Afghanistan: Consultant for Midterm Evaluation of SAHRA "Supporting Actors for sustainable protection of Human Rights in Afghanistan" Project

1. Background

1.1 Organization

Afghanaid is a British international NGO’s that has been working in Afghanistan since 1983. Headquartered in Kabul and with 10 other offices across three provinces, Afghanaid’s work helps community-based recovery and development in some of the most remote areas of the country. A small marketing and fundraising office is based in London. More than 150 national and 7 international personnel are employed in Afghanistan.

Afghanaid works alongside poor Afghans to enhance their opportunities and capabilities to achieve sustainable and equitable economic and social development. Afghanaid does this through a range of programme interventions that support grass-roots development of basic services, such as water and sanitation, access roads, education facilities and other community infrastructure; improved livelihoods, through natural resource management, agricultural and small enterprise development, and improved access to markets; as well as humanitarian assistance. Gender mainstreaming, local governance and community development are integrated into all of Afghanaid’s work. The results achieved have earned Afghanaid the respect and recognition of stakeholders as an effective and collaborative charity.

1.2 Project rationale

The proposed 36 months project titled “Supporting Actors for sustainable protection of Human Rights in Afghanistan (SAHRA)” is intended to contribute to the global objective of the call for proposal to strengthen the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform. More specifically, the proposed action will address the specific objectives of the call which is “to support and protect human rights and their defenders by reinforcing their capacities to do their work in the short and long-term, as well as providing tangible support and means of action to local civil society in the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms in some of the world’s most difficult, dangerous, repressive and unpredictable political situations and/or where they are the most vulnerable and threatened”.

The proposed project aims to undertake substantial capacity building of women rights defenders who can serve as change agents and advocate for their rights and societal welfare. These women rights defenders will be able, once trained, to assist communities in developing skills and activities to improve women’s future life chances. Activities will include appropriate awareness raising tools regarding human rights, women rights, and gender instrument especially developing theatre and role-play work. The project training is not confined to staffs who work directly with human rights development programmes, but staffs throughout Afghanaid, ACSF and AEPO are represented, reflecting the programme’s overall objective of introducing women-focused development across all our activities.

Project results:

Result-1: Enhanced capacities and visibility of 100 women/ human rights defenders and civil society human rights network organizations:

Result-2: 20% improvement over the baseline on women’s participation in the reform and development process and provision of sustainable legal avenues for addressing women rights

Result-3: Enhanced awareness on women/human rights and fundamental freedom through broadcast and print media

2. The Consultancy Assignment

2.1 Objective and Scope of Mid -Term Review

Afghanaid intends to commission an individual consultant –specialized in human rights and community development to conduct the midterm evaluation of its EU funded project Supporting Actors for sustainable protection of Human Rights in Afghanistan (SAHRA)

As per agreement with European Commission and in line with Afghanaid’s own policy a mid-term external evaluation has been planned to review and evaluate the implementation of planned project activities and outputs against actual result to date, and the project performance to improve the performance and quality of the project in the remaining period of project cycle as well as to inform future programming.

· The assignment shall include: Performance (quantitative and qualitative) against the project’s specific objectives and results approved in the project documents (primarily the proposal, LFA and work plan)

· Has the establishment of baseline information been appropriate and sufficient?

· Identification and analysis of what is working and what is not working and why

· Has the monitoring been designed and implemented in such a way that the results will effectively contribute to the monitoring of potential sustainable protection of Human Rights in Afghanistan?

Propose recommendations for course correction measures. More specifically the midterm evaluation will assess/determine the following through measurable evidence (both qualitative and quantitative) and its analysis:

a. The relevance (was the project properly prepared? Were objectives and components clear and feasible?) Appropriateness, and technical soundness of the project to Afghan context.

b. The efficiency and effectiveness of the relationship between project costs and results and attaining its stated objectives.

c. The effectiveness and efficiency of project management and supervision of project activities.

d. Progress made towards the achievement of results at the output, outcome and impact level.

e. Analysis of the risks that are likely to affect the persistence of project outcomes in the short, medium and long term.

f. The degree to which the programme has meaningfully targeted the Human Rights defenders (HRD’s) and local authorities.

g. Examine the delays in the implementation of the project& the consequences of the delay and what efforts been made to overcome these constraints by project team.

h. Respect for and adherence to the guidelines and regulations of EU

i. The performance in terms of the planned interventions and their outcomes (lesson learnt both positive as well as negative, from the standpoint of the design and implementation of the project).

j. The fit with the Afghanaid’s Strategic Paper

k. Review overall sustainability of the project and specifically review the extent of synergies created with other relevant projects and whether exit strategy is in place

2.2 Methodology

The mid-term review will be conducted as an in-depth evaluation using a participating approach, whereby the listening and respecting views and opinions of HRD’s Community Development Councils (CDCs), youth groups, CSO’s Individual Human Right defenders, religious, stakeholders such as Directorate of women Affairs (DoWA) Afghanistan Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and project staff and Implementing partner’s staff (ACSFO &AEPO) on the project’s implementation and its outputs and outcomes are consulted through the evaluation.

The selected consultant will be required to develop detailed methodology including methods and checklists that will be used in this assignment.

The specific methods proposed to be used in this exercise include, but are not limited to:

· Desk review of project documents and reports (proposal, LFA, budget, interim narrative, quarterly reports, monitoring reports, financial reports, project partnership documents), relevant correspondence, internal reports, if available.

· Review of other published and un-published literature.

· Discussions with relevant technical assistance and other EU representatives

· Field visits and meetings with staff and relevant stakeholders

· Focus group discussion and interview with key informants.

· Debriefing meetings and give presentation at district level, provincial level and head quarter level with project and management staffs.

· The scope of assignment must also cover any additional conditions described in the grant application as well as addendums and subsequent correspondence with Afghanaid donor i.e. European Union.

2.3 Deliverables

The consultant will deliver a report on midterm evaluation of supporting actors for protection of Human Rights and local authorities in development covering the scope and the specific objectives of this study described above.

2.4 Evaluation Timeframe and Duration

The consultant will be required to complete the work over a proposed period of 20 days as outline in the below table. The resource person will include following specific activities in the assignment and will indicate in their proposal number of days they propose for each activity to be discussed and agreed with Afghanaid. The consultancy expected to start in May 2016. The proposed schedule for the evaluator is as follow:

Activity

Number of Days

Briefing with SAHRA project manager, 1 Day

Review of documents (literature and project related documents); development and agreement with Afghanaid on methodology, detailed planning e.g. survey, formats, meetings, 2 Days

Field visits (visiting project sites, meet with CDC, CSOs, individuals, youth groups, DoWa and other stakeholders; Meetings/ debriefings with the project teams in Balkh and Kabul, 10 Days

Briefing meetings in Kabul with Afghanaid, ASCFO and AEPO ,EU in Kabul, 2 Days

Draft report , 3 Days

Final report ,1 Day

Travel time (actual) – international and local, 3 Days

Total = 22 Days

1. Commissioning Manager / Reporting Line

The consultants will report directly to “project manager

1. Consultants Expertise and Skills

Essential:

· At least 10 years technical experience in the project-related areas for designing and conducting similar assignment.

· Understanding of and experience using qualitative and quantitative technical and social research methodologies

· Excellent analysis and writing skills.

· Experience of producing academic and broader communications products

· Excellent command of spoken and written English language

· Planning and good time management

· Able to work independently with minimal supervision

Desirable:

· Previous work experience in Afghanistan, or other conflict affected countries – particularly in remote areas, living and working in a very basic environment

How to apply:

3. Submission of Expression of Interest (EoI)

· Please submit your expression of interest by close of business April 15 indicate proposed draft work plan indicating dates and number of days for each task

· An estimated budget plan covering professional fees in USD lump sum or daily fee

· Travel and accommodation costs needed to meet the objectives of this assignment.

· Submit your update CV, a portfolio of past experience on projects and examples of work available for review, and a list of professional references too

· A covering letter explicitly referring to previous similar experiences, preferably in Afghanistan Detailed methodology Availability (date)

4. Financial process:

The finance process will be done in three installments as follows:

20% when signing the Service Level Agreement (SLA)

30% when deliverable is in place

50% when a complete assignment documents is submitted to Afghanaid

Firms/individuals (preference will be given to strong individuals and firms) that meet the above requirements should submit expression of interest, which should include the following:

Legal registration ID, profile, Proposal

Certification of previous proven experience, Graduation Certificate,

Professional reference certify the entity skills knowledge and experience

Your EoI must reach by COB on 15^th April 2016, clearly marked SAHRA projects midterm evaluation, Kabul and Balkh, Afghanistan; mailed at: jobs@afghanaid.org.uk