Consultant/ Consultancy Firm to undertake program evaluation of SIPERE

Background:

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a non-profit, autonomous international organization and non-political in management, staffing, and operations. ADPC has been created for scientific, educational, developmental, and humanitarian purposes that work to build the resilience of people and institutions to disasters and climate change impacts in Asia andthe Pacific region.

ADPC has more than 36 years of working experience in Asia along with the national and local Governments of its founding charter member countries and countries of the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management. ADPC strengthens disaster risk reduction at regional, national, sub-national, and local community levels. ADPC aims at supporting governments, strengthening institutions, and building capacity for mainstreaming DRR into development processes. It includes developing institutional systems, assessing disaster risks, undertaking programs for disaster risk reduction, adapting to climate change, etc. Further details on ADPC and its programs can be found at www.adpc.net.

Since 2016, ADPC, in partnership with the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC), has implemented a program, namely “Strengthening Institutional Capacity & Preparedness for Emergency Response in Ethiopia (SIPERE), with financial and technical support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program aims to improve the institutional system and technical capacity of the Commission and key sector ministries, including Agriculture and Health, to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. These could be achieved through institutional partnerships, south-south learning and experience exchange, technical assistance on priority actions, knowledge resources, training, and networking opportunities. The program was jointly designed through the active engagement of the three parties, EDRMC, BMGF, and ADPC, and implemented in shared management responsibilities of the EDRMC and ADPC, each of them bringing in their unique capacities and experience.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The proposed Evaluation is to assess how the program, its processes, its outputs, and outcomes have contributed to improving disaster preparedness and response capacities, as well as evaluate the quality and impacts of the training activities in Ethiopia. The assessment will cover the program implementations in EDRMC, Ministries of Agriculture and health, and the three target regions Afar, Oromia, and Somali. The Evaluation will focus on all four pillars of the program, namely:

• PILLAR 1: Improved capacity of the Research and Training Institute under the EDRMC
• PILLAR 2: Enhanced Emergency Coordination & Response Mechanisms of the EDRMC
• PILLAR 3: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) actions are integrated into sectoral interventions
• PILLAR 4: Enhanced Learning and knowledge management systems for emergency response The learnings from the Evaluation will shape similar programs in Ethiopia and those countries where ADPC is currently working on similar objectives.

The Evaluation will investigate the outcomes/outputs identified in the program framework guided by the following key questions:

• Key Question 1: Assess whether institutional capacities and approaches for disaster response actions, preparedness, and recovery have been realized at the federal and state levels
• Key Question 2: Assess whether learning and knowledge management resources and systems have been initiated and institutionalized for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery amongst the federal and state-level line agencies
• Key Question 3: Assess whether need-based knowledge products and learning programs on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery have been designed and developed. This includes analyzing the usefulness of the various experience exchange visits organized for the partner organization staff to Asian countries and their impact on institutional capacity building.
• Key Question 4: Assess whether multi-stakeholder capacities in emergency response, recovery, and risk management through priority program interventions, training, and learning actions have been strengthened
• Key Question 5: Assess the increased level of preparedness and its effectiveness in disaster response and recovery at the federal, regional, and woreda levels

Expected Outputs:

1. Finalized methodology with key learning questions/ questionnaire for data collection in consultation with the program team;
2. Work plan for the assignment endorsed by the program team;
3. Draft evaluation report;
4. A validation workshop with ADPC, BMGF, EDRMC, and other key stakeholders;
5. Final evaluation report;
6. PowerPoint presentation summarizing findings.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

The Consultant/Consultancy Firm is expected to evaluate the program using secondary data and primary data collection from Ethiopia. Therefore, it is required to use the following methods to carry out the Evaluation and provide the analysis:

• Desk study to review all project-related government policies, strategies, and plans, coordinated emergency response actions, project documents, including project proposal, program framework, tracker, progress reports, knowledge products, Project Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, etc.
• In-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, beneficiaries and collaborating external partners using a structured questionnaire
• Interviews with key informants (KIs to be identified in consultation with the ADPC project team and project partner agencies)
• Observations through field visits to project sites

Following is a list of specific tasks expected from the consultant/consultancy firm:

• Design and finalize the evaluation methodology and work plan in consultation with the ADPC Program team;
• Conduct desk research reviewing the program documents;
• Conduct field visits for data collection in Ethiopia based on the work plan and the agreed methodology;
• Conduct evaluation assessment and summarize findings;
• Draft evaluation report;
• A validation workshop to present and validate the findings;
• Finalize the evaluation report and a PowerPoint presentation on the findings.

Working Principles:

In performing the duties and responsibilities indicated above, the Consultant will be supervised by the Technical Lead – Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, and the ADPC Program Manager in Ethiopia under the overall guidance of the Director Preparedness for Response and Recovery (PRR) Department of ADPC.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications and Specifications

• At least a master’s degree in Institutional development, International Development, Disaster risk Management, Humanitarian Response management, social sciences and rural development or any other relevant university degree.
• At least ten years of experience in working with international organizations and donors;
• Extensive expertise, knowledge, and experience in the field of disaster management, emergency response, and institutional development;
• Knowledge and understanding of institutional setup for disaster risk management and emergency response mechanisms in the African Region, specifically in Ethiopia;
• Experiences in carrying out evaluations for similar programs particularly program supporting government institutional capacity building;
• Proven experience in participatory multi-stakeholder evaluation approaches, and conversant with appropriate evaluation tools and techniques.
• Understanding the culture and working modalities in the African Region;
• Previous experience with BMGF funded project evaluation is an added advantage;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Duty Station:

Home-based with a trip to Ethiopia for data collection (Ethiopian based consultants/firms are also encouraged to apply)

Contract Duration:

15 December 2022 – 31 January 2023

Itinerary:

The itinerary shall be finalized based on the deliverables and work plan by the program team.

How to apply

Submission Requirements:

Interested applicants/firms may submit their applications with the following documents to: adpcjobs@adpc.net

1. Updated CV/Resume of applicant/s and the organization profile in case of a firm;
2. Understanding of the TOR and assignment details
3. Prior experience with similar assignments;
4. Brief description of the approach and methodology for the said assignment;
5. Draft Work Plan;
6. Proposed budget (with details such as professional fee, travel, accommodation, per diem, etc.).