Kenya: Terms of Reference: Evaluation of the ‘Lake Victoria Rights Programme’ 2012 – 2014
1. About Diakonia
Diakonia is a Swedish non-governmental organisation whose mission is to change unfair political, economic and social structures that generate poverty, oppression and violence. Diakonia supports civil society organisations in about 30 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America and has its Head Office in Stockholm, Sweden. Diakonia works through capacity building of civil society actors in partnership with local and regional organisations (both secular and of various faiths) and seeks to employ a rights based approach to development in all programmes, including a special focus on gender equality. For more information please visitwww.diakonia.se.
2. Description of the ‘Lake Victoria Rights Programme’
The ‘Lake Victoria Rights Programme’ (LVRP) is managed from the Diakonia Africa Regional Office in Nairobi in partnership with seven implementing local partners in three countries. They include five Kenyan organisations active in Sio Port / Busia County; Osiri and SW Seme / Kisumu County; and Mfangano Island / Homa Bay County as well as one Ugandan organization located on Ssess Island and one Tanzanian organisation on the Ukerewe Island / Mwanza region. The LVRP has a total annual budget of about 600, 000 USD and is currently funded by Diakonia core funds from the back donor Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). It is lead by a Programme Manager in Nairobi, with support from a Programme Officer and a Finance Officer (working 50%) under the supervision of a Deputy Regional Manager. The objective of the programme is a strengthened civil society, which is contributing to democratization through increased realization of human rights among fishing communities of Lake Victoria. Diakonia staff is responsible for all of the capacity building of partners and strategic quality assurance and resource mobilization.
3. Purpose of the Evaluation
The proposed evaluation should be seen in light of the upcoming strategy development process, which will take place during 2015 – a process where Diakonia is evaluating the results of past programmes in Africa and develop strategic ideas for the next five years. The purpose of the evaluation is to get a better grip of to what extent the current programme design is still relevant to the needs and experiences of the rights holders, including the role played by Diakonia. The findings of the evaluation will form the basis on which the regional management team will decide on the future shape of LVRP and can possibly also result in a phase out of the programme.
The LVRP is currently undergoing its 3rd phase of implementation that started in January 2012 and will end in December 2015. Over the last couple of years, the LVRP has generated some interesting results for the fishing communities around the Lake, which have been documented in a number of evaluations, reports and in social media. In comparison with the previous two phases (2006 – 2008; and 2009 – 2010) the Programme Strategy for 2012 – 2015 emphasized to a greater extent the area of advocacy and political influencing related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and to engage more in national and regional political processes and influencing. The HIV and AIDS rate and poverty levels around the Lake remain comparatively high, and the lack of SRHR is deemed to be an important reason for this, along with the limited choices of livelihood besides fishing. The strengthening of the advocacy component of SRHR was also a strategy to attract new partners and donors for financing. The regional aspect of the programme is considered an added value in the design of the programme – and therefore the evaluation shall also look into what this means in practice since this dimension is currently not clearly demonstrated in the annual reports of the programme. Note: The objective of the evaluation is not to undertake a detailed evaluation of each implementing partner but rather to assess the specific results achieved during 2012 - 2014 in relation to the original application and proposals submitted by partners.
4. Objectives of the Evaluation
The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability, lessons learned and the role and added value of Diakonia compared to the expected results set out in the programme application.
5. Scope of the Evaluation
The evaluation is intended to cover the programme implementation period of January 2012 – December 2014 (i.e. 3 years) and should identify expected and unexpected results, including lessons learned by answering the following questions:
*Relevance* – the extent to which the programme was well suited to the priorities of the rights holders in the project sites:
Are the activities and outputs of the programme (including activities and outputs on a regional level) consistent with the overall goal and the attainment of the programme objectives?Are the activities and outputs of the programme (including activities and outputs on a regional level) consistent with the intended / expected impacts and effects?*Effectiveness* – the extent to which the programme attains its objectives:
To what extent were the objectives achieves / are likely to be achieved (including on a regional level)?What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?*Efficiency –**how qualitative and quantitative outputs are measuring in relation to the inputs:*
Were activities cost-efficient (including regional capacity building activities organized by Diakonia)?Were objectives achieved on time?Was the programme or project implemented in the most efficient way compared to alternatives (including for example incorporation into Diakonia Kenya or Uganda Country programmes)?*Impact –**the positive and negative changes produced by a development intervention (directly or indirectly), intended or unintended:*
What has happened as a result of the programme or projects of the partners (including on a regional level)?What real difference has the activity made to the beneficiaries?How many people have been affected?*Sustainability and Added Value of Diakonia –**if the benefits of the programme activities are likely to continue in case Diakonia ceases its support?*
On the positive side: Are there factors of the programme which indicate that the benefits of the programme and project activities will continue (including on a regional level) even if Diakonia funding ceases beyond 2015?On the negative side: Are there any factors of the programme which indicate that the benefits of the programme and project activities will no longer continue (including on a regional level) if Diakonia ceases its financial / monetary- and capacity building support to the programme partners?*Lessons learned*
Are there any practices, approaches and methodologies which can be applied elsewhere to improve programme or project performance, outcome or impact of the programme or be used for organizational learning?6. Methodology
A brief methodology of the evaluation will be proposed by the consultant(s) as part of the formal application (see “Mode of Application” below). Following the selection of consultant(s) a more detailed methodology will need to be developed by the consultant(s) taking into account the following aspects: a) what kind of information is to be collected (first hand, second hand, etc.) and will it contain interviews (e.g. qualitative data)? b) What measurements and assessments are to be made in light of the scope of the evaluation above? c) How will the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data be made and on which criteria will it be made? How will the data be analysed? d) How will the conclusions and recommendations be presented? Lastly – to what extent are rights holders and other stakeholders in the programme expected to participate in the different stages of the evaluation above?
7. Roles and Responsibilities
Diakonia will set up a reference group consisting of relevant programme staff from the Regional Office in Nairobi and will be chaired by the Programme Manage for the Lake Victoria Programme. The groups shall include one partner representative. The reference group shall be the main platform for any in-depth discussion between the consultant(s) and Diakonia in the different phases of the evaluation, including planning / preparation, research, activities, reporting and dissemination).The consultant(s) shall be developing a more detailed methodology for the evaluation, related to the specific questions highlighted above (point 5) and based on early discussions with the reference group and based on studies of relevant background materials and documents related to the programme (see below “Key background documentation”).Diakonia shall be responsible for coordination with the implementing partners prior and during the visits of the consultant(s) to the project sites to ensure logistical planning and support for the consultant(s) in line with budget.Diakonia reference group will provide written feed-back on the draft evaluation report.The consultant(s) shall revise the evaluation report based on the feedback from Diakonia.The consultant(s) shall present the findings of the evaluation to all implementing partners during a meeting in Nairobi at the beginning of 2015 with assistance of Diakonia Programme Manager. Any feedback mentioned or clarifications asked for from partners during this meeting shall be addressed and clarified in the final evaluation report by the consultant(s).8. Outputs and deliverables
A detailed methodology – including time line - shall be presented by the consultant(s) to the Diakonia reference group and approved by the Programme Manager of Diakonia before any field research is undertaken in the project sites.The consultant(s) shall carry outvisits and collection of data in all five project sites in three countries highlighted on page 1 of this TORs.The consultant(s) shall holdone presentation on the preliminary findings of the evaluation for the reference group at the regional office in Nairobi when the draft report has been produced.The consultant(s) shall incorporate any feedback and undertake necessaryrevision of the draft report according to Diakonia written feed-back.The consultant(s) shallpresent the findings of the evaluation to all implementing partners during a meeting in Nairobi at the beginning of 2015 with assistance of Diakonia Programme Manager.Consultant(s) shallsubmit final version of Evaluation Reportto the Programme Manager of the Lake Victoria programme (one soft copy and two bound copies). The final payment to the consultant(s) will be processed after the approval of the Final Report by the Programme Manager. The format for the report -which shall not exceed 45 pages, excluding Annexes - shall be presented as follows:Executive Summary in English (maximum 3 pages)Background, Purpose and Scope of the evaluationApproach and Methods usedFindings of the evaluationConclusionsRecommendationsAnnexes9. Envisaged timeframe
The proposed consultancy will run for forty (40) days and will tentatively be carried out January the 5th - March 13th in 2015. The following plan gives an indication of the number of days required to execute the activities of the evaluation:****Activity**** ****No. of Days**** 1 Preliminary Meeting with Diakonia 1 2 Document Review & Tools preparation 4 3 Travel Days 8 4 Meeting with Partners: 1 day per partner: ADS Nyanza ; ADS Western; COU-PDR; ELCT/BAKWATA 5 5 Data Collection at the 5 sites (2days per site)
****Kenya :****SioPort; Mfangano ; Osiri/S.W Seme
****Uganda Ssese Islands:****Kibanga; Kitobo
****Tanzania:****Ukerewe 10 6 Data Analysis, Documentation and report writing including after draft report presentation 10 7 Presentation of findings at Diakonia Regional Office 1 8 Validation Meeting with Partners 1 ****Total Days**** ****40****
Required background documentation / references for desk research****:**** Lake Victoria Livelihood Programme (LVLP) Terminal Evaluation Report (May 2011) and earlier evaluations and reports; LVRP Strategy 2012 – 2015; Civsam application 2012 – 2014; Civsam Annual Reports of Lake Victoria for 2011, 2012 and 2013; Annual partner reports for 2011, 2012 and 2013.
10. Evaluation team – Required qualifications
The Lead Consultant must have post graduate qualification (Masters or above) in Social Science or discipline relevant to the assignment with minimum 10 years of work experience in research and analysis of rights based development programmes and monitoring and evaluation methodologies.
Consultant(s) must have demonstrated experience of undertaking evaluations of community based programmes in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights (a requirement).
Proven understanding and experience of rights based approach as well as of how to assess gender equality in programmes
Experience of working in or in connection with civil society in East Africa
Fluent in written and spoken English and communication skills in Swahili
Excellent and demonstrated reporting writing – and communication skills
Knowledge of the Lake Victoria Basin is an added value
The consultant(s) shall not have worked with or been hired by Diakonia specifically in connection with the LVRP previously
11. Terms and Conditions
Logistics: Consultant(s)’ travel from base to the field and back, including food and accommodation will be covered by Diakonia.Tax and insurance: The consultant(s) shall be responsible for insurance during travels (e.g. not covered by Diakonia). 5% tax will be withheld by Diakonia for employment tax.Code of Conduct: The consultant(s) shall be required to sign and adhere to Diakonia’s Code of Conduct.The application shall include the following items in order not to be disqualified:
Cover letter (1 page maximum)CV(s)of the consultant(s) carrying out the evaluationTechnical proposal (8 pages maximum) including the following: i) brief explanation about the consultant(s) with particular emphasis on previous experience in this kind of work; ii) profile of the consultant(s) to be involved in the undertaking of the evaluation; iii) understanding of the TORs and the task to be accomplished; and ix) draft evaluation framework and time plan.Expected consultancy feeRelevant samples from previous work to demonstrate previous high quality and relevant experience of similar programme evaluations.Applications will be made in soft copy and should be submitted on or before Friday 14th November, 2014 via e mail to Diakonia through the following address:rehema.njuguna@diakonia.se
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