Consultant to undertake program evaluation of PEER-5

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 and the 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 works to strengthen disaster risk reduction at all levels, from regional to 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.

The Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) is a regional capacity-building program supported by the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance since 1998. The program's current phase aims to strengthen national and regional partners' institutional and technical capacities to support the institutionalization and sustainability of PEER in South Asian countries. The Asian Disaster Preparedness (ADPC) assumed responsibility as the regional implementing organization of the 5th phase of the PEER titled "Strengthening Institutionalization of the Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response in South Asia" from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2022. The program is being implemented in five (5) South Asian countries, namely
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The program focused on developing institutional and technical capacities to develop, manage and implement PEER scale-out strategies and programs based on national priorities and disaster risk management agendas. The program supported partner countries and institutes in developing and implementing institutionalization strategies to assist the sustainability of the program initiatives.

Purpose of the Assignment

The proposed evaluation assesses how the program, its processes, its outputs, and outcomes have contributed to strengthening national partners' institutional and technical capacity to support the institutionalization and sustainability of PEER in South Asian Countries. The evaluation will focus on all three pillars of the program namely:

• PILLAR 1: Promote the Institutionalization of PEER
• PILLAR 2: Enhanced capacity of national institutions to scale-out PEER interventions
• PILLAR 3: Promote South-South Learning Exchange of PEER

The learnings from the evaluation will be used in shaping similar programs in those countries where ADPC is currently working, mainly the Asian Preparedness Partnership (APP) where there are synergies in scaling up of activities.

The Evaluation will investigate the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, impacts, and sustainability of interventions identified in the program framework guided by the following key questions:

1. Assess the level of institutionalization of PEER in program countries

• To what extent the PEER has integrated into the national and sub-national DRR strategies and budgets?
• How far the program able to advocate for integrating PEER in national and regional DRR dialogs?

2. Assess the level of capacity enhancement of national institutions to scale-out PEER interventions

• To what extent the PEER has been integrated into existing training and education curricula in program countries?
• Was the program able to achieve accreditation of HOPE Course by professional organizations, academe and training institutes in countries/region?
• To what extent the partners have contributed to join and implement PEER activities?

3. Assess the level of South-South Learning Exchange of PEER

• To what extent the regional knowledge sharing has worked with other programs and partners?
• Was the program able to create PEER community of practice through instructor exchange and other learning events?

4. Assess relevance of the program design, approach and the outcomes/outputs to enhance the emergency response capacities in the target countries?

5. Assess the significant differences in emergency response capacities (impacts) facilitated through the program interventions in target countries? To what extent the actual application of training was used in real emergencies?

6. Assess the extent to which the interventions likely to continue (sustainability) beyond the project period?

Expected Outputs

1. Finalized methodology with key learning questions/ questionnaire for data collection;
2. Work plan for the assignment;
3. Draft evaluation report;
4. Final evaluation report;
5. PowerPoint presentation summarizing findings.

Responsibilities and Tasks

The Consultant is expected to evaluate the program using secondary data and primary data collection from program countries namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is proposed to use the following methods to carry out the Evaluation and provide the analysis:

• Desk study to review all project-related 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 and beneficiaries using a structured questionnaire
• Interviews with key informants (KIs to be identified in consultation with the program team and partner agencies)
• Observations through field visits to project sites as possible and necessary

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

• Design and finalize the evaluation methodology and work plan in consultation with the ADPC Program team;
• Conduct desk research reviewing the program documents;
• Collect primary data through interviews and discussions;
• Conduct field visits/observations as possible and necessary based on the work plan and the agreed methodology;
• Conduct evaluation assessment and summarize findings;
• Draft evaluation report;
• 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 Program Lead 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 public policy, International Development, Disaster Management, Emergency management, 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 emergency response mechanisms in the South Asian Region;
• Experiences in carrying out evaluations for similar programs;
• Understanding the culture and working modalities in the South Asian Region;
• Previous experience with USAID's BHA /OFDA funded project evaluation is an added advantage;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Duty Station

Home-based with possible visits to program countries

Contract Duration

1 February – 31 March 2023

Itinerary

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

Submission Requirements

Interested applicants may submit their applications with the following documents:

1. Updated CV/Resume of applicant;
2. Prior experience with similar assignments;
3. Understanding of the ToR
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.).

How to apply

Interested Candidates can submit the completed ADPC application form (downloadable from adpc.net or ADPC Website), resume, copy of degrees/certificate(s) together with samples of related work to: adpcjobs@adpc.net

Female candidates are especially encouraged to apply.

ADPC encourages diversity in its workplace and supports an inclusive work environment.