Tender for a desk review and mapping of IR East Africa’s food security and livelihood programme outcomes and impact, March 2023

Islamic Relief Worldwide

Islamic Relief is an international aid and development charity, which aims to alleviate the suffering of the world’s poorest people. It is an independent Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded in the UK in 1984.

With an active presence in over 40 countries across the globe, we strive to make the world a better and fairer place for the three billion people still living in poverty. As well as responding to disasters and emergencies, Islamic Relief promotes sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities – regardless of race, religion or gender.

Our vision:

Inspired by our Islamic faith and guided by our values, we envisage a caring world where communities are empowered, social obligations are fulfilled, and people respond as one to the suffering of others.

Our mission:

Exemplifying our Islamic values, we will mobilise resources, build partnerships, and develop local capacity, as we work to:

• Enable communities to mitigate the effect of disasters, prepare for their occurrence and respond by providing relief, protection and recovery.
• Promote integrated development and environmental custodianship with a focus on sustainable livelihoods.
• Support the marginalised and vulnerable to voice their needs and address root causes of poverty.

At the international level, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and is a signatory to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Code of Conduct. IRW is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) through raising awareness of the issues that affect poor communities and through its work on the ground. Islamic Relief are one of only 13 charities that have fulfilled the criteria and have become members of the Disasters Emergency Committee (www.dec.org.uk), and is certified by CHS.

IRW endeavours to work closely with local communities, focussing on capacity-building and empowerment to help them achieve development without dependency.

Please see our website for more information http://www.islamic-relief.org/

Background and Context

Initially established to respond to the devastating famine in Sudan in the 1980s, Islamic Relief (IR) has a long history of responding to food crises and supporting sustainable livelihoods for the poorest and marginalised communities around the world. Its work related to food, nutrition and livelihoods is integral to its mission of alleviating suffering and getting people and communities out of poverty, sitting well within the Islamic Maqasid framework and reflecting its continued commitment to contribute towards the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals, especially of ending hunger (SDG 2) and eradicating poverty (SDG 1).

The Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) East African Region is made up of five countries, namely: Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Sudan, all of which are located in the Horn of Africa (HOA). Majority of these countries have large chunks of land that are mostly arid and semi-arid experiencing persistent droughts and unreliable rainfall. These two conditions are made worse by desertification, ecological destruction and the changing climate. Consequently, there are high poverty levels in the region characterized by hardships such as extreme hunger, diseases, low literacy levels, conflicts and displacement of local populations.

The unprecedented levels of global hunger and extreme poverty provides a backdrop for Islamic Relief’s focus on food and livelihoods. The deepening humanitarian situation caused by simultaneous food crises on multiple fronts poses a massive challenge in the fight of ending hunger and extreme poverty. These challenges include: increasing global hunger, worsening extreme poverty, conflict and displacement, climate change and gender inequality.

“Food security and nutrition is achieved when adequate, safe and nutritious food is available, accessible to, and well utilised by all individuals at all times to support a healthy and productive life.”

(USAID Office for Food for Peace, 1992)

Close to 193 million people acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance[1]. Nine 9 million people every year – about 24,000 people a day – die from hunger[2]. The number of people facing severe food shortages has more than doubled from 135 million people before the covid 19 pandemic to 283 million at the start of 2022. In 2019 there were 27 million people on the brink of famine; by late 2021, this had increased up to 45 million (WFP, 2021). Meanwhile, one in three people is suffering from malnutrition in all its forms and 268 million unable to afford a healthy diet (FAO, 2020).

One in 11 people globally – that is more than 800 million people – still live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. In 2020, global extreme poverty also rose for the first time in 20 years mainly driven by the covid 19 pandemic.

Conflict and climate change are also increasing food insecurity, poverty and hunger. Over 70 million people in 22 countries are in “food crisis” due to conflict (WFP, 2020) while climate extremes, which are getting more frequent and severe may push up to 132 million more people into extreme poverty by 2030 and 24 million more children into hunger by 2050[3].

These drivers have profound impact on food security and livelihoods. Conflicts generate violence and insecurity that disrupt access to markets, livelihoods and humanitarian responses, which heightens food insecurity. In many instances, high levels of conflict have corresponded with high level of food insecurity. Conflicts also result to internal displacement of people, disrupting their established economic activities. Meanwhile climate-related hazards such as drought, floods, famine impacts on poor people’s livelihoods directly and disproportionately through losses in crop yields, destroyed homes, food insecurity, and increased food prices (IPCC, 2014). As floods, droughts, typhoons and other climate-related emergencies become more frequent, and more severe, people living in the most vulnerable places are finding it even harder to earn a living.

These main drivers of hunger and poverty often intersect with existing inequalities. Climate disasters impact disproportionately on the poorest – the “socially and economically disadvantaged people” – who are often the most food insecure (IPCC, 2007). While people living in extreme poverty are the least responsible for carbon emissions that have worsened climate disasters, they live in regions bearing the brunt of the impact.

Women and girls are also disproportionately affected because of existing norms and structural inequalities (SOFI 2021). About 60 per cent of chronically hungry people are women and girls. Women constitute 43 percent of the agricultural force, yet women face constraints that inhibit their contributions to food security, in terms of land rights, access to inputs, discrimination, and household decision making. Gender inequality, often rooted in unjust power structures and relations, breeds and perpetuates hunger and poverty (WFP Gender Policy and Strategy).

All five countries representing the East Africa region – Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan – are within the scope of this mapping consultancy.

Objectives

The aim of this consultancy is to provide a detailed account of Islamic Relief East Africa’s current and recent projects in Food Security and Livelihood (FSL) interventions (including emergency projects) in order to identify outcomes achieved, any indicative impact, best practice, provide a baseline and capture learning that will be used to help inform the next East Africa Regional FSL Strategy and improve our FSL interventions in the future. The 2019 East Africa FSL Strategy should be used as the evaluation framework to assess how aligned the FSL interventions in the region since then have been to this framework.

This consultancy will involve document reviews, emailing, face to face (two country visits – Ethiopia and Kenya), virtual- and tele-meetings, distributing and analysing the results of questionnaires, and other means of eliciting data concerning Islamic Relief East Africa’s current and recent projects in FSL interventions. The resulting reports will inform organisational strategy, programme design and planning and policy and advocacy initiatives as well as provide evidence of good practice and learning to regional and country coordinators and country officers to support analysis, design, funding, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of FSL related programming and project interventions throughout the organisation.

Consultancy Goals

1. To assess how aligned East Africa’s FSL interventions have been/are in relation to the EA 2019 FSL Strategy – assessing against the strategy’s key strategies, objectives, outputs and indicators.
2. To assess how aligned East Africa’s FSL interventions have been/are in relation to the 2017-2021 EA regional strategy’s FSL objective and outcomes.
3. To inform Islamic Relief of the extent, nature, key results (outcomes/indicative impact), best practices and learnings derived from its work in and around FSL in the East Africa region since 2019.
4. To understand external best practices, evidence of effectiveness and sustainability and latest innovations being scaled up relating to FSL programming in the East Africa region.
5. To provide Islamic Relief with evidence to inform its programme, policy, advocacy and planning towards achieving its strategic objectives in the FSL sector and support funding positioning.

Methodology and approach

Consultants are invited to propose the specific methodology as part of this call. In general, it is envisaged this desk review and mapping will involve document reviews, emailing, face to face (two country visits – Ethiopia and Kenya – to conduct FGDs, KIIs with key stakeholders, including rightsholders and government line department staff), virtual- and tele-meetings, distributing and analysing the results of questionnaires, and other means of eliciting data concerning Islamic Relief East Africa’s current and recent activities in FSL interventions.

• Please refer to annex 2 for the specific scope of assignment highlighting key questions this desk review seeks to answer and suggested final report outline.
• The consultant is expected to propose a suitably robust methodology through which areas highlighted in annex 2 can and will be most readily extracted, analysed, synthesised and reported back on, within a 30 working day time period, to provide a detailed understanding of the current status, approaches, gaps and potential opportunities in further developing IR East Africa’s FSL programming.
• The proposal should also consider that some projects may not have evaluation reports and other baseline or endline data; whilst other projects are ongoing and may not have final reports – under such situation, the consultant should consider and propose suitable alternative methodology which can be used to determine project details and provide indicative, relevant and credible findings and recommendations.

Policy Framework

The consultant will be expected to work within and abide by Islamic Relief’s policy frameworks on communications, information management, human resources etc. and will be obliged to sign an agreement assuring the confidentiality of data and information utilised and collected in pursuance of the consultancy. The consultant will be sensitive and compliant to any requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The report will be produced for internal audience but may be edited and adapted for external publication by IRW for wider communication and learning purposes.

Reporting Framework and Schedule

Brief reports (written or oral) on progress against implementation plan weekly for the duration of the project.

Deliverables

Deliverables for this project would be;

1. Written inception report and schedule agreed with Global MEAL Systems Lead within one week of commencement.
2. In country data collection (Ethiopia and Kenya) to conduct FGDs, KIIs with key stakeholders, including rightsholders and government line department staff.
3. Narrative account, not exceeding 32 pages describing the extent, nature, best practices and innovations (internal and external) and learnings derived from IR East Africa’s work in and around FSL since 2019.
4. Executive summary incorporated in the above, not exceeding 3 pages.
5. Data base in MS Excel format of all projects and programmes examined, including country, project PIN code, project name, brief description, dates, budget, donor.
6. Presentation of findings to IR East Africa regional team, East Africa country teams and IRW representatives.
7. Webinar of findings and lessons learned, delivered to a wider IR audience.

Accountability

The consultant will be responsible for conducting the activities and delivering the outputs set out in this terms of reference and will coordinate all activities with and through the Global MEAL Systems Lead. The Global MEAL Systems Lead is responsible for facilitating access to all relevant and available documents (proposals, donor reports and evaluation reports etc) and wider staff necessary for the consultant to conduct these activities and deliver the outputs.

Required competences

Required competencies of the consultant would be:

• Have a broad understanding and experience of conducting evaluations, outcome and impact assessments and reviews using a variety of methodologies and conducting desk reviews and studies.
• Must have experience in accessing and managing large bodies of diverse data, and extracting relevant information from them and drawing appropriate conclusions and recommendations.
• Must be able to converse with stakeholders from a variety of background in order to elicit specific information.
• Will have either significant technical and/or practical field-based or relevant academic experience of the FSL sector in the context of international humanitarian and development in East Africa and be able to use this knowledge to construct effective enquiries and order information received.
• Will write informatively and succinctly in English.
• Respect the values of Islamic Relief.
• Possess strong qualitative and quantitative research skills.

The chosen evaluation team will be supported by IRW Programme Quality (PQ) team, the IR East Africa Regional team and IR East Africa country teams.

Project outputs

The consultant is expected to produce:

• A detailed work plan and inception report developed with and approved by IRW, setting out the detailed methodology, relevant technical standards to be used as reference for the evaluation, sampling strategy and deliverables prior to commencing the desk review.
• The work plan, inception report, draft report, final report, presentation, etc., and communication language must be in English.
• A full report with the following sections:

1. Title of Report: Desk Review & Mapping of IR East Africa’s Food Security & Livelihood Programme Outcomes and Impact
2. Consultancy organisation and any partner names.
3. Name of person who compiled the report including summary of role/contribution of others in the team.
4. Period during which the review was undertaken.
5. Acknowledgements.
6. Abbreviations.
7. Table of contents.
8. Executive summary.
9. Main report – max 32 pages – (please see indicative layout in annex 1 below – consultant is invited to propose most suitable report structure layout).
10. Annexes

• Terms of reference for the review.
• Profile of the review team members.
• Review schedule.
• Documents consulted during the desk review.
• Persons participating in the review – with appropriate consent for names to be published or specific names should be anonymised highlighting just role, organisation and gender.
• Quality media images demonstrating IR EARO work in the region.
• Additional key overview tables, graphs or charts etc. created and used to support analysis inform findings.
• Bibliography.

1. Anonymised copies of all data collected in Excel or appropriate format which would enable cross-checking and any additional analysis.
2. A presentation of draft findings and recommendations will be made by the consultant remotely to IRW Programme Quality team, Regional Desk and country teams. Please allow 1.5 hours for this session.
3. A final webinar will be delivered by the consultant to a wider IR audience to share the key findings and lessons learned.

Timetable and reporting information

The project is expected to run for a maximum of 30 working days, starting by mid April 2023 and ending before the end of June 2023.

Date

Description

Responsibility

13th March 2023

Tender live date

IRW

27th March 2023

Final date for submission of bid proposal

Consultant

27th – 31st March 2023

Proposals considered, short-listing and follow up enquiries completed

IRW

3rd – 7th April 2023

Consultant interviews and final selection (+ signing contracts)

IRW

10th – 14th April 2023

Meeting with the consultant and agree on a methodology, sampling, plan of action, working schedule

IRW

21st April 2023

Submission of Inception Report (at least 7 days before commencing the evaluation)

Consultant

1st – 19th May 2023

Desk Review & Data Collection

Consultant

2nd June 2023

Analysis of evaluation data and submission of the first draft to IRW for comments

Consultant

5th – 9th June 2023

Initial Presentation of Findings

Consultant

9th June 2023

IRW responses to draft report

IRW

16th June 2023

Final report submitted to IRW

Consultant

19th – 23rd June 2023

Final Presentation/webinar with IR wider audience

Consultant

Reporting information:

Contract duration: Duration to be specified by the consultant (max 30 days preferred)

Direct report: Global MEAL Systems Lead

Job Title: Consultant: Desk Review & Mapping of IR East Africa’s Food Security & Livelihood Programme Outcomes and Impact

The consultant will communicate in the first instance with and will forward deliverables to the IRW Programme Quality team.

Proposal to tender and costing

A consultant interested in carrying out this work must submit the following items as part of their proposal/bid and this should including the following:

1. Detailed cover letter/proposal outlining a methodology and approach briefing note
2. Résumé/or CV or outline of relevant skills and experience possessed by the consultant who will be carrying out the tasks and any other personnel who will work on the project
3. Example(s) of relevant work done of similar evaluations in PDF
4. The consultancy daily rate (fill in appendix 1)
5. Expenses policy of the tendering consultant. Incurred expenses will not be included but will need to be agreed in advance prior to contract award (fill in appendix 1)
6. Be able to complete the assignment within the timeframe stated above
7. Be able to demonstrate experience of outcome reviews, mapping and impact assessment/evaluation approaches for similar work.

Terms and conditions

The consultant would provide financial proposal outlining detailed break up of costs and charges. There would be formal agreement on payment schedule and funds transfer process once the consultant would be selected. Payment will be made in accordance with the deliverables and deadlines for this project so are as follows:

• • 40% of the total amount – First upfront payment
    – 30% of the total amount – submission of the first draft of the evaluation report
    – 30% of the total amount – submission of the final evaluation report including all outputs and attachments mentioned above

We can be flexible with payment terms, invoices are normally paid on net payment terms of 30 days.

Additional information and conditions of contract

The following additional information will be expected from the consultant and be pursuant to the conditions printed beneath as well as the terms and conditions in the consultancy contract.

1. The ToR document is between the consultant and Islamic Relief Worldwide.
2. Islamic Relief Worldwide is a legally registered charity under the laws of the United Kingdom charity registration number 328158
3. This document covers the research project identified and described in this document and related correspondence and may not be expended for any other purposes without the prior written approval of Islamic Relief Worldwide, Head of Programme Quality
4. The project will be carried out under the auspices of the Islamic Relief Worldwide, Programme Quality Team. The lead researcher will be working in the capacity of a freelance consultant or an organisation.
5. Collected data, information, reports and reference documents should be submitted, along with any audio files and transcripts collected.
6. Intellectual Property Rights to all research, and data, conducted and collected and the final report belongs solely to Islamic Relief Worldwide.
7. In case of contraventions or breach of any of the terms of the agreement, any outstanding payments to the Lead Researcher or the organisation will be withheld.

During the consultancy period,

IRW will only cover:

Consultancy fees

Any travel costs to visit IRW or any of our country offices if required.

IRW will not cover

Tax obligations as required by the country in which he/she will file income tax.

Any pre/post assignment medical costs. These should be covered by the consultant

Medical and travel insurance arrangements and costs. These should be covered by the consultant.

[1] WFP, The Global Report on Food Crises 2022

[2] World Food Programme, 2021

[3] International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2009. Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation. Washington, DC: IFPRI

To access or download the tender documents please follow the link below;

https://www.islamic-relief.org/tenders/category/open-tenders/

How to apply

Consultancy contract

This will be for an initial period that is to be specified by the consultant commencing in April 2023 (exact date to be mutually agreed). The selected candidate is expected to work from their home/office and be reporting into the Head of Programme Quality Department of IRW.

The terms upon which the consultant will be engaged are as per the consultancy agreement. The invoice is to be submitted at the end of the assignment and will be paid on net payment terms 30 days though we can be flexible.

All potential applicants must fill in the table beneath in Appendix 1 to help collate key data pertaining to this tender. The applicant must be clear about other expenses being claimed in relation to this consultancy and these must be specified clearly.

For this consultancy all applicants are required to submit a covering letter and CV’s of all potential consultants including the project lead.

A proposal including, planned activities, methodology, deliverables, timeline, and cost proposal (including expenses) are expected.

Other relevant supporting documents should be included as the consultants sees fit.

All applicants must have a valid visa or a permit to work in the UK (if travel is required to the UK). A valid visa/work permit is also required for those areas required to be visited as part of this consultancy.

Tender dates and contact details

All proposals are required to be submitted by Monday 27th March 2023 at 1.00pm UK time pursuant to the attached guidelines for submitting a quotation and these be returned to; [email protected]

For any issues relating to the tender or its contents please email directly to; [email protected]

Following submission, IRW may engage in further discussion with applicants concerning tenders in order to ensure mutual understanding and an optimal agreement.

Quotations must include the following information for assessment purposes.

1. Timescales
2. Full break down of costs including taxes, expenses and any VAT and be able to provide best value for money
3. References (two are preferred)
4. Technical competency for this role
5. Demonstrable experience of developing a similar piece of work including a methodology

Note: The criteria are subject to change.

Appendix 1

Please fill in the table below. It is essential all sections be completed and where relevant additional expenses be specified in detail. In case of questions about how to complete the table below, please contact; [email protected]

Cost evaluation for consultancy for a desk review and mapping of IR East Africa’s food security and livelihood programme outcomes and impact, March 2023

Full name of all consultants working on this project

Full company trading name

No of proposed hours per week

No. of proposed days

Preferred days

Non preferred days

Earliest available start date

Expected project finish date

Day rate (required for invoicing purposes) £

Total cost for consultancy in GBP (less taxes and expenses) £

Expenses (flights) £

Expenses (accommodation) £

Expenses (transfers) £

Expenses (in country travel) £

Expenses (visa) £

Expenses (security) £

Expenses (food) £

Expenses (print/stationary) £

Expenses other (please specify) £

Total expenses £

Total VAT or taxes £

Total cost for consultancy in GBP (inclusive of taxes and expenses) £

Note

The applicant is expected to take responsibility for paying full taxes and social charges in his/her country of residence.

Appendix 2

Desk Review & Mapping of IR East Africa’s Food Security & Livelihood Outcomes and Impact

1. Data relating to items 1 – 14 below will be provided to the consultant by IRW. Consultant will be required to present this information in an appropriate manner including using graphs/charts and any narrative commentary to summarise and provide any observations:

Mapping number of projects:

1. What is the total number ongoing and closed IR East Africa FSL projects across IRW between the periods of 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2022?
2. How many ongoing projects are still active there?
3. How many have closed in the last 1 year?

Mapping value, duration, location and donors of projects:

1. What is their average value?
2. What is their average duration?
3. How many are more than 3 years in duration? What is the average value of these projects? Who are the key donors?
4. How many less than 3 years and more than 2 years in duration? What is the average value of these projects? Who are the key donors?
5. How many are less than 2 year in duration but more than 1 year? What is the average value of these projects? Who are the key donors?
6. How many greater than 1 year projects are above £750k in value?
7. How many greater than 1 year projects are between £300K to £750K in value?
8. How many greater than 1 year projects are between £100K to £350K in value?
9. How many greater than 1 year projects are less than £100K in value?
10. What is the average value of projects with a duration less than 1 year?
11. Which countries are these projects in, in East Africa? What’s the average value and duration?

2) Analysis to be provided by the consultant (through document reviews, KIIs, FGDs, surveys etc):

**Mapping the East Africa FSL programming strategies and approaches used:

1. Which FSL technical standard/s do projects reference and use to inform design and implementation?
2. To what extent do projects follow and adhere to relevant FSL technical standards as evidenced in proposal and reports?
3. Which common FSL strategies and approaches do projects use, e.g. in-kind, cash, voucher assistance, conditional, unconditional, integrated programming, graduation model approach etc?
4. Do projects tend to focus on singular components, e.g. food security standalone or livelihood standalone, or do they tend to have integrated approaches?
5. To what extent do projects take a service delivery versus a rights-based approach?
6. To what extent do project use participatory and community-based approaches?
7. To what extent do the projects use saving based initiatives to grow HHs incomes and build assets
8. To what extent do projects use market-based approaches?
9. To what extent do projects consider and integrate with wider FSL governance at the local government level?
10. How relevant, effective and efficient are these approaches given the context?
11. What are the sector trends and evidence of effective or alternative approaches for efficiently and sustainably scaling-up FSL interventions in rapid onset disaster, anticipatory actions, protracted humanitarian and development settings?
12. What challenges and lessons learned can be identified relating to the interconnectedness between the FSL and WASH sector where most of the livestock and agricultural activities are built upon availability of water via microdams, boreholes etc?
13. What is the level of partnership, collaboration and coordination with other organisations in the FSL interventions?

**Mapping the project result chains: Mapping the planned and actual key results, outcome and goal/indicative impact and theories of change of 10 sample projects and detailing relevant observations, analysis and recommendations:

Please provide