ToR for Part (A) of Community Governance and Livelihood Project - Livelihood Component in Nangarhar

  1. Introduction

Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) has been present in Afghanistan since 1980s. With over 5000 Afghan employees, and presence in 14 provinces, it is one of the largest organizations in the country. SCA is presently implementing development programmes on education, health, rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, and contributes to economic development in rural areas.

SCA strategic plan 2014-2017 focuses on rural communities, women, children and persons with disabilities. It built upon SCA’s previous successes and competencies. Service delivery, capacity development, advocacy, gender mainstreaming and rights based approach are the key building blocks of the new organizational strategy. Strategic plan 2014-2017 emphasizes working in close collaboration with the communities that SCA supports. Its programmatic activities are guided by respect for the context and the principle of local ownership. Emanating from a rights-based perspective, SCA supports the capacity development of rights holders in the form of civil society organizations. It continues to commit itself to strengthening the voice of women and enhancing the capacities of civil society organizations to engage with women more meaningfully.

  1. Background Information and Rationale

SCA through the Community Governance and Livelihood Project (CGLP) implements activities belonging to three inter-related programme areas.

SCA contributes toward strengthening forms and institutions of governance at village and cluster levels by providing additional support (financial and technical) to CDCs to implement community infrastructure, especially those that enable businesses and create income generation and/or enhancement opportunities.

Secondly, SCA aims at enhancing access to finance for rural households unable to access formal financial services, by encouraging representatives from vulnerable and marginalized rural households to form savings groups. SCA teams raise awareness on how cumulative savings can help households tide over contingencies as well as effect household investments in livelihood activities.

The third area of interventions pertain to enhancing livelihoods through skill trainings and market linkages. Depending on gaps in value chains as well as opportunities for income generation in farm and non-farm sector within the range of daily commute for rural and semi-urban communities, SCA proposes sustainable livelihood pathways to rural households, and carries out a multipronged strategy of organizing demand-driven vocational trainings, facilitating formation of producer groups, and linking them with market actors. SCA has been implementing these activities in Balkh and Samangan and beginning this year is initiating the same in Nangarhar.

Additionally, SCA will launch a combination of activities in Nangarhar and Laghman that respond to returnees’ needs in the wake of vulnerabilities related to lack of basic needs such as security, food, health, education, shelter and income.

  1. Objectives of the Assignment

SCA has been implementing CGLP in parts of Balkh and Samangan provinces, and starting this year will initiate CGLP in select districts of Nangarhar. Consultants hired for this project will be working simultaneously in two regions of Afghanistan. A team will be located in Nangarhar for the primary purpose of developing contextual understanding on livelihood constraints and opportunities.

Consultant will undertake this assignment as team-based learning exercise, will lead team-level discussions and field assessments, and encourage team-based analysis of findings as well as propose changes in existing monitoring systems.

  • To assess the extent of livelihood insecurity amongst target returnees in Nangarhar and Laghman, and adult members belonging to vulnerable/marginalized households in select districts of Nangarhar.
  • To identify the nature of existing skills among adult members of the returnee population, and adult members belonging to vulnerable/marginalized households in select districts of Nangarhar, as well as ascertain their interests and aspirations
  • To explore opportunities for non-farm work in areas in and around returnee settlement and suggest livelihood roadmaps based on work opportunities in such areas. This exploration will entail meeting businesspersons, chambers of commerce, and training service providers.
  • To explore livelihood opportunities in farm and non-farm sectors for vulnerable and marginalized households residing in select rural communities of Nangarhar – includes, meeting different actors and looking at existing literature on value chain opportunities.
  • To prepare livelihoods programme implementation guidelines (and/or revise the livelihoods manual) covering aspects such as community mobilization, counselling, skills upgradation training, transition to work opportunities, follow-up.
  • Review roles and functions of other relevant actors at the district, provincial and national levels, explore areas of partnerships, and propose a roadmap for strengthening linkages with relevant actors especially at district and province levels.
  1. Scope of the Assignment

The learning exercise will pertain to SCA‘s work with returnee communities in Nangarhar and Laghman. The assessment will focus on developing relevant interventions in the field of livelihoods promotion for adult men and women returnees. SCA is also initiating livelihood interventions in select districts of Nangarhar. This assessment will contribute to generating insights on livelihood needs and opportunities of the general population in these areas, as well as help prioritizeinterventions and develop operational methodologies.

  1. Approach and Methodology

Theconsultantswill develop their workplans in close coordination with regional RD teams. S/he will facilitate the team (comprising SCA staff) relating objectives of the exercise with timelines and deliverables.

Livelihood assessment will include focus group discussions with member of rural communities, adult male and female returnees respectively. Key informant interviews with particularly vulnerable members of the groups will be required. The methodology also includes meetings with market actors and potential employers within the immediate ecosystem.

Number of settlements and respondents, and criteria for their selection will be thought out in the first week of the livelihood assessment. The consultant will propose sampling techniques/strategy in consultation with SCA for both the qualitative and quantitative data collection and develop data collection tools in consultation with SCA KMO M&E staff. Theconsultantswill consider all gender and disability sensitive indicators and all conclusions of the analysis should be premised upon appropriately disaggregated data.

The consultants is required to share an inception reportoutlining details about proposed sampling design, data collection tools in addition to what is already proposed by SCA, the methodology to be used and a work plan/schedule for field visits and major deadlines. Concerned staff in SCA will provide quick feedback on the inception report before the start of field activities.

  1. Guiding Principles and Values

Consultants will be expected to keep all SCA related information private unless SCA or law requires otherwise. Consultants should anticipate and avoid conflicts of interest. Consultants are requested not to go beyond their own expertise during capacity building of local staff and report writing. However, SCA will not discourage consultants to express additional reflections on areas such asprogramme linkages, micro-macro linkagesin additional chapters or sections. SCA employs principles of appreciative enquiry for action-research, and consultants are encouraged to use appropriate tools during their assignment.

  1. Management of Task

The Consultants will work with the RDP team in Nangarhar to carry out the livelihood assessment. The Consultants will work from Jalalabad and select places in Nangarhar for the full length of the assignment.

A panel consisting senior management team including Programme Director, Manager/adviser of Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Rural developmentProgramme Manager will review the proposal and assign the job. The Rural Development team will take care of the administrative and logistic issues of the consultation in Kabul and provinces. The Rural development team with the help of Rural development project manager in Jalalabad Regional Management office is responsible for all practical arrangements required and any other assistance for conducting field visits and for producing essential documentations.

Focal points from the Rural Development Programme Unit in Kabul will be in regular contact with the consultant. Staff members of the project implementation team will also help theconsultant with interpretation and translation if required. SCA will provide accommodation and transport for both paid and non-paid days to the consultant. Consultant is expected to spend a few days in the beginning, middle and end in Kabul.

  1. Professional Qualifications
  • A relevant academic qualification (rural development) with at least bachelor or master’s degree.
  • Expertise, skills, and prior experience in coordinating livelihoods programs with a strong focus on rural livelihoods, preferably in Afghanistan, Central Asia and /or in other Islamic contexts.
  • Consultants leading the livelihood assessment will have expertise, skills, and prior experience in action research and monitoring and evaluation of livelihood programmes, and preferably also experience of work with refugees and returnees.
  • A good understanding of the aspirations and challenges of rural communities in Afghanistan is desirable.
  • Consultants should be objective, have the ability to operate systematically without supervision, and should be result-oriented and committed to respect deadlines.
  • Consultants should be proficient in written and spoken English, and preferably a good knowledge of spoken Pashto and/or Dari.
  1. Proposal Submissions

Please put forward following documents and email to:

Please subject your email as follows: Your Name CGLP Assessment 2017 - for example: Nicolas_CGLPAssessment2017. Following documents are required to be submitted:

  • A brief proposal of maximum of 4 pages including CV (detailing her or his qualifications and experience relevant to the assignment, proposed Methodology for assessment, data quality, data triangulation etc. and structure of the final report
  • Three work related references one of them preferably related to the work
  • Financial Proposal, including:
  • Consultant’s daily fee
  • Any other costs associated with the evaluation
  • Afghanistan tax, which is 2% for registered and 7% for nonregistered consultants and firms.
  • Two assessment or evaluation reports similar to this type of project (livelihood and goverance)

Further questions can be sent to Mohammad Akbar Zadran -Rural Development Manager at:

  1. Deliverables and Timelines
  • Expected output
  • Inception report: will be received from the consultant before conducting the learning exercises. For the inception report, the consultants will receive information on SCA’s livelihood programme.
  • Presentation of findings: the consultant will conduct a debriefing session at Kabul Management Office (KMO) by highlighting the main findings at the end of the learning exercise.
  • Draft report: The draft assessment report will be submitted to the Monitoring and Evaluation/ Rural Development Programme before presentation of findings. The feedback on the draft will be given to the consultant within 10-days after receipt of the draft report.
  • Final report: The final report should be submitted by the consultant no later than one week after getting SCA’s feedback on first draft (through SCA specific template).
  • The report should be based on the following format: 1) Executive summary (covering the summary of the whole report); 2) The key findings; 3) The lessons learned, Conclusion; 4) Recommendations (Based on conclusion); 5) Annexes ( tools and plans); 6) Duration of the Consultancy

The consultancy firm / consultants will be hired for a total of 7 weeks in Afghanistan

Task 1: De/briefing in Kabul, preparing inception report, developing plans and tools in close coordination with regional teams

Kabul and Jalalabad; No. of days: 5

Task 2: Visiting Communities

Various Locations in Nangarhar and Laghman province; No. of Days: 15

Task 3: Meeting external stakeholders / development actors

Various Locations in Nangarhar and Laghman province; No. of Days: 5

Task 4: Facilitate teamwork at the regional level

Jalalabad Office; No. of Day -: 5

Task 5: Preparing final report

Home -: No. of Days - 5