FINAL EVALUATION – Terms of Reference

International Relations and Operations Department

Terms of Reference

External Final Evaluation mission

Name of the proxy organization:French Red Cross

Title(s) of the project: Improving gender equality and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in ethnic minority areas of Northern Viet Nam

Operations/activities location:Dien Bien Province

Lai Chau Province

Son La Province

Dates of implementation: 1st January 2011 to 31st March 2014 (39 months).

Date of ToR:December 2013

Date of the mission:February 2014

1. Introduction

  1. French Red Cross

The overall mission of the French Red Cross (FRC) is to prevent and alleviate all human suffering, and contribute to all efforts related to protection, social welfare, prevention, disaster preparedness and relief, and health care. This mission and the core areas of interventions are exactly the same ones when FRC is working abroad to support other Red Cross National Societies.

Since 1990, the French Red Cross has been supporting the Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) to implement humanitarian and development activities with a special focus on community-based water, sanitation and hygiene activities.

  1. Project Rationale

In Vietnam, the extreme discrepancies existing between urban and remote rural areas regarding the accesses to basic services such as water, sanitation and basic health were not chased away by the last decade of astonishing economic development. According to Vietnamese standards, nearly 15% of the population (i.e. more than 12 million people country wide) was still living under the poverty line in 2007 and the poorest provinces present poverty rates as high as 60%. The ethnic minorities groups (EMG) are overrepresented in those poor socio-economic categories accounting for nearly 30% of the poor people while only representing 15% of the overall population. Among those population, women are part of the most vulnerable: they face great difficulties to access different services and to get involved in community development as they usually lack leadership opportunities.

To respond to the basic needs of those populations, the government and/or provincial authorities made consequent efforts and large-scale development programmes are still being implemented. In 2010 and as an observation, Gender issues were not properly taken into account in the scope of those development programmes despite the fact that Vietnam issued a new law on gender equality in 2007.

In 2010, when the instruction of that proposal was achieved, the field of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Vietnam was facing these three problems: large needs which are still uncovered, lack of inclusive approach preventing the participation of local actors and low involvement and participation of women in development initiatives. The development of locally managed initiatives associated with closer inter-linkages between “the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment” (MDG, Goal 3) and “the access to water and sanitation” (MDG, Goal 7, Target 10) would enable to strengthen the participation of local actors in WASH programmes and their sustainability while improving the health of vulnerable people.

Based on an FRC and VNRC experience gained with WASH programme in Bac Kan Province that was implemented between 2008 and 2010, the Project proposal was developed as a logical continuation of that previous project with the integration of some of the lessons learnt on gender, advocacy and diffusion of the participative approaches. Co-funded by Europeaid (Non-State Actors and Local Authorities budget line) and FRC, this project entitled “Improving gender equality and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in ethnic minority areas of Northern Viet Nam” initially targeted 8 500 persons of 3 Ethnic Minority Groups Communes located in Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Son La provinces.

Its original overall objective was “to contribute towards improving health, increasing gender equality and reducing poverty of ethnic minority groups located in 3 Northern provinces of Vietnam through the use and dissemination of a participative, decentralized and inclusive approach”. Expected results to reach this objective were:

  • 1° The VNRC reinforce its capacity in mainstreaming gender issues within its development programmes and in first place in its WASH programmes at national level.
  • 2° The awareness and sensitivity about gender issues of the local stakeholders (the VNRC branches, the WU, the LA and the head of villages) is increased and gender issues are taken into account into the project activities design.
  • 3° The local stakeholders reinforce their capacities in participative programme planning, management, implementation and M&E.
  • 4° The targeted population is aware of the environmental and health risks associated with bad hygienic behaviours and the beneficiaries practices good hygienic behaviors. Men and women are also aware of the importance of sharing the tasks related to hygiene as well as the need for an equal participation of men and women in decision-making.
  • 5° The targeted household has a sustainable access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and men and women know how to operate and maintain them.
  • 6° The positive results and lessons learnt from the programme are disseminated among the national WASH stakeholders.

The full Logical framework is attached in annex 1.

2. Role of the contractor / functional and line manager

The French Red Cross attaches a great importance to the appraisal/evaluation of its humanitarian activities, firstly because of the important financial amounts involved, secondly because of its constant concern to improve the effectiveness of its international operations and the way the funds granted to those operations are used, and thirdly regarding the accountability FRC promotes with regards to donors, partners and beneficiaries.

The contractor must be capable of demonstrating common sense and independence in its judgment during the mission, whenever he/she is on the field or during the redaction of the report[1].

He/she must be able to produce a direct and precise answer to each point of the terms of reference avoiding a theoretical or academic language.

The contractor will work in close cooperation with the following persons:

  1. The FRC Head of delegation;
  2. The FRC Project coordinator;
  3. The Project Management Unit set up by the Viet Nam Red Cross at all level (national, provincial and communal).

The contactor can be an individual consultant or a private consultancy company.

3. General objective of the mission of evaluation

This final evaluation is both a contractual obligation towards FRC’s donor (EU) to assess the impact of the project by various indicators as listed in the signed project documents, and a way to improve the quality of future partnership actions envisaged between the FRC and the Viet Nam Red Cross.

The evaluation objectives will be met through the combination of a comprehensive review of available project documents (project proposal, results oriented monitoring report, donor’s report, construction progress report, survey report, etc.), interviews of key stakeholders, visits to a selection of targeted sites and the interview with the beneficiaries.

  1. Specific objectives of the evaluation

The contractor will work more specifically on the following objectives:

4.1 An analysis of the relevance of the strategy used as much as the objectives of the operations and the choice of the beneficiaries.

4.2 An evaluation of the consistency and the coordination or the complementarity of the other donors and international actors as much as the local authorities who step in the thematic of the project.

4.3 An analysis of the effectiveness of the activities in terms of quality and quantity. We will take into account the level of the activities’ coverage compared with the identified needs initially and the verified needs during and at the end of the project.

4.4 An analysis of the efficiency (cost/effectiveness ratio) of the activities’ implementation in the following fields :

4.4.1 The forward planning and the accomplishment of the activities (particularly the amount of beneficiaries)

4.4.2 The strategy implemented

4.4.3 The major components such as the personnel, the logistic, the accountancy, the selection of the beneficiaries, the relevance of the action considering the local practices

4.4.4 The management and the stocking of the goods and facilities

4.5 An evaluation of the visibility/the sustainability of the activities.

4.6 An analysis of the impact of the project above the beneficiaries, particularly on their level of life, their environment and the behavioral changes occurred towards women and by women themselves.

4.7 The highlight of key achievements and challenges faced.

4.8 The Identification of Lessons learned and the formulation of recommendations to improve the present and future activities.

4.9 An appreciation of the Red Cross visibility (both VNRC and FRC) level in the area of operation among the beneficiaries, partners and the other stakeholders and the authorities.

4.10 An appreciation of the Donor visibility level in the area of operation among the beneficiaries, partners and the other stakeholders and the authorities.

FRC would like the contractor to give a specific attention to the innovative Gender approach that was developed during the project for all the listed objectives.

  1. Methodology

The contractor will achieve his mission in three main steps:

  1. A collection of information
  2. A field visit of the area of the implementation of the projects
  3. The writing of the evaluation report

The contractor will also have to develop his analysis relying on the study of the key factors and indicators. The following indicators do not constitute an all comprehensive list:

  • The adequation of the equipment and supplies/goods ;

(Shortage or excess of the facilities or excess of the equipment or medicine)

  • The adequation of the human resources;

(Amount, status, qualifications, motivation)

  • The capacity of financing ;

(Costs of provisions, recovering of tariff takes, external financings and the rational use of the resources)

  • The consistency of the management tools and procedures, in particular with the national regulation ;
  • The legal framework;
  • The consistency of the beneficiaries selection according to vulnerability criteria such as ethnicity and gender issues
  • The quality process, the quality control and reporting-monitoring-assessment ;
  • …

The collect of the general databases and the data related to the indicators should be done through the axes of thought linked to the main objective.

The contractor is free to use any other types of methodology which seem relevant to him as long as the expected outputs are delivered.

  1. Proposed timing

No / List of steps / Expected Deadline
1a / Briefing meeting at FRC and VNRC / -
1b / Review of documents and preparation of the field work including interview of key stakeholders based in Hanoi / _
2 / Field work and interviews / _
3a / Preparation and presentation of the draft report / 11th March 2014
3b / Integration of FRC and VNRC comments/feedback on the report’s content and release of the final report / 13th March 2014
3c / Final Presentation to FRC and VNRC in Hanoi / 14th March 2014

N.B: The planning is given as a rough guide. It can be reexamined depending on the circumstances. Please note that transportation between provinces takes a long time by car and that some villages are only accessible by motorcycle.

  1. Report

7.1 The Evaluation will consist in the redaction of a report written in English, including a summary of the evaluation (from 3 to 5 pages) as much as a detailed narrative (60 pages maximum) and the corresponding annexes.

7.2 The conditions of form which appear below must be respected except if it is relevant to add missing points (explain the modifications in that case)

7.2.1 Cover page

 Title of the evaluation report (Partners, country, sector)

 Period of evaluation

 Name of the contractor

 Mention to the fact that the report has been asked by the French Red Cross and the content of the report only reflect the opinion of the contractor

7.2.2 Table of contents

7.2.3 Table of acronyms and abbreviations

7.2.4 Summary (4 pages maximum)

 Title of the project

 Names of the partners

 Objectives of the operations/humanitarian activities that are evaluated

 Number of the financing contract(s)

 Country of the operation

 Length of the operation

 Goal and length of the evaluation

 Short descriptive of the activities that are being evaluated and its context (existing needs, socio-economic and political, etc…)

 Methodology of the evaluation, documents analyzed, visits done, persons interviewed, logical framework etc…

 Main conclusions, recommendations and lessons learnt by order of priority which do not need explanations

7.2.5 Report: It must start with a description of the methods used and must be organized in accordance with the specific objectives of the evaluation

7.2.6 Annexes

 List of the persons interviewed and the visited sites

 Terms of reference of the evaluation

 Map of the zone of the project and/or of the activities

 …

  1. The Evaluation team and required qualifications/experience

The Contractor is strongly advised to get the following experts in his team with the following profiles:

  • University Degree in Social Sciences, Development studies or other relevant technical field.
  • Work experience in projects of international development
  • Work experience in water, sanitation and hygiene programs
  • Work experience in the field of community-based projects including a participatory behavior change campaigns will be valued (knowledge of PHAST approach).
  • Work experience in project’s final evaluation
  • Knowledge of Red Cross Movement is an asset
  • Knowledge on Gender related issues is an asset
  • Knowledge of the European Union regulations is an asset
  • Native Vietnamese people in the team is an asset
  • Evaluation Team shall be fluent in written and spoken English and Vietnamese since all the work will be done in both languages. French could be a very valuable asset since some documents are only in French.

The Evaluation Team shall submit the Curriculum Vitae of each one of its members together with their proposal.

The Evaluation Team will be the fully responsible for the final implementation of the Evaluation as well as the writing and submission of evaluations reports.

  1. Selection criteria and application Procedure

The criteria for the evaluation of the quality of the proposal are:

  • Technical quality of the proposed methodology.
  • Experience and qualification of the evaluation team.
  • Financial proposal.

The evaluation proposal must include, at least:

  • A technical proposal, stating clearly and at least the evaluation methodology, the use of data collection tools, and the work plan.
  • A human resources proposal, including CVs highlighting relevant qualifications and experience.
  • A detailed financial proposal considering an adequate use of the economic resources in each stage of the assessment. Note that all expenses related to the field assessment (transportation, accommodation, Per Diem) shall be clearly distinguished in a different budget line in the proposal, as presented in Annex 2.

Please note that all proposals should be formulated in Euros.

Interested candidates are requested to send their evaluation proposal in English in electronic format with reference “FRC-VN212_Final Evaluation_Name” to the following email addresses:

AND

DEADLINE: 15th of January 2014 at 8:00pm (Hanoi time)

After the review / screening of the proposals, only short-listed applicants will be contacted by phone or email.

1

FINAL EVALUATION – Terms of Reference

ANNEXE 1 Logical Framework of the Project

LOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE PROJECT
Intervention / Objectively verifiable / Sources and means of / Assumptions
logic / indicators of achievement / verification
Overall Objective / To contribute towards improving health, increasing gender equality and reducing poverty of ethnic minority groups located in 3 Northern provinces of Vietnam through the use and dissemination of a participative, decentralized and inclusive approach. / • Poverty Reduction of the population
• Improvement of the Health status of the population
• Reduction of gender inequalities / • Poverty reports (Government, UN, EU, etc.)
• Health data of the province, district and commune health centers
• Reports on the situation of women (Governement, UN, INGO, etc.)
Specific objective / • To mainstream gender in VNRC’s development programmes at all level,
• To strengthen the capacities of VNRC, WU’s and LA of the target areas in participative and gender-sensitive WASH programme management and implementation,
• To promote gender equality and women leadership at grassroots level,
• To improve the knowledge of the target population, especially the children, in hygiene and environmental health,
• To provide water and sanitation facilities to the targeted population. / • VNRC mainstream gender in its WASH development programmes
• VNRC programme management capacities are increased
• VNRC use participatory and inclusive approaches in development programmes
• Access to water and sanitation is increased in the targeted areas
• Women participation and leadership is increased
• Hygiene knowledge of the target population is increased / • Training evaluation reports
• M&E reports
• Construction reports
• Water quality tests
• Initial baseline survey and final evaluation
• Initial and final KAP surveys / External conditions outside the Beneficiary's responsibility:
• Economic and political situations remain stable
• Involvement of VNRC and coordination with partners is maintained
• No natural disasters occurs
Expected Result 1 / The VNRC reinforces its capacity in mainstreaming gender issues within its development programmes and in first place in its WASH programmes at national level. / 20 VNRC and WU officers from national and provincial level will have good understanding of gender issues and will develop the necessary skills to be able to mainstream gender in their work and in WASH programmes. Gender budgeting will be understood as an important element to be able to effectively mainstream gender. / • Planning and activities reports• Training evaluation reports• M&E reports / External conditions to be met:• VNCR participate actively in gender mainstreaming and WASH strategy writing• Cooperation between VNRC and WU at national level is good• Trainees are available and involved on the long-term
At least 5 VNRC/WU national and provincial officers will be trained as Gender trainers. They will be able to provide support to VNRC officers in terms of use of the gender mainstreaming tools (SDD, gender analysis). / • Training evaluation reports