Project Evaluation and Feasibility research Consultant

1. Background information
2. CiL scope of work

CARE is an international humanitarian and development organization without religious, political or government affiliation. CARE is committed to protecting and promoting the rights of vulnerable girls and boys, women and men and improving the lives of refugees and host communities alike.

CARE International in Lebanon (CiL), operational since 2013, works at national, municipality and community levels to develop customized solutions and ensure long-term sustainability as well as respond to basic needs. The projects’ designs fall into alignment with national priorities and can be owned by communities. CiL operates under several sectors e.g. WASH, economic development, and protection.   Across program areas, CIL’s activities are guided by a rights-based, holistic, gender-sensitive/transformative, and inclusive approach.

1. 2. Project’s Context and Objective(s)

The project is implemented in partnership with Ruwwad Al Tanmiya, SHIFT (Social Innovation Hub), and the Tripoli Entrepreneurs Club (TEC).

The partnership is guided by the Charter4Change. The aim is to enhance the capacities of CSOs to deliver community support in an efficient, effective, sustainable, transparent, and participatory way. Nonetheless, the project follows a multilayered design aiming to approach the intended assumptions taking into consideration the below components:

1. Engaging communities and enhancing social, psychosocial and economic skills and knowledge.
2. Engaging and empowering local businesses and entrepreneurs with the aim of developing neighborhoods and working towards a better entrepreneurship environment. Development dynamics to alleviate poverty and create jobs and income.
3. Promoting positive institutional and organizational change and supporting local communities in revitalizing their own potentials and dynamics. In parallel, CIL assists local NGOs to increase awareness, participation, advocacy and local social and economic initiatives.

2. Project Scope: description of the projects’ main components

In the aim of enhancing economic resilience of marginalized communities and individuals in Tripoli, Lebanon, in particular of youth (f/m) and women from refugee and non-refugee households various set of activities were implemented with several target groups.

1. Members of different refugee and non-refugee communities living in the target neighborhoods in Tripoli participated in awareness raising activities, psychosocial support sessions and community events and/or benefited from vocational trainings, apprenticeship opportunities, and referral services provided from the CSO community centers.

2. Local MSMEs received administrative training, coaching, and mentoring activities to be able to participate in the social and economic development of their neighborhoods.

3. To enhance the capacities of the Lebanese partners, CARE worked closely with three civil society organizations, RUWWAD, SHIFT, and TEC, based on capacity gaps jointly identified and following a detailed mutually agreed capacity building plan.

3.  Purpose of the Evaluation and Feasibility study
   1. Purpose

The main purpose of the evaluation is (i) to support CIL’s learning about the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the different interventions of the project, and (ii) along with the feasibility study, to provide guidance for future program direction. The evaluation is perceived as an opportunity for CiL to assess its accomplishment in improving sustainable livelihood opportunities for the targeted  groups and its accountability towards those beneficiaries, partners, and donor. Furthermore, the consultant will conduct a lessons learnt workshop, delving into both aspects: (i) implementation(s) and (ii) partnership(s), followed by presenting programmatic recommendations. The workshop will be delivered to CARE’s involved staff and partners, and it will feed into the design of the project’s next phase.

1. 2. Structure and Components

This consultancy will include 2 deliverable theme (i) an in-depth evaluation of the project impacts against its objectives and built on that (ii) a feasibility study assessing the proposed design of the next implementation phase.

Several themes to be integrated, if possible, within the scope of this study such as: social stability, resilience, social cohesion, and gender equality (for example: refugee/non-refugee discrimination and/or ratio of women to men integrated in labor market).

1. Evaluation

The evaluation will be based on the OECD DAC criteria

1. Relevance

E.g. Whether the project design, choice of the interventions, and approaches have properly addressed the needs of the beneficiaries, taking into account CARE’s mandates; whether the planned and actual activities and outputs (capacity building, subsidies, grants of the project were consistent with the intended outcomes; what is the project innovation and comparative advantage in this area of work vis a vis other/ previous similar interventions (, building capacity, providing in-kind support and grants…)

2. Effectiveness

E.g. Whether the project components/ interventions and methodologies used (such as vocational training, job placement, on job training, building capacity, providing in-kind support and grants, market linkages) have achieved planned objectives and yielded intended results; what factors have influenced the outcomes of this project, either negatively or positively.

3. Efficiency

E.g. Have resources and funds been used efficiently, leveraging in-house expertise, previous interventions and other resources to optimize the project outcomes; have the project interventions been delivered in a timely manner; what factors have affected the swift, efficient and timely implementation of the project interventions.

4. Sustainability

E.g. What ensures the project interventions sustainability; what mechanisms and structures were out in place to make sure that the project legacy is maintained once the intervention ceased, what lessons learned can be drawn to ensure so.

5. Impact

E.g. To what extent does the project achieve its outcomes? What opportunities or potentials are there to capitalize on? How did designed and utilized methodologies negatively or positively impact individuals’ access to livelihood opportunities? What unexpected impacts did this intervention have on individuals, communities, private sector, and institutions? How did the used method of partnership impact the delivery of activities?

2. Feasibility Study

The focus, scope and depth of the feasibility study should be appropriate to the complexity and volume of the project in question and consider the political, economic and cultural context. The study should analyze the situation, the problem(s) resulting thereof and the target group and stakeholders. It should include a baseline study, and critically review the planned project in terms of the OECD/DAC criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.

The feasibility study should touch upon the below aspects and follow this proposed structure (the key questions are intended to provide guidance and should be a set of questions from which to select/add priority questions addressing the focus of the study):

1. Purpose, objectives and utilization of the study: e.g. What is the rationale or the specific reason for conducting the feasibility study, and what are its objectives? And how would it be used?
2. Context and problem analysis: e.g. What is the (current) situation in the sector/region/country in question? What does the socioeconomic, political and cultural context look like? What problems have been identified?
3. Project-executing organization in the partner country (local executing organization): e.g. To what extent do local implementation partners identify with the project (ownership) and are committed to making it a success? Is there an overlap or conflict of interests? How can interaction and coordination between the partners and the stakeholders be improved?
4. Target group and stakeholder analysis: (a) Target group (e.g. What is the target group for the project? What criteria are used in the selection of the target group? Are there possibly several target groups affected in different ways by the problems?); (b) Stakeholders (e.g. Who are the main governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in the sector and beyond – at the project location, in the project region and the project country? How strong is the various stakeholders' support for the project? How much influence could they exert on the project? Have the stakeholders already entered into any agreements? 
5. Assessment of the planned project based on OECD/DAC criteria: building on the findings of the evaluation and using the same assessment guiding criteria to gauge the amended designs’ relevance, effectivity, efficiency, sustainability, and impact in the next implementation phase.

1. 3. Use and users

The findings and conclusion of the study will be shared with the primary users of the evaluation which are the CiL Management Team in Lebanon who will directly use the study findings to inform/adjust programme implementation, improve its quality and guide the future direction of the programme. Secondary users include relevant sector actors, partners, and the donor to inform and feed ongoing global and national program development.

1. 4. Management of the evaluation

The evaluation is managed by the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) comprising of the Project Manager, the Programme Director the MEAL Manager, and the MEAL Officer. The MEAL Manager, supported by the MEAL Officer, is responsible for managing the evaluation process, while the ERG will oversee its administration and follow up on the progress, and sign off the final report. The main functions of the Evaluation Reference Group are to:

• Participate in the validation of evaluation findings, and to ensure that they are factually accurate;
• Contribute to the management response;
• Abide to the relevant recommendations.

• 5. Deliverables and reporting deadlines
• Proposal: entailing the evaluation approach/ methodology, framework (theory of change), evaluation matrix and tools, identified informants, workplan, etc.
• Data collection: methods and tools
• Draft report/ Preliminary finding: addressing the key project components and evaluation framework elements
• Lessons Learnt workshop?
• Final report (standard template for evaluation report that includes a maximum of two-page executive summary, the findings following the structure mentioned above in section 3(b), a conclusion encompassing lessons learnt and recommendations (for the project concept, measures, and best practice). Preferably, the final report could be easily divided into two parts (a) previous implementation evaluation and (b) feasibility study report.

4. Evaluation Timeframe

The evaluation and feasibility study should be conducted in a total of 20 working days during the months of February and March 2020. The key deliverables should be provided as per the following schedule:

Task/Deliverable

Deadline

Kick-off meeting

February 24, 2020

Proposed research methodology/plan

Feb 28, 2020

Data collection

March 2, 2020 – March 10, 2020

Preliminary findings/Draft report

March 13, 2020

Lessons Learnt and Design Workshop

March 16, 2020

Final Report

March 20, 2020

5. Consultant’s profile and qualifications

The evaluation and feasibility study should be carried by a consultant (a group of consultants) and are expected to have the following qualifications and skills:

• Education

Post-graduate qualification in relevant field (social policy, development studies, etc.), with solid credentials in program evaluation.

• Experience

• Sound and proven experience in conducting evaluations, particularly utilization and learning focused evaluations
• Extensive experience of theories of change and how they can be used to carry out evaluations
• Expertise in participatory qualitative data collection techniques
• Knowledge in livelihood and economic empowerment projects.
• Additional, desirable knowledge, includes:
• Understanding of refugee/humanitarian and protection programs
• Demonstrated knowledge of Middle East and Lebanon political context
• Necessary Skills
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required
• Proven experience of conducting evaluations of humanitarian projects
• Experience of designing qualitative data collection methods and of managing participatory and learning focused evaluations
• Excellent team working and communication skills, flexibility and good organization skills
• Experience in facilitating lesson learnt and recommendation sessions

PSEA and Child Safeguarding

CARE International in Lebanon is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

CARE International in Lebanon and its employees and stakeholders abide by the CARE International Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Child Safeguarding Policies.