Self Help Africa,Consultant of Programme Evaluation of 3 Malawi Projects

Background

Self Help Africa
(SHA) has been implementing two Farm
Enterprise Development for Food and Economic Security (FEDFES) projects
in Chitipa and Lilongwe under TA Mwabulambya and TA Masumbankhunda
respectively. These projects have been implemented since 2011. The pr
oject in
Chitipa was implemented in partnership with Foundation for Community Support
Services (FOCUS), while the one in Lilongwe was implemented directly by SHA.
The overall objective of the two projects is to contribute towards improving
productivity and food and economic security of farming communities through
increased access to quality certified seed among targeted smallholder farming
households.

Specifically,
the projects have the following objectives:

· Increased
smallholder farmers’ skills and knowledge to benefit economically from
production and distribution (availability and accessibility) of
improved/quality certified seed varieties.

· Increased
smallholder farmers’ skills, knowledge and organisational capacity to manage
commercial crop production and enterprise development.

· Improved market
access for commercially oriented farmers to integrate into agricultural value
chains.

· Increased
organisational monitoring and evaluation capacity to support enterprise
development.

SHA has also been implementing
a Plant Health
Systems Support Project in Balaka and Lilongwe since 2014. The
overall objective of the project is to improve food security and contribute
towards poverty reduction. Specifically, the project sought to:

· Strengthen
national plant health systems

· Support farmers
through establishment of plant clinics

· Promote vigilance
of emerging threats

· Promote adaptation
to climate change

As these three
projects are coming to an end, SHA intends to conduct an end of project
evaluation.

Objectives
of the Evaluation

The objective of the
evaluation is to assess performance of the three projects in contributing
towards their of stated objectives. The evaluation will review the
implementation of planned project activities and outputs against actual results
to date, and to the extent possible, establish initial project impact. The
lessons drawn from the evaluation will be used to inform future designs of
similar projects.

Scope of the
Evaluation

The evaluation will
assess the following, among other things:

Effectiveness of the
project

· The extent to
which stated objectives (including outputs and outcomes) have been achieved

· The extent to
which the programme activities reached intended beneficiaries

Relevance

· Alignment of the
project to the organisation’s strategic plan and national policies

· The extent to
which project met and addressed the needs of the beneficiaries

Efficiency

· Cost-effectiveness
of project implementation

· Timeliness of
implementation

Sustainability

· Level of community
ownership of the project

· Level of
stakeholders participation and public awareness

· Degree of
capacity, accountability, and knowhow of different stakeholders at the end of
the project

· The viability and
sustainability of the established community structures – cooperatives, village
savings and loan groups, and community agents (lead farmers, para-seed
inspectors, nutrition promoters)

· Examination of the
management structures established for the cooperatives and other community

Impact

· The magnitude of
the impact of the projects on the beneficiaries and their communities

Strategy and
approach

· Whether the
projects were properly designed to achieve stated objectives

· The different
partnership arrangements in implementing the projects

· The organization
and management of the projects including budgeting, planning and flexibility to
respond to changing context in the districts and country

· The comparative
advantage of SHA and partners in implementing the projects

· The engagement of
collaborating stakeholders

· Monitoring and
evaluation of the projects

Methodology

It is envisaged that
the evaluation will broadly consist of the following phases:

Inception Phase:
This will involve a review of secondary data/information contained in project
documents (modified annually through implementation) which will include;
progress reports, audit reports, workshop reports, baseline study report,
policy documents and other documents necessary for the assignment. The key
output to be produced is the inception report which will include a detailed
approach to the evaluation, including the data collection tools.

Data Collection:
Besides secondary data collection, the assessment team will collect
quantitative and qualitative data relevant for the evaluation. This will
include surveys of beneficiaries in the three districts, key informant
interviews and other participatory data collection methodologies. It is
expected that government officers, district assemblies and other relevant
stakeholders will be part of the key informant interviewees.

Data
analysis/reporting; based on primary and secondary data collection, the
consultants will analyse the data and come up with a draft report to be
presented to the evaluation team. After presentation of the draft report,
comments will have to be consolidated in order to come up with a final draft
that can be disseminated to other stakeholders.

Presentation of
evaluation report findings: Presentation of the key findings to SHA.

Deliverables

The main deliverable
will be a final evaluation report, with a maximum size of 25-30 pages (not
including annexes) addressing the key research questions in the ToRs.
Additional deliverables during the the evaluation will be:

· Submission of
inception report including a list of planned consultations, and a work plan for
the evaluation

· Meeting with SHA
to agree and finalise inception report

· A well-developed
questionnaire for household surveys

· Conduct individual
interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders

· Meeting with SHA
to present and discuss draft report

· Final report of
study

Coverage
& time frame

The evaluation will
cover all the activities undertaken by SHA and FOCUS and its implementing
partners across the three projects. It is envisaged that the assignment should
take approximately 30 working days, to be completed during the period December
2016 – February, 2017.

Expertise
Required

The Consultants are
required to have the following expertise:

• Demonstrable
  capacity and experience in development strategic thinking, use of OECD/DAC
  Evaluation criteria and able to manage complex evaluations, particularly
  in agro-enterprise, seed systems and food security area.
• Good
  knowledge of conservation agriculture, co-operatives, agronomy and food
  security issues in Malawi and in the region.
• Exceptional
  skills in understanding and diagnosing complex environmental or social
  issues and able to work in a culturally diverse environment and with local
  people.
• Experience
  in mainstreaming cross cutting issues (gender, HIV/AIDS, environment and
  governance).
• Experience
  in data collection, designing surveys and analyzing data.
• Good
  oral and writing skills, with good command of written and spoken English.
  C

Potential interested
and qualified individuals, consultants, or companies, are requested to submit a
proposal for this evaluation, which must include all of the following, by
Wednesday 23rd November 2016:

Completed proposals
should be submitted by 23 November 2016 by email to the following three
addresses:

· Lawrence Munthali Lawrence.Munthali@selfhelpafrica.org

· Erin Thomas Erin.Thomas@selfhelpafrica.org

· George Bwanali George.Bwanali@selfhelpafrica.org

Selection
Criteria

Consultants will be
selected based on the following criteria:

• Understanding
  of the TORs and proposed evaluation methodology (20%)
• Experience
  of consultants in relation to evaluation of agricultural projects (20%)
• Experience
  with similar type of evaluation or work in the past (15%)
• Overall
  balance and complimentarily of the team (15%)
• Cost
  and implementation plan (30%)