Evaluator/consultant

The Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) is a regional program initiated by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in 1998. The goal is to enhance local and regional disaster preparedness and response capacities of 10 countries within the Asia region (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) through institutionalization of sustainable disaster preparedness training programs and emergency response systems. These countries were selected to participate in the program based on their high hazard vulnerability, their need to improve their disaster response capacity, and because of national government interest in participating in the program.

A PEER Thailand component was commenced in January 2012 after the country experienced severe flood in late 2011. The current phase of the program, PEER 3, began in 2009 and will run until March 2014. PEER 3 aims to further develop the capacities of countries to implement a sustainable training program for CADRE and HOPE by developing qualified instructors, coordinators, monitors and building partnerships with institutions. The current phase of the PEER (CADRE) is partially supported by American Red Cross.

All of the countries involved have either prepared disaster response policies or have access to institutions to help them develop these policies. However, they do not have adequate emergency/disaster response capacity-building training programs, which are evident from their lack of training curricula, instructors, and agencies to offer training on a regular basis. While emergency medical response is at a different stage of development in each of the nine countries, none of them has a fully established emergency medical service system. For these reasons, PEER was selected by OFDA as the best intervention to improve the standards of disaster response and preparedness in the nine countries.

PEER has two objectives:

PEER objective 1: Community Action for Disaster Response (CADRE): Establish a system for enhanced community level first responder capacity in disaster-prone communities in PEER countries.

PEER objective 2: Hospital Preparedness for Emergencies (HOPE): To improve the capacity of hospitals and medical facilities to be prepared to manage mass casualty incidents.

Key targets of PEER program:

1. To develop current and relevant curricula and simulation/practical station exercises, that develops the core capability and competences of professional and non-professional response personnel in communities and medical facilities in the ten PEER countries;
2. To develop training processes to effectively deliver the training program through sustainable training methodology, that incorporates best practice adult learning principles and self-evaluation;
3. To establish core groups of instructors who are capable of delivering the training materials, training new instructors nationally, and nationally adapting and revising the training materials and processes in the light of self-evaluation and ongoing experiences; and
4. To develop advocacy and awareness raising initiatives aimed at policy-makers, general public and donor agencies.

PEER is implemented in partnership with National Disaster Management Organizations (NDMO) in each operational country. PEER has partnership arrangements with the NDMOs in the operational countries and National Red Cross/Crescent Societies, or other relevant stakeholders for CADRE and Ministry of Health, or other relevant stakeholders for HOPE. Although, the primary agency for CADRE is the Red Cross National Society, significant interest has been generated amongst other organizations, which have been accommodated whilst ensuring the RCNS remains the primary implementing partner.

CADRE is working to build stronger, more disaster-prepared communities, by establishing and maintaining systems and processes for enhanced community level first responder capacity in disaster–prone areas within PEER’s six core countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines). CADRE is also being implemented in the expanded program in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam (ten countries in total). The CADRE course targets community-based, local non‐professional emergency responders in the form of a simplified disaster responder course (3-days duration), drawing upon the core trainings from PEER stage 2. CADRE’s strength is in its accessibility and suitability for community members. CADRE also systematizes training processes, and establishes best practice in training content and methodology. Communities are often on their own, with no outside assistance, during the immediate post-disaster phase. Training community members in the key components of effective, multi-hazard, community-specific disaster response will enable communities themselves to take appropriate action for disaster response.

The HOPE course enhances the capacity of hospitals and healthcare facilities to be prepared to manage emergencies and mass casualty events. The goal for HOPE in PEER 3 is the continuation of HOPE courses in the six PEER countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Philippines under the Partial Assistance Funding Program) and an extension of HOPE courses to four additional NEW PEER countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam ). The expansion of the HOPE training program in the new PEER partner countries was successfully implemented during the first three years of the program with corresponding national adaptation (each country adapted the regional module according to their country context) and used the adapted version while conducting training in each respective country.

The training program is designed for administrative and medical healthcare personnel, to prepare healthcare facilities to respond effectively to community emergencies involving large numbers of casualties. This will enable hospitals and healthcare facilities to develop well designed, facility-specific plans for effective emergency response. The expansion of the HOPE training program in the new PEER partner countries takes place with a National HOPE Course and TFI, followed by national adaptation, and completed through the support of regional HOPE experienced instructors.

Objectives of the evaluation

This end-of-project evaluation should assess what extent the project achieved the results and each specific objective. The evaluation should review the performance of the technical and programmatic aspects of the program, outcomes, achievements, effectiveness, coordination and partnership arrangements.

The objectives of this evaluation are as follows:

• Determine the effectiveness of the community action for disaster response system and the management capacity of hospitals and medical facilities to handle mass causalities;
• Assess the appropriateness of the training materials used in PEER and quality of its performance in terms of delivering courses, capacity of hospitals and medical facilities to be prepared to manage emergencies and mass casualty and establishing system for enhancing community-level first responder capacity in disaster-prone communities;
• Identify the success factors and constraints of the program including institutionalization of the PEER courses by the implementing agencies; and
• Based on the overall findings of the study, highlight key lessons, and best practices, which can be replicated.

Methodology

The evaluation process will employ a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies to gain a better understanding of the context and to complement the overall evaluation process. The evaluator will suggest details evaluation design after desk review and briefing meeting.

These methodologies will include:

1. A desk review of relevant PEER documentation, quarterly reports, annual reports, workplan, course pre and post test sheets, and any other relevant documents and meetings with ADPC PEER team.
2. Field visits to the PEER countries (2-3 countries) to gain a perspective from beneficiaries, implementing partners and other key stakeholders, including NDMOs, RCNS, MOH, others. As applicable, conduct key informant interviews, focus group discussions, group interviews or any other appropriate method with the stakeholders. The field data collection phase will be thorough to ensure that all views and perspectives are taken into consideration, especially those of beneficiaries, project participants and implementers.
3. Conduct conference call with the stakeholders, instructors, beneficiaries in PEER countries.
4. The evaluator will conduct a Lessons Learned workshop in Bangkok, Thailand with participation of representative from various PEER countries, ADPC PEER team, OFDA and ARC representatives.
5. All documents and data collected from interviews will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis. Interviewees will not be quoted in the reports without their express permission.
6. The evaluator will present the preliminary findings of the evaluation to ADPC, OFDA and ARC. The evaluator will assess the inputs and any new information received and incorporate them into the evaluation report. The final draft of the full evaluation report will be submitted to ADPC for feedback before finalization.

The evaluator will develop a detailed evaluation plan and share with ADPC before conducting the evaluation.

Qualifications or specialized knowledge/experience required for the assignment:

• The evaluator/consultant should be well versed in disaster preparedness and response activities, the humanitarian context
• Expertise in the design and conduct of evaluations, particularly emergency response capacity building/training program evaluations/ assessments
• Basic understanding and knowledge about capacity building for community based first responders and hospital mass casualty management
• Experience in participatory evaluation approaches and methodologies, including developing and applying methodological tools, notably qualitative methodologies, including participatory methods and rapid assessment procedures
• Significant work experiences in the Asian social context is essential.
• Seasoned interviewing skills to be able to interact with senior level informants as well as with other informants at sub-national level as needed.
• Skills in analysis and synthesis and ability to handle complex issues
• Excellent and proven English communication skills