Date: 23.10.2024
Deadline date for reply: 05.11.2024
Start Date: 02.12.2024
End Date: 31.01.2024
Location: Sudan (Darfur and East – depending on administrative and security access)
Reference of the CFT/Consultancy : SUD/CONS/011/BHA/2024
The applicants must ask TOR and RFP by email electronically to obtain these documents through this email : tender@solidarites-sudan.org.
ABOUT SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL
Solidarites International (SI) is a French NGO, independent of any political, economic, ethnic or religious group. For more than 40 years, it has been providing humanitarian aid to populations affected by armed conflicts and natural disasters by meeting their vital needs (water, food, shelter) and strengthening their resilience. Particularly committed to the fight against water-borne diseases, the leading cause of death in the world, SI provides expertise in the areas of access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, as well as in the essential area of food and livelihood security. SI’s teams are present in more than 23 countries – a total of 2,400 people, including expatriates, national staff, permanent headquarters staff, and some volunteers.
ABOUT THE MISSION
Solidarites International (SI) is present in Sudan since November 2020, initially in the Gedaref region for the humanitarian response to the Ethiopian crisis. During 2022-2023, SI implemented different projects in West Darfur under different donors through emergency WASH response in the gathering sites of Geneina. Since the onset of the Sudan conflict in April 2023, SI was forced to evacuate, notably its main office in Khartoum. The interruption of humanitarian assistance and the difficulties of access due to insecurity have exacerbated this existing humanitarian crises. This conflict together with economic and accessibility barriers are preventing people from benefitting from services, especially the most vulnerable (children, pregnant women, elderly individuals and people with disabilities). The conflict has thus deteriorated an already critical humanitarian situation and exacerbated the needs of the population. Despite this situation, SI was the first INGO to resume its response in the country. In December 2023, operational bases in West Darfur (Geneina city), and Gedaref States were active, and SI surge team opened a base in El Fasher (North Darfur) to address the immediate needs.
PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTATION – ABOUT THE MARKET
Regarding the extensive humanitarian crisis in the country, BHA-USAID decided to launch a multisectoral emergency response to conflict affected populations in Darfur States, Sudan. A consortium led by Solidarites International (SI) was formed which includes Première Urgence Internationale (PUI), Mercy corps (MC) and Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH). The primary goal of this consortium was and still is to use a multisectoral and integrated approach to respond to urgent basic needs in the most affected areas by providing lifesaving and life-sustaining emergency support to conflict-affected populations in Sudan.
Based on an analysis on needs/priorities, the BHA-funded action initially decided to implement this project between September 2023-August 2024 in three interventions areas: West Darfur, Central Darfur and South Darfur. However, the partners had to cope with a volatile situation and numerous access constraints.
Following the improvement of the humanitarian access, the Consortium submitted a Cost-Extension to the donor for another year of implementation (from September 2024-August 2025) which include an expansion of the geographical coverage to target West Darfur, Central Darfur, South Darfur, as well as East Darfur, North Darfur, Gedaref, Khartoum and Al Jazirah.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the intermediate outcomes resulting from the program implementation at midterm stage, after a first year of implementation, and to set a baseline benchmark for year two in existing and newly proposed intervention areas. The findings from this evaluation will be used for donor reporting, consortium approach improvement, and strategic program repositioning through adaptive management.
This scope of this evaluation is to cover year one (September 1st, 2023, to August 31st, 2024) implementation performance across all sectors of implementation including Food Assistance, Health, Nutrition, Protection, Shelter and Settlement, and WASH targeting beneficiaries and other program stakeholders. In addition, the evaluation will also assess the coherence of new locations (East Darfur, North Darfur, Gedaref Khartoum and Al Jazirah) to set a baseline for existing program sectors listed and will also serve to assess the new sector for year two: Economic Recovery and Market Systems.
The prioritized sectors of the evaluation will be discussed with the evaluator, but a specific emphasis will be put on Food Assistance, Nutrition and WASH. Likewise, given the timeframe, the evaluation will, in priority, geographically target West and Central Darfur states, as well as Gedaref State (to collect baseline information).
CONSULTANCY DELIVRABLES AND TIMELINES
The Consultancy will run for approximately 45 working days between December 2, 2024, and January 30, 2025. The estimated duration activated and expected deliverables are outlined in the full version of the ToR.
The evaluation will consist of 3 key phases :
- Inception phase: Kick off meeting and additional consultation; Draft inception report (detailed methodology; analytical framework, tools, etc.); Oral presentation; Feedbacks from the consortium; Evaluation Plan, Finalised inception report
- Data collection phase: Training of enumerators; Adjustments of data collection tools (FGD, KII and surveys-if needed), Planned reflection workshops and gathering existing program data and preparing it for analysis.
- Midterm evaluation report: Presentation; Draft evaluation report; Synthetised lessons learned document; 2 Program Case study profiles and Presentation.
Consultants must NOT exceed beyond the allocated 45 working days but will work within the timelines provided to complete the assignment. CConsultants should at least spend 15 days at Coordination (Ndjamena) and field locations (Sudan) where possible during this study.
REQUIRED PROFILE
In general, the consultant shall combine the following criteria:
Services providers or proposals not fulfilling the minimum criteria will be excluded from the tender procedure and will not be assessed against the other criteria.
The following are the qualifications and experiences the firm should possess:
- Strong experience (at least 5 years) conducting major research exercises in support of major development programs – preferably in emergency and resilience programming – in challenging operational environments, previous experience in Sudan is desirable.
- A strong approach to assuring quality assurance of data collected.
- A strong ethical approach to data collection – while still being able to meet the objectives of the consultancy.
- Knowledge of strategic and operational management of humanitarian operations and proven ability to provide strategic recommendations to key stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and to prepare well-written reports on time.
- Demonstrated experience in both quantitative and qualitative data collection and data analysis techniques, especially in emergency operations.
- Data visualization skills are highly desirable and required (Tableau or Power BI).
- Strong skills in survey form design for mobile data collection (ODK, Ona etc) – Required experience providing result-oriented conclusions and recommendations to local, national and international stakeholders.
- Experience, knowledge, and clear understanding of Sudan’s humanitarian context (preferred).
- Experience with evaluating USAID/BHA-funded projects.
- Good interpersonal skills and understanding cultural sensitivities.
- Readiness to travel to Sudan via Tchad and conduct direct standard evaluation activities as well as field visits to program sites. Having a presence in North Africa or Sudan is desirable but not essential.
- Fluency in English and Arabic (at least for some team members) is required.
HOW TO APPLY
Interested candidates are expected to submit their applications by email to tender@solidarites-sudan.org no later than the 05th November 2024 at 05:00PM Sudan time.
Further information and or any queries that you may have can be directed to email no later than the 02nd November 2024: tender@solidarites-sudan.org.
For any communication/request of information/submission proposal, please clearly indicate “SUD – BHA3184 Mid-term Evaluation” in the email subject line.
Application from interested parties should include but not limited to:
- A – A cover letter – one-page maximum
- B – A technical bid including but not limited to:
- Understanding of the study issues and the ToR (full version);
- The Methodology: This section should include the methodological framework, references to the data collection methods, and the sampling approach.
- A timeline showing the details for the completion of each evaluation phase. (Refer to 6: Evaluation Schedule)
- Approach to data collection, cleaning, analysis, iterations.
- Composition of the evaluation team, their CVs, and roles/responsibilities during the evaluation
- C – Profile/CV of the consultant(s), including but not limited to:
- Training and qualifications
- Professional experience (specific skills or relevant contexts of intervention)
- Experience in evaluation or research in similar contexts: A complete list of all evaluations conducted with the details of donors, type of evaluation, the theme of the projects (WASH, FSL, etc), and region is a must.
- Knowledge of the country/area of intervention
- Languages
Solidarités International will consider both individual and team applications.
- D – Two examples of an evaluation report in English for a similar work preferably with BHA funding (max 20 pages)
- E – Two References: Provide references for the last two Evaluations conducted (Name, position, organization, email, and phone number). Proposals that do not include at least two references for consulting or research work will not be considered.
- F – The financial proposal should outline:
- Total Cost (all costs should be in USD)
- Cost per day of each contributor;
- Additional costs (additional services and documents);
- Transport costs (international and local), logistics costs;
- Proposed schedule of payments:
The evaluation criteria for the proposal are:
- Price / Financial proposal: 40%.
- Quality of the methodology / Technical proposal: 30%.
- Skills/references: 30%.
Bids that do not include at least one reference for consulting or research work will not be considered.
Please note that only short-listed candidate(s) will be contacted/interviewed.
Solidarités International will consider both individual and team applications.
TIMETABLE FOR THE APPLICATION
Withdrawal of offers is from 23rd OCT.– 5th NOV 2024 (Deadline included)
Clarifications for bidders: last day is on 2nd NOV 2024
Opening session is on the 7th NOV 2024
Evaluation of bids is to be finalized by the 13rd NOV 2024
and finally the contract is expected to be signed by the 30th NOV 2024