SCOPE OF WORK – FINAL EVALUATION OF GROWTH, HEALTH, GOVERNANCE (GHG) PROGRAM
Deadline to apply: March 10th, 2017**
Background Information**
Mercy Corps is an international NGO that has worked to alleviate poverty and oppression in transitional environments since 1979. Operational in Uganda since 2006, Mercy Corps implements programs designed to promote, good governance, peace, food security, and economic development across Northern Uganda.
Mercy Corps has been implementing the USAID funded Growth, Health and Governance (GHG) program in Northern Karamoja, Uganda since 1st July 2012. The program ends 31st January 2018 but the evaluation will cover the 1st July 2012 to 30th September 2017 implementation period. The goal of the program is to improve peace and food security in Karamoja through an integrated, gender-sensitive approach focused on three strategic objectives:
- Livelihoods strengthened
- Nutrition among children under two improved
- Governance and local capacity for conflict mitigation improved.
Evaluation Rationale
The final evaluation will be conducted by an external contractor to:
- Evaluate the appropriateness of the program goal, objectives and theory of change, given the context of Northern Karamoja. Appropriateness will be measured by relevance of the strategies and interventions implemented by the program to achieve its goal of improved food security in the context of Karamoja from a resilience lens, noted by the extent to which interventions strengthened, or failed to strengthen, the capacities of Karamojong to respond to shocks and stresses
- Evaluate the intended and unintended, positive and negative impacts of program interventions in relation to the stated goals and objectives through a series of beneficiary surveys, community level data and key informant interviews with institutional stakeholders. Following analysis, assessment findings will need to be integrated to form a cohesive narrative of program impacts, including conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations for future programming
- Collect best practices of the GHG Program to use for internal organizational learning and dissemination outside of Mercy Corps
- Identify how the GHG program supported the USAID DFAP overall objective
- Evaluate the application and utility of GHG’s adaptive management approach
- Assess program sustainability based on four criteria: Capacity, Motivation, Linkages and Resources
Measure the progress made to date against each of the Strategic Objectives, including cross-cutting objective of gender equality, and each of the intermediate results.
- Under Strategic Objective 1: Measure progress towards economic development through a facilitation approach, with intermediate results focused on improved productivity among male and female agriculturalists, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists and the extent to which interventions have stabilized the business investment environment and accelerated market growth
- Under Strategic Objective 2: Measure progress towards improved maternal and child nutrition, with intermediate results focused on increased access to quality health care, increased consumption of nutritious foods, and reduced incidence of diarrheal disease through WASH interventions
- Under Strategic Objective 3: Reduced incidence of inter-ethnic armed conflict, with intermediate results focused on capacity development of conflict management actors, and constructive youth engagement. Additionally, the study will note the progress made through adapted strategies to address the changing nature of conflict in the region
It should be noted that USAID will conduct their own independent endline assessment in the GHG project area. This evaluation will not duplicate that but will complement it with a larger focus on learning and best practices.
Evaluation Design & Methodology
Methodological Approach
This is a mixed methods, participatory evaluation. Several targeted quantitative assessments may need to be combined into a cohesive final narrative. The following data collection and analysis methods expected include:
- Site visits and observations
- Qualitative data collection- Semi-structured stakeholder interviews and focus groups with beneficiaries, stakeholders and key informants
- Quantitative data collection- series of quantitative surveys targeting select target populations as well as broader community level data collection
- Facilitated meeting – a meeting to be held with MC and partner staff and stakeholders to reflect on program implementation, challenges and successes
- Document review
Data Collection & Analysis
Any quantitative data must be dis-aggregated by both sex and age, as well as geographic location. External stakeholders should be included in the evaluation, as appropriate, to provide additional insight and validation of results. Stakeholders may include: sub-grantees, local NGO partners, local government, and private sector actors.
Existing data sources to inform the evaluation include:
- Monthly, quarterly and annual program and M&E reports
- Annual PREP reports
- Sector specific assessments and evaluations conducted internally and externally throughout the life of the program, in particular but not limited to:
- MCG Assessment
- Gender and Youth Behavior Change Assessment
- VHT Assessment
- MCHN Barrier Analysis
- CRC Reports
- Mercy Corps Karamoja STRESS Report
- Food security and nutrition analysis and monitoring tools: WFP FSNA Reports, USAID TOPS Karamoja Seasonal Analysis and Intervention Guide, Cost of Diet in Karamoja, etc.
- Research papers developed by the program’s learning partners
- Livelihoods Dynamics Baseline
- Conflict Management Baseline and Endline
- Urbanization Study
- Gender Assessment
- Indicator Performance Tracking Table
- Performance Management Plan
- USAID FFP Baseline
The evaluation will be conducted in Kotido, Kaabong, Abim, Amudat and Nakapiripirit Districts of Karamoja. A map of the region is included in Annex A.
Evaluation Products
The following is required and should be prepared and delivered separately:
Deliverable
Estimated Date of Submission
An evaluation plan including:
o Evaluation methodology
o Roles/Responsibilities of each team member
o Protocols and instruments for each assessment, including data collection and analyses
o Evaluation itinerary
o Statement of limitations of the methods and potential effects on results
June 2017
Dissemination plan for external audiences including USAID, development partners, research institutes etc.
June 2017
Oral de-briefing and validation of finding with project staff in Uganda
August 2017
An in-country presentation of preliminary results to project leadership and donor
August 2017
Draft final evaluation report in soft copy
September 2017
Electronic files of the clean (final) qualitative and quantitative data collected
September 2017
Final evaluation report in hard (5 copies bound) and soft copy, structured in the guidelines listed below written in English
October 2017
Presentation on the final evaluation findings presented to Mercy Corps Uganda and USAID; soft copy of PowerPoint slides presented
October 2017
At least two focused case studies/learning briefs ready for external dissemination
October 2017
Please note that during this time Mercy Corps Uganda will be closed for Public Holidays on Martyr’s Day 3rd June, Heroes Day 9th June, Independence Day 9th October, alongside 1-2 days for Eid.
Reporting
The final evaluation report will not exceed 30 pages, not including annexes, and will be structured in accordance with the following guidelines:
- Cover Page, List of Acronyms
- Table of Contents – identifies page numbers for the major content areas of the report
- Executive Summary (2-3 pages) – should be a clear and concise stand-alone document that gives readers the essential contents of the evaluation report in 2 or 3 pages, previewing the main points in order to enable readers to build a mental framework for organizing and understanding the detailed information within the report. In addition, the Executive Summary helps readers determine the key results and recommendations of the report. Thus, the Executive Summary should include: major lessons learned; maximum of two paragraphs describing the program, summary of targets and intended outcomes; areas of meaningful under or over achievement; and possibly a few lines describing the action plan developed to follow up on evaluation recommendations and how the evaluation report will be disseminated.
- Methodology – sampling method including strengths and weaknesses of method used, inclusion of stakeholders and staff, rough schedule of activities, description of any statistical analysis undertaken, including justification and software package used. The discussion of any random sampling used should include details on how the random respondents were identified and invited to participate. This section should also address constraints and limitations of the evaluation process and rigor. The methodology section should also include a detailed description of data collection techniques used throughout the evaluation.
- Results – to be organized under strategic objectives and evaluation questions, as appropriate.
- Synthesis, Recommendations and Lessons Learned – include concrete recommendations for current or future project improvements/changes, pull out organization lessons learned, and generally comment on data and results. Everything presented in this section must be directly linked back to the information presented in the Results section of the report. Ideally, items discussed here will not be completely new to the reader, but rather will refer to previous discussions. Recommendations that are not directly tied to Results can be included in an Evaluator Comments section for the report.
- Annexes – data collection instruments in English and translation; list of stakeholder group with number and type of interactions; SoW; qualitative protocols developed and used; any data sets can be provided in electronic format; photos; participant profiles or other special documentation used.
Mercy Corps Uganda will support the evaluation team with the organization of in-country logistics including transport, accommodation and technical assistance, as required.
Budget
Actual funding amounts are subject to availability of funds. Mercy Corps intends to award a contract pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity. Mercy Corps reserves the right to fund any one or none of the applications submitted and to negotiate with the selected proposed contractor.
Necessary Skills/Qualifications
- List of previous similar works, including examples of evaluation reports (40 points)
- Experience of evaluating USAID funded programs, in particular DFAPs (20 points)
- Understanding of the market facilitation approach and adaptive management (10 points)
- Understanding of the activity, requested service evidenced by a relevant and detailed work plan (10 points)
- Experience working in Uganda, in particular Karamoja or other areas at a similar level of development (10 points)
- Experience working with illiterate groups, and a wide variety of stakeholders, including local government and private sector actors (10 points)
Application Requirements
- Technical proposal, including evaluation approaches, proposed sampling frame, workplan, composition of evaluation team
- Capacity statement of the firm/team
- CVs of assigned personnel
- Budget / price for the work – indicate level of effort for each team member
- At least two examples of previous evaluation reports
Failure to include documentation for the criteria above will result in disqualification.
PI96928410
More Information
- Job City Karamoja
