Terms of reference of the Midterm evaluation for North Nyamira Women Sacco and Bosinya Women Cbo-projects tender job at International Solidarity Foundation

The project includes activities to reduce violence against women and girls. The community dialogues organized by the Muungano Gender Forum will complement these activities.

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Purpose and scope of the evaluation
The overall purpose of the evaluation is to support the sustainability planning of the projects concerned.

More specifically, the purpose of the evaluation is
• to assess the projects’ effectiveness in developing women's livelihoods and wellbeing
• to assess the partners’ organizational capacity to support its members’ livelihoods and the projects’ effectiveness in supporting this
• to assess relevance and efficiency of the project activities to promote sustainable results in developing women’s livelihoods and partner organizations’ operational capacity
• to make recommendations on measures to increase project impact and sustainability

The following key questions will guide the project evaluation.
The project’s effectiveness in developing women’s livelihoods (targeted beneficiaries) and wellbeing
• As a result of the project, what are the positive changes in the lives of the beneficiaries and what changes have been the most significant for their livelihood and wellbeing?
• Was there any permanent change in targeted women’s human resources, such as new knowledge, skills and attitude to apply new knowledge and skills?
• Were there any permanent changes in targeted women’s social resources, such as business contacts, advisory contacts, roles in the family and roles in the community?
• Were there any permanent changes in targeted women’s material resources, such as incomes, assets, and access to credit?
• Has the project developed functions, services and/or platforms that women want and need?
• Do women feel ownership of their organization? How women participate in the planning and implementing activities in their organizations?
• What critical services or information do women not receive from their own organization and from the project?
• What positive effects has the project had on gender equality?
• Which factors have facilitated/hindered the achievement of the expected results?
• Have the project interventions led to some unintended negative outcomes? What has already been done or can be done to correct this?

The project’s effectiveness in developing partners’ organisational capacity to support its members’ livelihoods and wellbeing
• How well the organisations can implement their key operational functions and offer relevant services to their members? Does the staff composition support this? What positive results have the projects achieved in this area? Where are the key gaps? Services subject to evaluation, as follows:
• Organisation’s capacity to help project beneficiaries in developing their personal knowledge, skills and abilities to ensure flow of quality products to markets? Special interest in the peer advice system and external expertise to support members in A) farming, post-harvest handling and climate adaptation methods, and B) business planning and development.
• Organisation’s capacity to supports its project beneficiaries’ access to key productive inputs. What kind of input financing model (micro fund) could work?
• Functionality, relevance and sustainability of the collection, processing, and marketing centres. Does the organisation have structure, competences and contacts that enable product development through value addition, packaging, and product certification? How well the organisations can commercialize activities in using their machines and equipment?
• The organization's ability to sell its members' products in new markets.
• Organisation’s capacity to form relationships and partnerships with peer organisations and private and public actors. How well the already established contacts help organisations in supporting their members’ livelihood through advisory service, certification, product development and value addition?
• How well can the organisation manage the finances of a business/an organisation to run its key operations e.g., running and maintenance of the pre-processing facility, value addition, certifications, advice system, product development etc.? Does the staff composition support this? What positive results has the project achieved in this area? Where are the key gaps?
• How well the organisation includes members in the decision making? What positive results has the project achieved in this area? Where are the key gaps?

Relevance and efficiency of the project activities to promote sustainability
• These questions partly overlap with the previous two set of questions but are added here to emphasize the importance of identifying project approaches that enhance sustainability of project results.
• Have the projects’ activities been appropriate and adequate to allow women (direct beneficiaries) to continue their profitable business after the end of the project?
• Have the applied project activities been appropriate and adequate to ensure partner organizations’ capacity to support its members after the end of the project?
• Have the applied project activities been appropriate and adequate to ensure partner organization’s institutional capacity and financial sustainability?
• Have the projects considered the gender perspective at a sufficient level?
• Have the projects built right kind of skills and competence? Have the projects targeted the capacity development to right people, groups or institutions?
• Have the projects supported collaboration with relevant stakeholders whose contributions promote project and organizational sustainability? (Stakeholder strategy)
• Are there actors and/or institutions whose engagement could improve the efficiency of the project?
• Has the project developed relevant services, functions, and platforms?
• How project monitoring practices could be changed to improve learning and informed decision-making?

Recommendations on measures to increase project impact and sustainability
• Recommendations for project actions to ensure that the organizations have the skills and competence to continue implementing the functions developed in the project after the end of the project.
• Recommendations for project actions to ensure that the organizations have the financial means to take over and maintain the key functions developed in the project after the end of the project.
• Recommendations on necessary measures to ensure organizations’ member retention, including youth.
• Recommendations for project actions to improve women’s livelihood resilience.
• Recommendations for project actions to make the collection, processing, and marketing centers more efficient?
• Recommendations for the project activities to support organizations in developing business plans.
• Recommendations on how the partners can better consider gender perspectives in their organizations.

Methodology of the evaluation
The evaluation should collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data through, among others, the following methods:
• Desk study and review of all relevant project documentation including project documents, annual work-plans, quarterly and annual project reports, any other reports
• Key informant in-depth interviews (KII) to gather primary data from key stakeholders
• Focus group discussions (FGD) with project beneficiaries and other stakeholders, among others the Most Significant Change -tool.
• Individual and/or group surveys, among others OCA self-assessment methodologies and toolkits
• Observations during field visit(s)

The stakeholders that should be consulted within this consultancy shall include but not be restricted to:
• Companies (Mace Foods)
• County and national government (Ministries, Departments and Agencies)
• Expert institutions (FAO, others)

Timing, duration and expected deliverables of the evaluation
The evaluation is expected to start in April 2023 for an estimated duration of 20 working days. This will include
• desk review and submission of inception report
• field visit(s) and data collection
• data analysis and evaluation report writing
• workshop to validate initial evaluation findings
• submission of the final report

Based on the project documentation, the consultant shall submit an inception report by the 13th of March 2023 that serves as an agreement between parties on how the evaluation will be conducted, covering the following items:
• Research methodology, including data collection tools, suggested target groups and sample sizes, and ethical considerations
• Proposal for a learning event to validation of evaluation findings.
• Schedule of the evaluation activities incl. travelling (timeline)
• Detailed budget
• The first draft of the evaluation report should be sent for comments to ISF no later than 8th of May 2023. The final evaluation report, which incorporates the ISF comments and suggestions done to the draft report, should be submitted to ISF no later than 22nd of May 2023.

Qualifications of the consultant
The profile of the individual consultants needs to meet the qualification requirements below [adjust the list if needed]:
• University advanced degree (Msc/MA or PhD) in economics, business management, community development or other relevant degree
• Professional qualification in project MEL
• Extensive (more than 7 years) working experience in relevant fields, preferably with business development, including women’s economic empowerment, and community mobilization
• More than 5 years of experience in research and/or project development/management and review
• Experience of working with international organizations
• Evidence of quality outputs from previous assignments
• Fluent English
• Excellent qualitative and quantitative data collection and analytical skills
• Excellent reporting and presenting skills
• Punctuality and availability to complete the work on time

How to apply and selection process
Requested information:
• qualification of the consultant (CV)
• a draft consultancy plan (1-2 pages) including a short description on what methods will be used and the duration of the consultancy (number of days)
• cost of the tender: facilitation fee/ day, other costs
• sample report of similar previous work and two references

ISF will choose the consultant in according to three main criteria’s: a) the professional capacity of the consultant, b) the quality and content of the tender, c) the cost of the tender.
The selection of the consultant will be done by ISF. Only the selected candidate will be notified of the results of the selection process.
The tender must be submitted by 15th of February 2023 to isfkenya@solidaarisuus.fi . Tenders submitted after this date will not be considered.