Consultant for Final Evaluation of Empowerment of Raglai Communities through Livelihoods and Market Interventions Project

1. Background
Oxfam Great Britain (OGB) has started the project entitled ‘Empowerment of Raglai communities through livelihoods and market intervention’ since September 2007 and it will be completed by the end of March 2011. The project is being operated in 4 communes in Bac Ai district of Ninh Thuan province under the partnership with District People’s Committee.
This project is aiming at improving food and income security for poor Raglai ethnic minority men and women living in Bac district, Ninh Thuan province.

Main components are as follow:
- Supporting Participatory Irrigation Management.
- Land use planning and allocation to the most disadvantaged in the community.
- Establising and supporting networks of key farmers in the community.
- Facilitating community expectation on delivery of extension services.
- Training on basic market skills and household economy management skills.
- Updating market information of key commodities.
- Raising gender awareness and building strong social rejection for violence against women.
- Buidling Oxfam’s capacity to work effectively with Raglai communities.

2. Overall objective of the final evaluation
To conduct the final evaluation for the ‘Empowerment of Raglai communities through livelihoods and market interventions’ Project in Ninh Thuan province.

3. Specific objectives
- To evaluate the results and impact of the project against its planed objectives;
- To evaluate the suitability of the project such as timing, target group, beneficiaries and budget;
- To measure the changes in improving the quality and access to extension service and market information;
- To measure the relevance of project strategies and implementation to local contexts;
- To evaluate sustainability and replication of project activities;
- To evaluate cost effectiveness, participation and recourse mobilization;
- Analyse advantages and difficulties and recommend following up.

4. Process and methodology
The final evaluation will be a combination between literature review and field work which the latter would be main task. Literature review will be conducted in Hanoi and the field work will in Bac Ai district, Ninh Thuan province.
A set of participatory tool will be developed by consultant teams which might include focus group discussion, in-depth interview, and case study collection.
Oxfam programme staff will join as a member of the review team. While consultant team will take a leader role in the review, Oxfam staff will join field work and provide support in logistic arrangement.

5. Outputs
Output of the review will be documented in one report which takes into account entire review process and findings. The report should be prepared in both English and Vietnamese following OGB format.
Applying consultants will propose report structure (report layout) in their application, this structure to be agreed by Oxfam prior to organisation of field work.

6. Profile of desired consultant
The consultant should have different and complementary profiles:
- Master’s degree either in Agriculture, development studies, social sciences or economics;
- At least 10 years of experiences with demonstrated monitoring and evaluation knowledge, skills and experiences of mountainous or rural development programme;
- In-depth knowledge of research methods with particular focus on participatory methods, including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and product or behavior trials;
- Excellent analytical and writing in English and Vietnamese;
- High competency in using of statistical software e.g. SPSS;
- Good understanding of OGB’s works in Vietnam would be a competitive advantage.

7. Timing
The assignment is ideally conducted during March 2011 period; the selected consultant team should submit the final reports to OGB by 28th March 2011 at the latest.

8. Contact person and deadline for submission
Applying consultant teams are requested to submit an application package to OGB via email (preferred) or post no later than 18th Feb 2011. The application should include method, process, time-frame, detailed planning of activities, detailed budget projection (including PIT), responsibility and working days of each team member, full CVs of each team member and proposed structure of final report. Consultant team might be invited to discuss their application with OGB staff during the selection process.

Contact person:
Nguyen Ngoc Hung
Livelihoods Programme Officer
Oxfam Great Britain
22 Le Dai Hanh St., Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +84 4 39454362
Fax: +84 4 39454365
Email: [email protected]