Terminal Evaluation of the Increasing Farmer Resilience to Climate Change-Upscaling Market Oriented Climate Smart Agriculture Project

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The Ministry of Agriculture – National Agriculture Marketing Board (NAMBOARD) is seeking the technical services of a Consultancy Firm/National Consultant to conduct a comprehensive Terminal Evaluation for the Increasing Farmer Resilience to Climate Change-Upscaling Market Oriented Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Project. The COMESA-funded Project has been implemented since July 2018 and will be coming to an end in June 2021. The project focused on upscaling support on the adoption of markets-driven climate smart agriculture to 1,500 rural farmers in two rural areas namely Intamakuphila at Ngwempisi in the Manzini Region and Mavulandlela at Ntfonjeni in Hhohho Region. The project sought to assist government to identify policy and programmatic gaps as well as opportunities that will inform CSA strategic development and sectoral planning to assist small-holder farmers with greater integration into sustainable commercial production and markets, considering existing climate risks. The project also sought to enable the formulation of adaptation strategies and programmes within the agriculture sector as well as replication in different agro-climatic zones.

Objective of the Assignment:

To assess the achievement of CSA Project results in selected communities and draw lessons that can improve the sustainability of benefits, and aid in the overall enhancement of climate change integration in agricultural productivity through its potential for replication in different agro-climatic zones within Eswatini. The evaluation will highlight the marketing and value chain issues at various stages from inputs to production, culminating to household gains/losses. This evaluation will identify lessons learnt including strengths and weaknesses in project design and implementation strategy/approaches. The evaluation will also come up with recommendations to leverage on successes, address identified gaps and weaknesses including to inform future programming for the sector.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Terminal Evaluation will be framed along the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact, through use of credible, reliable and useful data and information.

The specific tasks in the terminal assessment will include, but not limited to the following:

1. Project Design:

• Review original project objectives and assess quality of design for delivery of planned outputs

• Compare baseline target indicators and current status of achievement.

  2. Project Implementation: Assess:

• Project management arrangements- Focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the different PMU cadres

• Effectiveness of project strategy for the achievement of project objectives
• Quality, timeliness and cost-effectiveness of outputs and activities.
• Project reporting systems and their efficiency.
• Financial situation including co-financing planed and realised, that is budget, expense status and the financial control system including financial reporting and planning.
• Flow of funds from UNDP to the implementing partner, NAMBOARD.
• Responsiveness of Project management to adapt and implement changes in project execution based on Project Steering Committee, UNDP, COMESA as well as local stakeholders.
• Partnership arrangements established for the implementation of the Project with relevant stakeholders involved at the national and local levels including clarity on the roles and responsibilities.
• Implementation of the project M&E plans including any adaptation to changing conditions (adaptive management).

3. Project Impact and Sustainability

• Assess achievements of the Project to date against the original objectives, outputs and activities using the indicators as defined in the proposal.
• Review and evaluate the extent to which the Project impacts have reached the intended beneficiaries by assessing household production, productivity and incomes in relation to targeted produce.
• Assess associated impact on value chains for market-driven production using the community-based model, with focus on the selected study areas.
• Make recommendations on Project performance improvement in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in achieving impact on both capacity building and the targeted climate adaptation actions.
• Assess the likelihood of continuation of the Project outcomes/benefits after completion of the findings; describe the key factors that will require attention in order to improve prospects for sustainability of Project outcomes. Factors of sustainability including, institutional policy and regulatory framework that further the project objectives.

4. Project Lesson and Replication Approach

• Understudy gender-based participation in the project as well as recommend opportunities for women and youth to create sustainable jobs through CSA.
• Assess the extent to which the project activities opportunities are being taken to scale-up lessons and experiences emerging from implementation of adaptation actions and make recommendations on how this could be achieved if necessary.
• Propose ways for widespread national adoption of climate smart techniques and other adaptive practices taking into consideration the social aspects of the populace.
• Describe the main lessons that have emerged in terms of: household production and income, strengthening national ownership; strengthening stakeholder participation; application of adaptive management strategies; efforts to secure sustainability; knowledge transfer; and, the role of M&E in Project implementation.

5. Report Preparation

• Develop a Project Terminal Evaluation report that responds to the specified tasks listed above.
• Present findings of the study to a stakeholder meeting for validation purposes.
• Submit soft copies of the report, data collection tools to the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at UNDP.

Deliverables:

The consultant will conduct the study and produce the following deliverables:

1. Inception Report- detailing the methodology, work plan with clear timelines, and roles and responsibilities for the various partners participating in the study as well as related costs.
2. First draft Terminal Evaluation Report, based on the reviews, fieldwork and consultations.
3. Conduct validation workshop to present findings to national stakeholders.
4. Final draft Terminal Evaluation Report.

Evaluation Management:

With overall reporting to the UNDP Resident Representative, the Consultant will work on day to day basis with the project team at NAMBOARD and shall be supervised by the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialists at NAMBOARD and UNDP.

The Project Implementing partner, Ministry of Agriculture-NAMBOARD, will be responsible for liaising with the evaluation team to set up stakeholder interviews, arrange field visits and coordinate with Government. The planning and the administrative arrangements for the TE will be done in collaboration with the UNDP Eswatini and COMESA. UNDP will support organization of stakeholder workshop to review and validate the report.

Reporting : The consultant will report to the Principal Secretary Ministry of Agriculture on technical aspects of the assignment and to UNDP Resident representative on contractual obligations.

The consultant will include travel costs and per diems within the country in their financial proposals.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Strong Programme design and management skills;
• Positive, constructive attitude and consistently approaches work with energy;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive / integrate feedback.

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrated data collating, management and analysis skills.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Team building approach.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s degree in Agriculture Management/Economics, Demography/Statistics, Climate Change, Environmental Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation or other closely related field. A PhD will be an added advantage.

Experience:

• Work experience in relevant technical areas (sustainable development assessments) for at least 10 years.
• Experience working on research and monitoring of climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions in the agriculture sector.
• Experience in adaptive management working with communities/ schemes engaged in livelihoods sustainability interventions.
• A demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender equality and Climate Change Adaptation with experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis.
• Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system will be considered an asset.
• Work experience in Southern Africa will be an added advantage.

Language Requirement:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and SiSwati.

Application Procedure:

Interested individuals must submit the following documents /information to demonstrate their qualification, experience and suitability to undertake the assignment. All supporting documents must be part of the detailed CV and uploaded as one document.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP; OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; Link for the P11 form: https://un.org.sz/p11/P11.docx
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. All applications must be made on-line.

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Using a weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to an individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined to be responsive/compliant/acceptable, and having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. A combined scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted at 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted at 30%.