Terms Of Reference-Mid Term Review
Job Description
TERMS OF REFERENCE
MID- TERM INDEPENDENT REVIEW
SLE 1070/EU-WHH/SPR0028-RFT 296986
| Project Title | Agric-Business Development from Organic Resources (ADORE) |
| Purpose | To conduct Midterm Review of the programme (Agric-Business Development from Organic Resources) |
| Project Partners or Consortium | WHH, Moawoma, Door to Europe, and IFOAM – International and Lizard Earth |
| Duty Station | Kailahun & Kenema Districts |
| Contract Duration | 45 days (Upon signing of the contract) |
| Application Deadline | 09/05/2022 |
1. Contracting Agency
Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V. is one of the largest Non-Governmental Organizations in Germany operating in the field of Humanitarian Assistance and Development. It was established in 1962, as the German section of the “Freedom from Hunger Campaign”, one of the world’s first initiatives aimed at the eradication of hunger. Welthungerhilfe’s work is dedicated to the following vision: All people have a right to a self-determined life in dignity and justice, free from hunger and poverty.
In 2020, Welthungerhilfe and its partner organizations ran 539 international projects in 35 countries with an overall financing volume of 283.1 million Euros, comprised of private donations, public national and international funds. Welthungerhilfe Sierra Leone (WHH SL) has been providing humanitarian assistance in Sierra Leone since 2003 whose current focus is on rural development across various sectors. These include agriculture, sustainable food and nutrition security, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and skills development, renewable energy, right to food and employment promotion.
Welthungerhilfe (WHH) Sierra Leone seeks to hire a consultant(s) to conduct a Mid-term Review of the project SLE1070 Agric-Business Development from Organic Resources (ADORE).
2. About the Intervention
The ADORE project under the EU Boosting Agriculture & Food Security (BAFS) Programme, has a lifespan of 4 years (start in December 2019) and ending on 31st December 2023. The action focuses on the full vertical integration of the cocoa value chain with a strong emphasis on primary and secondary processing in Sierra Leone. The private sector partner Door-to
Europe is responsible for the primary and secondary processing (cocoa liquor/paste, chocolate) of cocoa beans from domestic and organic origin and is addressing the domestic, the European and North American markets. At producer level a women’s producer organisation, the MOAWOMA cooperative, is strengthened. At policy and sector stakeholder level, capacity development in organic production, processing and market development will be applied by IFOAM. The Overall Objective of the Action is to stimulate the sustainable growth of the Sierra Leonean agri-business sector, build inclusive partnerships between value chain (VC) stakeholders at all levels and promote an enabling policy environment. The Action responds to the growing demand by end consumers in Europe and the USA for organic and Fairtrade certified premium products from Africa by bringing value-added cocoa products made in Sierra
Leone to the domestic and international markets. All of which can generate revenue and create jobs, particularly for talented women and un(der)employed youth.
Objective: To bring value-added cocoa products from Sierra Leone to the domestic, European and American markets by stimulating agribusiness-growth, building an inclusive value chain partnership and promoting an enabling policy environment.
Outcome 1: A growing domestic cocoa agro industry generates social, environmental and economic returns.
Outcome 2: Value chain collaboration drives optimized processes in primary and secondary processing, logistics and marketing of Sierra Leonean cocoa beans, liquor and premium chocolate.
Outcome 3: An enabling policy environment boosts sector performance and effectivity along the cocoa value chain.
Beneficiaries: The Action targets smallholder cocoa farmers across 24 communities in Kailahun and Kenema Districts which are organized under the women’s cooperative Moawoma and 12 community-based producer associations working with the agri-business operator and cocoa aggregator Lizard Earth. The farmers constitute the first link in the VC and include women and un(der)employed youth. Enrolment in the project will be subject to the respective farmers’ free, prior and informed consent and their commitment to the success of the initiative. The consortium members have sensitized the respective host communities on this bid and secured their buy-in. The Final Beneficiaries include 3,800 rural farming households with approximately 22,800 family members, 100 employees at manufacturing/logistics level and 500 seasonal employees at production level, together with 3,600 family members.
The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) has been placing a focus on agri-business promotion and wishes to facilitate investments in the country. The Action establishes the necessary coordination platforms and facilitates overarching initiatives to promote investments and raise Sierra Leone’s profile as a cocoa producing and processing nation. The Action involves the following key stakeholders and steering groups who were consulted during the development of this proposal.
As supporters of the project and its consortium partnership, key members will contribute expertise and play an advisory role in the policy development process to sustainably enhance VC performance: Chiefdom Authorities, District Councils National Ministries, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Agencies and Departments, such as Sierra Leone Export Promotions Agency (SLIEPA), Produce Monitoring board (PMB) and the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau and Education institutions, such as Njala University.
3. Audience for the Mid-Term Review
The primary intended users of the findings and recommendations who will ensure implementation of the necessary changes, are the project consortium members, the National Authoring Authority (NA), The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), BAFS and the EU Delegation in Sierra Leone. Other audience will include project beneficiary communities and implementing partners.
4. Objectives of the Mid-term evaluation
The main purpose of this consultancy is to review the implementation of the ADORE project since its inception. The mid-term review is geared towards promoting project performance improvement, accountability, learning and evidence-based decision making and management. In particular, the review will:
i. assess results achieved to date in comparison with the performance indicators outlined in the project Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework.
ii. draw lessons and make recommendations for enhancing project implementation and performance.
iii. explore any delays in project implementation, their causes, and draw lessons from the delays and provide suggestions for improved implementation to avoid further delays going forward and to ensure achievement of the project objectives
iv. determine as systematically and objectively as possible, the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of the expected project outcomes. v. assess the achievements of the project so far, against its stated outcomes, including a re-examination of the validity of the project design.
vi. identify significant factors that are facilitating or impeding the delivery of outcomes. vii. assess the effectiveness of implementation and partnership arrangements and make detailed recommendations for the remaining project period.
viii. provide an opportunity to assess early signs of project’s success or failure and propose the necessary adjustments need to refocus the project
ix. identify strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and risks of the project and develop recommendations for any necessary changes in the overall design and orientation of the project by evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of its implementation and delivery of project outputs and outcomes to date.
5. Scope of Work
The scope of the mid-term review will cover all activities undertaken in the framework of the Project from 14/12/2019 to 13/12/23. It is expected that the review will compare planned outputs/outcomes of the Project to actual outputs/outcomes and assess the actual results to determine their contribution to the attainment of the project objectives. The mid-term review will extract lessons learned, diagnose and analyse issues and formulate a concrete and viable set of recommendations. It will evaluate the efficiency of Project management, including the delivery of outputs and activities in terms of quality, quantity, timeliness and cost efficiency. The total amount of funds disbursed to the project until 13/12/2023 is Euro 1,423,057.79.
The review will use the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) international evaluation criteria of Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability. Gender Equality and the Empowerment of women will be mainstreamed throughout the review process. Midterm Review Evaluation Matrix will be completed by the consultant and included in the MTR inception report. The matrix should include key evaluation questions, evaluation sub-questions, indicators, sources of information and methodology.
The Midterm Evaluation should be able to answer (but are not limited to) the following questions:
Relevance: To what extent has the project conformed to EU/BAFS cooperation strategy for Sierra Leone; the sustainable development priorities of Sierra Leone and to the priorities and needs the target beneficiaries/communities?
Effectiveness: To what extent have the expected outcomes and objectives of the project been achieved thus far?
Efficiency: Has the project been implemented efficiently, cost-effectively, and been able to adapt to any changing conditions? To what extent are project-level monitoring and evaluation systems, reporting, and project communications supporting the project’s implementation? Impact: Is the project oriented towards achieving the expected impacts? What are the effects of the project, intended or unintended, positive or negative, short term or long term? Sustainability: To what extent are there financial, institutional, socio-economic, and/or environmental mechanisms for sustaining project results after end of external support? Gender mainstreaming: To what extent was the design and implementation of the intervention gender-responsive? What were the positive or negative effects of the project on gender equality?
Lessons Learnt: What was done or worked well and why?
The consultant(s) is expected to review the following aspects of ADORE: a) Project design
• Assess the value added of the project design approach;
• Review the problems addressed by the project, the underlying assumptions and the effect on achieving the project results as outlined in the project document;
• Appropriateness of the design to the current economic, institutional and environmental situation;
• Is the level of interaction and co-operation amongst the implementing partners effective? Do the implementing partners recognize themselves as active partners in a join initiative? Do the implementing partners take advantage of their individual capacities to reach optimized results?
• Review the project theory of change and determine if it provides the most effective route towards expected results;
• Assess extent to which relevant gender issues were integrated in the project design;
b) Results framework analysis:
• Are the project objectives, outcomes, indicators and targets clear, practical, and feasible within the project time frame?
• Undertake a critical analysis of the project’s results, indicators and targets and determine if there are any specific revisions required for the remaining period;
• Development and gender aspects of the project are being monitored effectively. • Sustainability considerations in project design;
• Recommend areas for improvement in the design of the project.
c) Project implementation
• Implementation strategy:- examine if, how and why the strategies contribute to the achievement of the expected project results chain;
• General implementation and management of Project components in terms of quality of inputs and activities, adherence to work plans and budgets, major factors which have facilitated or impeded the progress of the project implementation;
• A review of Project performance in relation to the indicators, assumptions and risks specified in the project documents;
• Review of the compliance to the Financing Agreement and the various other implementing agreements signed in respect of the implementation of the project; • Adequacy of management arrangements as well as monitoring and backstopping support to the project by all parties concerned;
• Assessment of the capacity, cooperation and performance project implementing partners • An assessment of the functionality of the project Steering Committee; • Review of project coordination and management arrangements including the
effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, financial management; partnership strategy, risk identification and management system and communication.
d) Project progress in relation to Outputs, Outcomes and Impacts
• Achievements to date of ADORE outputs and outcomes as compared with the end-of project targets outlined in the project monitoring, evaluation and learning framework; • Level of the awareness and ownership of the project by the stakeholders; • Assess the likelihood of achieving project targets within the remaining project implementation period;
• Review aspects of the project that have already been successful, identify ways in which the project can further expand these benefits;
• Identify barriers to achieving the project objectives and targets in the remainder of the project;
• Identify significant unexpected effects, whether beneficial or detrimental.
e) 2.4 Sustainability:
• Is there an exit/sustainability strategy in place?
• Assess the extent to which the interventions and benefits of the project will continue after the end of the current external funding.
• Is it likely that the benefits of the project (capacities developed; linkages, mutual learning and knowledge and experiences shared) are sustainable?
f) 2.5 Learning
• Identify good practices and lessons learned;
• Based on project successes, identify areas where knowledge generation and sharing is required;
• Documentation of the main challenges of ADORE and recommendations on how to overcome the challenges;
• Assess and document adaptive management in project management and implementation including how adaptive management lessons have been documented and shared with key partners;
6. Methodology
The evaluation will be carried out in a participatory manner to ensure the involvement of key stakeholders in particular project partners and the donor in all phases of the evaluation, including preparation, field visits, report preparation and dissemination. The
evaluation will apply a mix methods approach, engaging with key stakeholders of the project at all levels during the design, field work, validation and reporting stages. To collect the data for analysis, the evaluation will make use of the techniques listed below (but not limit to). The
data from these sources will be triangulated to increase the validity and rigor of the evaluation findings.
Desk review of project design and strategy documents, activity documents, interim reports, monitoring reports prepared by BAF staff and, technical products developed during the project implementation, meeting minutes of the important meetings, capacity assessment report conducted in the beginning of the project implementation.
Field visit to conduct Key informant interviews with project stakeholders and partners including but not limited to NAO, WHH, MAF, BAFS PCU, PMB, Njala University, Door 2 Europe/Organic Africa Chocolate, IFOAM, MOAWOMA etc and Focus group discussions with project beneficiaries, women beneficiaries of the project and potentially other stakeholders and partners, and observations documentation (evidence).
7. Deliverables
There will be three (3) main products:
• Inception report with data collection tools, has to be accepted by WHH before data collection
• Mid-term evaluation report, including an executive summary, fulfilling the evaluation requirements set out in these ToRs. The final report is to be cleared and accepted by WHH before final payment. The final report (including executive summary but excluding annexes) should not exceed 30 pages.
• A Power-Point presentation of the findings of the evaluation, WHH could consider organizing a stakeholders’ meeting at which to make a presentation to the partners and stakeholders.
8. Timeline
The timetable presented in this section is indicative and, to a certain extent, negotiable. Candidates are welcome to propose alternative timetable, which will be considered when assessing their candidatures.
The proposed time of the evaluation will be from May 2022 to June 2022, with the draft report being available for comment 2 weeks after the completion of the mission. The Midterm Review Assessment has to be completed and the first draft report has to be submitted within forty-five days of signing of the contract. The final report needs to be submitted within fifteen days of inputs received in the draft report.
| Event | Date |
| Publication of Call for Proposals on E-portal | 22/04/2022 |
| Publication of Call for Proposals newspaper | 25/04/2022 |
| Clarification Deadline latest | 2nd /05/2022 |
| Submission deadline for proposals until 14 calendar days | 09/05/2022 |
| Opening of bid document | 13/05 2022 |
| Award of contract | 18/05/2022 |
9. Qualifications of the Local Consultant
9.1 Required skills and competence
Following are the required skills and competencies expected from the selected applicant for conducting this Midterm Evaluation. In the case of an evaluation team, it is expected that the team leader should fulfil all required skills and competencies.
9.2 Educational qualification
• Advanced degree in relevant discipline (e.g. Agriculture; Sustainable development, Project Management, Economics etc.)
• Advanced degree in evaluation is an asset.
9.3 Professional experience:
• At least 5 years’ experience in programme evaluation in a development context and proven accomplishment in undertaking evaluations, including leading evaluations of multi- stakeholder programmes for multilateral organizations.
• Experience in evaluating agriculture value chain projects
• Experience in working in Sierra Leone will be an advantage.
9.4 Knowledge and skills:
• Knowledge of development project evaluation.
• Knowledge in results-based programming.
• Proven expertise in evaluating agriculture value chain development projects/programmes
• Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods. • Excellent written and spoken English and presentational capacities.
• Knowledge of the EU system would be an asset.
10. Application Procedure
• Offers will be accepted by individuals for match the criteria in 9 above • Submit a financial offer (daily rate in euro)
• CV with references
• One commissioned work/report of similar nature
11. Payment Milestones
The consultant will receive payment from Welthungerhilfe in two instalments of local currency:
a) First payment: 40 % upon signing of the contract
b) Draft report: 30 % upon the submission of draft report
c) Final report: 30% upon acceptance of final deliverables in section 7 above Please note, WHH will deduct withholding tax on all payments
12. Confidentiality and screening
All documents and data acquired from documents as well as during interviews and meetings are confidential and to be used solely for the purpose of the evaluation. The deliverables as well as all material linked to the evaluation (produced by the evaluator(s) or the organization itself) is confidential and remains at all times the property of the contracting party. Consultant will sign a data protection agreement and has to be screened for anti-terrorism.
13. Contact Details:
Offers shall be submitted via the e-tender portal www.eu-eusupply.com ONLY! For more information on application please contact Gospell.Matondi@welthungerhilfe.de with Ibrahim.Jalloh@welthungerhilfe.de
14. Evaluation ethics
Evaluations in the Welthungerhilfe will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in both EU Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the EU System and by the ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’. These documents will be attached to the contract. Evaluators are required to read the Norms and Standards and the guidelines and ensure a strict adherence to it, including establishing protocols to safeguard confidentiality of information obtained during the evaluation.
15. APPLICATION EVALUATION CRITERIA
| 1 | Advanced university degree in relevant fields such as Agricultural Science and Development. | 20 Points |
| 2 | Demonstrate experience from evaluations of similar types of programmes. | 25 Points |
| 3 | At least 5-year experience in programme evaluation in a development context and proven accomplishment in undertaking evaluations, including leading evaluations of multi-stakeholder programmes for multilateral organizations. Expertise in evaluating programmes focusing on Agric -Business Development from Organic Resources. | 20 Points |
| 4 | Good understanding on Agric-Business Development from Organic Resources approaches. | 10 Points |
| 5 | Preferably in-depth knowledge of Sierra Leone. | 5 points |
| 6 | Excellent written and editing English | 10 points |
| 7 | Demonstrate to be fluent in English writing skill is a requirement, by providing 2 writing samples in English | 10 Points |
| Total | 100 Points |
