Final evaluation for DFID42-ACCESS project in Badakhshan, Bamyan, Takhar and Baghlan regions

Job Description

• Study Rationale

AKF Afghanistan’s (AKF-A) Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Unit is looking for an experienced and qualified contractor (hereafter referred to as “contractors”) to conduct the final evaluation of ACCESS project according to project needs, indicators with focus on project effectiveness, efficiency, relevancy, sustainability and impact and present the findings during dissemination workshop in AKF office.

• Background

Active in Afghanistan since 2002, AKF-A delivers integrated multi-input development programs in eight provinces of the country’s 34 provinces. With over 2,000 staff members engaged in 53 districts, AKF-A focuses on community development and governance, civil society, market development, natural resource management, infrastructure, education, and health. AKF’s vision of Afghanistan is a stable, peaceful and more prosperous country where resilient communities have access to quality basic services and the knowledge and tools to uphold inclusive and effective institutions to support a democratic and pluralistic society.

The AKF-A is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, international, non-denominational agencies founded by His Highness the Aga Khan. As the overall goal of the AKDN is “To improve quality of life) in the areas where its member institutions operate.

• About ACCESS:

The Accountable, Citizen-Centred, Sub-National Governance Strengthening Initiative (ACCESS) is funding by Department for International Development (DFID) and implementing in collaboration with IDLG is a two years project which is implementing in six provinces of Northern and Central Afghanistan such as Bamyan, Parwan, Baghlan, Samangan, Badakhshan, and Takhar. The project built the capacity of SNG actors to deliver inclusive, improved, citizen-centred public services aligned with the Citizen’s Charter, and support learning and innovation to the national SNG taskforce in the development of policy and reforms in line with ANPDF.

Through the implementation of this project, AKF (1) equipped the sub-national governance actors with the skills and tools to institutionalize good governance practices in delivery of public services, (2) strengthened community engagement in citizen-centred good governance practices, and (3) supported innovation in citizen-centred public service delivery to guide national policy.

With considering the above-mentioned objective, ACCESS implemented with 3 outcomes including; a) improved capacity of SNG actors, b) engaged citizens and c) learning, evidencing and influencing. The project implemented fully in both (a) and (b) outcomes while some efforts had made to achieve the outcome (3).

The beneficiaries of SNGs are characterized into two broad categories. First, are those citizens – individual Afghans who directly benefited from improvements to public service delivery, advanced voice, and representation in SNG, and/or improvements in quality of life as a result of improved SNG practices within their communities? Second are the institutions which are improved in order to bring about these changes, including provincial and district government authorities (PLDs, PCs and DGOs), community-based institutions (DDAs, CDCs, and CCDCs), and IDLG (at district, provincial and national level).

Since the project is about to end, therefore a final evaluation focusing the mentioned project outcome and objectives are planned. The details of the assessment are as follows.

• Objectives

At this time, AKF-A is offering a short-term consultancy to undertake the final evaluation with the below objectives:

• To evaluate the project effectiveness, efficiency, relevancy, sustainability and impact with considering the project objectives and outcomes.
• To undertake stakeholder analysis and partnership assessment with a focus on generating learning for future similar programing.
• To capture and highlight best practices and policy learning from the project’s component one and two and ensure that these learnings are reported separately.

The specific objectives are reflected in the below questions:

Effectiveness:

• To what extent the project has achieved its intended results, so far, considering cost and timeline?
• What are the learning from partnership with the government at national and regional level and how this can be improved further?

Efficiency

• Does the project implement efficiently considering the cost, timeline, resources and the context?

Relevancy:

1. To what degree the program activities in each target province and district are relevant to the need of project beneficiaries, national policy and priorities, and local institutions?
2. Does the project/ or any its individual interventions has the potential to be up-scaled and/or continued to be piloted in other geographical locations based on real need?

Sustainability:

1. To what extent the project’s interventions are sustainable for long time?

Impact:

1. What are the impact of project on the life of beneficiaries, capacity of SNGs and policies at national and regional level?

Partnership:

1. What are strength, shortage, and lessons learned from partnership with government and other stakeholders at national and provincial level?
2. How the lessons learned can be adopted for a similar project?

Policy and Learning:

1. What are lessons learned from project component 1 and 2 which can be adopted for policy changes in the future?

About project:

1. Did the project include adequate measures of accountability between citizen and local government (i.e.: were PMF indicators adequate?)
2. Any evidence of improved responsiveness of government services to citizens – under what circumstances did this work?
3. Any evidence of improved community understanding and engagement with sub-national governance?
4. What was the added value of material and technical assistance (under this project) to local government?
5. Methodology

A mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative can be used for undertaking this evaluation. Considering the key questions, the consultancy could provide their details of methods. The consultancy can use the available monitoring, process review, and end-line assessment data which are quantitative, while could also collect primary data from the field to respond to above-mentioned questions.

Also, the consultancy should be able to review the documents, including government policies, program implementation approaches, and partnership records and meetings minutes to collect relevant data for answering the evaluation key questions.

The methodology should be flexible enough to respond to questions and generate learning and produce recommendations for future programming. Therefore the consultancy can suggest the method in their proposals.

• Main Duties and Responsibilities

The successful contractor/s will need to work together with the teams identified above in accordance with the specific duties assigned below:

• Design the evaluation, tools, and plan for implementation
• Define the sampling and sampling strategy.
• Data collection from the field
• Data analysis
• Draft and finalize the end of project evaluation.
• Prepare separate report for best practises and for project end evaluation
• Present the findings for AKF-A’s management and relevant team.

Qualifications Required

The consultancy should have the following qualifications:

• Extensive M&E, research, data management, and research;
• Experience in preparing and writing professional and utilizable reports and other utilization focussed outputs;
• Experience working in the regions in which this study will take place, including knowledge of the local language(s) and context;
• An ability to work to tight timelines;
• Education and/or research experience in development challenges; and
• Ability and willingness to work in remote, hard-to-reach parts of Afghanistan.
• Ability to prepare analyses, presentations, and reports in English.

Work location(s) and Reporting Line

The consultancy firm will need to be present in Kabul for an initial series of orientations and kick-off meetings, at a minimum, but will mainly focus on concerned regions in order to enhance understanding. The consultancy firm will report to the National Manager, M&E - MERL who is based in the National Programme Office in Kabul.

Terms of Payment

Payment throughout the consultancy period will be based on accomplishing assigned deliverables to an agreed high quality as per the consultancy timeline, and will be made as follows:

• 30% will be paid after the completion of the activities associated with an orientation meeting, developed and approved evaluation design, design and approved data collection tools and plan.
• 30% will be paid after the completion of data collection from the field and data analysis
• 40% will be paid after the completion of quality, final analytical reports, and presentation to AKF relevant team and management.

Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected to be provided to AKF-A as per this contract:

• A comprehensive work plan to be followed by the contractor/s;
• Evaluation Design including methodology and timeline
• Data collection tools
• Data set and data analysis framework
• A monthly report including reports from field data collection.
• Draft of evaluation report
• Final Evaluation report
• Final report on best practices and policy learning
• PowerPoint presentations on both evaluation report and policy learning report.
• Final progress report.

Consultancy Timeline

This assignment needs to be completed by 15^th Dec 2019.

Additional Significant Information

The contractor is bound to all ethical norms with the consideration of confidentiality for all information provided by AKF-A, including record-keeping for the pre-defined/agreed timeline. Ignorance of any ethical norms will be considered a breach of mentioned norms and will lead to a follow up of AKDN/AKF-A’s policy and procedures including the relevant law of Afghanistan.

The contractor should be aware that this opportunity is offered on a quality output based contract basis and that AKF-A reserve the right to cancel this contract where this is not achieved.

• Application documents required

Please note that all the following documents are required to be submitted with the proposal and that failure to supply these will result in an automatic disqualification from the process:

• Detailed technical proposal - this should demonstrate the following :
  • Understanding of the ToR, and ability to respond to all necessary requirements;
  • Good technical M&E knowledge and experience and the ability to apply best practice to this contract;
  • An understanding of the subject matter;
  • Good technical analysis skills including choice of methodology, limitations, and bias, etc.
  • A strong and appropriate team; and
  • An understanding of key principles such as beneficiary engagement and feedback.

The review panel will be using these criteria to assess the bids.

• Detailed budget including a breakdown of costs;
• CVs and up to five examples of previous similar contracts including a description of the impact of this work;
• Appropriate business registration documents; and
• Anti-corruption and counter fraud policy.

Applicants should be aware that no communication should be attempted between an organization/staff and AKF-A with respect to this opportunity outside those channels and times specified by AKF-A; any such contact will result in the removal of the relevant organization from the bidding process. AKF-A will provide feedback for unsuccessful contractors if requested.

Confidentiality:

All documents, data and reports under this assignment should not be used for any other purpose without prior written approval from AKF (Afg)

Application:

Groups of individuals/organizations interested in leading this consultancy must submit their CVs/fact sheets and a technical and cost proposal, including daily rate through electronic mail by COB (Kabul time) Sep 28 2019 to jobs.afghanistan@akdn.org.

Important Notes:

Please quote the Vacancy Number as the Subject of the e-mail when sending your application.

Supporting documents, e.g. diplomas, recommendation letters, identification card(s) etc. are not required at this stage, therefore not to be sent along with the application.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted for further assessment.

Female candidates are encouraged to apply. Aga Khan Foundation Afghanistan recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to equal opportunity, safe guarding of children from abuse and zero tolerance to sexual-harassment.

Your details and information shared on this advertisement shall remain confidential.

About the Organization

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a non-denominational international development agency established in 1967 by His Highness the Aga Khan. Its mission is to develop and promote creative solutions to problems that impede social development, primarily in Asia and East Africa. Created as a private, non-profit foundation under Swiss law, it has branches and independent affiliates in 19 countries.

The Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan (AKF (Afg)) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of international, private, non-denominational development agencies working to improve living conditions and opportunities for people in some of the poorest parts of the developing world. The Network’s organizations have individual mandates that range from the fields of health and education to architecture, rural development and promotion of private-sector enterprise and institutions that seek to empower communities and individuals, usually in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities.

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