SERB Evaluation Consultant

Purpose and Objectives:

Background:

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a non-profit, autonomous international organization and non-political in management, staffing, and operations. ADPC has been created for scientific, educational, developmental, and humanitarian purposes that work to build the resilience of people and institutions to disasters and climate change impacts in Asia and the Pacific region.

ADPC has more than 36 years of working experience in Asia along with the national and local Governments of its founding charter member countries as well as countries of the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management. ADPC works to strengthen disaster risk reduction at all levels, from regional to national, sub-national, and local community levels. ADPC aims at supporting governments, strengthening institutions, and building capacity for mainstreaming DRR into development processes. It includes developing institutional systems, assessing disaster risks, undertaking programs for disaster risk reduction, adapting to climate change, etc. Further details on ADPC and its programs can be found at www.adpc.net.

Strengthening Emergency Preparedness and Resilience in Bangladesh (SERB) is a three-year program implemented from October 2019 to September 2022 with funding support from the USAID Burau for Humanitarian Assistance. The program focuses on reducing the impacts of disasters on at-risk communities through the institutionalization of emergency preparedness and resilience measures by multiple stakeholders in Bangladesh. The program supports partner institutes in developing and implementing a sustainable plan to institutionalize and integrate SERB program activities as part of their institutions’ annual work programs and budgets. The expected outcome is that trained professionals and strengthened institutions will be able to apply their acquired knowledge and skills to assist victims of emergencies and disasters as part of the local emergency response mechanisms so that impacts on at-risk communities would be lower.

SERB is being implemented in complementary to the Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER), a regional program implemented in 6 South Asian countries (2019-2022), including Bangladesh. While most national-level interventions were covered through the PEER program, SERB focused more on its interventions in a few selected districts.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The proposed Evaluation is to assess how the program, its processes, its outputs, and outcomes have contributed to strengthening the institutional and technical capacity of national and sub-national partners to support the institutionalization and sustainability of SERB activities in Bangladesh. The Evaluation will focus on all three pillars of the program, namely:

• PILLAR 1: Promote the Institutionalization of SERB in Bangladesh
• PILLAR 2: Enhance the capacity of sub-national and local institutions to scale-out SERB interventions
• PILLAR 3: Promote Knowledge Management and South-South Learning Exchange

The learnings from the Evaluation will shape similar programs in those countries where ADPC is currently working on similar objectives.

The Evaluation will investigate the outcomes/outputs identified in the program framework guided by the following key questions:

1. Assess the level of institutionalization of SERB in Bangladesh

   1. To what extent has the SERB been integrated into national and sub-national DRR strategies and budgets?
   2. How far can the program advocate the integration of SERB in national and sub-national DRR dialogs?

2. Assess the level of capacity enhancement of sub-national and local institutions to scale-out SERB interventions

   1. To what extent has the SERB been integrated into Bangladesh’s existing training and education curricula?
   2. Was the program able to achieve accreditation of the HOPE Course by professional organizations, academe, and training institutes in the country?

3. Assess the level of South-South Learning Exchange of SERB

   1. To what extent the national and regional knowledge sharing has worked with other programs and partners?

4. How do the learnings from the program scale up to other districts and institutions for wider implementation of health preparedness initiatives in the country?

In addition, the Evaluation shall also be focused on the complementarity of the PEER program as most of the national level interventions are covered through that.

Expected Outputs:

1. Finalized methodology with key learning questions/ questionnaire for data collection;
2. Work plan for the assignment;
3. Draft evaluation report;
4. A validation workshop with ADPC, USAID BHA, and other key stakeholders;
5. Final evaluation report;
6. PowerPoint presentation summarizing findings.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

The Consultant is expected to evaluate the program using process data and primary data collection from Bangladesh. Therefore, it is required to use the following methods to carry out the Evaluation and provide the analysis:

1. Desk study to review all project-related documents, including project proposal, program framework, tracker, progress reports, knowledge products, Project Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, etc.
2. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders and beneficiaries using a structured questionnaire
3. Interviews with key informants (KIs to be identified in consultation with the project partner agencies)
4. Observations through field visits to project sites

Following is a list of specific tasks expected from the consultant:

• Design and finalize the evaluation methodology and work plan in consultation with the ADPC Program team;
• Conduct desk research reviewing the program documents;
• Conduct field visits for data collection in Bangladesh based on the work plan and the agreed methodology;
• Conduct evaluation assessment and summarize findings;
• Draft evaluation report;
• A validation workshop to present and validate the findings;
• Finalize the evaluation report and a PowerPoint presentation on the findings.

Working Principles:

In performing the duties and responsibilities indicated above, the Consultant will be supervised by the Technical Lead – Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, under the overall guidance of the Director Preparedness for Response and Recovery (PRR) Department of ADPC.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications and Specifications

• At least a master’s degree in public policy, International Development, Disaster Management, Emergency management, or any other relevant university degree.
• At least ten years of experience in working with international organizations and donors;
• Extensive expertise, knowledge, and experience in the field of Disaster management, emergency response, and institutional development;
• Knowledge and understanding of institutional setup for emergency response mechanisms in the South Asian Region, specifically in Bangladesh;
• Experiences in carrying out evaluations for similar programs;
• Understanding the culture and working modalities in the South Asian Region;
• Previous experience with USAID’s BHA /OFDA funded project evaluation is an added advantage;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English;

Duty Station:

Home-based with a trip to Bangladesh for data collection

Contract Duration:

15 August – 30 September 2022

Itinerary:

The itinerary shall be finalized based on the deliverables and work plan by the program team.

Submission Requirements:

Interested applicants may submit their applications with the following documents:

1. Updated CV/Resume of applicant;
2. Prior experience with similar assignments;
3. Brief description of the approach for the said assignment;
4. Draft Work Plan;
5. Proposed budget (with details such as professional fee, travel, accommodation, per diem, etc.).