Final evaluation (ICRDIII Project) consultant

Terms of Reference for a Consultancy “Final Project Evaluation”

Improved Community Response to Drought (ICRD) – Phase III

Background

Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) Belgium is an international non governmental organization whose mission is to improve the welfare of vulnerable populations in developing countries, through improving animal health and production. The 15 years experience gained in the dry lands of Northern Kenya and the border regions of neighboring countries is used to implement the Improved Community Response to Drought (ICRD) project.

ICRD III is a project funded under ECHO’s Regional Drought Decision. ICRD III’s overall objective is to “Contribute to further improvement of the coping strategies of communities vulnerable to recurrent drought hazards”.

ICRD III is a follow up project built on the achievements of ICRD I & II phases implemented 2.5 years earlier. It seeks to replicate outcomes of the results. These can be then used to influence the development of future drought preparedness.

Objective of the consultancy

ICRD III is implemented from July 1st, 2010 to December 31st, 2011.
The objective of this consultancy is to evaluate the project in relation to:

- The quality of the process followed at community level for implementation of project actions;
- The project’s contribution to evidence based advocacy efforts;
- Identify possible improvements on share of information with FAO, UN ISDR on technical matters within the operation, but also with REGLAP for advocacy and technical briefs and newsletter:

Key Activities

- Prepare a detailed work plan for the consultancy which outlines the methodology to be used.
- Review existing related literature.
- At the project location, gather all relevant information from communities, local authorities and other humanitarian/development actors.
- Present preliminary findings to partners and Project staff at the end of the fieldwork.
- Prepare a detailed draft report and debrief VSF in Nairobi on the main findings, making a power point presentation.
- Integrate any feed-back into the final report.

Key aspects

- Quality of the process followed at community level

• Hazard mapping (focussing on possible impact of drought to resources and services used in time of drought) – vulnerability and capacity analysis for a proper risk analysis.
• Process followed with the community for the elaboration of the contingency plan or disaster management plan. Technical quality of the contingency plan in terms of allowing community reactions (roles and responsibilities well defined, triggers for reaction also well defined). How have the possible impacts of drought on the existing services at community level been integrated into the elaboration of the plans (Ex: water supply, education, health, etc…)
• Link between the community contingency plan or disaster management plan and an early warning system;
• Link between the community contingency plan or disaster management plan and the one at district – parish level;
• Integration of a vulnerability / gender sensitive approach into the definition of the community contingency plans or disaster management plans, to make sure that the specific needs of the most vulnerable parts of the communities (including women, children, elders, etc…) are integrated in the plans elaborated.

- Contribution to evidence based advocacy efforts

• Select and highlight possible good drought risk reduction practices, lessons learnt within the ECHO funded operation
• Assess/measure the impact of these good practices for documenting purpose, (eventually ready to have it as a contribution to the evidence based advocacy effort).

- Identify possible improvements on share of information with FAO, UN ISDR on technical matters within the operation, but also with REGLAP for advocacy and technical briefs and newsletter

• What has / could have been shared with FAO and UN ISDR, REGLAP given their respective mandate?
• Propose working modalities to ensure that elements that could have been shared with FAO, UN ISDR and REGLAP would be shared in the future.

Execution

- The consultant will draft a detailed methodology and work plan for the studies.
- A participatory approach will be expected with maximum stakeholder participation and appropriate involvement of local traditional and government leadership at all stages.
- The whole mission is not expected to take more than 15 days.

Outputs

- Presentation of methodology and workplan to VSF.
- One feedback workshop at project location.
- One final report.

Deliverables

- A detailed final report inclusive of a separate two page summary will be presented to the VSF-B Regional Director. The entire report will be presented in English and will remain the property of VSF-B. A hard copy and a soft copy must be submitted.
- A draft document (report) will be expected six (6) days after the end of the field mission and the final report is expected 5 days after the comments from VSF-B.
- The contents of the report shall be as follows:
• Executive summary (covering major findings and recommendations).
• Background.
• Description of the objectives of the mission and execution methodology.
• Literature review
• Findings/results
• Discussion
• Challenges
• Recommendations
• Conclusions
• Annexes covering Terms of Reference, abbreviations, data collection formats and questionnaires used references, graphs, tables, etc.).

Responsibilities

- The VSF B Country Program Manager for Uganda, based in Nairobi, will:
• Have overall responsibility and accountability for the mission
• Ensure the overall coordination of the mission in conjunction with the project partners and the Assistant Project Manager based in Moroto.

- VSF Belgium will organize the logistic of the mission, and cover the transportation and accommodation costs of the consultant while in the field locations.

Qualifications

- Minimum five years experience working with drought affected pastoral communities.
- Minimum five years experience in participatory monitoring and evaluation.
- Livestock health and/or production background.
- Excellent inter-personal, facilitation and writing skills.
- Familiar to Disaster Risk Reduction principles and projects.
- Excellent computer literacy.