External Consultants to Conduct Project Final Evaluation

External Evaluation of Innovating Civil Society Organizations in Vietnam (ICSO) Project
Project Title: Innovating Civil Society Organization (ICSO)
Time: 20th July – 15th August 2016

1. Introduction

The Vietnam Civil Society Facility (VCSF) was established in 2007 and is administered by the Embassy of Ireland in Hanoi. The Facility supports grant funding to short and medium term interventions which can demonstrate either a direct poverty impact or an influencing or testing value, and which are compatible with the Country Strategy Paper’s objectives. The Civil Society Facility will contribute to the following outcomes and objectives of the Country Strategy Paper 2011-2015 of Irish Aid in Vietnam:

The project “Innovating Civil Society Organizations in Vietnam” funded by Irish Aid under its Vietnam Civil Society Facility (VCSF) for a period 2014-2016, aims to: i) Introduce and integrate social entrepreneurship as an innovative development approach to CSOs by setting up or mainstreaming social enterprise to improve the institutional, operational, and business capacity of CSOs that seek self-sustainability in order to improve economic status and social inclusion for the people with different ability, women, and ethnic minorities; ii)  Increase awareness and evidence-based policy dialogues with different related stakeholders to create a greater enabling environment for CSOs to enterprise themselves and to promote a greater business arm development movement among CSOs

The project has 3 key specific outcomes as follows:

• Increased the business arm’s income contribution to six CSOs’ operation and program expenses
• Six CSOs owned social enterprises and their contributions in delivering social services and addressing social problems in areas of women empowerment, ethnic minorities and PWDA will be increasingly referred to in government and donor reports, research and policy advocacy for an enabling environment for double bottom line CSOs
• CSOs in Vietnam are inspired and connected through a growing network of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs to strengthen their impact at the community level and empower them to better serve the community

2. Scope of works:

CSIP is looking for external consultants to conduct the final evaluation of the project. The assignment is expected to finish by 15th August 2016

3. Objectives of the Evaluation

The evaluation aims to assess the relevance of the ICSO project’s outputs and outcomes to the goal and objectives of CSIP’s strategy as well as to Irish Aid’s overall policy goal and objectives. An evaluation is also used to determine the long-term impact and sustainability of the project; the value of the results to the intended beneficiaries.

The evaluation seeks to document lessons learned from the implementation of the project, and explain the extent to which project interventions and its modalities have succeeded or failed and the reasons why.

As ICSO is funded by Irish Aid, evaluation report will be addressed to Irish Aid and CSIP.

4.  Scope

The evaluation should preferably use participatory approaches and there should be consultation with a wide range of stakeholders including beneficiaries, staff, management, government officials, etc.

The evaluation will assess the achievement of the planned outcomes and objectives, and consolidate lessons learnt and make recommendations to relevant stakeholders.

In particular, the evaluation should address the following questions:

Relevance: The evaluation should consider the extent to which the project addresses the needs and priorities of the target. It should also consider how the project fits in with the priorities and policies of CSIP

Effectiveness: The evaluation should consider if the project design was the most effective means of achieving the objectives and the extent to which the objectives have been achieved taking into account the relative importance of each objective. The evaluation should examine how the inputs (financial, technical and human) contributed or hindered the achievement of the objectives.

Impact: The evaluation should determine the long-term effects of the project, whether these are positive or negative, intended or unintended, and the relation to the overall goal of the project.

Sustainability: The evaluation should determine if the project outcomes and impacts will be sustained without continuing external financial or technical support.

Replicability: The evaluation should also determine whether a successful project or successful aspects of the project could be replicated.

4. Expected output

A written evaluation report (in English) should be submitted. Report should be no more than 15 pages in length (evaluation timetable, list of interviewees, questionnaire etc. should be presented as annexes). Transcripts of key interviews should be submitted to Irish Aid separate to the final report.

A debriefing session might be required at the Embassy to present to the senior management team the key findings of the evaluation reports and to discuss the follow up action necessary with the partners that the evaluators recommend.

5 Contract Duration

Period of Working/Timeline: 20th July to 15th August 2016

6 Payment and Reimbursement

Consultants are asked to send their financial proposal (incl. specification of work time).

7 Proposal

Interested consultants are invited to send their technical and financial proposal, addressing their understanding of the assignment, brief methodology and workplan (incl. time plan), and budget proposal as well as reference details to CSIP at the following email address: [email protected] by 12th July 2016.

For any further information, kindly contact the Project coordinator:
Name: Ms. Hoang Dieu Huong
Phone: +84 4 3537 8746, Mobile: +84 934 65 57 58
Email: [email protected]