South Sudan: End of Program Evaluation for Jonglei Food Security Program (South Sudan)- ReAdvertisement

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) South Sudan seeks an independent third party to conduct a final evaluation for the USAID funded Jonglei Food Security Program (JFSP). The third party will be expected to apply mixed methods to assess the program’s achievements in terms of meeting changing needs in a dynamic context and to draw lessons from how the program was implemented and adapted. Due to the nature of the program context, primary data collection will be largely qualitative. The analysis of these data may be complemented by quantitative analyses of existing secondary data.

Background

JFSP has assisted project participants across nine counties in Jonglei State, South Sudan, with a package of interventions that were adjusted and implemented on the basis of regular needs assessments. JFSP was awarded as a three-year Title II development food assistance program (DFAP) in 2011. The program was undertaken by a consortium led by CRS in partnership with Save the Children International (SCI). USAID provided funding to JFSP under two awards; a Title II cooperative agreement (CA) with FFP and a second CA with USAID South Sudan Mission. The USAID Mission award ended in April 2015.

The evaluation should consider all the nine JFSP target counties. Actual coverage within counties will depend on accessibility as determined by seasonality and security. The evaluation will be carried out at the end of the wet season in October 2016 with the final report submission by the end of January 2017.

Objectives

The purpose of this evaluation is to learn from the JFSP experience of implementation and transitioning during the ongoing conflict. It will:

1. Examine JFSP’s use and application of monitoring processes to modify interventions effectively to meet the changing needs of the most vulnerable in the emergency phase;

2. Assess the accuracy of targeting of different beneficiary groups for appropriate emergency, recovery and resilience interventions that were simultaneously implemented in the same community, reaching those affected differently with the intervention most appropriate to their needs;

3. Assess how well the JFSP was able to ‘do no harm’ in the volatile and unpredictable environment;

4. Identify the actions that appear to have been more and less important to recovery, the protection of lives, livelihoods and resilience, and avoidance of doing harm in a sensitive and unstable situation;

5. Assess the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of JFSP program strategies and interventions in achieving the intended project outcomes;

6. Assess the major challenges faced by the JFSP program and the ways in which these challenges were addressed;

7. Draw lessons on the transitions undergone by JFSP and results achieved in various implementation phases in order to inform future CRS and FFP programming.

Composition of the consultancy team

JFSP intends to hire an international evaluation contracting firm that will provide a team composed of senior professionals with established track records in applying evaluation skills to livelihoods and food security programs in contexts experiencing or recovering from crises. Below are the qualifications and roles in the minimum required composition of the evaluation team. The contractor should propose a complete team to conduct this evaluation based on the requirements of the SOW and the contractor’s experience conducting similar exercises. The presentation of the candidates should include descriptions of each one’s training with regard to evaluation methods and experience using qualitative evaluation methods, identifying the sectors and contexts of application. It is recommended that the contractor provide examples of evaluation or assessment reports produced by the team leader and other members on whom the team will rely to finalize reports.

All team members: Every team member’s resume must show substantial application of qualitative research skills in developing countries. It is desirable that every team member has experience working in contexts affected by conflict, and at least one member must have experience working in South Sudan. It is desirable that more than one member, and especially the Team Leader, have South Sudan experience.

Team leader (1): The team leader will be responsible to guide the design and implementation of the final evaluation plan. S/he must have formal education or extensive professional training related to the collection, analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data. Documentation of this training should include notation of the source of training (university, institution) and, for professional continuing education training, the duration and a basic description of its content. Previous experience conducting mixed-methods, multi-sectoral evaluations in developing countries is required, and leadership of teams to conduct such evaluations is highly desired

Technical consultants in agriculture and livestock, livelihoods and resilience, WASH and nutrition (minimum of 3): Each technical consultant must bring expertise in at least one of these sectors. S/he will be responsible to collect data, analyze it, and draft the report sections related to that sector(s).

The evaluation will be carried out towards the end of the wet season in October 2016 with the final report expected to be ready for submission to USAID expected by February 2017. The seasonality and the uncertain security situation in South Sudan could disrupt the proposed timeline. The detailed tasks and activity timeline for the evaluation are in the full proposal.

How to apply:

Interested consultancy firms/ consultants should develop a technical research proposal using the format on the SOW as a starting point together with a financial proposal to Jonglei[dot]Consultancy[at]gmail.com (jonglei.consultancy@gmail.com) no later than Midnight 30 September 2016 ( Central African Time)** with the subject title “End of Program Evaluation-JFSP”. Please note that applications may be considered on a rolling basis.

Please download the full SOW on this link https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3AYMgQpBHqQMVloQWdWUkpyQTQ