Uganda: External Evaluation in the framework of the Food Sovereignty projects in Uganda - 2015

Organization: Veterinarios Sin Fronteras

Country: Uganda

Closing date: 08 Mar 2015

Consultancy process

External Evaluation in the framework of the Food Sovereignty projects in Uganda

Project“*Improving access towater sources in the Teso region and strengthening the Ugandan peasant movement in the context of food sovereignty and gender equity*” funded by Gobierno Vasco-Eusko Jaurlaritza to the Spanish NGO Veterinarios sin Fronteras.-Global Food Justice.

1.INTRODUCCIÓN

Veterinarios sin Fronteras.-Global Food Justice and Food Sovereignty

Veterinarios sin Fronteras is a Non- Government Development Organisation (NGDO) that is associative in nature. Our vision: in our code of ethics it is defined as the achievement of a fair, equitable and caring society by means of a responsible and respectful solidarity. Our mission: to promote a fair rural development model in favour of Food Sovereignty and to generate the conscience of solidarity within society as a means towards social transformation.

The political objective of Food Sovereignty can be approached from various angles – consumption, the environment, culture, etc. – but it has a clearly-defined core from which all of these radiate: farming production. For the most part, this is due to the origins of the term, which originated in 1996 from the La Via Campesina, an international network made up of small- and medium-scale farmers, livestock farmers, indigenous movements, landless workers, etc. whose common denominator is that they all work upon the production of food.

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers and users.

Food sovereignty prioritizes local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer driven agriculture, artisanal, fishing, pastoralist led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability. Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just incomes to all peoples as well as the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition. It ensures that the rights to use and manage lands, territories.

2.JUSTIFICATION

VSF at institutional level is supporting Food Sovereignty struggles of peasant’s movements through proposals made by the groups themselves. In Uganda VSF has been working in TESO region for 14years, majorly through productive projects.

This external evaluation is in the framework of the project“*Improving access towater sources in the Teso region and strengthening the Ugandan peasant movement in the context of food sovereignty and gender equity*” funded by Gobierno Vasco-Eusko Jaurlaritza to the Spanish NGO Veterinarios sin Fronteras.-Global Food justice.

This project aims to contribute to the defence of the rights inherent to food sovereignty, to improve the quality of life and reducing gender inequities through action at local, regional and national level in Uganda. At local level, this initiative is implemented in rural communities in Amuria District, Teso region through the strengthening of local associations, capacity building and empowerment of peasants and rural women (water rights, land, access and control natural resources, sexual and reproductive rights, etc..), and contribute to sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation. Also, the project contributes to capacity building of farmers in the Districts of Northern Uganda: Pader, Gulu, Amuru and Adjumani, and creates opportunities for dialogue among the peasantry of different districts for greater coordination and advocacy among peasants at national level.

This project is part of the program initiated in 2006 Chain of Life which has taken 6 years supporting the community development process in Teso region and now has expanded its scope to provide more responses to the needs of men and women rural participants.

The Specific Objective of the project is: to strength the articulation of the peasant movement in the region of Teso and in Uganda under the rights of food sovereignty and access, use and management of natural resources (water, land and biodiversity) and gender equity for advocacy.

The results expected are the following ones:

R.1. - Men and Women members of the 6 CBOs improve access, use and management of water resources and sanitation and hygiene practices.

R.2.- Reinforced the empowerment of peasant women in 18 CBOs through the analysis of the collective rights and raising awareness of gender inequities and gender violence among peasants (men and women).

R.3. - Supported TECLANET organization of the Teso region forward in its consolidation process as a second-level farmers’ organization for the advocacy of Food Sovereignty.

R.4.- The joint articulation of Ugandan farmers’ organizations strengthens through a joint effort of analysis and the drafting and negotiation of proposals for Food Sovereignty and the right to access water, land and biodiversity and gender equity.

3. IMPLEMENTING STAKEHOLDERS

Stakeholder participation is fundamental for VSF projects and evaluations. The consultant is expected to conduct a participatory evaluation with meaningful involvement of program partners, right holders and other relevant stakeholders. Stakeholder participation is to be an integral component of evaluation design and planning; information collection; the development of findings; evaluation reporting and results dissemination.

Summary of stakeholders to be consulted:

Temele Development Organisation (TEMEDO)Teso Chains of Life Association Network (TECLANET) Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF)

3.DESCRIPTION OF THE CONSULTANCY

3.1.Goals

VSF-Global Food Justice seeks to conduct an external evaluation for the project “Improving access to water sources in the Teso region and strengthening the Ugandan peasant movement in the context of food sovereignty and gender equity” in partnership with TECLANET, TEMEDO AND ESAAF during the years 2011-2014. The cooperation during that period has been funded by the Gobierno Vasco with a total amount of 446.157,59 euros during this period.

The purpose of conducting an external evaluation is to assess results and ensure learning from the four years of experience working to implement the Food Sovereignty techniques and principles. Moreover, the evaluation findings and recommendations will be used to improve future programming.

Methodology

3.2.Approach

The evaluation team will prepare an inception report prior to the commencement of the evaluation field work. The inception report will present the proposed evaluation methodology and instruments that will be used for the purpose of data collection in the field and evaluation timetable.

Although the detailed evaluation methodology will be outlined in the inception report, this should include a desk review of relevant documents and field work to collect data.

The consultant will employ both quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection and analysis taking the perspectives of different stakeholders; in particular the views of farmers (especially women) be taken into serious consideration. Methods used should be participatory and sensitive to the group that the project focuses on. A reasonable sample of project participants and stakeholders should be surveyed. VSF will provide relevant project documents / reports, office working space and make necessary appointments for meetings with respondents.

3.3.Key questions of the research

The evaluation should investigate the following:

• Assess the program implementation performance against original goals and specific objectives; assessing the extent to which the program has met its stated objectives, delivery plan, and highlight the success stories.

• The extent to which proposed objectives and results have been achieved based on indicators within the program design.

• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the program.

• Coordination with other stakeholders, mechanisms, and synergies. Including addressing the issue of promoting and reinforcing the collaboration among farmer’s organizations to strengthen their networking, and with official institutions, NGO’s and local communities to coordinate actions defend food sovereignty.

• Adequacy of management arrangements, compliance with accountability principles -especially in relation to complaint handling -and monitoring systems in place.

Addressing the evaluation purpose will require that the consultant to provide answers to the following specific questions – which could be refined in the inception report:

 *Relevance:*Are the activities of the program supported by Gobierno Vasco meeting with locally defined needs and priorities? Should the direction of the program be changed to better reflect those needs and priorities?

 Effectiveness: To what extent have the program’s objectives on the national and international levels been reached? Where those objectives reached in a timely manner? And, are the current program activities adequate to realize the objectives?

 Efficiency: Is the relationship between the program costs and results reasonable? Have the most efficient approaches been used during the implementation of the activities?

 Sustainability: To what extent does the program established processes and systems that are likely to support the continued implementation of the program?

 Gender aspects: To what extent were gender aspects considered by VSF throughout its programs? Please consider the research already done.

 Accountability: To the extent not responded to above, to what extent does the project live up to accountability principles, in particular in relation sharing of information, participation, and handling complaints, provided a complaint system is in place?

To what extent have partners followed up key accountability standards mentioned above with rights holders?

 Networking and bridge building: To what extent has the project encouraged (positive) relations between the partner(s) and related organizations on the one hand, and other farmer’s organizations as well as local/national government authorities on the other hand?

 VSF’s added value: What is the added value of VSF under this program?

4.Conditions of the Consultancy

Profile required

Essential

• Relevant academic qualifications and field experience.


• The consultant should be available immediately.


• Highly proficient in written and spoken English and local languages will be appreciated (Ateso).


• Extensive experience in designing and implementation of assessments and evaluations.


• Understanding of issues and sensitivities required when working small-scale farmers and food sovereignty.


• Research skills and commitment to participatory research methodologies.


• Objectivity, and ability to operate systematically with minimal supervision.


• Result oriented and committed to respect deadlines.

NOTE: **national Ugandan submissions and women consultants are especially welcome**

Preferable

• Experience in evaluating agriculture and food sovereignty interventions.

• Background knowledge of the historical and political situation in the Central Africa and Uganda in particular.

6.Expected Documents

6.1.During the process of the study, the following products are expected:

The evaluation will result in an English report within the length of 1-3-25 pages; one page recommendations, 3 pages executive summary and 25 pages presentation of the findings – outlining as well the overall evaluation methods, their appropriateness and evaluation constraints faced, if any. The annexes should contain any literature consulted, data collection instruments, the ToR, list of interviewees and any additional information required.

Prior to finalizing the evaluation report, the evaluation team will submit a draft to VSF Soroti Team for comments and inputs.

The evaluation team will make a presentation of the main findings, conclusions, and recommendations in a meeting / workshop with VSF and other stakeholders.

7.Period

The study should be completed within a period of six weeks from the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding (foreseen: 9^th March to 20^th April 2015).

Outputs

• Planned methods (including tools) and schedule presented to VSF for input before commencing data collection; in depth consultation meetings with VSF on methods and relevant questions before commencing data collection;

• In depth consultations with beneficiaries of the projects;

• Preliminary findings debrief workshop held with relevant VSF and partner organization

• Evaluation report

• A draft of the evaluation report submitted to VSF for input within 2 weeks of

completing the field work.

-A short summary of findings and recommendations in English within 3 weeks of completing the field work.

• A final evaluation report, including documentation of timeline, methodology;

analysis, final recommendations within 4 weeks of completing the field work. The final evaluation report should be signed by the consultant and submitted in soft copy in English.

• Documented evaluation method

8.Budget

The budget allocated for VSF is 3,500 euros including all expenses (salary, travel, per diem, materials, etc.). An invoice must be issued, following to requirements of the donor (Basque Government)

How to apply:

7.Submission of proposals

7.1.Proposals could be submitted by institutions or individuals.

7.2.The Technical Proposal, in no more than 5 pages shall specify the following details

⋆ Presentation: Brief description of the experience of the consultant or consultant group, highlighting those related to the subject of this investigation. Expressing understanding of the issues and proposals raised, pointing to the methodology to be followed and its consistency with the considerations outlined in this term of reference

⋆ Methodology: Describe what would be the methodology to be followed for conducting this study, amd why this methodology

⋆ Operational description: Description of all actions to be carried out since the beginning of the consultancy, pointing step strategies, methodologies, tools used and responsible for each

⋆ Timeline: Specify the time required to achieve the required products.

Applicants should submit a single file, including the technical and financial proposal and a cover letter, under the following specification:

Subject: Food Sovereignty projects in Uganda VSF*followed by the name of the proposer*

Proposals may be submitted

• up to24 hours on March 8th 2015 (Uganda time),


• With the following reference: TdR External Evaluation UG28 VSF Uganda 2005


• to the following address e-mail: africa@vsf.org.es

Particular questions will not be answered.