Afghanistan: 16-339: Consultant - Emergency Preparedness and Response

International Medical Corps was established in 1984 as a global, humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training, as well as relief and development programs. International Medical Corps works to improve the quality of life of the most underserved and vulnerable groups through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in more than 32 countries and regions worldwide and it implements cost-effective and high-quality programs that focus on delivering comprehensive health services and integrated support such as emergency preparedness and response, nutrition, protection, health and hygiene education, access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and livelihoods support to ensure optimal outcomes and sustainable results. Since 1984, International Medical Corps has been serving the needs of countless Afghans through urgent medical services; primary and secondary health care programs; maternal and child healthcare services; infrastructure rebuilding and development; livelihoods and community support; assistance to conflict-affected refugees, returnees, natural disaster affected families and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

International Medical Corps, with funding from OFDA has been implementing the “Emergency Preparedness and Response” program for most vulnerable and disaster affected families in Eastern Afghanistan” since last five-years. International Medical Corps is one of the leading organizations among the others working on long term emergency preparedness and response in eastern region.

The Emergency Preparedness and Response project:

Since August 2012, International Medical Corps with funding from “The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)” has been implementing the “Emergency Preparedness and Response” program in eastern region of Afghanistan. The overall goal of the program is to “prepare for disasters and reduce sufferings such as losses of lives, injuries and property damages in eastern region of Afghanistan”. Program has four major components; 1- Capacity building at community and institutional level, 2- capacity building and strengthening of provincial ANDMA offices, 3- Relief responses, 4- Rehabilitation and Recovery of Community common infrastructures

The first component emphasized the development of local emergency preparedness and response mechanisms by building the capacities of local communities as first responders to prepare for and respond to probable disaster situations. The second component focuses on strengthening the functional capabilities of provincial ANDMA directorates in emergency coordination and relief responses. The third component runs in parallel, with long-term preparedness and helps to reduce the real-time suffering of disaster-affected families. The relief response component also includes the prepositioning of non-food items and distribution to affected families based on either joint or individual assessments. The prepositioning of emergency relief resources at the local level reduces the response lag time for timely and efficient responses. The forth component emphasizes the rehabilitation of damaged common community infrastructures in the targeted provinces due to frequent natural calamities.

Initially the project activities were concentrated to district centers of Nuristan and Kunar provinces; later they were expanded to clusters and villages covering all men, women, boys and girls in schools/madrasas, people living with disabilities and religious leaders. Trainings offered by the project mostly emphasized introductory explanations of natural relevant hazards and their causative and controlling factors, basic search & rescue, first aid, victim recovery and transportation. During Phase –V of the project, the capacity building component was replicated to neighboring districts and villages of Laghman and Nangarhar provinces.

II: Scope:

The scope of the evaluation entails conducting a detailed and critical impact analysis and evaluation of the project implementation context and the extent to which the project has contributed to the Emergency Preparedness and Response, community and institutions on the ground. The evaluation will mainly focus on the project implementation over the past four years in Nuristan and Kunar, and for the past year in Laghman and Nangarhar.

III: Objectives Final Evaluation:

The purpose of the evaluation is to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the project to enable IMC and other stakeholders to learn from the project’s performance. The key findings will help humanitarian organizations involved in DRR programing in to optimize their design and implementation of future programs.

The main objective of the evaluation is to conduct an end of project evaluation including actual outcomes, and results/impact against the expected results, in consideration of geographic locations, people’s participation and understanding, and management support of IMC. Specifically, the evaluation seeks to assess the following key aspects of the project, including;

1. Connectedness and Coherence

Determine that project activities are;

• Designed consistent with national disaster management plans and


• Connected with selective priority areas of the national disaster management Plan and


• Strategically fit and take into account longer term needs.

B. Efficiency and effectiveness:

• Determine the degree of program results achieved, as illustrated in the approved proposal.


• Determine the extent of IMC interventions that contributed to the provincial and district-level emergency response assistance.


• Determine that the project achieved the intended purposes such as impact on social, technical and environmental aspects of communities (both negative/positive)


• Establishing the efficiency and effectiveness measures of the project

Coverage: Determine that project reached to key population groups as targeted in the proposal in respective geographical areas.
A. Relevance/Appropriateness

• Determining the extent to which the program interventions were relevant and the implementation approach was effective as per needs and priorities identified.


• Assessing the contributing factors that affected in achieving the intended results,


• Examining the project strengths to build the capacities of local first responders (communities)


• Identifying areas for future improvements

IV: Method

The key tasks for this consultancy assignment, in order to achieve the above, will be to:

• Conduct a desk review of all key project documents such as internal” evaluations; project progress reports (Project end report, annual, quarterly report), and project proposals reports


• Conduct consultation meeting with critical stakeholders particularly Provincial ANDMA directors, Director of Women Affairs, District governors of project target districts, Provincial government representatives in governor office,IOM, UNWFP, UNHCR, UNOCH, IRC, ARCS, education directors, director of DOLSMND, Director RR, as well as school principals where interventions carried out.


• Conduct an audit to determine if program level outputs were met as per the approved proposals since EPRA Phase-I to Phase-V


• Draft an evaluation plan in consultation with International Medical Corps’ Technical Team


• Prepare all evaluation tools, including guides, focus group discussion guides, data analysis matrix, and other data collection & analysis tools as needed for the evaluation


• Lead training for data collectors in-country


• Oversea data collectors’ work on surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews in the field, as well as other data collection activities


• Conduct key informant interviews in the field as needed


• Lead and oversea data analysis


• Present initial findings to International Medical Corps’ in-country team at the end of field work

V. Deliverables

1. 
   

   Draft project evaluation plan, including evaluation tools and staffing needs. This plan should be submitted for review and approval by International Medical Corps within 5 working days after signing the contract, before commencing the work.

   
   


2. 
   

   Final Evaluation plan within two days of receiving International Medical Corps’ feedback on the draft.

   
   


3. 
   

   Data collection tools should be submitted for review and approval by International Medical Corps before commencing the work

   
   


4. 
   

   Training plan and materials for data collectors

   
   


5. 
   

   Report on training held for data collectors

   
   


6. 
   

   Draft project evaluation report, outlining findings and recommendations

   
   


7. 
   

   Final project evaluation report

   
   

VI. Timeline:

The project final evaluation must be completed, including the submission of reports, within 30 working days from the date of signing the contract agreement.

VII. Report

The suggested outline of the reports is as follows:

• Cover page


• Table of contents


• An executive summary that can be used as a document in its own right. It should include the major findings of the evaluation and programmatic review and summaries of conclusions and recommendations.


• The objectives of the evaluation.


• The main evaluation questions and derived sub-questions.


• A description and justification of the methods and techniques used (including relevant underlying values, assumptions, and theories) with a justification of the selections made (of persons interviewed, camps visited or activity sites visited).


• A presentation of the findings and the analysis (including unexpected, relevant findings). All research questions should be addressed, paying attention to gender and disability issues.


• Conclusions, which will analyze the various research questions. Conclusions will have to be derived from findings and analysis thereof.


• Recommendations should be practical and, if necessary, be divided up for various actors or stakeholders, as well as sectoral, and include guidelines of how they can be implemented.


• Report annexes

The reporting style should be clear and accessible. References to sources used, such as interviews, literature, or reports, must be given. The reports submitted by the consultancy firm should live up to the quality standards provided by International Medical Corps.

VIII. Bidding Procedures

Consultancy firms that meet the requirements should submit an expression of interest, which should include the following:

• A suitability statement, including commitment to availability for entire assignment


• A brief statement of the proposed study methodology, including a detailed work plan


• A detailed financial proposal, including daily cost per major activity


• Updated curriculum vitae of the consultancy/s that clearly spell out his/her qualifications and experience


• Contact of three organizations that have recently contracted with the consultancy firm to carry out a program audit/evaluation or an assignment of similar nature.


• Sample/s of previous work including tools used and reports produced

IX. Selection Process and Criteria:

The detailed technical and financial proposal submitted by the consultancy firm will be carefully reviewed and evaluated based on the below discussed criteria. The technical score will be awarded upon a maximum of 80% score, whereas the financial will be awarded maximum of 20 score. International Medical Corps will award the contract to the consultancy firm with highest combined score in the technical and financial criteria based on the presentation of the competition process. The review team will evaluate the proposals based on the following general criteria:

1. Methodology 30 marks


2. Demonstrated Relevant Experience 15


3. Key personnel and other staff 25


4. Reference 10


5. Cost 20

Total: 100

All documents related to this bid should be in English and all costs should be expressed in either US Dollar or Afghan currency. The proposal may be submitted electronically or by hard copy. If the proposal is submitted electronically, all components of the proposal must be labeled clearly in an acceptable format, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and PDF.

X. Supervision:

The Program Manager will provide overall supervision to this assignment or he may assign one of his subordinate staff to be the point of contact.

XI: General Conditions

• No work should commence unless the contract is signed by both parties.


• All remuneration of consultancy firm’s personnel, including payment, overtime pay, accommodation, meals and travel costs, must be the responsibility of the firm.


• The consultancy firm should provide its team with the required IT equipment and other office supplies related directly to the task.


• International Medical Corps will provide facilitation such as addresses, meetings with community, government officials and other stakeholders, for the movement of the teams in the field and geographic areas. Travel to, from and within the field needs to be reflected in the financial proposal.


• Final payment to the consultancy firm will be dependent on the completion of deliverables (to be specified in the contract) as well as handover notes and relevant data.


• Confidentiality of information: all documents and data collected will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis. Interviewees will not be quoted in the reports without their permission. Consent forms should be filled for taking pictures (if needed).


• Intellectual Property Rights: All outputs under the assignment shall be the sole property of International Medical Corps. The Consultancy firm shall not exercise any rights on all the outputs and cannot share the same with any outsiders without the prior consent of International Medical Corps


• Validity of Proposal: Proposals will be valid for 30 days. International Medical Corps reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received in response to this bid, and it is in no way bound to accept a proposal. International Medical Corps additionally reserves the right to negotiate the substance of the finalists’ proposals, as well as the option of accepting partial components of a proposal, if appropriate.

Compliance & Ethics: Promotes and encourages a culture of compliance and ethics throughout International Medical Corps. As applicable to the position, maintains a clear understanding of International Medical Corps’ and donor compliance and ethics standards and adheres to those standards. Conducts work with the highest level of integrity. Communicates these values to staff and to partners and requires them to adhere to these values.

Qualifications:

• Have an advanced degree and experience in DRR project evaluation or social sciences


• Deep experience and knowledge in disaster risk reduction, preferably in Afghanistan or in similar conflict/post-conflict countries or other countries in a humanitarian assistance situation


• Strong interpersonal skills and an understanding of cultural sensitivities in Afghanistan


• Documented experience in project evaluation, surveys and assessments, in particular evaluating emergency preparedness and response projects


• Strong analytical and report writing skills


• Experience in using a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods