Practical Action
ABOUT US
We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.
We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.
OUR AIMS
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to:
•Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living.
•Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
•Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
•Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimizing their impact on lives and livelihoods.
PRACTICAL ACTION IN KENYA
In Kenya, Practical Action has a long history of addressing systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing energy that transforms their lives, helping communities and government make cities healthier and safer, making agriculture and markets work better for small holder farmers and supporting communities and government to become more resilient.
We use a mix of programming with communities and consultancy services with shapers of policy and practice to achieve our aims.
ABOUT THE ROLE
In recent years, in Turkana, Practical Action have focused on inter-related sectors including access to renewable energy, agriculture and food security, WASH, resilience and disaster risk reduction. We work with the vulnerable, the poor and the marginalized communities to adapt to climate change and helping them become resilient to climate shocks.
Our Practical Action framework for change guides how we work in order to achieve our global ambitions and deliver on our strategic intent. It helps us understand the nature, causes, and scale of poverty and vulnerability and articulate the large-scale changes we want to bring about. We call these our change ambitions. Through our Framework for Change, we plan and undertake our work through three pathways, demonstrating, learning and inspiring. To make these change ambitions a reality has required a new way of working-aligning everyone we do to support and contribute to them.
We have particular strengths and expertise in:
•Systems thinking and analysis.
•Behaviour change
•Participatory market systems development
•Gender transformation
•Convening multiple stakeholders from communities to government
•Community and grassroots engagement.
•Youth programming.
Purpose of the Ex-Post evaluation.
The purpose of conducting this ex-post evaluation is to assess the long-term impacts, sustainability, and unintended consequences of a project implemented by Practical Action in the Turkana. It will determine whether the outcomes or impacts have been maintained or even expanded over time and to identify lessons learned for future programming in Turkana. This ex-post evaluation will be critical for understanding the true effectiveness and legacy of the projects beyond implementation phase.
Specific Objectives of the Ex-Post Evaluation:
1.To assess long-term impacts of Practical Actions programming in Turkana: Determine whether the projects implemented over time have achieved the intended long-term objectives and the extent to which the outcomes or impacts are sustainable over time.
2.To evaluate sustainability: Assess whether the benefits of the various projects implemented in Turkana have continued after the projects ended, including whether local systems or stakeholders like the WUAs, Community Development Committees, Schools, local leaders, national government, and county governments have taken over key activities or initiatives.
3.To examine both positive and negative unintended outcomes that may not have been anticipated during the projects design and implementation phases.
4.To generate lessons learned: Provide valuable insights and evidence to inform the design, implementation, and scaling of future projects and programs in Turkana and beyond.
5.To demonstrate accountability to stakeholders, donors, and beneficiaries by demonstrating the long-term effects of their investments and contributions.
6.To inform Practical Action’s policy and strategic decisions using the findings to inform Practical Action’s leadership on the best practices, challenges, and opportunities for improvement in future initiatives.
Methodology
The consultants should employ an appropriate mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather and analyse data/information, in order to diversify perspectives, and to promote participation of different groups of stakeholders. Final detailed methodology will be developed in consultation with Practical Action Impact and Influence team. Data triangulation will be required to ensure the credibility and accuracy of data/ information gathered through various tools.
The methods proposed to undertake this survey must be of sound technical quality, rigorous and robust and based on scientific principles, be gender transformative and should resonate well with the proposed objectives. Practical Action team in consultation with the consultant will agree on the tools and best data collection process. The consultant and Practical Action will harmonize their understanding of the tools and their administration in the inception meeting before administration of the questionnaires by the evaluation team.
Expected deliverables.
1)Inception report highlighting the following:
•Approach of the evaluation.
•Work plan with detailed framework of activities.
•Methodological Approach
•Proposed content outline for the report, schedule, and any logistical propositions.
•Data collection tools
•Limitation of assessment
2)Draft report responding to the objectives of the ex-post evaluation.
3)Final Report summarizing the main findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
4)A power point slide deck summarizing the main findings, conclusions and recommendations from report presented to internal stakeholders at Practical Action and participants of the study.
5)Presentation of finding in a validation workshop
6)Delivery of cleaned dataset in SPSS format as well as raw dataset (Excel), final tools used, list of key informants, qualitative data transcripts.
Administrative and logistical support
1)The Consultants will report to the work independently with technical oversight by the Impact and Influence team.
2)The project team in Lodwar – Turkana will provide day to day support during the assignment to support the actualization of this assignment and within stipulated timelines. Practical Action will also provide all necessary program documents required.
3)The consultants on the other hand will:
o Recruit and train research assistants (if necessary)
o Pay research assistants based on reasonable market rates.
o Facilitate field travel for the research team.
Requirements of the consultant
This evaluation should be undertaken by with a range of skills and experience in order to deliver an insightful ex-post evaluation. They should be experienced in gender sensitive data collection techniques and can lead the data collection team. It is expected that the consultant will have the following qualifications and experience:
•Extensive and demonstrated experience in designing, facilitating, and coordinating impact evaluations in the development sector by non-governmental and donor (bi-lateral and multilateral agencies)
•Extensive and demonstrated experience in the use of mixed methods approaches (integrating quantitative and qualitative data), statistical analysis and interpretation of results.
•Experience using digital data collection methods, for example, ODK, KOBO Collect, GIS.
•Demonstrated ability to lead and coordinate a multi-disciplinary team in MEL activities.
•Be well-versed and extensive knowledge of the target county geographically, in terms of culture, terrain, local population, and other details of the counties, and has carried some related or similar work in the region.
Education
Team members comprising evaluation experts, market systems development practitioners, economists, youth experts, policy and gender experts who possess more than 10+ years of experience with Masters’ and above level of education.
Timelines
This consultancy will take place in between the months of February 2025 and March 2025 within a period of 45 days and final report submitted at the end of March 2025. Final work plan duration shall be agreed with the selected consultant before signing of the agreement.
Terms of Engagement
Payment for the ex-post evaluation shall be done in three tranches as indicated below.
•Tranche 1 (40% of the total cost): Upon submission of the inception report
•Tranche 2 (30% of the total cost): submission and acceptance of the of 1st draft of the report
•Tranche 3 (30% of the total cost): submission and acceptance of the final report
Note that the payments will be done subject to the consulting entity meeting quality and timely delivery of stated tasks.
A detailed Terms of Reference can be accessed here-https://practicalaction.org/careers/vacancies/consultancy-ex-post-evaluation-of-practical-actions-programming-in-turkana/
Interested consulting entities that have capacity to deliver this TOR are invited to submit a complete proposal to [email protected] subject line “Ex-post Evaluation of Practical Action’s programming in Turkana” to reach Practical Action on or before Friday 24th January 2025.
Guidelines for Submission
Interested Consultants or firms are requested to submit.
- A technical proposal detailing interpretation of the TOR, proposed methodology including sampling framework, work schedule etc.
- A capability statement demonstrating how the consultants meet the required qualifications and competencies.
- Copies of all relevant Curriculum Vitae (CVs). Only CVs for the specific individuals that will form the proposed survey team should be included; two references (including one from your last client).
- Detailed financial proposal in Kenyan Shillings: If the team consists of several members, the professional fees should not just be a daily rate, but it should be based on clearly shown time allocation by each member of the team to the various activities.
- Evidence of experience in similar work
Award criteria
The evaluation of the quotations will be based on the best value for money, weighing up technical quality (the methodology and the CV of the consultant) and price of the quotation.
Additional Information
Practical Action is an equal opportunities employer, and we encourage applications from under-represented groups. We stay committed to cultivating an inclusive and diverse working environment and believe that people from different backgrounds or cultures give us different perspectives, and the more perspectives we have, the more successful we will be. By building a culture where everyone feels heard, respected and valued we give everyone working with us the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Practical Action is committed to safeguarding and protecting children and vulnerable adults and as such candidates will be subject to pre-employment checks.
Note: Practical Action reserves the right to accept or reject any application.
