Country: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal
Closing date: 31 Aug 2016
Scope of Work
End of project evaluation of EU funded One Health Asia Program (OHAP)
Contract Number: DCI-ASIE/2013/329-378
Title of the action: Fighting Zoonoses in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal (ABN)- Increasing awareness, prevention and control of zoonoses
Location: Mohmand Dara, Ghosta and Nurgal Districts of Afghanistan; Sirajganj, Pabna and Lalmonirhat Districts of Bangladesh and Chitwan, Rupandehi and Banke Districts of Nepal
Duration: The assignment is expected to start from 1st of November, 2016 and to complete by the end of February, 2017. The exact days and duration will be agreed in consultation with the selected consultants or consulting firm
Fee & Benefits: The total budget for this consultancy work will be agreed with the consultants based on realistic estimation which includes consultants' fee for conducting final evaluation including post-KAP (questionnaire preparation, collection of primary information, meetings, cost of travel and other logistics, secondary information review, draft and final report writing, printing of 350 copies of final report).
Contract Volume: 40% of total budget will be released upon signing of the contract while remaining 60% budget will be released in two tranches after submitting draft report and final report respectively. The expenses should be supported by actual bills/invoices and time sheets.
About Relief International (RI): RI is a leading humanitarian non-profit agency committed to achieving relief from poverty, building resilience and promoting the dignity and well-being of the world’s most vulnerable populations. By partnering with people in the communities where we work, RI bridges the gap between the immediate relief and long-term community development. RI is non-political and non-sectarian in our mission. The four sectors of focus in which RI conducts most of its work are: Education, Health, WASH (**water, sanitation and hygiene)** and Economic Opportunity**. We do things our way- The RI Way. That means empowering communities to find and implement the solutions that work best for them.
About One Health Asia Program (OHAP): The emerging and re-emerging zoonotic infections pose significant threats on health security, livelihood, food safety, food security and international trade of livestock and livestock products. These diseases passed from animals to humans, known as zoonoses, present a serious health concern to both the communities, surrounding the sites of initial transmission and the rest of the world. The populations are highly susceptible due to the quick spread of infectious diseases in the increasingly connected global community. The threat of zoonoses is particularly serious in the developing world, as people do not have access to information or have equitable resources for combating human or animal health concerns. To effectively address zoonoses and emerging diseases at the human, animal and ecosystem interfaces, One Health, which emphasizes multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach at various levels (international, regional, national and community levels), is increasingly being adopted.
Relief International (RI), in partnership with local organizations, is implementing One Health Asia Program (OHAP) funded by European Union (EU) in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. The three years (2014-2016) project “Fighting Zoonoses in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal-Increasing Awareness, Prevention and Control of Zoonoses” aims to contribute effectively to the reduction of Zoonoses & alleviate their impact on fragile population by promoting awareness, behavior change & coordination between individuals, local & national authorities.
The specific objectives of the project are:
Create Awareness & Behavior Change
Develop Prevention & Response Capacity of communities, government departments & academia
Integrate Zoonoses Surveillance within Existing Government
The expected results of the project are:
Established baseline data to assist with monitoring and evaluation of activities in the target areas
Established project support committees (10 per district) and bimonthly meetings conducted
Established youth clubs (10 per district), school health clubs (10 per district) in target areas promoting effective animal husbandry, health and hygiene practices
Mass awareness and education programmes using printed/electronic media are published in target areas
Six country and 12 provincial level consultative and experience sharing workshops on zoonoses conducted
Increased availability of trained CHWs (30 per district) on diagnosis, proper reporting, response and basic treatment of common zoonoses
Increased availability of trained livestock farmers and traders that can promote effective bio-risk management and proper zoonoses control mechanisms in target areas
Cold chain capacity for prophylactics, treatment and samples in nine target districts developed
Nine districts, three provincial/divisional/regional and three national level zoonoses control committees/associations (ZCCs) established
Nine districts are connected to provincial/regional/divisional and federal/national level zoonotic disease reporting systems
Three zoonoses research centres are established and zoonoses is included in the curriculum of three Universities (AFU, SAU and NU)
Existing laws related to zoonoses in three countries reviewed and recommendations submitted to concerned government departments and ZCCs
One Health Directory is compiled and published for each country
A National Zoonoses Association and Regional Zoonoses Network established in the third year of the programme
Objectives of the evaluation: The objectives of this end-of-project, field-based, external and independent final evaluation is to assess the outcome and impact of the above cited EU grant funded project, with feedback on the achievements to the donor and Relief International regarding intervention logic, objectives and expected results. The evaluation will establish and document the impact and effectiveness of project implementation. The objectives of the evaluation are:
- To assess the relevance of the activities and overall performance of the project following the evaluation criteria
- To assess the impact of the program in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal (ABN)
- To elaborate how RI’s implementation approaches adapted to these different country contexts and draw out successful approaches that could potentially be replicated in similar environments
- To elaborate on what could have been done better and what could have maximized the impact
- To further document the lessons learned, success cases / stories and to recommend the needs/scope for future interventions in the framework of One Health concept
Evaluation Criteria: 1. Relevance: Is the project in line with local needs and priorities of the target population? Has the project design and implementation been appropriate to contribute to the reduction of zoonoses and alleviate their impact on fragile populations? Did the project successfully reach out in addressing the needs of women, youths and other vulnerable groups? Has the project complemented and been coherent with policies of the respective Governments? How is the coordination and communication with the governments and other stakeholders?
2. Effectiveness: Were the planned results achieved and did the outputs lead to the intended outcomes? Have the activities been undertaken in a timely manner? What was missing and what can we do differently next time? How appropriate and useful were the interventions and/ activities implemented? Which project activities have had the greatest positive effect and which had the least effect? Were there any activities that should have been included in the action but were not? Were activities supporting the prevention and response capacity of communities, government departments and academia leading to a strengthening of their services to the local populations? Assess appreciation of the program by the beneficiaries as well as their participation for various levels in the project cycle. How did women, youths and school children benefit from the project activities? What is the difference between pre-KAP and post-KAP among the beneficiaries?
3. Efficiency: Were the project funds used in a cost efficient way? How efficient inputs have been converted to outputs? Were the resources allocated in different activities justified and adequate to contribute to the reduction of zoonoses and alleviate their impact on fragile population which ultimately improve the health status of the local population, especially women and youths?
4. Outcome/Impact: What is the cumulative effect of the operation in relation to the situation of the beneficiaries in general (including positive, negative, primary and secondary long-term effects produced by the action, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended impacts)? What are the wider effects of the operation on individuals, communities and institutions? Are beneficiaries satisfied with the assistance provided? What real difference does the project make to the beneficiaries?
5. Sustainability: How did the project adapt to the changing contexts of three countries? Was RI sufficiently incorporating a longer-term view into this project? What efforts were made to ensure that the approach used in the project was participatory and creating ownership in the communities? Were these successful? What will remain the unfulfilled needs in the target area after the intervention and what further initiatives to ensure greatest possible sustainability would best address these needs?
Scope of evaluation and methodology: An independent and multidisciplinary team of consultants (one international and three national from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal) familiar with project evaluation will be contracted. The selected consultants will receive all relevant documents from Relief International for desk study 15 days prior to the start of the evaluation in the field. The documents review will not only be limited to OHAP. Other project documents, reports of similar projects/programs will be reviewed to compare approaches used by RI in various contexts, the learnings, successes and to recommend future strategy of One Health program in RI. The evaluation team will conduct an approx. 10-15 days field assessment in nine districts which will include, visits to selected target communities, project support committees, school health clubs, youth clubs, other I/NGOs operational in the area, discussions with Relief International and its local partners as well as government stakeholders and key staff of the EU delegation in Nepal.
The consultants are expected to interview and/or conduct focus group discussions with staffs, beneficiaries of the project activities, target groups, and other stakeholders such as:
- Relief International and its local partners' project staff
- Key staff of RI from other countries and regions who are implementing relevant projects in One Health
- Community health workers
- Members of project support committees, school health clubs and youth clubs
- School teachers
- Faculty members of the Universities and researchers
- Key personnel from the government departments at national, provincial and district levels especially animal health and public health
- Key staff of EU delegation in Nepal
- Others recommended by RI
Additionally, consultants will organize a field survey with different level of project's target groups and beneficiaries to assess the KAP status. Consultants should propose scientifically valid samples size which could be about 250-350 in each country. Under the overall guidance of team leader, national consultants will participate in the national experience sharing and consultative workshop in each country and gather country specific information from the workshops.
Deliverables:
· Detailed evaluation implementation plan
· Detailed and comprehensive evaluation tools
· Debrief session for the RI project management staff
· Comprehensive draft and final evaluation report, including a section on successful approaches employed by RI to achieve One Health goals in different environments, success/case stories and lessons learnt including, recommendations for future implementation approaches, interventions and strategies in the framework of One Health
· A detail report on final evaluation including a section on success cases and lesson learnt to be printed and distributed among the stakeholders (350 copies to be printed)
· Soft copy of the data base of primary data analyzed and used in the report
Consultants' team composition and qualifications: The composition of the consultants team is left up to the consultants/consulting firm based on their internal system, ideas and logic. However, RI recommends that the team comprises one Team Leader (International preferably from Asia region, evaluation expert with social science background) to lead the overall assignment and liaise with RI/partners; at least three Team Members (national-one from each country with technical/social science background) with collective expertise in KAP/ Behaviour Change Communications, animal health/public health or one health, zoonoses control types of projects along with an experienced statistician and/or data analyst. To collect information from the field, adequate number of field enumerators can be deployed by the consultants/consulting firm.
The consultants' team should have experience on qualitative and quantitative research; clear understanding on research methodology and experiences on using different social research tools and techniques, have experience in conducting project evaluations of similar projects/programs using participatory methods. The team leader should have advance university degree in social science (with at least five years' of working experience in related field) or animal health/public health or one health with experience in conducting project evaluation and post-KAP studies.
Application procedures:
Interested professionals/ intuitions are requested to submit the following:
- A letter of interest (LOI) with a short capacity statement of your organization or team.
- A brief proposal (including technical & financial) outlining how you plan to achieve the objectives as stated in the TOR (work plan) along with recently updated CVs of professionals including evidence/reference of past evaluations. RI will evaluate the proposal based on technical competency and financial efficiency.
How to apply:
To apply, please submit the full application package here: http://chp.tbe.taleo.net/chp01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=RI&cws=4&rid=834