TOR Learning Review for sclr (survivor and community led response) Approach under Irish Aid’s Project in Marsabit County

Background Context

Kenya has been experiencing the worst drought in the past 40 years, which has led to communities, particularly those in arid and semi-arid (ASAL) counties, lose their livelihoods. Marsabit County is among the counties that have been severely affected by the drought.

Christian Aid, through its local partner Pastoralist Community Initiative and Development Assistance (PACIDA), continue to implement a drought response project in Marsabit county. The project targets 10 communities in Laisamis and North Horr sub-counties, is funded by Irish Aid and will end in August 2023. The project seeks to enhance the capacity of the targeted communities to cope better through the crisis. 600 households have been targeted with 3-months of multi-purpose cash (MPC) assistance to enable them meet their basic needs. Additionally, over 60 self-help groups have benefited from Survivor and Community Led Response (sclr) microgrants to enable them to implement projects of their choice that strengthen communities cope with the impact of drought. The sclr approach was proposed specifically to complement the MPC assistance, implemented alongside and within the same communities. Community self-help groups were identified and invited to propose several livelihood interventions that were reviewed and funded based on the relevance to the needs of the communities. The participatory approach aims at ensuring community ownership of the interventions, whilst enhancing transparency and accountability for the use of their resources.

This Learning Review is proposed for the sclr component of the project. It’s purpose is to measure and understand the impact and effectiveness of the approach, capture key learning and to contribute to the body of evidence on the impact of people-centered approaches and accountability. The Learning Review will be used to showcase the benefits of sclr and community self-help initiatives aimed at engaging more actors in testing the approach, with the potential of influencing the wider sector in Kenya and beyond on the use of the sclr approach and self-help initiatives.

SCLR Approach

The sclr approach aspires to bring together the cash, localization, nexus and participation agendas of the Grand Bargain. This approach helps crisis-affected communities lead and manage responses to emergencies in ways that improve their immediate well-being, strengthen longer-term resilience and accelerate social change. This approach focuses on the resilience and abilities of affected communities and aims to:

• Enhance immediate survival by increasing the responsiveness, speed and outreach of the overall combined response.
• Strengthen the sense of dignity, self-worth, connectedness, social cohesion and broader well-being of survivors.
• Initiate longer-term, people-led processes aimed at tackling the root causes of vulnerability to a given crisis.

Christian Aid has put in place a complaints and feedback mechanism, as it does with all its projects, which captures experiences and feedback of survivors who are benefiting from the sclr approach, and enables the prompt correction of issues as they arise.

Learning Review scope

The Learning Review will focus on 10 communities in Laisamis and North-horr sub-counties in Marsabit, Kenya which are project sites for the ongoing Irish Aid funded project.

The purpose of this learning review is to assess the impact of the use of the sclr approach during the prolonged drought in Marsabit, Kenya. It will create evidence needed to advocate for national and international actors to build on and work with initiatives that are community-led in both design and delivery. Additionally, it will inform the wider sector on the implementation of the Grand Bargain commitments on localization, participation revolution, cash programming and nexus in a practical way.

Specifically, it will:

1. Review the sclr approach and overall intervention against relevant Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) commitments.
2. Build evidence of effectiveness for this people-centered approach against intended outcomes linking it to recovery and resilience.
3. Create evidence for accountability and inclusivity under the approach.

Audience of the learning review

The Learning Review report will be shared with humanitarian actors to inform humanitarian responses in Kenya and beyond. The review will be used as a tool to cultivate program innovation and could support advocacy among wider stakeholders including both practitioners and academia. It will also be used with the following:

1. Engagement and promote recommendations in UN cluster, technical working groups, NGO platforms and local government in Kenya to provide evidence of the effectiveness of SCLR.
2. Engage various donors and actors in localization learning spaces to promote recommendations.
3. Engage the public in Kenya and global to increase awareness of the benefits of community-led approaches.
4. Engage in Grand Bargain Workstreams: Localization, Participatory Revolution, Cash, C4C, Academia, and CHS as an example to meet the commitments made by signatories and as best practice.

Methodology for the learning review

The consultancy will focus on the use of outcome harvesting by focusing on what has changed as a result of the utilization of sclr approach. The consultant will adapt a methodology appropriate to the context and scope of study and will be responsible for developing their own plan and tools to be approved by CA to collect and analyze data. It is expected that the methodology used will rely predominantly on qualitative data. This will include but not limited to partner sessions through KII and desk reviews, community groups’ sessions through FGDs, sample micro-projects for experiential learning. This will be characterized by data collection where the consultant will put it in a learning report.

Proposed Timeframe:

The sclr learning review will be conducted in August 2023 and will commence at the signing of the contract. The final report will be due with Christian Aid by the 31 August 2023.

Expected Outputs

It is expected that the consultant will produce a report of max 20 pages excluding annexes covering the findings, lessons learnt, quotes by participants from the process and case studies where applicable.

The consultant(s) will also lead a presentation of their main findings to key stakeholders, which will include Christian Aid and PACIDA staff.

Consultant Specification/ Qualifications

• Experience in the use of participatory research methodologies, in particular Outcome Harvesting.
• Core competencies for the evaluation of projects, including designing, conducting and managing evaluation processes, survey design and implementation, research, project management and monitoring.
• Working knowledge of the Core Humanitarian Standards, Charter for Change, and the Grand Bargain.
• Knowledge of the humanitarian context regarding ASAL counties of Kenya as well as its vulnerable communities.
• Strong skills in community facilitation and facilitating FGDs with community members.
• Proven experience in the evaluation of projects in ASAL counties of Kenya, ideally Marsabit itself.
• Advanced university degree in relevant field.
• Computer literacy (MS Office tools).
• Well organized and independent, able to meet deadlines.
• Excellent spoken and written English, proficient for report writing.
• Ability to constitute a team that includes both males and females, and members who can speak the dialect in Marsabit county.

Deadline and Guidelines for Application

The submission deadline is on 28th July 2023. All applications must meet the following requirements to go through the analysis and selection process:

1. A 2-3 page technical proposal including brief methodology, and proposed timeline and budget. All logistics related to accommodation and transport will be under the consultant/firm responsibility and should be covered in the budget.
2. A cover letter that explains how the consultant or the firm meets the technical specifications of this call, how the objective will be achieved and the CVs of the proposed consultant(s).
3. A brief presentation of the consultant/firm experience in carrying out a similar work during the past 5 years:

• Provide an example of an evaluation report that you have produced in the past.
• Provide the necessary detailed information for the recent consultancies completed successfully in this area and the references of these employers for the past 5 years. Please, use the table below for that purpose.

List of contracts and references of employers (International NGOs, UN Agencies or Donors)

1. Institution name
2. Consultancy value (USD)
3. Year
4. Type of services provided and name of the geographic location References (name, phone number and email address