ISTITUTO OIKOS – Final External Evaluator – Mozambico

ISTITUTO OIKOS E.T.S. sta selezionando un/a Final External Evaluator da inserire nella sua operatività in Mozambico. Durata 1 mesi. Tipo contratto: Consulenza Scadenza candidature 15/12/2023

Preparação para as mudanças climáticas e igualdade na província de Cabo Delgado – PRONTIDÃO

Grant Contract CSO-LA/2020/419-601

Terms of Reference for the provision of the service Final External Evaluation

Description of the project:

The project “Preparação para as mudanças climáticas e igualdade na província de Cabo Delgado – PRONTIDAO” co-funded by EuropeAid and Audemars-Watkins Foundation (FAW) is implemented by Istituto Oikos (www.istituto-oikos.org) in partnership with the main following partners:

• Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Desastre – Centro Nacional Operativo de Emergencia – INGD CENOE (co-applicant)
• Governo Distrital de Metuge (co-applicant)
• Universidade do Lurio – Departamento de Ciências Naturais – UniLurio (co-applicant)
• PoliMil (technical advisor)
• Community Forestry International (technical advisor)

The intervention started the 1^st of February 2021 and will be ending the 30^th of April 2024 (39 months total). 

The Action’s general objective is to enhance sustainable and inclusive development in Cabo Delgado province. The specific objective is to promote civil society engagement in the good governance process with focus on prevention and adaptation to climate change, enhancing youth empowerment and equality.

Three main outcomes are expected:

• Outcome 1 (O1) – Improved Local Action Plans (PALs) and Provincial Contingency Plan (PPC), and improved technical capacity of government officials (CdE, INGD) in developing provincial strategies to counter agricultural land loss and coastal erosion
• Outcome 2 (O2) – Marginalized rural communities (focusing on women and youth) living in the areas most affected by CC in the Districts of Metuge and Mecufi have greater access to alternative income opportunities and adopt adaptation measures in their livelihoods
• Outcome 3 (O3) – Target communities are aware of climate-related vulnerabilities and impacts and CC adaptation solutions

Overall objective of the final evaluation:

The overall objective of the final evaluation is to make an independent assessment of the global project performance, paying particular attention to the impact of the project actions against its objectives. It is also to identify the strengths and weaknesses, key lessons learnt and best practices and to propose strategic and practical recommendations that will enable Oikos, its partners, the local institutions and other stakeholders to replicate the results in the framework of other interventions.

Specifically, the evaluation will provide an external final assessment for analyzing the following aspects:

• Evaluate the achievement of objectives and expected results, thereby assessing its effectiveness in reaching its outputs(results) and how these have contributed to attain its expected outcomes (objectives).
• Evaluate the project methodology to understand its appropriateness, efficiency, and effectiveness in delivering the anticipated outcomes.
• Evaluate its impact and sustainability, understanding the perceived changes in the beneficiaries promoted by the project and understanding the factors that can foster long-term changes.
• Explore the experiences and perceptions of change of the beneficiaries fostered by the project.
• Identify lessons learned on the success/failure cases, innovation approaches, potential for replication and major challenges that can advise Istituto Oikos in development of projects and particularly integration of DRR in sectoral projects.

The consultant will use the OECD-DAC six standard evaluation criteria of relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability to ensure a standardized assessment.

Specific objectives of the final evaluation:

Linked to DAC criteria, the evaluation consultancy shall specifically:

With Reference to O1 – Improved Local Action Plans (PALs) and Provincial Contingency Plan (PPC), and improved technical capacity of government officials (CdE, INGC) in developing provincial strategies to counter agricultural land loss and coastal erosion

• To determine the contribution of the project to the improvement of technical capacities and the knowledge of the target territory, specifically related to the acquisition of tools such as hydrological modelling, mangrove assessment and vulnerability analysis.
• To determine the contribution of the project to the improvement of the management of the target area through some pilot interventions to prevent the negative effects of CC.

With Reference to O2 – Marginalized rural communities (focusing on women and youth) living in the areas most affected by CC in the Districts of Metuge and Mecufi have greater access to alternative income opportunities and adopt adaptation measures in their livelihoods

• To determine the contribution of the project to the improvement of the agricultural practices / land use management, specifically the impact on the capacity of UDAC (Uniao Distrital de Associaçoes e Cooperativas) to deliver effective services;
• To determine the contribution of the project to promote alternative livelihoods (aquaculture, honey production, reskill training for local carpenters) and the impact on the community/families’ wellbeing.

 With Reference to O3: Target communities are aware of climate-related vulnerabilities and impacts and CC adaptation solutions

• To determine the contribution of the project in involving and supporting the affected communities to better respond to disasters caused by climate changes.

With Reference to the Project Strategy

• To evaluate the quality, effectiveness and cooperation among the project partners, particularly focusing on the local partners Unilurio and INGD and technical advisors, and provide recommendations for the follow up of the collaboration in future initiatives.
• To provide recommendations and new perspectives useful for the scaling up of the project actions related to the adaptation of CC through a better knowledge of the territory and diversification of local economy sectors.
• To assess the sustainability of projects results.

Indicators:  

The indicators designed in the Logical Framework of the project will be the main reference for the evaluator.

Composition of the team:

1 evaluator (fluent in Portuguese), 1 driver (relevant project staff will accompany the team when necessary). Driver and car will be provided by Oikos.

Approach and Methodology:

A detailed description of the proposed methodology to achieve the objective of the evaluation should be included in the proposal as well as at least the following sections:

• Inception phase:
  • Project-related documents review
  • Kick-off meeting between evaluator and the project team
  • Development of the Inception report, including the evaluation methodology and data collection tools (qualitative and quantitative data collection methods)
• Data collection (Fieldwork) and analysis phase
• Data interpretation, reporting and communication phase
  • Preparation of the preliminary report: from the primary information gathered in the field, the Consultant will analyze and systematize the information in a preliminary assessment report.
  • Presentation of the preliminary report with the project team and key stakeholders and collection of contributions. A plenary meeting with the project’s partners will be organized at the end of the field visit. This will allow them to contribute to the final report. The preliminary evaluation will be presented by the Consultant to the partners of the project which would discuss reporting their opinions. This participatory approach will allow to clarify eventual critical points, giving more elements for the drawing up of the final report. On the other hand, for the Consultant would be the opportunity to explain its impression and the preliminary results of its work, improving the transparency and the accountability of the evaluation work.
  • Analysis of contributions and preparation of the final report.

The Consultant will develop all relevant data collection tools. The evaluator is encouraged to use participatory and qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis, along with quantitative methods for measuring the changes, in line with the overall Logic Framework of the project.

Evaluator will be provided with secondary sources (i.e. project document, project monitoring data, progress report, etc), at the same time, the evaluator shall consider other external secondary data sources when / if necessary. The primary sources of data will include Istituto Oikos’ staff and partners, Local Authorities/Public actors, and the beneficiaries of the project (women, men, young people).

The data collection should include the use of a number of approaches to gain a deeper understanding of the outcomes of the project, including:

• Desk review of background documents (documentation produced by the project).
• Questionnaires and Key informant interviews (e.g. with Istituto Oikos and partners project staff, i.e. program manager, technical field staff and key community members/beneficiaries, CSOs and representatives from the Local Authorities) to gather substantial anecdotal evidence on the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and timeliness of the project activities implementation and delivery.
• Focus group discussions (e.g. with stakeholders, community members, training participants, Committees’ members, farmers’ associations and Local authorities’ representatives).
• Field observation.

Deliverables:

The Consultant is expected to deliver the following outcomes / deliverables:

• Preliminary report and Validation Workshop with project team to share the information and validate the findings in most appropriate manner.
• Draft report: Within 2 weeks after the end of the field mission, the evaluator will submit one soft copy (in MS Word compatible format) in Portuguese.
• Final report: Within 10 days after having received comments from Istituto Oikos, the evaluator will submit one soft copy (in MS Word compatible format) in Portuguese
• Summary document: to be submitted in English together with the Final Report.

Suggested Reports Format:

The Final Report not more than 25-30 pages, will be written in Portuguese using the following outline:

1. Title Page

The title page will state the name and project contract number, names and titles of consultant, and date and name of the document.

2. List of Acronyms

Unusual or obscure acronyms should be identified at the beginning of the report.

3. Executive Summary

The executive summary synthesis should be no more than two pages in length and will include:  background of project, evaluation methodology, accomplishments and impact of the project, key concerns and recommendations.

4. Table of Contents

The table of contents should outline each major section, appendices, figures, maps, tables, etc.

5. Body of the evaluation

The body of the evaluation report will include the following in sequential order: 

• Introduction:

The introduction should include at a minimum two paragraph:  introduction and structure of the document.

• Evaluation Methodology, including limitations

The evaluation methodology should include a deep description of the evaluation method(s) used.

• Short description of the project
• Main Findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations

6. References

List of documents studied, reviewed and referred during the mission

7. Annex

Mission agenda, data collection tools which were used, etc etc

The Summary Document will be written in English using the following outline:

1. Title Page

The title page will state the name and project number, names and titles of consultant, and date and name of the document.

2. Executive Summary

The executive summary synthesis should be no more than two pages in length and will include:  background of project, evaluation methodology, Main Findings, key concerns and recommendations.

3. Conclusions and Recommendations

This section presents the main conclusions and recommendations.

Evaluation Management

Organisation, Responsibilities

The evaluator will have to work in Pemba (Cabo Delgado Province) and travel to Mecufi and Metuge Districts where the target communities are.

The evaluator will have to report to the Country Coordinator and the Program Mozambique in Italy.

The Project Manager and the Country MEL officer will facilitate the evaluation work. They will provide the documents mentioned under “Desk review of background documents”. They will also provide technical assistance (e.g. make in-country travel arrangements, assist in making appointments, assist in finalizing the programme, avail any other documents and information needed etc.).

Period of execution: February 2024

Estimated costs and payments

Offer for the service shall not exceed 11.000,00 Euro.

Offer shall include remuneration, all taxes (including VAT), food and accommodation costs, insurance and international travel.

Offer shall not include Mozambican visa and local transportation that shall be covered by the project.

Payments under this contract will be made in EURO.

The payments will be made against an invoice and according to the following schedule:

Tranche

1 – Pre-financing payment at contract signature and upon invoice issue – (50% of the contract value)

2 – Balance – after submission and approval of the Final Report, and upon invoice issue – (50% of the contract value)

Qualifications and competences

• Proven experience in conducting quality evaluations and assessing capacity development projects.
• At least 7 years of documented experience in the sustainable community development sector, with proven expertise in CC adaptation strategy and or Disaster Risk Reduction strategy.
• Good community participation skills.

Specific professional experience

• Documented experience in monitoring and evaluating development projects.
• Relevant experience in Mozambique or East Africa in similar contexts.
• Fluency in Portuguese.

How to apply

Interested candidates should submit their application by 15^th of December, through selezione@istituto-oikos.org

Please specify on the object: MOZ/24/FEE – Prontidao

The interested candidates shall provide the following documentation:

1. CV in English, highlighting expert’s experience related to the task and 2 references
2. Technical offer (evaluation methodology and chronogram)
3. Financial offer (maximum 11.000 euro)
4. Proof of VAT number/Company registration

Selection process

The proposals will be assessed with following criteria:

1 – Technical Proposal (max 50/100 points)

2 – Experience (max 30 / 100 points)

3 – Financial proposal (max 10 / 100 points)

4 – Language and writing style (max 10 /100 points)

https://www.istituto-oikos.org/lavora-con-noi/project-evaluation

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