Consultancy for DMDP Midterm Review – MESPT

Published May 1, 2023 · Updated April 30, 2023

1. Background Information about MESPT

Micro-Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT) is a Kenyan development organization established in 2002. The Trust’s overall objective is to promote economic growth, employment creation and poverty alleviation through enterprise development. This is achieved predominantly through support to the development of agricultural value chains whilst embracing and promoting the green growth and climate change agenda. Through its vision of building a more Prosperous Society, MESPT facilitates increased commercialization, decent employment, and green transformation through targeted interventions in the selected value chains. The Trust is a multi-donor entity jointly founded by the Government of Kenya and the European Union who later relinquished their position to the Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA). To learn more about MESPT, please visit www.mespt.org.

2. Project Description and Results

Danida Market Development Partnership (DMDP) Programme is designed to give an opportunity to enterprises that are keen on delivering towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The programme brings commercial and non-commercial actors together in partnerships to promote sustainable business, development and employment opportunities contributing to SDGs 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 17 (Partnerships for Sustainable Development).

The programme is expected to further green the programme interventions by embedding sustainability and green growth practices in the banana value chain in Taita Taveta County; leading to increased income and employment opportunities. In specific farmers will be expected to integrate nature-based farming solutions and adopt eco-friendly post-harvest management practices, while the commercial partners will be expected to embrace circular solutions leading to competitiveness of the banana value chain enhanced, commercial businesses long-term viability assured, incomes and decent jobs improved and sustained.

Programme Goal: – The overall objective of the proposed activities is to contribute to poverty reduction, climate adaptation and mitigation by embedding sustainability and green growth practices in the banana value chain in Taita Taveta County leading to increased income and employment opportunities.

Programme Outcomes: –

Improved competitiveness and Market access of the Banana value chain.
Enhanced biodiversity, climate resilience and reduced emissions in the banana Value chain.
Sustainable business case and partnerships for socially & environmental responsible enterprises and investments

Programme Outputs

Increased adoption of climate smart and regenerative agricultural practices in banana production amongst the smallholder farmers.
Increased adoption of eco-friendly practices in harvesting, storage, and aggregation of banana through linkages to BDS, market and financial service providers.
Increased adoption of circular options/ solutions in banana processing and value addition by commercial partners.
Increased socially and environmentally responsible investments through inclusive green growth, adoption of circular solutions and responsible business conduct by commercial partners and other key partners in the banana sector.

Direct beneficiary

2000 smallholder banana farmers in Taveta sub-county

Value chain

Banana
Complementary crops (potential for inter cropping)

Key partners

Wanda Agriculture Group Limited- commercial partner
Orana A/S- commercial partner
County Government of Taveta County

Target Location

County- Taita Taveta

Specific location- Taveta Subcounty

Programme Lifespan: years: (2020 – 2025)

3. Purpose of Midterm evaluation (MTE)

The project Mid-term Evaluation (MTE) will play a critical role in supporting programme accountability, learning and adaptive management.

Specific objectives of Midterm Evaluation (MTE)

The MTE will take stock of DMDP achievements over the two and a half -year period from its inception in June 2021. It will provide the programme team including the commercial partners with an opportunity to reflect on what is working and/or not working by:-

tracking programme performance against set targets.
reflecting on adjustment to be made onto the implementation strategies and structure(s) for the programme to be successfully delivered.
Reflecting on programme ‘intervention logic’ i.e whether it still hold true and/or the log-frame reflect reality and the necessary adjustments to be made on the anticipated results, indicators, and targets.
Assessing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the partnership for successful programme implementation.
Capturing changes in the context that the programme has been operating in and how such changes have (positively/ negatively) affected the programme
Capturing learning that will enable the team to improve Project design, implementation strategies and approaches for effective programme implementation in the remaining period.

Principles underpinning the approach to the evaluation are:

Impartiality and independence of the evaluation process from the programming and implementation functions.
Credibility of the evaluation, through use of appropriately skilled and independent expert and the transparency of the evaluation process, including wide dissemination of results.
Usefulness of the evaluation findings and recommendations, through timely presentation of relevant, clear and concise information.

The MTE will cover the following aspects of programme design, implementation and management:-

Progress towards achieving anticipated results.

Programme impact: the extent to which the programme is on track towards achieving anticipated results by comparing indicators values before and after (so far) the project interventions. Progress can also be assessed by comparing conditions of farmers adopting programme interventions to those who have not.
Effectiveness and efficiency of Programme strategy: appropriateness and adequacy of implementation strategies and activities adopted for achievement of desired outputs and outcomes. What is working well and /or not working well, what changes need to be improved?
Programme relevance: – how well is the programme still aligned to the needs and priorities of banana smallholder farmers and other value chain actors in Taveta as well as the viability of the business case for the commercial partners. In addition, alignment with the counties priorities and plans with regards banana value chain.
Sustainability: The MTE focus will be on the extent to which the benefits of the programme are likely to continue, within and outside Taveta, after the project has come to an end.
Gender &Youth perspective: Extent to which the project accounts for gender and Youth differences when developing and applying project interventions. How are gender and Youth considerations mainstreamed into project interventions? Suggest measures to strengthen the project’s youth and gender approach.
Sustainable Development Goals: The extent to which the project activities are contributing – or can potentially contribute – to the achievement of SDGs.

DMDP Adaptive Management Framework

Programme management: – will focus on the systems, procedures & structures in place and how well aligned for effective programme implementation. What programme management changes need to be clarified, reviewed or re-communicated?
Partnership Management: – Has the partnership been appropriate and effective for programme implementation? Assess how commercial partners and relevant stakeholders are involved in the project’s performance management.
M&E framework: Assess the M&E framework and tools currently being used: Do they adequately provide the necessary information? Do they adequately involve the commercial partners and key stakeholder in tracking and measuring results?; Are additional tools required.
Risk management: – how well are the programme risks anticipated and mitigation measures sufficiently drawn. Validate whether the risks identified in the project document are the most important ones and whether the risk ratings applied are appropriate. If not, why?. Describe any additional risks identified and suggest risk ratings and possible risk management strategies to be adopted.

Scope of Work

The MTE will provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful to MESPT and Commercial Partners; applicable to the remaining period of project duration. The evaluation should provide as much gender and youth disaggregated data as possible.

Specific activities to be undertaken include: –

Preparation Phase:

Review of the relevant documents related to the programme design and Implementation.
Prepare an inception report which will include a detailed methodology, sampling approach, data collection tools and a work schedule with clear timelines.
Prepare/ review of the data collection tools with Programme team.
Prepare sampling frame, respondent selection and distribution lists.
Recruitment of data collectors and consensus/ rapport building with the farmers.
Training project staff/ data collectors on the data collection process and tools including use of mobile devices in areas where they will be used.
Coordinate actual data collection process including conducting spot checks to ensure the enumerators are adequately capturing the right data/info needed.

Field Phase

Meeting and interviewing commercial partners, key stakeholders, especially County Government of Taita Taveta, banana farmers, private service providers among other relevant people.
All data collected must be disaggregated by geographical location, age, gender, and any other category of interest.

Analysis and debriefing phase:

Review the analyzed data sets to ensure it adequately responds to the needs of each indicator.
Data Analysis, presentation, and Report writing.
Review of draft report by programme management team.
Presenting the key findings and recommendations to programme team and stakeholders.
Share/ submit the finalized report.
Update the programmes result framework.

The Midterm Evaluation exercise will seek to assess the following programme parameters: –

DMDP Programme level indicators

Number of decent jobs created by commercial partners including opportunities for decent job creation.
Number of beneficiaries with increased income opportunities from improved market linkages
Current annual income level per farmer per annum obtained from banana orchards.
Current level of annual income obtained by farmers from sale of complementary crops integrated in banana orchard.
Percentage contribution to the total smallholder farmer incomes as a result of integrating complementary crops in the banana orchards.
Percentage contribution to the total small holder farmer incomes by engaging in banana pseudo stems, vermicomposting, and related activities.
Percentage increase in the incomes of the commercial partners (averagely) as a result of the investments leveraged to-date.
Acreage under organic banana production including farmers certified in organic farming.
Volume in MT of bananas produced by the targeted farmers been sold to commercial partners annually.
Number of smallholder farmers benefitting from increased prices as result of engaging in production of safe and/ or organic banana.
Number of farmers linked to preferential market through digital platform for safe and organic banana.
Current production per unit area (acre) obtained from banana orchards for both banana and other complementary crops grown on same piece of land.
Number of smallholder farmers currently adopting good agricultural practices, agri-business, and climate smart and regenerative agricultural practices.
Number of smallholder farmers currently integrating at least two complementary crops in banana orchards.
Number of smallholder farmers adopting such eco-friendly practices in harvesting, storage, and aggregation of banana produce.
Number of smallholder farmers linked and are currently accessing financial services (Include percentage of women & youth currently benefitting).
Number of private service providers with income opportunities through linkages created by the project.
Percentage implementation of responsible business conduct by commercial partners and collaborating stakeholders.
Number of Farm Estate Advisors (FEAs) transitioned into non- subsidized basis.
Number of smallholder farmers adopting Vermi-compositing and use of Bio-organic fertiliser production through training by Orana

In addition: –

Assess viability of the project’s business case (long-term sustainability).
Assess internal and external factors affecting successful implementation of the programme.
Opportunities especially for youth to actively participate in banana value chain in Taveta.
Opportunities for adoption of responsible business conduct, circular solutions, and greening initiatives by stakeholders in the banana sector
Assess the extent of county government buy-in, support and participation in the DMDP initiative, creating the basis for sustainability of the programme’s interventions

4. MTE Methodology

The Midterm evaluation will mainly adopt a cross-sectional study design with a blend of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The key data collection methods will include: – Document/ existing literature reviews, farmer Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews with target beneficiaries and stakeholders.

A detailed methodology, sampling approach and work schedule will be designed by the consultant and reviewed in consultation with the programme management team i.e. MEAL & Programme Manager. Additionally, the consultant will be expected to use mobile data collection application especially for farmer data collection tools. The data will be hosted in MESPT Servers.

5. Duration of the Assignment

The assignment will begin with an inception meeting at MESPT Head Office and conclude with a debriefing meeting with the programme management team. In overall the exercise is expected to take a maximum 20 working days from the date of signing the contract.

6. Expected Deliverables

The Evaluator will provide the following deliverables:

7. Inception Report:

An inception report outlining the approach and work plan to be used in the survey. This report will be 10 to 15 pages in length and will propose the methods, sources, and procedures to be used for data collection. It will also include a proposed timeline of activities and submission of deliverables. The desk study report will propose initial lines of inquiry about the joint programme this report will be used as an initial point of agreement and understanding between the Evaluators and the MEAL Manager.

8. Draft Final Report

The draft final report will follow the same format as the final report (described in the next paragraph) and will be more than 40 pages in length.

Final baseline Report

The final report should be produced according to the DMDP/MESPT evaluation guidelines and reflecting the key evaluation questions. The maximum length of the final report should not be more than 60 pages in length. The evaluator is required to append the following items: – Terms of Reference, Data collection instruments, List of meetings/consultations attended, List of persons or organizations interviewed, List of documents/publications reviewed and cited, Updated result framework.

Datasets/ data analysis framework/ field reports

Qualifications and Competencies

The lead consultant should have at least the following qualifications:

An advanced university degree (preferably master’s degree) in Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Natural Resources Management, environmental Science and Management, Climate Change, Development Studies and other related social sciences/ disciplines.
A minimum of 10 years of professional experience specifically in assessing programmes in Market Systems Development, integrated NRM and Sustainable Agriculture for international development initiatives preferably in Kenya.
Demonstrated expertise and capability in assessment of projects on agriculture and environment management.
Proven experience with logical framework approaches and other strategic planning approaches, M&E methods, and approaches (including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory), information analysis and report writing.
Knowledge and experience of the DANIDA/ DMDP System will be an added advantage
Excellent communication and interview skills.
Excellent English report writing skills.
Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.

Associate consultant(s) should have the following qualifications:

University degree (preferably master’s degree) in natural resources management, agriculture, development studies and other related disciplines.
A minimum of 5 years of professional experience specifically in evaluating development projects/programmes in the employment area, small-medium scale enterprise development or related areas of work, preferably in Africa.
A track record of conducting various types of evaluations, including process, outcome and impact evaluations in Kenya.
Demonstrated experience/engagement in agriculture Value Chain development projects working with farmer groups
Demonstrated experience in assessing green technology/ climate smart projects.
Demonstrated experience in measuring projects promoting access to micro credit among the MSMEs
Knowledge and experience of the Danida/ DMDP System
Excellent communication, interview and report writing skills.
Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.

9. Administration and logistical arrangements

The consultant (s) will report to MEAL Manager and will work closely with the Programme Manager. The Midterm Evaluation will be carried out with logistical support and services of the Programme.

10. Budget

The maximum available budget for this assignment is KES 850,000/= and the suitable candidate will be selected based on their technical proposal. MESPT will meet travel costs for the consultant as logistical costs such as meeting costs with interviewees and payment of enumerators while in Taveta. However, the consultants shall meet their own costs for accommodation & meals while executing this assignment.

Download the full tender document – https://mespt.org/tender-opportunities/