Final Evaluation Consultant

Description

• Project title: Toward an Inclusive and Peaceful Society in Mozambique (TIPS)
• Contracting authority: Finn Church Aid (FCA), Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers Helsinki
• Finn Church Aid (FCA) is looking for a Portuguese speaking consultant to undertake a Final Evaluation as part of the European Union-funded project “Towards an Inclusive and Peaceful Society in Mozambique” during the months of February and March 2024

Background info on FCA

• Finn Church Aid (FCA) is the largest Finnish international aid organization. We operate in 13 countries, where the needs are most dire. We work with the poorest people, regardless of their religious beliefs, ethnic background or political convictions
• Our work is based on rights, which means that our operations are guided by equality, non-discrimination and responsibility
• For more information, please visit www.kua.fi

Background info on FCA CO requesting the services

• The “Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (NRTP)” was founded in 2013 as a concrete response to the growing awareness among peace mediation organizations and the United Nations that religious and traditional actors are vital but under-utilized actors. in peacemaking processes. Since its founding, NRTP has grown into a community of peacemakers ranging from grassroots religious and traditional actors to international NGOs, think tanks and academic institutions. NRTP strengthens peacebuilding by collaboratively supporting the positive role of religious and traditional actors in peacebuilding processes and connecting them with national and international peacebuilders. Since its founding, the NRTP Secretariat has been hosted by Finn Church Aid (FCA), Finland's largest development agency and humanitarian aid provider, while the Network's governing body, the Core Group, consists of a variety of actors from UN Agencies to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Religions for Peace and the KAICIID Dialogue Center

Background of the project

• The Network is implementing the project “Toward an Inclusive and Peaceful Society in Mozambique” with the acronym TIPS, a three-year project funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium of partners, including “The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers (NRTP) / Finn Church Aid (FCA)”, Instituto para Democracia Multipartidária (IMD) and Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos (IESE) and in collaboration with project associates, the Council of Religions in Mozambique (COREM) and Faith Associates. The project covers the provinces of Inhambane, Sofala, Tete, Niassa and Cabo Delgado
• The project's main objective is to contribute to conflict prevention, crisis preparedness and response, and peace building through inclusive governance and management of natural resources in Mozambique. The specific objective of the action is to strengthen the leadership and capacities of civil society actors to prevent and address natural resource-based conflicts through dialogue and multi-stakeholder engagement at various levels. Expected results include greater collaboration and mutual learning between communities, CSOs, national and provincial authorities and the private sector in conflict resolution and natural resource management, and greater institutionalized participation of target CSOs in natural resource governance and development processes
• The project’s target group consists of 60 CSOs and 100 community leaders (at least 30% of which are women and 50% youth), including religious and traditional actors, in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa, Tete, Sofala and Inhambane, committed to address prevalent concerns of their respective communities, raise awareness and advocate for equitable natural resource management and conflict resolution

Rational, purpose and priority objectives of the evaluation

• The need for and benefit of a final evaluation was reflected upon and outlined during the development of the project proposal. It is viewed as a valuable tool for on-going TIPS project management, data collection, and evaluation, as well as to enhance future project implementations, and is expected to inform the Network, EU, and the partners of progress made and lessons learned to date, and towards necessary adjustments required in both current and future programming. The evaluation will look at the Network and project partner organizations, and will pay attention to each project activity in lieu of its objectives and context. The final evaluation will complement the project’s monitoring & evaluation methodology, which focuses on results-based performance measures, by bringing a holistic and adaptive approach to examining project activities and evaluating results. Findings from the Final Evaluation report will inform the TIPS final report to the EU
• The approach of the evaluation should be to benefit the Network and partner organizations in the on-going and future design and implementation of their work, including the TIPS project as well as other current and future projects. Consequently, the assessment will determine if current activities carried out by the project staff are appropriate in meeting the needs of the consortium organizations and project stakeholders, examine and assess if project outputs and initiatives are achieved at the end of the project, and analyze the activities to determine if they are inclusive, participatory, engaging and consultative. Additionally, the assessment will determine to what degree project funds were used efficiently in relation to the Description of Action, i.e. to what degree activities were implemented in a timely manner to enable staff and stakeholders to achieve the desired outputs and outcomes, as well as to what degree the coordination of project staff’s roles and responsibilities in managing activities, and if the expected and unexpected outcomes were achieved and effective in terms both of needs, relevance, and appropriateness. The assessment will determine what, if any, contribution the consortium has made towards contributing to conflict prevention, crisis preparedness and response and peace building through inclusive natural resource governance and management in Mozambique. The evaluation process shall both review the implementation of the consortium as well as engage directly with stakeholders, including the consortium partners and the EU, as well as those who have worked with, and/or participated in consortium activities

Duties

• The specific objectives of the evaluation will be the following:
• Assess the implementation of project activities and initiatives in relation to the inputs, outputs and core deliverables as outlined in the project Description of Action, Timeframe of Action, and Log frame and in light of current context on an on-going basis Assess the coordination and management of project staff roles and responsibilities
• Assess the efficient use of funds by the project staff in relation to the Description of Action
• Assess the expected and unexpected outcomes achieved in terms of needs, relevance and appropriateness, and the contribution the consortium has made towards strengthening the leadership and capacities of civil society actors to prevent and address natural resource based conflicts through multi-stakeholder dialogue and engagement at multiple levels
• Provide concrete proposals based on evaluation, including recommendations from project partners and perspectives of those outside project staff, to enhance the relevance, outcome and impact of the future projects of a similar nature
• Make justified and well-founded recommendations on the possible continuation of the project and the necessary refinements to ensure maximum impact

Scope of the evaluation

• The scope of this evaluation covers the entire project timeline, from January 2021 until the end of the project in December 2023

Evaluation questions

• In collaboration with project staff, the evaluator will formulate more detailed evaluation questions that reflect evaluation objectives as well as to give recommendations for the Network’s and partner’s future work. As part of the evaluation process, the evaluator shall specify, and amend if necessary, the evaluation questions to fit the overall objectives of the evaluation as detailed in section 3. The evaluation questions will be based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee’s criteria of project relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact

Methodology required & available data

• This participatory, impartial and independent evaluation is to be conducted in February and March by the “critical friend” approach, i.e. an independent external evaluator who will coordinate with staff to create an evaluation design. He/she will carry out an evaluation looking at the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact; one final report will be prepared including recommendations. This report will be used by all consortium partner organizations as well as the European Union (EU)
• The evaluator shall base recommendations on independent analysis of relevant project documentation (project Description of Action, Timeframe of Action, project budget, interim report, and logframe); all meetings and interviews; comparison with projects of a similar nature, where relevant and appropriate; and best practice as it applies to the implementation of projects of this nature. Importantly the evaluator should carry out interviews and consultations with stakeholders and beneficiaries to guide and inform assessments, and to focus mostly on collecting qualitative data. Where possible data should be presented as gender-disaggregated to capture the specific impact on women, girls, and youth
• The Network shall facilitate the evaluation in a participatory manner, including the validation and dissemination of the final conclusions and recommendations
• Quality standards: The evaluation report shall respect the EU evaluation report quality standards, obtainable in the website of the EU AidCO Evaluation Unit, and observe the OECD/DAC development evaluation quality criteria, which can be reached in the web-page of the organization (http://www.oecd.org). Special attention should be paid to guidance relating to support in fragile, at-risk and crisis affected contexts

Evaluation process

• The evaluation is to be carried out between February and March 2024. The development of a detailed proposal and subsequent actions will be carried out under the approval and supervision of the TIPS Project Coordinator. For all activities outlined, the evaluator is not expected to play a role beyond that of evaluation

Proposed Evaluation Phases

Phase I:

• Appoint one evaluator and provide evaluation with the project Description and Timeframe of Action, Narrative and Financial Reports, and Logframe
• Review, assess and analyse relevant project documentation, including project interim report
• The appointed evaluator will develop and submit a more detailed proposal with evaluation questions that more accurately reflect project activities and evaluation objectives for the evaluation based on project documents and initial interviews with the consortium, describing the course of action for carrying out the evaluation, and feedback from project staff
• Finalize the evaluation methodology by incorporated staff feedback to detailed proposal
• Convene a “kick-off” meeting with evaluator to clarify any queries and discuss the phases

Phase II:

• Conduct interviews (telephone, consultations or via email, correspondence with internationally-based staff, in-person where/if possible) with relevant representatives of the consortium partners, associate, focal points, beneficiaries and local authorities and privates sector among others
• Meeting with FCA/Network to discuss key recommendations for remainder of project

Phase III:

• Send by email the preliminary report to Project Coordinator, who will circulate to representatives of the Network and receive comments within the agreed timeframe
• Finalize the report and provide verbal briefings including final conclusions to the Network, consortium and EU to discuss key findings and recommendations

Evaluation Management

• The Network will assist the evaluator in organizing meetings with relevant stakeholders and will provide the evaluator with the necessary project documentation. The Network will facilitate the evaluation in a participatory manner and recommends interviews with the consortium members, key partners and project beneficiaries. The evaluator is expected to arrange her/his own travel arrangements
• Final output is expected in report format, which must adhere to the EU’s evaluation instructions. The final reports should be submitted in Portuguese and English. Additional outputs include a PowerPoint presentation on key final findings and a final report to be circulated in relevant stakeholders

Timetable

• Deliverable - Duration
• Detailed proposal and finalization of evaluation method - 09th February 2024
• Evaluation process - 09th – 28th February 2024
• Draft report - 29th February 2024
• Finalize final report - 23rd March 2024
• Verbal briefings - 26th March 2024
• Total Duration - Aprox. 45 days

Deliverables & Payments

• Deliverables - Payment %
• Upon approval of detailed proposal at end of phase - 1 30%
• Upon approval of finalized final report - 70%
• The evaluator shall produce one final report that should cover the following areas:
• Executive summary: The task, brief description of the methodology, main findings, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations
• Introduction: Evaluation purpose, objective, scope and main questions, the methodology used, data collection and analysis including indicators
• Key findings: Overall progress of the implementation of the project; relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact; utilization of project funds in the implementation of planned and unplanned activities; impact (anticipated and spin-off) of the work of the Network during the period under review
• Conclusions: Overall performance, achieved results compared with given evaluation criteria, policy issues, etc.
• Recommendations: Key areas of modifications; recommendations for improving policy/implementation and management; recommendations with regard to the possible extension and future continuation of the project
• Lessons learned: General conclusions that are likely to have potential for wider application and use
• Annexes: Terms of Reference, stakeholders and beneficiaries interviewed, documents reviewed, etc.

Budget

• Budget proposals must include all costs, including any flight, transportation, accommodation, insurance & taxes, including VAT. The maximum budget is €12,000

Required Expertise and Qualifications

• An evaluator will be appointed by Network. The evaluator should be independent and neutral entity to the process and to Network partners. The tenderers/service providers will initially be verified for eligibility according to the criteria below

Requisites

Description - Means of verification and required documentation

• Experience (minimum 4 years) with and knowledge of project conceptualization, planning, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation; - CV
• Significant expertise (minimum 5 years) in areas of Natural Resources, conflict prevention, crisis preparedness, peacebuilding, community participation and religion; - CV
• Experience in the evaluation of at least 1 consortium project, preferably as sole evaluator or team leader; - CV and professional references
• Experience working on at least one Natural Resources and Conflict resolution/peacebuilding project that included youth and women as project stakeholders; - CV
• At least one previous instance undertaking the role of highly participatory evaluation” and demonstrated ability to produce professional reports; - CV
• Bachelor's degree required; - CV
• Working knowledge of Portuguese. - CV
• These are minimum requirements and evidence must be included in the proposal documentation, for example in CV. If no evidence of fulfilling the minimum requirements is found in the documentation, the bidder will be disqualified

Contract Award Criteria

• Applicants which fulfill the required skills and qualifications (section 11) will proceed to evaluation phase. Qualified applications will be scored on a 0 to 100 according to the criteria below
• Qualitative award criteria - Points - Scoring Methodology
• Methodology for structuring, data collection & analysis as outlined in the Technical Proposal - 25 points
• Highly relevant (16-25 points); Relevant (10-15 points); Irrelevant (6 – 9 points) and Highly irrelevant (0 - 5 points)
• Rationale of the Evaluator’s value added to TIPS project - 15 points - Highly relevant (10-15 points); Relevant (5-9 points); Irrelevant (3 – 4 points) and Highly irrelevant (0 – 2 points)
• Financial proposal as outlined in the Technical Proposal - 10 points - Lowest bid receives highest score
• Experience in the project management lifecycle (within a Natural Resources, peacebuilding context preferred) (in addition to four years required under skills & qualifications) - 10 points max 5 points for experience of 1-4 years and 1 point per extra year of experience beyond 4 years
• Experience in areas of mediation and mediation support, peacemaking, conflict, religion, comparative politics, and international relations, Natural resources management and advocacy (in addition to five years required under skills & qualifications) - 10 points max - 5 points for experience of 1-5 years and 1 point per extra year of experience beyond 5 years
• Experience in project and program Evaluation role (in addition to one required under skills & qualifications) - 15 points max 1 point per year experience
• Experience in Natural Resources and peacebuilding that included local authorities, private sector, youth and women, as stakeholders and/or interfaith approach (in addition to one required under skills & qualifications) - 10 points max 1 point for every peacebuilding project
• Educational experience beyond Bachelor’s degree - 5 points max 3 points for Master’s degree in relevant field, 2 points for PhD

Evaluation Process

• The evaluation process is managed by FCA Procurement Committee
• Candidates will be first evaluated according to the requirements in section 11 - Required Expertise and Qualifications. Candidates which are eligible will be allowed to proceed to the evaluation phase and their offers will be evaluated according to the contract award criteria in section 12

Terms of contract

• The Consultant is responsible for payment of all social costs, other employment related costs and for all other liabilities of a statutory nature
• The consultant will have to abide by FCA CoC for Service Providers and Child Safeguarding policy
• The consultant will provide a debriefing session (in Maputo or via Skype/Zoom) to present the main findings and recommendations after the final report
• Copyright for the report will remain with FCA

Notes

• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
• Please provide the daily consultancy fee rate and number of days required for completing the assignment inclusive of all costs
• Late, incomplete or partial bids will be rejected
• FCA reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to Bidders
• At the time the contract is awarded, FCA reserves the right to increase or decrease the quantity of Goods, Works or Services originally specified in the tender notice, provided this does not exceed the percentage(s) specified in the tender notice, and without any change in the unit prices. If no percentage was determined in the tender notice, the percentage to be taken into consideration by default is 10%
• Tenderer´s bid should remain valid for a delay of at least 90 and up to 120 days (according to the estimated amount of the contract). Should a tenderer retract his bid before the delay is up, he shall run the risk of not being considered in a future tender
• FCA has zero tolerance concerning aid diversion and illegal actions and may screen consultants against international lists to ensure due diligence and compliance with Anti-money laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism requirements

How to Apply

1. Documentation

• The application package will include the following materials:
• 1-3 page CV
• 1 page cover letter
• 1 work sample of previous evaluation
• 2 professional references
• Technical and financial proposal (maximum 8 pages)
• Technical and Financial Proposal Template (Project Coordinator):
• Rationale
• Proposed Methodology
• Work Plan
• Financial proposal

2. Application

• Send your Documentation to lacerda.lipangue@kua.fi with the Subject line “Final Evaluation Consultant”