CfW) approach, and by supporting youth in unemployment to establish local enterprises through vocational and technical skills training under the Income-Generating Activities (IGA). These activities are further enhanced by capacity developing of local authorities, Civil Society Organizations (CSO), Local Committees and the target communities at large through trainings, awareness raising sessions and social cultural activities.

The outputs of the project are as follows:

• Output 1.1: Set up of representative Local Committees (LC) in all targeted communities
• Output 1.2: Essential social services are restored through participative rehabilitations of critical infrastructures
• Output 1.3: The socialization of beneficiaries and community members is reinforced
• Output 2.1: Local market study of existing economic opportunities for IGAs carried out
• Output 2.2: Beneficiaries implement IGAs
• Output 2.3: Local capacity to prevent and response to GBV is strengthen
• Output 2.4: The social cohesion, peaceful coexistence, use of community dialogue for settlement of intercommunal disputes and rejection of violence are strengthened

1. Purpose and Objective of Final Evaluation

Upon the completion of the project, IOM-CAR will conduct an external independent evaluation of the project. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide in-depth understanding and analysis on the effectivity and efficiency of the project including confirmation of the completion of the project and understanding of good practices, challenges, lessons learned and recommendations, in order to guide future implementation and potential scaling-up or expansion of the project. The evaluation will follow the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria for evaluations, which assess the project using the following six criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness and efficiency. The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the evaluation framework.

The objectives of the evaluations are as follows:

1. To review the efficiency and effectiveness of the project in achieving its intended results
2. To assess the relevance and sustainability of the project components
3. To assess the overall impact of the project on CVR, community stabilization and resilience building and the perceptions of security within the communities
4. To assess the level of ownership and participation by the Local Committees and the beneficiaries
5. To assess the accountability component of the project, including gender consideration or inclusiveness, Complaint and Feedback Mechanisms, and Do No Harm principle
6. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of the project design and implementation process and come up with concrete lessons learnt and recommendations.

The Theory of Change of the proposed project is the following:

If local capacity to prevent and respond to GBV is strengthen, THEN young women are less at risk of violence and abuse and have better chances to benefit from equal opportunities, including training and education.

If the capacity of the community to cope with instability and to become an active actor and catalyst of social cohesion is strengthened and consolidated, including through an increased participation of women to the established decision-making mechanisms at the community level, THEN the likelihood of a sustainable reintegration of marginalized youths will increase.

If gender- equal training and education for acquiring decent jobs are offered to unemployed youth or/and with conflict carrying capacity, THEN the risk that they live in precarious conditions, become marginalized and join armed groups is reduced.

If youth are less likely to join armed groups, THEN security is likely to improve and THEN State presence will be reinforced.

If the governance of local government is reinforced through capacity building of civil servants and the rehabilitation of infrastructures, THEN communities are likely to have a greater access to essential social services and feeling of neglect that fuels instability will be mitigated.

1. Scope of Evaluation

The final evaluation of the KOICA funded project will consider the period from 24 December 2019 to 31 December 2022. The geographic scope of the evaluation will be Ouham Pende Region where the project was implemented.

The purpose of the final evaluation is to provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the achievement of project results, to provide lessons learned and good practices to improve future project development and implementation.

Cross-cutting themes, including promoting gender equality, Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP), Rights-Based Approach (RBA), inclusion of persons with disabilities and consideration to promote sustainable environment, shall be evaluated as well.

4. Evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria will be as follows:

1. Relevance of the project’s planned results/outcomes;
2. Coherence of the project;
3. Effectiveness of project implementation;
4. Modalities of internal management and its efficiency;
5. Gender and cross-cutting issues, including RBA and AAP.
6. Evaluation questions

5. Evaluation questions

will be as follows:

Relevance

• Did the expected results and outputs remain valid and useful as originally planned, or the results had to be subsequently modified?
• Did the project align with and contribute to national and regional emergency strategies and other relevant framework and strategies
• Was the project consistent with the donor’s priorities?
• Does the project still meet the needs of project beneficiaries?

Coherence

Internal coherence:

• To what extent do the projects create synergies and linkages between other interventions implemented by IOM in the emergency/ humanitarian field; and to what extent do the project activities correspond to IOM’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan?

External coherence:

• To what extent does the project create synergies and linkages between government, humanitarian and development actors, and donor community interventions in the sector of assistance and development in CAR (humanitarian, in general, and/or Shelter/Protection/Emergency responses, specifically)?

Effectiveness

• Have the project results been achieved?
• Did the expected results have unintended positive or negative effects?
• To what extent did these effects contribute to the results achieved?
• What is the quality of the results/services/products achieved/delivered?
• Were the target beneficiaries reached as planned? Are the target beneficiaries satisfied with the services provided?
• When and how are M&E activities conducted? Are M&E resources (human and financial) enough and appropriate? What are the M&E lessons learned and good practices?
• To what extent the sustainability of the project impact is ensured?
• How much was the impact of the project on the target communities and individuals? How much the resilience has been improved? Who benefited the most with the project impacts, and who were isolated?

Efficiency

• Were the project activities carried out as planned and outputs delivered on time?
• Have all stakeholders involved in the project provided or made available the required resources in a timely manner to implement the activities?
• Is the cost of the resources provided/ made available by all stakeholders involved in the project in line with (or less than) the expected cost?

Sustainability & Ownership

• Are small businesses (micro projects) setup for and by? beneficiaries still functional and profitable, and are they addressing the market needs of their communities? Are the community infrastructures rehabilitated/constructed being used to provide relevant services to the communities?
• Is the conflict prevention and resolution mechanism setup still functional?
• Did the intervention design include an appropriate sustainability and exit strategy (including promoting national/local ownership, use of national capacity etc.) to support positive changes in resilience building/peacebuilding after the end of the project?
• How has the project enhanced and contributed to the development of national capacity in order to ensure suitability of efforts and benefits?

Conflict – sensitivity

• Did the project contribute to addressing key community stabilization/resilience building (conflict – sensitive issues) within the target communities?
• Did the project have an explicit approach to conflict-sensitivity?
• Were internal capacities adequate for ensuring conflict sensitivity?
• Was an ongoing process of context monitoring and a monitoring system that allows for monitoring of unintended impacts established?

Gender and cross-cutting issues, including RBA and AAP:

• To what extent has a gender-sensitive, rights-based and accountable approach been used in the design and implementation of the project?
• Did the project incorporate a gender dimension (results matrix, implementation)?
• If target groups (women, children, special needs) experienced unintended negative effects, did the project take appropriate measures?
• Did the project supported the empowerment of women and/or promoting gender equality? How?

6. Responsibilities

To conduct the final evaluation of the project based following the above points, IOM-CAR will recruit a consultant to design and conduct the evaluation.

Under the general supervision of the Chief of Mission of IOM in the Central African Republic, and the direct supervision of the Project Manager/Head of Sub-Office in Paoua, the selected consultant will produce one comprehensive Evaluation Report for the project and complete following tasks:

1. Conduct a review of all existing documents that are relevant to the project, including but not limited to baseline surveys; market research reports; activity reports; MoUs, contracts, SOPs and other manuals; attendance lists; training reports; beneficiary databases; security incident reports; financial reports; meeting minutes
2. In accordance with the evaluation framework, prepare an evaluation plan and have it reviewed and approved by the IOM Coordination Unit
3. In accordance with the evaluation framework, design evaluation tools and agree on data collection methodologies with the IOM Coordination Unit
4. Provide comprehensive and interactive training to enumerators including simulation exercises to reduce errors in data collection and ensure quality data collection following the data collection tools and methodologies. The consultant is responsible to secure sufficient number of qualified enumerators.
5. Monitor data collection and verify data that are collected by enumerators and compile relevant information as necessary to feed the assessment process
6. Collect relevant data directly by the Consultant based on evaluation tools, which will include field visits, surveys, and consultations with relevant stakeholders
7. Conduct cleaning, analysis, visualization, and reporting of collected data
8. In accordance with the evaluation framework, draft a Final Evaluation Report. Submit it to IOM Coordination Unit for review and input.
9. Present key findings, lessons learned and recommendations in a participatory workshop. Draft a summary of discussions of the workshop which will be used by IOM-CAR for future reference.
10. Submit a final version of the Final Evaluation Report within one week after receiving inputs from IOM and other relevant parties.
11. Address any subsequent adjustments required by IOM as required.

7. Ethics, norms and standards for evaluation

IOM abides by the norms and standards of United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) and expects all evaluation stakeholders to be familiar with the ethical conduct guidelines of UNEG and the consultant(s) with the UNEG codes of conduct as well.

IOM abides by the Norms and Standards of the UNEG and expects all stakeholders to be familiar with the Ethical guidelines for evaluation of UNEG and the consultant with the UNEG code of conduct for evaluation in the UN System as well. UNEG documents are available under IOM Evaluation Webpage www.iom.int/evaluation. The UNEG Norms and Standards will be also a key component of the quality management system.

The evaluation process will be conducted in accordance with IOM’s Data Protection Principles.

8. Evaluation deliverables

The following deliverables are expected from the Consultant, non-exhaustive, and to be amended according to IOM internal M&E guidelines[1]:

• Inception report confirming methodology of evaluation including evaluation tools with evaluation criteria and evaluation questions.
• Draft evaluation report to be shared with the IOM Coordination Unit for review and feedback. Present preliminary findings and recommendations for the project to the IOM Coordination Unit.
• Presentation and a note of discussions of a workshop presenting the draft final report to the IOM Coordination Uni.
• Final evaluation report following the same format and logics as described in the IOM M&E guidelines for evaluation reports. The appendices should include TORs, the list of documents reviewed, the list of persons interviewed or consulted including dates and locations, the data collection tools, and low qualitative and quantitative data.
• Two-pager Evaluation Brief (see IOM template) to facilitate sharing of key findings, conclusions of the evaluation and recommendations.
• One-pager of lessons learned, or best practices identified during the evaluation process.
• Draft of the follow-up Management Reports Matrix (MRF, see IOM template) with key recommendations. The IOM-CAR will be responsible to complete the MRF and plan next steps after the completion of the final evaluation.

9. Specifications of roles

The evaluation will be supported by:

• Head of Sub – Office, Paoua
• IOM CAR RMU (Resources Management Unit)
• Other IOM staff as required (including the Data Base & IM Assistant)

The Project Manager will provide the Consultant with relevant documents including the project documents and reports. The data collection teams will support the data collection exercises while key stakeholders within the management cycle of IOM CAR will review and provide inputs to the draft reports including operational recommendations for the remaining implementation period.

Following (a) agreement on the final terms of reference (ToR) between the evaluation manager and the evaluator(s); (b) review, revision and acceptance of the inception report; and (c) review, revision and acceptance of the final report.

10. Time schedule

The consultancy will have a total of 60 days (16 Jan – 14 Mar 2023, TBC) consisting of the following in the link below

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11. Evaluation budget

The consultant is expected to share a proposed budget with IOM upon which the cost will be assessed in accordance with the tasks outlined in this ToR. The proposed amount will be paid in installments and based on deliverables attained according to the timetable (Negotiable upon the selection):

• 60% upon delivery and acceptance of the draft evaluation report
• 40% upon final approval of the report by IOM.

12. Required Qualification

Academic Qualification:

• Master’s degree in Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, International Development or other related fields

Years of Experience:

• 5 years of experience in conducting project evaluations in the context of Community Violence Reduction (CVR), reintegration and reinsertion of former combatants, community stabilization and resilience building or other relevant fields

Technical Expertise/Competencies:

• Theoretical knowledge on and practical experience in designing and implementing both quantitative and qualitative research
• Competency in data analytics and statistical software, such as Excel, SPSS, STATA, SAS
• Experience in data collection and community engagement in the context of IOM or similar organizations/sectors is preferred
• Experience of working with IOM and/or other UN missions and agencies in crisis and/or conflict-affected environments will be an asset
• Experience working in Central African Republic or in similar contexts will be an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in French and English for speaking, writing, and reading is mandatory. Knowledge of other language is a plus.

How to apply

– Interested candidates are invited to submit the following:

• A technical proposal and budget for the consultancy (including proposed all-inclusive rate)
• CV (including language fluency)
• Cover letter: Consultants should indicate their available start date

Please send your applications to the following email addresses: [email protected] on or before 05 January 2023 with the subject line: CFA/CF10/2022/029 Final Evaluation of KOICA Project.

All applications should include a functional email address and mobile phone number. All applications received after the submission deadline will not be accepted. Please note that only applications sent by email will be accepted and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.