South Sudan: Consultant Final Evaluation of the South Sudan Famine Response

Cordaid South Sudan

Terms of Reference for theunder the Giro 555“Help slachtoffers hongersnood” campaign**

Background

Giro 555 or Stichting Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties (SHO) is the cooperation of 11 relief organizations that join forces in the event of exceptional disasters. Giro555 cooperates with Dutch broadcasters and other media, to gather support from the Dutch public through donations. Giro555 keeps action costs low, avoids unnecessary competition and ensures that as many people in the Netherlands as possible donate money, so that we can help as many people as possible.
The first time the Netherlands held a National Action was in 1984 due to famine in Africa. So far, 43 National Actions have been held. In total, the Dutch public have collected more than 830 million euros. Thanks to this support, millions of disaster survivors have received help all over the world[1].

Context South Sudan
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), as of January 2017, 3.8 million were estimated in Crisis (IPC Phase 3), Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in South Sudan. By April of the same year the number of people estimated in need of humanitarian assistance reached almost 5 million, out of which 100,000 were facing famine conditions.
Famine was declared in Leer and Mayendit counties of Greater Unity State, whilst food security was rapidly deteriorating, predominantly in the counties of Ayod, Canal/Pigi, Duk, Nyirol and Uror. By the end of the 2017 more than 5 million people (almost 50% of the population) were facing crisis or were declared as acute food insecure, despite the harvest and continued large-scale assistance[2].

But not only had the country to cope with extreme poor food conditions, conflict continued to disrupt normal livelihoods, and macroeconomic conditions remain very poor. Conflict and insecurity were the main drivers of acute food insecurity resulting in devastating effects on livelihoods and the nutrition situation. In conflict areas, humanitarian assistance became people’s main source of food and it was insufficient to meet all their needs, mainly due to severe humanitarian access restrictions[3].

Cordaid Famine Response

Cordaid has been in South Sudan since 2000, initially working through partnerships with local organizations and the Catholic Church. Cordaid currently has operations in four regions (states) Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria, Unity State and Western Bahr-El-Ghazal in South Sudan and with 6 field offices in Torit Town and Chukudum Town in Eastern Equatoria, Wau and Raja towns in Bahr El Ghazal region and Malakal Town in Upper Nile State in South Sudan. The current portfolio for the country office is about US$ 24 million supporting Health, including nutrition; Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction; Security and Justice, Lobby and Advocacy and Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Cordaid started the Famine Response in March 2017 and ended in the same month of 2018 (12 months). The total budget was Eur 1,200,000 granted by the Stichting Bisschoppelijke Vastenaktie, with which Cordaid implemented directly and with partners Caritas Wau and UNIDO. The selected areas of the Famine Response were the states of Upper Nile and Western Bahr El Ghazal (WBG), and it provided services in the sectors of Food Security & Livelihood, and Water and Sanitation (WASH).
The project was designed to reduce malnutrition through provision of integrated Food security, Health & Nutrition and WASH assistance to approx. 70,000 most at risk people in Unity, Upper Nile and WBG. In the end of the Famine Response more and 127,000 people were directly reached, and 23,600 indirectly.

Purpose and scope of the evaluation
The Famine Response has a contractual obligation towards the donor, to ensure the realisation of an evaluation report. The purpose for this evaluation is to assess the performance of the Response, ensuring accountability towards the donor and the Dutch public. On the other hand, it offers a learning aspect for all stakeholders. Lessons learned and recommendations for programme implementation and design should be part of the evaluation report.
The Famine Response in South Sudan is a part of a Famine Response that included Somalia and Uganda as well. The key objective of the Response was to reduce malnutrition through provision of integrated Food security, Health & Nutrition and WASH assistance.

The evaluation should assess the following evaluation criteria:

I. Effectiveness

II. Efficiency

III. Relevance

IV. Timeliness

V. Quality

The evaluation should also look at:

• Localization (local capacity building of local stakeholders, NGO’s and/or Government)

• Cross-cutting themes

• IATI framework

Deliverables

1. An inception report, which will serve as an agreement between parties on how the evaluation will be conducted. Items to address:

· Understanding of the issues and questions raised in the ToR

· Data sources; how to assess the questions in the ToR

· Research methodology, including suggested sample and size

· Team composition

· Schedule of activities and traveling (timeline)

· Proposal for a workshop presentation in South Sudan and in The Netherlands

· Detailed budget

· Appropriate validated draft data collection tools (e.g. methodological guidelines, group interview questions)

1. A 25-35 page draft and final report (in MS Office and PDF for final), excluding annexes and in English, in the following format at a minimum, to be submitted to Cordaid. Preferably as little text as possible, use of graphs, visuals, tables and a dashboard with results. The report should consist of:

a. Executive Summary in bullets (max. 2 pages)

b. Introduction

c. Methodology, including sampling and limitations; include scoring grid

d. Analysis and findings of the evaluation. The analysis should consist of two parts:

· Famine Response SS Key Objective

· Famine Response Added Value Objective, including an analysis of how the response has benefit the different stakeholders: (beneficiaries, local partners, local NGO sector, local Government, Dutch NGOs, Dutch NGO sector, Giro 555, Dutch public)

e. Address concerns, lessons learned and comments from partners

f. At least 10 (but as many as you find) cases of substantial anecdotal evidence (short descriptions of a few sentences are sufficient) of added value from respondents

g. Several stories of change and quotes from respondents

h. Conclusions for each of the two parts and for all of the evaluation questions

i. Annexes:

· Relevant maps and photographs of the evaluation areas

· Bibliography of consulted secondary sources

· Finalized data collection tools

· List of interviewees

1. Workshop presentation in South Sudan and in The Netherlands. The structure and activities of the learning and evaluation meeting will be agreed with Cordaid.

2. Video motion and infographics summary of the evaluation findings.

Application process

· Requests for full ToRs and questions can be send to George Rots (george.rots@cordaid.org).

· Quotations should reach Cordaid no later than 10^th of December.

· Final decision will be made by Cordaid, no later than the 20^th of December.

· Quotations should be submitted to Cordaid by e-mail with the subject line ‘Consultancy_SHOSS Evaluation#Name#’ to George Rots (george.rots@cordaid.org).

Content of quotation

The following should be included in applications:

· Two relevant reference assignments previously performed by the consultant agency/ lead consultant that are comparable in content, time and money

· A draft proposal/ work plan of max. 4 pages, including a draft evaluation matrix and time planning based on this ToR that proves their comprehension of the proposed consultancy and clearly shows how they would approach this assignment

· CVs of all of the proposed team members (including the team leader and at least 1 experience evaluator), proving relevant experience and/or diplomas. See also chapter below, award criteria

· Total price, accompanied with a cost break down in days or hours spend and the related fee, travel costs et cetera.

Timeframe & maximum budget

The timeframe for the evaluation is 4 weeks, from the 7^th of January 2019 – 7^th of February 2019. This periods include the preparation period, evaluation mission and report submission.
Maximum Euro budget that the quotation can propose is 21.208 euro; this will cover all costs (including travel & accommodation, taxes, consultancy fees and any other cost that the evaluator might have).

[1] https://giro555.nl/over-sho/

[2] https://reliefweb.int/disaster/ce-2015-000183-ssd

[3] https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/republic-south-sudan-current-and-projected-january-july-2017-acute-food

Application process

· Requests for full ToRs and questions can be send to George Rots (george.rots@cordaid.org).

· Quotations should reach Cordaid no later than 10^th of December.

· Final decision will be made by Cordaid, no later than the 20^th of December.

· Quotations should be submitted to Cordaid by e-mail with the subject line ‘Consultancy_SHOSS Evaluation#Name#’ to George Rots (george.rots@cordaid.org).