Appel d’offres pour Renforcer la sécurité nutritionnelle des enfants, des femmes enceintes et des mères allaitantes à Ouallam au Niger.
The purpose of this Terms of Reference is to establish a framework for the planning and execution of the Final Evaluation for the project titled Enhancing Nutritional Resilience in the Ouallam District, which is donated by IR USA. This final evaluation will employ a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the project’s impact. It will also examine the factors that facilitated or hindered the achievement of project objectives, document the outcomes realized, and capture valuable insights for future program development. Engaging an external evaluator will offer a more objective perspective for the project’s stakeholders. Additionally, the evaluation will incorporate documentation of success stories and the creation of a standard video.
1.Background and context
Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) has maintained a presence in Niger since 2005 and has strong partnerships with local authorities, government technical services, and community stakeholders to execute a wide range of programs. These programs primarily target essential sectors, including food security and livelihoods, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, and protection. Currently, IR Niger is actively engaged in the regions of Niamey, Tillabéry, and Dosso, where it operates within the above-mentioned sectors. Furthermore, the organization places significant emphasis on integrating climate change adaptation, gender equality, social inclusion, and environmental considerations into its initiatives.
Niger experiences an especially arid climate with regular extreme fluctuations. Approximately 80% of the population relies on agriculture, primarily carried out during the rainy season, which is contingent on unpredictable rainfall patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted infant and child feeding routines, impeded nutrition awareness and preventive activities, and reduced the availability of health and nutrition services. As a result, 4.2 million people faced acute food insecurity (Phase 3 or worse) from April to May 2020, and this number increased to 5.6 million from June to August. The Tillaberi region was particularly impacted, with 634,000 people experiencing acute food insecurity, a substantial proportion of whom resided in the Ouallam district. In this district, 83% of households resorted to crisis or emergency survival strategies.
In August 2020, IR Niger conducted a comprehensive needs assessment in two targeted villages in Ouallam, namely Guessé and Samtigué, collecting data from men, women, boys, and girls. Subsequently, in October 2020, IR Niger organized additional needs assessments in two other villages in Ouallam, Djole Fandou and Danga Daouda, to gather more detailed information about the prevailing needs. The selection of these villages was based on the high prevalence of malnutrition, as indicated by Ouallam CRENI data. The main challenges identified are as follows:
- Deterioration of household food and nutrition security.
- Inadequate health care practices for young children.
- Reduced access to essential preventive and curative healthcare.
- Increased morbidity among young children.
In response to these complex challenges, IR Niger has undertaken an initiative to address the prevalence of malnutrition through the Strengthening Nutritional Resilience in the District of Ouallam (SN – Ouallam) project, which spans a duration of 36 months and is funded by Islamic Relief USA. The primary aim of the project is to reduce the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in the targeted communities by means of nutrition-sensitive resilience programming. The project is designed to achieve the following key outcomes:
- Outcome 1: Enhance the access of children under 5 in the Ouallam District to high-quality and timely nutrition healthcare services.
- Outcome 2: Engage targeted households in gender-responsive resilient livelihood systems that contribute to improved nutrition outcomes.
- Outcome 3: Implement faith-based programming that reinforces enhanced protection outcomes, with a particular focus on women, girls, and individuals with disabilities.
In the context of the final project evaluation, this Terms of Reference (TOR) has been crafted for the external assessment of the project. The primary aim of this evaluation is to establish a comprehensive record of the impact and effectiveness of the project’s interventions, ensuring transparency and accountability to the project’s donors. The evaluation is anticipated to provide valuable data regarding the performance, impact, and sustainability of these project interventions.
The insights and recommendations generated by this evaluation will play a pivotal role in the learning process, enabling Islamic Relief Niger to extract valuable lessons from its experiences. This, in turn, will contribute to the improvement of service quality for the communities in Ouallam, located in the Tilaberi Region of Niger. By evaluating the extent to which project outcomes have been realized, the assessment will ascertain the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the interventions and the project as a whole. Additionally, the evaluation will encompass the documentation of success stories and the production of a standard video. Furthermore, it will capture new knowledge and essential topics for further exploration, action, advocacy, and influence. The evaluation will also serve to assess the effectiveness of the beneficiary accountability systems and mechanisms employed throughout the project’s implementation period.
2.Evaluation Objective
2.1.Main Objective
The aim of this consulting assignment is to conduct an in-depth evaluation of Islamic Relief Niger’s project titled Strengthening Nutritional Resilience in Ouallam District (SN – Ouallam). This evaluation will assess the project’s alignment with its stated objectives and specific criteria, considering its holistic and integrated design and implementation.
4.REQUIRED SKILLS
The consultant should possess the following essential skills and qualifications:
- Comprehensive expertise in conducting participatory evaluations, reviews of outcomes, and impact assessments using diverse methodologies, including experience in carrying out both field and desk reviews.
- Proficiency in collecting and managing a variety of data, the ability to extract pertinent information, and the skill to draw sound conclusions and offer well-founded recommendations.
- Effective communication skills, enabling engagement with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to obtain specific and relevant information.
- Significant practical or academic background in fields such as public health, nutrition, food security, livelihoods, water, hygiene, sanitation, and protection within the context of international development, with the capacity to utilize this knowledge to design effective inquiries and structure acquired information.
- Proficiency in producing clear and concise written reports in English and French.
- A commitment to upholding the values and principles of Islamic Relief.
All proposals must be submitted no later than Tuesday 31 October 2023 at 13:00 UK time, in accordance with the attached guidelines for submitting a quote, and must be returned at the secretary of Islamic Relief Niger sous pli fermé avec la mention Evaluation finale SN
If you have any questions about the RFP or its contents, please email
soupianou.ibrahim@ir-niger/org
directly.
After submission, IR Niger may engage in further discussions with applicants regarding bids to ensure mutual understanding and optimal agreement.
Bids must include the following information for evaluation purposes.
- Payment Terms (as mentioned above);
- Full breakdown of costs, including taxes, expenses and any VAT;
- References (preferably two);
- Technical Skills for this Position;
- Demonstrable experience in developing a similar project.
Note: Criteria are subject to change.