People in Need | Final Evaluator of EC funded project: LISEC – Green Jobs in the leather sector in Modjo, Ethiopia | Remote

Please, refer to the full version of the ToR here

1. Background

People in Need (PIN) was established in 1992 in the Czech Republic founded on the ideals of humanism, freedom, equality, and solidarity. PIN believes that people anywhere in the world should have the right to make decisions about their lives and to share the rights expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It gradually became established as a professional humanitarian organization striving to provide aid in troubled regions and support adherence to human rights around the world.

People in Need started its operations in Ethiopia in 2003, focused on five main areas of interest: Education, Agriculture, Environment, Water, and Social protection projects. Each of these five elements of operation is implemented alongside local and international partners to achieve effective sustainable development. Furthermore, significant attention and resources are devoted to humanitarian aid which is carried out in the case of sudden humanitarian crises, such as recurrent droughts, floods, or impending epidemics.

Since January 2021, PIN has been implementing the Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC) – Green Jobs in the Leather sector in Modjo project through the funding of the European Union – Trust Fund (EU-TF). This project is implemented in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Solidaridad (SOL). The project has been implemented in Ethiopia, Oromia Regional State, East Shewa zone, Modjo Town, and surroundings and is scheduled to end in April 2024.

The action is in line with the general objective to “strengthen social cohesion by supporting women and youths, TVET institutes, other government stakeholders and social development initiatives, in Modjo Town and Lume District; and enhancing industrial and labor relations”.

The project focuses on the three following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: Improved skills and access to decent and green (self) employment opportunities in Modjo and nearby communities;
• Outcome 2: Improved capacities of tanneries and other leather actors in waste management and manufacturing practices;
• Outcome 3: Improved social cohesion in Modjo and nearby communities

The main sectors are leather waste recovery and valorisation into by-products, reduction of waste, and improvement of manufacturing processes contributing to circular economy principles. To increase social cohesion and relationships between communities and tanneries, selected tanneries have been supported to develop Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions and also to incorporate decent work practices, especially related to workers’ health and safety.

Support to new and existing Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is an essential part of the program through capacity building, strengthening of market linkages, and provision of financial support. The purpose of this financial /machinery support was to allow MSMEs to have access to funding to develop their businesses. The project has used a Market System Development (MSD) approach to ensure the financial, institutional, and environmental sustainability of MSMEs and One-Stop Service Centers /OSSCs (kebele-based government institutes that facilitate employment opportunities and organize MSMEs for unemployed youths in collaboration with other concerned government offices).

2. Objective and Scope of the Evaluation

The general objective of the evaluation is to assess and indicate the level of achievement of project results/objectives in the project implementation period in relation to Relevance, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact, and Sustainability, and also provide lesson learning and recommendations for the management to decide about future programming.

Scope: The evaluation will be conducted in Modjo town Kersa OSSC, Modjo town Job Creation & Skill office, Bishoftu Polytechnic and Modjo TVET college, Lume woreda Kurma-Fantole, and Muda-Senkelle rural kebeles, and Bishoftu, Modjo and Adama town MSMEs. The evaluation dates will be in April 2024.

Objective(s):

• Measure the impact of the project on OSSC ‘s service improvement and GBV survivor’s service provision.
• Assess the project’s contribution to reducing the tannery’s solid waste disposal in the local community, and greening the manufacturing practice.
• Assess the project’s success/contribution on increasing employment opportunities and working conditions of the targeted tanneries.
• How efficient the efforts on helping the TVET colleges to improve their capacities in the leather department? (like Staff capacity building, manual development and machinery support).
• Project management team, project partners, and stakeholders understand the impact of the project on target beneficiaries and communities.
• Partners demonstrate accountability for the funding received from EC.
• The project management team can use the findings to leverage additional resources from existing and new partners and stakeholders in order to scale up and sustain the activities /benefits delivered by the project.
• Partners, stakeholders, and the Ethiopian Government learn lessons from the project for the purpose of replicating what works elsewhere and/or taking up approaches and activities that have proven to work in order to scale up the project.
• The EC can use the results to feed into and identify insights in order to inform program-level questions.
• Other donors, academic institutions, and education networks can use the results to inform the wider policy debate concerning waste management, social cohesion, and women and youth employment in the leather sector.