Consultancy Services for Project Evaluation for Northern Kenya Integrated Development (NOTKID)

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is Finland’s biggest development co-operation organization and the second biggest organization in Finland working in humanitarian aid. Finn Church Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance (ACT), an alliance of faith-based development and humanitarian aid organizations forming one of the world’s largest aid organizations.

The specific objective of the project being evaluated is improved wellbeing for pastoralist women, youth and men in program areas along the Kerio Valley. Mainly in Baringo and Elgeyo Marakwet counties, Kenya.

The assignment seeks to assess the performance of the FCA project Northern Kenya Integrated Development (NOTKID) against its intended objectives, as guided by its performance indicators to be provided. FCA intends to establish the level of success with respect to implementation of activities, achievement of outputs, outcomes and any impacts realized amongst its targeted and non-targeted beneficiaries. FCA also intends to capture lessons learnt during the program implementation process, to document and share these for internal and external learning.

Rational, Purpose and Priority Objectives of the Evaluation

The objective of this evaluation is to assess the components of FCA’s approaches to peacebuilding in Northern Kenya and to identify the approach, which brought lasting change and impact.

Since 2014, FCA has been implementing a comprehensive project titled Northern Kenya Integrated Development Project (NOTKID). NOTKID is implemented in West Pokot, Baringo, Marakwet and Turkana counties where competition over access to and control over natural resources compounded by the effects of climate change, proliferation of small arms and general insecurity, exacerbates inter-communal conflict manifested in violent cattle raids or cattle rustling. In this context, the project supports community owned and led conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms.

However, the traditional tools and mechanisms for conflict resolution and prevention are dominated and controlled by community elders (men). Cultural values and structural barriers effectively hinder women’s leadership and voice in community-level decision-making. This is despite the fact that women are disproportionately affected by inter-communal conflicts and their agency and diverse roles both as drivers of violence and as peace builders continues to be overlooked.

As part of the comprehensive approach, FCA supported the formation of Women Talking Circles (WTCS) as spaces for women’s collective voice and action both at intra and inter group level linking to duty-bearer processes. These WTCs are clusters of women (15 to16) per group brought together to ensure women’s influence and participation in the peace processes. Currently there are 10 WTCS in the region. A number of WTCS have also developed into business cooperatives as part of FCA’s comprehensive support to women’s socio-economic empowerment and leadership.

FCA’s previous strategy period ended in 2017. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the work done under this project from 2018 to 2021. This evaluation will provide FCA with useful feedback on the project performance and impact, and be a source of learning for FCA. The evaluation findings will also be shared with the back donor as part of FCA’s accountability while demonstrating the project impact. Further, the findings will be utilized for decision making on either to amend the strategies used or continue employing similar strategies. The evaluation will also inform the development of exit strategy for FCA’s project interventions.

The evaluations results will be used as part of the Country Program Annual Planning (CPAP) of FCA Kenya office for the program period 2022-2025. Accordingly the recommendation will feed into program planning. In addition to FCA staff, the results will be made public and communicated to the right-holders (including beneficiaries) as well as the government officials – accordingly the language used should reflect the expected audience (limited use of technical terminology).

KECO will utilize the evaluation findings for both improving the quality of work for accountability purposes and for lesson learning, and more specifically for:

• Improving compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) and other standards relating to accountability and transparency of our work, as well as technical quality of our programs.

Scope of the Evaluation

The evaluation will cover every year of the implementation 2018-2021.

• Implementation strategies;
• Program partnerships;
• Monitoring aspects of the project;
• Sustainability of results achieved;
• Scalability of the project results
• Conclusions and lessons learnt.
• SWOT analysis of the Kenya Program .

The geographical area of focus will be Baringo West and Elgeyo Marakwet East sub-counties. The evaluation should focus on the programmatic aspects, with less focus on the financial aspects as this was already covered as part of the annual audits.

Evaluation Questions

The evaluation team is invited to propose the evaluation question to KECO (no more than 12 questions) as part of their technical proposal.

The key evaluation questions will include:

1. What are the peace structures FCA has supported throughout the project period and their impact? The evaluation will assess the different community-level peacebuilding structures supported / established by FCA and their contribution to community level conflict prevention and conflict resolution, especially assessing the sustainability and impact of these interventions, informing development of exit strategy.
2. How have the interventions supported women’s participation and leadership in peacebuilding and in the different peace support structures?
3. How the community-level structures link to formal government led structures, what are the lessons learned and recommendations with a special focus on sustainability? What are the strategies to link informal community level peace structures to formal duty-bearer led processes? How are synergies and coordination supported with key stakeholders at different levels?
4. How have women’s role in the community-level informal structures translated into power and influence in the formal structures and contributed to the implementation and development of government policies and processes both at the county as well as national level, including but not limited to KNAP.
5. What is the impact of climate change adaptations and peace dividend interventions to community level conflict prevention, resolution and sustaining peace efforts?
6. How the program has adapted to emergency and humanitarian situations (such as Covid-19 and drought)? What are the lessons learned? How has the program adapted to these situations (new approaches, methods, tools

Methodology Required and Available Data

FCA requires both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

The consultancy will include a desk review of key project document and previous evaluations.

The consultancy will conduct key informant interviews and focus group discussions in the project location. The consultant will be expected to travel to the project areas to conduct the FGDs / key informant interviews.

Each of the focus group discussion (FGD) will be organized in light of Covid-19 safety measures and adherence to Do no Harm, FGD should be disaggregated by gender and age to avoid power influence, and the sample should be at a minimum 15 KI and 15 FGD, in all the counties. Utilization of other evaluation methodologies is encouraged, e.g. though not mandatory, the information can be collected on KOBO toolbox or any other appropriate software.

Key informant interviews / FGDs will include:

• FCA key staff, community members including youth and women groups, Natural Resource management committees (NRMs), WTC, government officials, religious and traditional leaders, school administrators , school board of management, CBOs, as well as other stakeholders identified in close collaboration with FCA.

Evaluation Process

Upon selection, and after an initial desk review of key background materials, the evaluator is expected to organize for an inception workshop with KECO team through which all the tools are reviewed (either in FCA KECO Office, or through virtual method depending on the prevailing COVID-19 situation. The evaluator must explain in details her/his plans and the support she/he requires from KECO team. This inception workshop also serves as an action-planning meeting with KECO team. The evaluator also introduces his/her team of data enumerators and presents an opportunity to clarify roles of each actor while agreeing on travel dates. During the inception phase, KECO presents the evaluator with all the previous project reports and all relevant contacts in the field and timelines to include desk reviews, travel dates and responsibilities are agreed upon and documented by the parties.

FCA will provide logistical support in the form of in-country transport, access to workspace, and translators/facilitators in meetings. FCA will also provide human resources in the form of a number of staff members who will be available to support the evaluator in planning and collecting information. KECO will not give any per diem to the Consultant and or her/his team. KECO will make appointments with relevant authorities and support in translation and where necessary selection of field based enumerators.

Timetable

The consultancy is expected to start in August 2021, for a period not exceeding 30 days.

Deliverables & Payments

• An inception report outlining the methodology, detailed work plan, study report outline and assessment tools for the study, within 1 week of signing the contract
• A draft activity report detailing the preliminary findings of the evaluation, within 1 week of completion of data collection activities.
• A final report incorporating feedback from FCA on the draft. The final product of this end line evaluation is a report, ready for presentation to FCA KECO, MFA Finland and FCA HO
• A debriefing/workshop session with FCA KECO program team, highlighting the key findings and lessons from the evaluation.
• Soft copies of all data collection tools and data analysis outputs
• List and contacts of all respondents Payment
• Upon approval of the Inception report 30%
• Upon approval of draft report 30%
• Upon Approval of final report 40%

Skills and Qualifications Required

• 6 and above years of experience of designing and implementing impact evaluations (essential)
• 5 years’ experience and knowledge of facilitating participatory evaluation processes as a team leader (essential)Experience of evaluating peacebuilding or conflict resolution projects and programs (required)
• Sound knowledge and understanding of community-led peacebuilding structures with a specific focus on understanding women’s role in peacebuilding, as well as understanding on nexus programming linking humanitarian action, development to peacebuilding.
• The consultant should have broader experience working with relevant peace building approaches including Do no harm (DNH) and strengthening local capacities for peace
• The consultant is expected to be able to travel to the project locations.
• The consultant should be able to complete and submit the assignment within one month period
• H/She should be fluent in use of participatory evaluation methodologies.
• H/She should be familiar with Kenya’s peace building and development strategies.
• Ability to travel to remote project areas with support from FCA team
• An advanced degree in development studies, peace and conflict management and field experience is desirable