External Evaluator – “Emergency aid for vulnerable refugees from Ukraine in Moldova”

I. INTRODUCTiON AND CONTEXT

Caritas Czech Republic (CCR) together with its local country office in Moldova (represented by Pro-Development NGO) have been working in the country since 2004 and implemented a number of development cooperation projects in home and social care, small business development, civil society development, agriculture, livelihoods support and inclusion areas. Our interventions are covering all 42 districts of the country, including Transnistria and Gagauzia. Since February 2022, when the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion to Ukraine, about 8 million Ukrainians have left the territory of their country out of which around 750.000 people fled via Moldova. CCR and its local partner have been providing emergency response, ensuring refugees can meet their basic needs across the country. Starting March 2022, CCR has been implementing the project “Emergency aid for vulnerable refugees from Ukraine in Moldova” with funding from DG ECHO with a duration of 12 months.

II. PROJECT GOAL

The project aims to ensure access to basic health, hygiene and protection solutions and coverage of basic (including winter) needs of vulnerable refugees from Ukraine in Moldova. The intervention focuses on aiding refugees residing within host communities and refugee accommodation centers across Moldova. The project employs an integrated multi-sectoral approach providing the following services:

• Access to immediate healthcare services and medicines for refugees through provision of medical materials to health facilities accessed by them.
• Ensuring basic hygiene needs of refugees through provision of hygiene materials and regularly procuring consumables for existing RACs.
• Ensuring access to food and coverage of basic needs for refugees by providing one-off immediate cash support, monthly cash support and cash support for clothing.
• Providing psychosocial support and first aid via psychological consultations, supporting them in covering their social, family and community needs, and involving them in recreational activities.

Altogether, the action provides support to 11.000 unique beneficiaries.

Objectives of the final evaluation

The main objective of this external final evaluation is to verify whether the action has achieved the expected results in adequate quality and scope. The evaluator(s) is expected to review the project implementation against the objectives and results of the project proposal, mirroring narrative, logframe and budget. This final evaluation will identify strengths and weaknesses of the project, good-practice examples for the current project and recommendations for potential future interventions.

III. EVALUATION FACTORS

The evaluation is expected to be conducted based on the OECD-DAC criteria as following:

• Relevance and appropriateness

Was the project design and implementation appropriate to respond to the urgent needs and priorities? Which parts of the project have been most relevant and why? What mechanisms are in place to assure that the beneficiaries are kept informed and involved in the project activities? How and when were beneficiaries involved in the needs assessment? To what extent is the project accountable to its beneficiaries? How did activities contribute to the overall objective? How the project met the needs, how needs were assessed and response analysis designed? To what extent have the project objectives been set out in alignment with the Refugee Response Plan (RRP) and based on identified needs of the most vulnerable groups affected by the crisis?

• Coherence

Was the intervention informed by and aligned with the fundamental humanitarian principles? Did the programme adhere to the Sphere Standards, Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and sector-specific standards, where appropriate? How did the project enable complementarity between humanitarian response and longer-term development interventions?

• Effectiveness

To what extent have the anticipated results been achieved? What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement? To what extent have the activities been timely? Do the project outputs have an appropriate level of technical quality? Which project activities have had the greatest positive effect and which had the least effects? Were there humanitarian needs that the project could not address? If so, what were the reasons? Was the monitoring system adequate?

• Efficiency

Were the funds used in the most cost-effective manner to achieve the results? [If possible, provide a brief cost-efficiency analysis of the MPCA component of the project] Did the intervention was designed with sufficient and appropriate resources? Were there any alternatives for achieving the same results with fewer inputs? Has the inflation affected the results of the project and in what way?

• Impact

To what extent the action has generated or is expected to generate significant positive or negative impact? What are the wider effects of the action on individuals; groups (gender, age, disability); communities; institutions; or environment? Were they positive or negative? Was it easy for beneficiaries to access the service provided (per sector)? Was it easy for beneficiaries to use the service provided (per sector)? Are beneficiaries satisfied with the support received? Or even better what beneficiaries would suggest as improvement of the support received.

• Cross- cutting issues

To what extent did the program design, implementation and monitoring consider relevant cross cutting issues such as age, gender, disability, environment? How did the programme consider the needs of women, men, boys and girls, and people with disabilities? To which extent were beneficiaries familiar with the procedure to make complaints in case of low-quality services or sexual exploitation and abuse?

• Coordination

How cooperation with other stakeholders was established (or not)? Was the assistance well-coordinated, aligned with agreed standards and avoiding duplication of assistance and gaps? To what extent have adequate partnerships been established (with international, national and/or local stakeholders) to deliver assistance to affected people?

The evaluator(s) are expected to employ a mixed – method approach – both qualitative and quantitative techniques and a desk review of all relevant internal and external documents and policies. It is also expected that a sampling strategy will be developed capturing different groups of beneficiaries and geographic locations. The final evaluation is expected to be completed within 20 working days in March 2023. Below is a tentative workplan that can be discussed further with the consultant(s).

Activity

No. of working days

Briefing, desk review and inception report – 3 days

Field visits for data collection – 7 days

Presentation of findings and submission of draft evaluation – 5 days

Submission of final evaluation (after addressing comments from CCR) – 5 days

Methodology

Inception Report: Listing the detailed methodology, evaluation matrix, all questionnaires (e.g. surveys, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), detailed workplan and sampling methodology

Presentation of initial findings: A power point presentation with the principal results of the evaluation and recommendations to be presented to CCR team members (Desk Officer, Program manager, Project manager, MEAL coordinator).

Draft and Final Report: A draft report (English, electronic version, max. 20 pages without annexes) including the findings of the evaluation and the recommendations will be sent to the project manager and desk officer and should include the following tentative components:

• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Description of the evaluation methodology
• Situational analysis with regard to the outcome, outputs and partnership strategy
• Analysis of opportunities to provide guidance for future programming
• Key findings, including best practices and lessons learned
• Conclusion and recommendations
• Appendices: charts, terms of reference, field visits, people interviewed, documents reviewed.

The report (electronic version) will be finalised and sent to CCR latest 3 days upon receipt of comments and feedback.

IV. GENERAL CONDITIONS

The evaluator(s) are expected to travel to Moldova during the field data collection phase. Flights tickets, accommodation, local transportation, per diem, translation will be ensured by the CCR team and will be coordinated with the selected candidate.

*Communication costs, insurance, taxes and any other legal obligations are expected to be the responsibility of the consultant(s).

Experience:

Required:

• More than 5 years of evaluation experience of humanitarian projects, preferably funded by DG ECHO
• Experience implementing ECHO funded projects and technical expertise with a focus on MPCA, health, protection, WASH and shelter sectors
• Experience working in the context of Ukraine crisis preferable
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative research, sampling methodologies and data analysis
• Experience conducting project presentations and excellent writing skills
• Excellent written and spoken English; Ukrainian/Russian/Moldovan language skills is an advantage

Desirable:

• Experience in working in Moldova is an advantage.

V. SELECTION

Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: description of experience and expertise (copies of documents proving the expertise and experience shall be attached), timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy.

The description of experience and expertise has to include:

• contacts to persons / institutions that can provide reference, and / or
• copies of official documents proving the experience and expertise stated

The selection criteria will be as follows:

• Offered price (40%)
• Proven expertise and experience (60%)

VI. TERMS of assignment

Selected consultant / group of consultants/ company will be subcontracted by CCR to produce the deliverables specified above. The price agreed on will cover consultant´s remuneration, all costs incurred by the consultant related to the assignment and all taxes and fees required by law (except flights tickets, accommodation, local transportation, per diem, translation costs). The price will be final and cannot be increased under any circumstances. CCR will provide the consultant with all information and documents it has at its disposal needed to conduct the evaluation.