International/National Consultant: Evaluation of the health sector preparedness work towards an effective 2015 earthquake response in Nepal

Background

Handicap International (HI) is an independent and impartial international aid organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. Present in Nepal since 2000, HI works towards improving the living conditions and participation of children, women and men living with disabilities. HI Nepal’s Country Programme Framework (2011-2015) guides us our work in the following three key sectors:

1. Access to physical rehabilitation services: Provision and accessibility of rehabilitation services, sustainability of rehabilitation services, and improvements in rehabilitation pathways
Access to services: Inclusive local development, improved access to education, improved access to livelihoods and comprehensive disaster risk management focusing on disability, gender, elderly, children and other vulnerable groups
2. Prevention of disability: Earthquake preparedness in Kathmandu valley and improvements in road safety

As required by the Government of Nepal, HI works with local partners including non-governmental organizations and government/semi-governmental institutions. HI Nepal work is focused in ensuring that our actions on the ground impact resource allocation, policy making and financing required for the institutionalization of the good practices and models we demonstrate in the sectors of our work and to do this, we also collaborate with other development and humanitarian organizations

Purpose of the evaluation

On 25th April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, which together with a series of bigger and medium sized aftershocks affected millions of families, killing more than 8,700 people and injuring over 22,000 people. Right after the disaster, thousands of injured people rushed to the hospitals in Kathmandu. In the subsequent hours and days, injured people from neighboring districts in the Valley were brought to the hospitals in Kathmandu. Most of the hospitals where there were higher number of injured people were the ones with whom the project had been working, preparing them for a similar situation. Given this context, HI wishes to assess the impact and effectiveness of the earthquake preparedness initiatives undertaken in the health sector, and review the performance of the hospitals and rehabilitation centers and their professionals as part of the health sector disaster response, in regards to the six building blocks of a health system: Leadership & governance / Health care financing / Health workforce / Service delivery / Information & research / medical products -technologies.

Specifically, the evaluation will look at:

• the impact of project activities such as capacity building initiatives for HEOC, health and rehabilitation professionals, development of MCM strategies, non-structural retrofitting, and awareness raising activities into the 2015 earthquake response in the health sector.
• identify/document lessons learned and make recommendations that project partners and stakeholders in Nepal might use to improve the design and implementation of future projects. The results will contribute tobetter informed decision-making, foster an environment of learning and promote greater accountability for performance, both for HI and for other organizations working in earthquake preparedness.
• how HI’s own contingency planning, including the coordination and articulation of implementation methods between development (DAD) and emergency (DAU) teams together with the contingency plan and national guidelines, was relevant for the response and whether and how foreseen scenarios were implemented and will make recommendations for the amendment of this plan.

The evaluation findings will be shared both at the national level and at the international level. Sharing at the national level will assist HI and other organizations working in health sector disaster preparedness to advocate for operational improvements required towards the preparedness and response capacity of the health system, including rehabilitation. Sharing at the international level will contribute in highlighting the significance of preparedness in the health sector to address mass casualty incidents like earthquake and also sensitize all concerned including the donors and development actors in investing for health sector preparedness.

Deliverables

• Set of tools including questionnaire for the evaluation
• Draft report of the evaluation
• A two-pager document with the key findings from the evaluation to be published and shared with the workshop participants
• Organization of a workshop in Nepal aiming at sharing the findings
• Organization of a workshop in Brussels aiming at sharing the findings at international level
• Final evaluation report

The final output of the evaluation will be the evaluation report in English. The structure and content of the report should:

• Contain an executive summary
• Be analytical innature (both quantitative and qualitative)
• Be structured around issues and related findings/lessons learnt
• Include conclusions
• Include recommendations based on good practices and areas of improvement for improving future interventions

Methodologies

The methods could include, but would not necessarily be limited to, the following:

• Desk review of key documents, including project documents, prior evaluation and lesson learnt reports, monitoring reports and other documents judged relevant.
• Exchanges with HI Desk and Technical Resources
• Literature search and review of materials on the environment in which the project operates, and recent developments after the 2015 earthquake that impacts project’s work
• Interviews with key project/program staff.
• Interviews/focus group discussions with representatives of the project/program stakeholders
• Physical inspection of ongoing response work

Timeframe

The consultancy is expected to start by 24th August 2015. Other anticipated dates for the assignment include data collection and analysis by 21st September after which the national sharing workshop will be held. The international sharing workshop will be organized between October and November. The overall consultancy including the international sharing workshop shouldbe completed no later than November 2015.

Expertise required and number of days for involvement

A team of an international and a national or regional consultant will carry out the evaluation. The international consultant will be the Lead Evaluator and responsible for ensuring all deliverables are provided timely and according to the standards set in the ToR. This person will also ensure all communication with HI Nepal office and will be the sole responsible for managing the organization of the evaluation.

It is anticipated that the following skills and experience will be required for both the evaluators:

• Demonstrated experience in leading evaluations of  Disaster Risk Reduction/Management/programs
• Demonstrated experience in conducting evaluation of health sector disaster preparedness projects preferred
• Experience in health sector strengthening and disability in low and middle income countries and in complex settings (for co-evaluator)
• Demonstrated experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis
• Candidate with experience on evaluating projects with inclusion components preferred
• Professional work experience in Nepal/South Asia preferred
• Fluency in English and excellent writing and presentation skills required
• Understanding of Nepal’s health system is desirable (for co-evaluator)

More information about the project description, criteria and scope of evaluation available from the Terms of Reference