Resiliensia Diak Plus Endline Consultancy

Description

• Overview

Project Title

Resiliensia Diak plus (Good resilience Plus – ReDi+ Program)

Implementing Agency

Mercy Corps

Donor Agency

BHA USAID

Type of Study

Endline

Expected start/end dates, number of workdays

February 1st to March 31st 2025 – Total 17 working days

Location

Dili Timor Leste

• Background:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Since establishing operations in Timor-Leste in 2007, we have earned a reputation for innovative and high-quality programming. We promote a community-led, market-based approach to addressing key challenges to improved wellbeing through greater resilience, resolved root causes of poverty, and inclusive economic growth.

• Project Description

Resiliensia Diak plus (Good resilience Plus – ReDi+ Program) is funded by Bureau Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). ReDi+ targets to provide direct assistance to 8,450 households (48,165 individuals) across nine municipalities in Timor-Leste over the course of 36 months. The overall goal of the Resilensia Di’ak Plus program is for poor and vulnerable rural households in Timor-Leste to become more resilient in the face of recurring natural disasters. This goal aligns with the specific elements of BHA’s mission to alleviate human suffering and reduce the impact of disasters by helping people in need become more self-reliant.

Three main Objective of the ReDi+ program are as follows:

• Objective 1: By February 2025, 4,811 households in 40 Sucos will increase their resilience by effectively preparing for, mitigating, and adapting to disaster and climate change risks.
• Objective 2: By February 2025, increase climate- and nutrition-sensitive agricultural production and aquaculture in 5,930 farming households across 68 Sucos within 9 municipalities in order to improve resilience and reduce food insecurity.
• Objective 3: By February 2025, improve livelihoods and support critical market systems by increasing financial services and market engagement of 5,821 households across 68 Sucos within nine municipalities.

ReDi+ interventions fall within the following overarching sectors:

Sector 1

Disaster Risk Reduction Policy and Practice (DRRPP)

Sub Sector

Community Awareness/Mobilization, Capacity Building and Training

1. Percent of individuals receiving or recognizing a high likelihood of being severely affected by specific hazard

2. Percent of individuals who retain disaster preparedness, DRR and/or DRM skills and knowledges two months after training

Sector 2

Agriculture

Sub Sector

Increase Agricultural Productivity and Aquaculture

3. Percentage of individual (beneficiaries) who received training who are practicing appropriate crop protection procedures

4. Number of kilograms of Aquatic resources harvested

5. Percentage increase in agricultural production and aquaculture production

6. Number of individuals (beneficiaries) directly benefiting from improving agricultural production

7. Number of individuals benefiting from fisheries/aquaculture activities

Sector 3

Economic Recovery and Market Systems

Sub Sector

Financial Service, Market System Strengthening, and Livelihood Restoration

1. Percent of financial service accounts/group supported by that are functioning properly

2. Percent of beneficiaries reporting net income from their livelihood

3. Change in level of market activity

ReDi+ Geographic Area in Timor-Leste covers 9 municipalities, namely: Manatuto, Aileu, Manufahi, Liquica, Ermera, Bobonaro, Baucau Lautem and Oecussi.

• Purpose

The purpose of the consultancy is to conduct an endline evaluation of the REDI+ program. This endline evaluation will assess overall program performance to answer the evaluation questions outlined in the section below against the list of DAC frameworks. The consultant will review indicator targets, aggregate program successes and lessons learned and provide recommendations for future programs by specifically answering the evaluation questions. This evaluation should be utilization-focused, as the follow-on REDI+ project will aim to implement feasible recommendations in the follow-on program/s.

The evaluation aims to answer the following evaluation questions:

Effectiveness

• How well have the program objectives been achieved? And if not, why?
• How well have the outputs of the program been achieved? And to what extent have they contributed to the program objectives?
• How effective are the approaches and structures in delivering the desired outputs? How can they be improved?

Efficiency

• To what extent were the available technical and financial resources adequate to fulfill the project plans?
• Did the program face any unforeseen problems? If so, how well were they dealt with?
• Was there an effective process, built into the management structure for self-monitoring and assessment, reporting and reflection? How well did this mechanism or process work?

Relevance

• How well were the needs, problems, challenges and issues of the communities in the program area addressed by the design of the program?
• To what extent is the project contributing to the strategic priorities, policies and plans of GoTL and other stakeholders.

Sustainability

• How well is the approach used likely to ensure a continued benefit after the end of the project?
• How well are all key stakeholders sufficiently and effectively involved? And how well are their expectations met and are they satisfied with their level of participation?
• Are alternative or additional measures needed and, if so, what is required to ensure continued sustainability and positive impact?

Impact

• Is the project bringing about desired changes in the behavior of people and institutions? If so, what is the extent of this change?
• Are there or could there in future be any unintended positive or negative impacts arising from particular outcomes?
• What could have been the likely situation (of the environment and its management) without the project?

Recruitment Overview

Project Title

Resiliensia Diak plus (Good resilience Plus – ReDi+ Program)

Implementing Agency

Mercy Corps

Donor Agency

BHA USAID

Study Period (tentative)

February 1st to March 31st 2025 – Total 17 working days

Research area of endline survey

Consultant with background of Disaster Risk Reduction Expert, Agriculture system, and Economic Recovery Market System

Qualifications

Mercy Corps is looking for an experienced consultant. to lead the evaluation study which will include an endline survey, and qualitative methods to further explain and triangulate data. Therefore, the consultant should be well versed in using mixed method approach, design and tools. S/he will be responsible for ensuring the endline evaluation utilizes methodologies that meet quantitative and qualitative research standards. 

Detailed responsibilities should be determined at the beginning of the mission and outlined in the methodology.

Area

Qualification

Experts in Disaster Risk Reduction Expert, Agriculture system, and Economic Recovery Market System

1. Five to seven years of experience conducting and leading program evaluations preferably final evaluations.

2. Prior experience evaluating USAID funded programs

3. Fluency in English required, Tetun language skills preferred

4. Excellent written English skills

5. Graduate degree, from a recognized institution preferably in subjects related to climate change/agriculture/DRR/economics/evaluation studies or other social sciences with statistics

6. Demonstrate ability to design evaluations using mixed method approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods

7. Demonstrated experience in writing evaluative reports using both quantitative and qualitative data to synthesize findings for recommendation to a wide range of audience

8. Demonstrated experience in training and managing data collectors/enumerators and managing data quality with supervision of enumerators including pre-testing for validity and reliability of instruments

9. Advanced computer skills with use of data analysis softwrae such as R program/SPSS/STATA and Nvivo/Maxqda including excel with visualization skills

10. Ability to work independently and lead the evaluation team

11. Familiarity with USAID evaluation procedures, data quality and standard indicators is a plus

12. Prior experience evaluating programs in Southeast Asia, with prior experience in Timor Leste is a plus

• Evaluation Design and Methodology

The final design and methodology for the evaluation are to be developed through consultation with the Mercy Corps team taking into account the budget and the ToRs. The consultant after review of the documents for secondary data and information should update the evaluation questions outlined within the SoW, specifying the specific review issues, questions, methods of data collection and analysis. The desk review will consider the following:

i. A desktop review of all relevant documentation, including (but not limited to):

• The project document, contracts and related agreements
• Baseline report
• Annual workplans and budgets
• Bi-annual and Annual Reports

ii. Face to face interviews and discussions with key stakeholders involved in the project

• A list of key partners and stakeholders will be identified at an early stage and a consultation process developed. All stakeholders consulted should be in a position to present their views in confidence to the team and to identify issues, opportunities, constraints and options for the future.

iii. Electronic interviews through teleconference or written comments – e.g. email, where partners cannot be reached for face to face interview.

The evaluation design will follow a theory-based evaluation approach that will make inference on the pathway of change depicted by the design of the Theory of Change of this program. The design will analyze the pre post status of indicator performances by considering their actual values to compare with that of the baseline. For indicators for which endline study is required the consultant will design this to generate their endline values using a survey methodology in line with what was used in the baseline for coherence. A simple pre post comparison will be used to analyze comparative difference of baseline and endline on the basis of the method, including sampling strategy, proposed by the consultant depending on the nature of the data. The validity of the simple pre post will be further explained and triangulated using primary qualitative data collected during the evaluation fieldwork from key stakeholders of the program. The design of this qualitative data gathering will be done by the consultant. Based on these premises the consultant should develop a thorough design and methodology for this evaluation and presentas part of the inception report to be approved by Mercy Corps. In addition, the consultant should include the method s/he will use for synthesizing data to present the evaluation findings and recommendations.

Mercy Corps Timor Leste Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) team will lead the field data collection for quantitative data under the supervision of the Consultant.

A detailed analysis plan will be developed during the inception report, using indicator definitions and data collection tools.

Consultant Deliverables

• Review of secondary sources of information
• Collect and review relevant data, reports and publications, as part of the overall analysis and reporting
• Finalize design and methodology for the endline evaluation and share with Mercy Corps for finalization
• Submit and present inception report with detailed chapter outlines (the final evaluation report should be limited to 25 pages excluding Annexes)
• Data Collection Tools finalization (in close consultation with Mercy Corps
• Finalize data collection instruments such as survey questionnaire and FGD or KII tools
• Pre-test the data collection tools for validity and reliability
• Assist MERL Team to transfer questionnaire(s) into relevant technological platforms to enable mobile data use.
• Assist translation of data collection tools into local language(s) where relevant.
• Conduct endline surveys.
• Provide ToT to the MERL team to train data collectors/enumerators for quantitative data collection.
• Supervise field data gathering.
• Establish mechanisms to ensure data quality.
• Data management, and analysis
• Data cleaning and consolidate findings from surveys and assessments.
• Perform data analysis
• Reporting
• Prepare draft Endline report
• Present Endline results
• Prepare final endline report, incorporating Mercy Corps feedback
• Mercy Corps and Partners Support
• Review and approve key research questions developed.
• Provide relevant data and documents to the Consultant (for a targeted document review)
• Review and translate interview guides and other tools, as needed
• Preparing participants list to facilitate sampling
• Host presentation and discussion on the study findings.
• Support on the logistics for the data collection, including arranging enumerators
• Translating local language if necessary.

Logistic and Administration Support:

Mercy Corps will assist the consultant for travel (international and local) and accommodation arrangements

• Timing & Schedule

The review is scheduled to take place in the month of February to March 2025 for an estimated 17 working days broken down as follows:

• Review of background documentation and preparation of methodology – 2 days
• Discussion and agreement on proposed methodology with project partners – 1 day
• Assessment of project progress and performance – including field visits and interviews with project partners and key stakeholders – 8 days
• Analysis of findings and production of draft report – 4 days
• Debriefing – presentation and discussion of findings to project partners – 1 day
• Finalization/revisions of the report and submission – 1day

The Consultant will report to:

Jules Keane, Country Director of Mercy Corps Timor-Leste

The Consultant will work closely with:

Program Manager, MERL Manager and relevant staff

Application Procedure

Interested applicants should submit:

• Detailed CV including a list of previous work.
• A copy of a recent project evaluation that demonstrates applicant’s ability to perform the expected deliverables.
• A financial proposal Note: Travel arrangements and costs including per diem will be covered by Mercy Corps and therefore should not be included in the financial proposal.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work. 

Safeguarding & Ethics 

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our stakeholders and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues. Furthermore, the design of the evaluation will include ethical standards in line with Mercy Corp Policy. Primarily all data collection and photos taken by the evaluation team will need to take written consent of respondents which will include communities and other stakeholders. All data collected during the evaluation will be the property of Mercy Corps and should be submitted in raw and cleaned versions. 

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