Final Evaluation: Building Drought Resilience in Isiolo County Through Sustainable Livelihoods (DRIC at Veterinaires Sans Frontieres

The Specific Objective of the action: To enhance Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) for vulnerable Pastoralist and Agro pastoralist Communities in Isiolo County, generating Sustainable livelihoods, protecting productive assets and improving climate smart County service delivery.

Below, is a summary of the Project Indicators at the Objective level as per the Logical Framework (which will be provided to the successful consultant(s)/Firm).

Objective Indicators

Overall Objective Reduction of Isiolo County food poverty rate

• (Impact level) Number of children under 5 years who are stunted in Isiolo County
• Incidence of Household vulnerability and Food and Nutritional Security
• Specific Objective Change in Women dietary Diversity Index
• (Outcome level) Citizens Drought Coping Strategy Index (CSI)
• Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index

Key Components of the Action

Output 1: Improved drought resilient and nutrition sensitive agriculture/livestock production, integrated with conflict resolution and peace building strategies

The main activities under Output 1 are:

• Promotion of pasture/rangeland management and commercial fodder production through controlled grazing; pasture, fodder and crop residues conservation; reseeding and introduction of drought tolerant fodder trees, shrubs and grasses
• Peace building initiatives to facilitate peace and reconciliation for sustainable livelihoods
• Improved livestock production (through better herd management-controlled herd size, strategic market offtake, breeding management and livestock insurance).
• Hygienic camel milk production, value addition and marketing
• Restocking with camels and goats as well as improved poultry production.
• Improvement of animal health measures, One Health promotion, disease recognition and reporting, zoonoses management and prevention.
• Promoting use of climate services, integrating scientific evidence and indigenous knowledge, for climate- resilient decision making
• Improved nutrition, food security, food production, food diversification and gender mainstreaming through dissemination of a nutrition-sensitive toolkit
• Enhancing food crop production (promotion of good agricultural practices, soil conservation, agro-forestry), market access to vegetables and fruit production for small scale farmers.

**Output 2:**Key productive household assets and community investments are sustainably built and recovery capacities against recurrent droughts strengthened, with a particular focus on Women's Economic Empowerment:

The main activities under Output 2 are:

• Delivery of entrepreneurship, business training and support to crop/livestock value chains
• Promotion of alternative income generating activities, especially for women
• Mainstreaming peace building skills in entrepreneurship through cooperatives
• Promoting sustainable water supply (for crop production, animal and human consumption) and improved sanitation in schools and communities.
• Elimination of defecation in the open in 11 villages through the application of the ‘Community-Led Total Sanitation’ methodology

Output 3: Isiolo County is empowered in addressing food security and nutrition (FNS) issues, improved data collection system and cross-sectoral collaboration to facilitate local political commitment and awareness raising.

The main activities under Output 3 are:

• Support to coordination for policy making
• Capacity building of County authorities and Non-State Actors on peace building and conflict management
• Support to grassroots and community-based networks working on resilience building, food and nutrition- sensitive approaches and formation of a County Chapter of Scaling Up Nutrition-Civil Society Alliance (SUN CSA) in Isiolo.
• Improving coordination for policy decision-making and implementation at County level on food and nutrition through multi-stakeholder platform
• Strengthening the Nutrition Information Management System
• Establishment of Isiolo County One Health Unit (COHU).
• Organization of learning and sharing forums
• Training of traditional/religious leaders and their involvement in training activities during community aggregation events.
• VSF Suisse/Kenya is seeking to engage reputable organization or consultant (s) to conduct the Final evaluation of the DRIC project. The Final evaluation purpose and objectives, scope of work, proposed methodology and duration, deliverables, requirements and experience of the consultant and the application process, are highlighted below.

Objective of the DRIC Final Evaluation

The objectives of the DRIC Final Evaluation are:

• To assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and the impact of the DRIC project on targeted beneficiaries.
• To assess the extent to which the DRIC project objectives and key activities (food and nutrition security, resilience, crops/ livestock-based livelihoods and value chains, peace building initiatives, One Health, WASH, climate smart technologies, entrepreneurship skills and marketing) were achieved and determine how they contributed to the realization of the overall objective.
• To assess the appropriateness of the different approaches and methodologies used in the implementation of the DRIC project in targeted groups of beneficiaries.
• To measure the DRIC project Outcome Indicators (e.g Change in Women Dietary Diversity Index; Citizens Drought Coping Strategy Index (CSI) and Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and update the DRIC logframe with achievements/progress tracked against indicators and targets.
• Document key successes under DRIC (including success stories & beneficiaries views on the benefits/impact), best practices, sustainability, lessons learnt, challenges and make recommendations for future interventions.

Target Audiences: The Final evaluation is intended for the DRIC project team, beneficiaries, local communities in Isiolo county and key stakeholders (e.g the County Government of Isiolo, Government line ministries, NDMA), the donor (EU) among others.

Methodology and Duration of the Assignment

The Consortium proposes that the Consultant(s) apply a number of methodologies in data Collection. The methods of data collection that will be used in combination- include qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.

• Desk/literature review of relevant project documents e.g.the DRIC project proposal,Logical Framework, DRIC Baseline survey report, activity reports, mid-term evaluation report and other relevant documents.
• Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with relevant experts in targeted development interventions; County Government authorities and heads of departments from line Government Ministries (County Assembly, CECs and COs), local administration (Assistant County Commissioners, chiefs and ward administrators), CHVs, CDRs, Peace and grazing committees, Water management committees, Schools’ Board of Management etc.
• Focus group discussions (FGDs) with pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and other key stakeholders- CHVs, CDRs, grazing committees, peace committees, Mother-to-Mother Support Groups, Drip irrigation groups, Fodder groups, Cooperatives, Youth and Women groups among others.
• Individual household interviews with direct DRIC project beneficiaries.

The consultant will ensure that the rights of participants are protected in line with safeguarding policies. The Consortium members will work closely with the consultant(s) and the consultant(s) shall provide regular feedback to the Consortium Manager in order to guarantee quality and adhere to the TOR. The consultant(s) shall have 29 days from the date of engagement to deliver on, complete the entire task and submit the DRIC Final Evaluation report. The consultant will undertake the assignment while respecting the current government directives. The consultant shall observe ground security standard operation procedures in all DRIC targeted sites.

Location and the proposed duration of conducting DRIC Final evaluation: The assignment will be carried out in DRIC project areas in Isiolo County. However, the consultant(s) will also meet some of the key stakeholders of the action in Nairobi.

Proposed activity

Result Activity Days

• Review of the relevant literature, development of the methodology, 5 data collection instruments, production of an inception report.
• Field work -Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions 15 (FGDs), Enumerators training and Household data collection; Debriefing
• Reporting, submission and validation meeting 5

Execution

• The consultant (s) will provide a detailed work plan and budget of the assignment.
• The consultancy fieldwork is expected to be conducted from February 2024. The assignment is supposed to be completed within a period of 29 days, once the contract is signed between the consultant and the management of the DRIC project.

Deliverables

The consultant will deliver to DRIC the following:

• Data collection instruments.
• Afield manual for training of enumerators, supervisors and data entry staff.
• Inception report outlining approaches and methodologies, sampling/sampling strategy, data collection tools/questionnaires, training of enumerators, data collection, data entry, data analysis and reporting; workplan and budget details.
• Updated DRIC Consolidated Logical Framework

Two printed and electronic copies of the DRIC Final evaluation report comprising of:

• Executive summary
• Background
• Description of the objectives of the Final evaluation and the execution methodology
• Results presented in narrative and tables (using descriptive and statistics).
• Discussions
• Conclusion and Recommendations including specification of the indicators (as per the logframe)

Annexes:

• Terms of Reference (TOR)
• Data collection instruments
• Field locations/sites visited.
• References/ lists of documents consulted.
• Power point presentation of the Final evaluation main findings and recommendations
• Photo Gallery
• A map with coordinates

Requirements and Experience of the Consultant(s)

The Consultants(s)/consultancy firm must demonstrate the following.

• Demonstrated solid background and experience in conducting evaluations for livelihoods and resilience programmes in arid and semiarid areas of Kenya. The consultant(s) should have a good understanding of interventions encompassing food and nutrition security, resilience building, pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods and value chains,peace building,One Health, WASH,climate smart technologies, Entrepreneurship skills and marketing).
• Experience incarrying outsimilar assignments in other countries of the Horn of Africa with a proven track record of delivering excellent results.
• Experience in use of participatory skills and approaches among the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists communities
• Excellent communication skills in both written and oral demonstrated in their ability to write comprehensive reports with in-depth analysis.
• Ability to work in multicultural, multi-religious and rural communities especially in Isiolo County
• Experience in having conducted a similar assignment to the expectation of the European Union is an added advantage.
• Working experience in Isiolo County and other Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Kenya is desirable.
• Ability to endure harsh climatic environment with cases of insecurity, poor terrain, limited communication network coverage and long distance travel.

Management of the Final Evaluation Assignment

• The Consultant (s) shall report to the DRIC Consortium Manager during the Final evaluation assignment in liaison with consortium partners.
• The Consultant(s) shall be responsible for their own medical insurance cover and any essential medications while on this mission.
• The consultant(s) shall strictly adhere to the current government’s rules and guidelines (e.g precautionary measures against COVID-19).
• The consultant shall observe ground security standard operation procedures in all DRIC targeted sites.
• DRIC project proposal, Logical Framework, DRIC Baseline survey reports, activity reports, Mid-Term Evaluation report and other relevant documents will be provided to the identified consultant/firm on engagement.