Consultancy Service for Project Evaluation

Terms of Reference

Project evaluation – P5121 AgriCord in Yen Bai and Son La provinces, Vietnam

Project Tittle: P5121 Promoting participation of ethnic minority and poor small-scale farmers in sustainable agricultural production value chains through cooperative approach

1.    Background

We Effect was founded in 1958 to support the development of democratic organisations and societies, working together with partner organisations to build capacity to articulate the rights and needs of their members. Our vision is a sustainable and just world free of poverty. We Effect’s global strategy, “Equality First”, emphasises the importance of gender equality to reach our results in 13 Programmes spread over 24 countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Southern and Eastern Africa.

We Effect’s Southeast Asia programme (SEA programme) has being implemented in three countries of Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, which stretches a decade back. It supports member-based organisations to fight poverty and injustice in rural areas, including agriculture cooperatives, self-help groups (SHGs), village savings and loans association (VSLAs), producer groups, community forest groups, and those groups members. SEA programme for the period of 2018 – 2022 aims that “small-holder farmers and agriculture producers in poverty are economically empowered and socially included to reach equitable growth and equal rights”.

The AgriCord project in Yen Bai and Son La provinces is part of this larger We Effect’s SEA programme, mainly oriented towards the strengthening of capacities for sustainable development of rural cooperatives and small-scale farmers as well as other farmer organizations. Specifically, the project promotes participation of ethnic minority and poor small-scale farmers in sustainable agricultural production value chains through cooperative approach. This project started from November 2016 through July 2019. The partner is Yen Bai Provincial Cooperative Alliance (YB PCA) together with the former co-implementer Human Ecology System and Sustainable Development Institute (HESDI) and current co-implementer Center of Help for Indigenous value promotion And Sustainable Environment (CHIASE). The target groups are Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), sustainable and green producer groups, cooperatives to be members of Green Co-op Union, divisions of Green co-op Union, monitoring boards at village, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), members of cooperatives.

As the project P5121 ended by 31st July 2019, We Effect is looking for a consultant/ consultancy firm to conduct a final project evaluation. The assignment is expected to take place in October and November 2019.

2.    Purpose of the assignment

The assignment aims at:

• To assess achievements of the Project towards the project LFA and understand to what extend the Project has contributed to the achievement of the SEA programme; and
• To capture lessons learnt from the evaluated project and provide recommendations for We Effect and stakeholders.

3.    Key questions of the evaluation

3.1    Project result assessment 2016 – 2019

• What has worked well? How well the Project promoted right-based approach and gender equality? What are the lessons learnt? the assessment should also seek to identify the processes of change that have led to positive and/ or negative effects for women and men. 
• How effectively the approaches/ methodologies have been applied in the Project to produce the expected results?
• How the Project has effectively supplemented to the respective partner projects under We Effect’s supports in order to achieve the partner overall’s objectives?
• What elements of the project can maintain beyond the project’s circle? What factors have driven this sustainability?

3.2    Recommendations for learning

• Based on the findings, provide recommendations for lessons learnt. The recommendations should depart from the goals in the global strategy and be based on the added value that can be provided by We Effect. How is the project complementary to local communities, other organisations and initiatives?

4.    Methodology and scope of work

The evaluation process should be participatory and involve all key stakeholders through direct and indirect consultations. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches should be applied. The assignment will be carried out in close dialogue with relevant project and We Effect staffs. The assignment will focus on Agricord LFA and expected results.

The tender should present an implementation proposal that includes, but is not necessarily limited to the following evaluation methods:

• Desk study: Relevant strategies and policies, programme and project documents, result reports, earlier evaluations and other relevant studies
• Interview/ survey with target beneficiaries
• Interview with key stakeholders, including: We Effect staff; direct and indirect consultations with partner organisations
• Field visits: Visit evaluated partners and project in provinces
• Partner meetings: A validation meeting with the partners should be organized to get clarification, validation and further inputs from partners and the We Effect’s SEA team.

The tender should include a description of how the consultant will work with quality assurance of the evaluation process and final report. The tender should also describe how a right-based evaluation process will be assured.

5.    Deliverables

• Inception report (including detailed evaluation plan, evaluation framework and detailed methodologies)
• Detailed evaluation tools
• Set of collected data/ information
• Validation meeting with the partners and relevant stakeholders
• Project final evaluation report

6.    Timetable

The timeframe for the assignment is from October to December 2019.

7.    Reporting

The evaluation report will be no more than 30 pages, including an executive summary and excluding annexes. The report shall be written in English and local language. It should be written in such a way that it is easy to comprehend even without prior knowledge of We Effect or partner organisations work in South East Asia.

The proposed format and headings to be included in the evaluation report shall be suggested by the consultant as part of the inception report.

8.    Consultant profile

The consultant shall have the following qualifications:

• Documented comprehensive experience from rural development programmes (rural cooperatives and/ or farmers’ organisations), preferably in South East Asia;
• Documented comprehensive experience of evaluation of international development programmes, preferably of civil society;
• Documented experience from HRBA in evaluations;
• Documented comprehensive experience of gender programming;
• Proficiency in English;
• Knowledge of development cooperation strategies of Sweden;
• Preferably local nationality.

9.    Tenders

Tenders, including a technical and financial proposal, and CV, shall be submitted to We Effect office with the following mailing addresses not later than 15 October 2019: [email protected].

For further information, please contact SEA Programme and Finance Manager at [email protected]