ASA/WISHH CAST Cambodia Midterm Evaluation

  • Short-term contract assignment
  • Posted on 9 November 2020

Job Description

The purpose of this RFP is to solicit applications from companies and/or individuals to conduct a Midterm Evaluation (MTE) for ASA/WISHH’s CAST project in Cambodia. CAST is a five-year USDA-funded project that was awarded in September 2018. The MTE will provide CAST with meaningful feedback about what progress has been made towards reaching performance indicator targets. Additionally, this exercise should assess the relevance of the intervention, provide some insight about the effectiveness of the project, document lessons learned, assess sustainability, and discuss and recommend course corrections. The external evaluator conducting this evaluation should highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the project and make justifiable recommendations for next steps. A data quality assessment (DQA) will also be conducted at this time to evaluate key M&E functional areas (e.g., data entry protocols, indicator definitions, reporting tools) and provide the project with a better sense of where improvements could be made (e.g., filing practices, reporting timelines, data verification).

The MTE team will be comprised of the lead consultant and his/her assistants, and shall work in cooperation with USDA’s Monitoring and Evaluation Staff (MES) in Washington, D.C., ASA/WISHH’s Director of M&E based in St. Louis, Missouri, CAST’s Chief of Party and Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Manager based in Cambodia, and CAST’s implementing partners in Cambodia (i.e., World Vision, KSU/CE SAIN, Auburn University).

The Period of Performance of this contract is expected to fall between January and June 2021. The anticipated award date for this contract is January 4th, 2021. The final report should be submitted to ASA/WISHH on or before June 28th, 2020.

About the Organization

The American Soybean Association (ASA) was founded in 1920 by soybean farmers and extension workers to promote soy for high protein applications in developmental settings. Overseas activities initiated in the mid-1950s and to date ASA has worked in over 80 countries. The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) was founded in 2000 to expand the work of the American Soybean Association (ASA) in developing emerging markets to improve health, nutrition and food security—building the groundwork for future markets of soy. WISHH provides services in food technology, business development, nutrition services, and program and proposal development. WISHH expertise extends its network into additional areas, such as aquaculture and animal feed.

ASA/WISHH connects trade and development to strengthen agricultural value chains in emerging markets, creating trade and long-term demand for U.S. soy. Trade can improve lives worldwide for both farmers and consumers. U.S. soy trade in emerging markets is pivotal to improve accessibility, affordability, and acceptability of high-quality plant and animal-sourced proteins in developing economies. Rising incomes in emerging economies generate further opportunity for trade. ASA/WISHH builds opportunity for long-term trade by improving agricultural value chains, human and animal nutrition, and farmer net incomes. ASA/WISHH initiatives broadly fit in two arenas: (1) trade-building long-term, early-stage market development, and, (2) trade-building international agriculture and economic development. The St. Louis-based Program operates in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Central America.

ASA/WISHH has supported market and economic development activities in the human food sector since its inception in 2000 and works to increase the use of quality soy protein ingredients and products in food for human consumption through commercial development and nutrition programming. ASA/WISHH offers over six years of proven feed sector capacity and decades of accumulated knowledge from ASA programs. Principal approaches include market and economic assessments, technical assistance and capacity building, food and feed trials and demonstrations, farmer field days, youth mentorship programs, food and feed value chain development, and market linkages.

ASA/WISHH achieves its mission by working in close partnership with: (1) the public sector (e.g., USDA, USAID, U.S. land grant universities, and host country governments), (2) the private sector (e.g., trade associations: Qualified State Soybean Boards and U.S. Soybean Export Council), and (3) private voluntary organizations. The Program draws upon the resources and experience of these partners and the services of a cadre of ASA/WISHH consultants with technical expertise in agricultural, international and commercial development spheres. ASA/WISHH relies on decades of experience in food commercial development and agricultural development programming. The Program takes pride in its growing portfolio of success with U.S. government-funded projects, including USDA (Food for Progress, McGovern-Dole, Global Broad-Based Initiative, Foreign Market Development, Market Access Program, Emerging Markets Program, and Quality Samples Program) and USAID funding in both prime and sub-recipient capacities. ASA/WISHH has also attracted both private sector and other complementary funding sources from various donors to build on and leverage core funding from Qualified State Soybean Boards.

For more information about ASA/WISHH, please visit wishh.org.

More information

CAST Cambodia MTE RFP_11.09.20.pdf

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