Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant at Sauti East Africa

METHODOLOGY

• The evaluation will employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Qualitative data collection methods will include documentation review, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observations. Quantitative data collection methods will include detailed surveys at household level with women small scale farmers across project counties. The desk review shall include review of various sources of information such as, but not limited to, the project proposal, monthly activity progress reports, project evaluation reports, secondary sources e.g. Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and The Climate Change Directorate. A mixed method approach will ensure proper triangulation and gathering information from beneficiaries and relevant stakeholders. The evaluation respondents will include, but not limited to project beneficiaries and implementing partners from both private and public institutions.
• A sample of small scale women farmers will be drawn from project beneficiaries to participate as respondents to the survey. The KII respondents shall include key members of the community such as community group leaders, local authority, county governments and local implementing partners. The sampling framework will be drawn from the project counties. The sampling techniques will include random cluster sampling for the survey and purposive sampling for the key informant interviews and focus group discussion.
• The quantitative data will be primarily collected digitally through a mobile data collection platform and phone calls, analyzed, visualized and reported using appropriate software applications, in line with the logical framework and commitments in the project proposal.

SCOPE OF WORK

Our project objectives are as follows:

• Number of women smallholder farmers directly trained and sensitized on the mobile-based climate information platform: 500.
• Number of women smallholder farmers indirectly reached and aware of the mobile-based climate information platform: 15,000.
• Percentage of new female users integrating the mobile-based climate information into their farming and business practices: 45%.

This evaluation will also focus on a review of the following key areas:

• Project Implementation: Assess the quality and efficiency of project implementation,
• Impact and Outcomes: Evaluate the project’s impact on access to and use of climate based information for better farming practices in the project counties.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Analyze the level of community involvement, engagement of local authorities and the implementation partners commitment to the project deliverables including provision of verified information.
• Sustainability: Assess the sustainability of project outcomes and their integration into the climate smart agricultural practice adaptation..
• Cross-cutting Issues: Consider gender, mobile penetration and inclusivity.

Expected tasks and outputs will include:

• Inception meeting with project staff, review of key relevant documents
• Develop and submit inception report/ protocol which will include an interpretation of the tasks and study design & methodologies, sampling procedures and detailed work plan
• Develop appropriate tools and instruments for gathering information and present to Sauti team for approval
• Conduct survey interviews in the field
• Undertake KIIs and FGDs with key stakeholders and beneficiaries identified
• General oversight and coordination of the evaluation process including logistical arrangements for data collection in collaboration with the Project and MEL teams
• Provide all data sets of data collected in this evaluation process
• Process and analyze the data, and develop a draft report. Revise the report and based on Sauti feedback, submit a final report of the needs assessment, midline and endline studies to the Sauti Team.

The needs assessment, midline, endline study and the overall final evaluation report will follow report framework below:

• Executive Summary
• Background and Context
• Introduction
• Description of Methodology
• Main findings
• Conclusions
• Recommendations
• Develop actionable recommendations context based which include specific recommendations based on evidence from the evaluation findings
• PowerPoint presentation on the evaluation to Trocaire management and programme team

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

• A team leader with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in evaluations and knowledge management for Agritech contexts and/or related fields
• Proven strong skills and experience in qualitative and participatory data collection approaches are mandatory.
• Previous experience with gender-based obstacles to agri-tech economic development is an asset.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to correlate different data sets to actionable conclusions.
• Result-based planning, report writing, and communication skills.
• English language skills (report should be written in English). Ability to make clear presentations and disseminate findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The evaluators should:

• Take all reasonable steps to ensure that the evaluation is designed and conducted to respect and protect the rights and welfare of the people and communities involved.
• Ensure that the evaluation is accurate and reliable, is conducted in a transparent and impartial manner and contributes to organizational learning and accountability.
• Commit to adhering to Sauti’s data collection Programme Policy and Code of Conduct.
• All products arising from this evaluation will be owned by Sauti. The evaluators will not be allowed without prior authorization in writing to present any of the analytical results as his or her own or to make use of the evaluation results for private publication purposes.