Job Description

Terms of Reference for Endline Assessment for the Global Food Crisis - Somalia - Gender-responsive Nutrition Support Project in Lower Juba and Gedo Region, Somalia, 2022 – 2024, CARE

Background

Somalia remains entrenched in one of the most intricate and enduring global humanitarian crises. Consecutive occurrences of severe flooding, escalating conflict, the most severe locust infestation in decades, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have collectively given rise to unparalleled humanitarian needs. The crisis's multi-faceted nature surpasses the capacity of local resources to mount effective responses. According to the 2022 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), an estimated 5.9 million people will require humanitarian assistance, representing an increase from 5.2 million in 2021 and 4.2 million in 2019. The ongoing trend of displacement adds to the challenges, imposing an additional burden on the estimated 2.6 million people already living in a prolonged state of displacement.

Specifically, in Somalia, urgent life-saving nutrition support is needed for approximately 45% of children under the age of 5 (1.5 million children) and over 250,000 pregnant and lactating women until the end of 2022. The humanitarian situation in Jubaland state has significantly deteriorated following the failure of the April-June 2022 rainfall, impacting 1.1 million people with Crisis or more severe outcomes, including approximately 361,000 people facing Emergency conditions (IPC Phase 4). In Jubaland State, 178,300 children under the age of five are grappling with acute malnutrition, with nearly 46,000 at risk of severe malnourishment. Stunting among children under 5 in Jubaland state is prevalent at 28.1%. Malnutrition rates among these children are 33.7%, with a 16.3% prevalence of wasting. Poor infant and young child feeding practices are evident, including low dietary diversity (5%), sub-optimal breastfeeding rates (76%), and a limited number of children being breastfed up to 2 years (30%). The World Food Programme (WFP) identifies Gedo and Lower Juba, regions within Jubbaland, as having the highest levels of insufficient food consumption. In Gedo, 50% of the population, and in Lower Juba, 54%, are facing Crisis (IPC 3) and Emergency (IPC 4) food consumption gaps until year-end. Failed cereal harvests and global price shocks due to the Ukraine conflict have pushed staple and imported food prices beyond the means of millions of households already spending 60-80% of their income on food. A CARE needs assessment in February 2022 highlighted that 74% of respondents in Sool, Sanaag, Lower Juba, and Galguduud had no access to nutrition treatment services. Consequently, only 20% of households needing such services reported receiving malnutrition treatment in the past month. Despite intensified humanitarian efforts, national nutrition response rates remain low, with 57.7% coverage for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 43.8% coverage for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) as of July 2022. In Bardhere, only three humanitarian organizations are present, and out of the 24 health facilities, only 16 offer Targeted Supplementary Feeding Program (TSFP) services, served by a single stabilization center (Somalia Nutrition Cluster).

The impact of the multiple humanitarian crises has exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities of women and girls and negatively affected health, wash and livelihoods, and coping mechanisms for vulnerable families and internally displaced people (IDPs).

CARE is a humanitarian non-governmental organization committed to working with poor women, men, boys, girls, communities, and institutions to significantly impact the underlying causes of poverty. Through GAC funding projects, CARE aims to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity through gender-responsive nutrition interventions for crisis-affected women, men, boys, and girls in Somalia. Life-saving nutrition services through the CMAM approach are core to the project’s design, the components of CMAM being community outreach and mobilization; management of SAM without medical complications through outpatient therapeutic programs (OTP); inpatient management of SAM with medical complications at stabilization centres (SC); and outpatient targeted supplementary feeding programs (TSFP) to manage MAM. The project teams will work through community-based approaches to raise awareness of good nutrition practices (particularly infant and young child feeding (IYCF)) and early referral to nutrition services, given their importance for the prevention of malnutrition, and reducing risk of associated mortality and adverse developmental outcomes. As critical, basic health and WASH assistance play a vital role in the prevention of acute malnutrition and deterioration of nutritional status, nutrition activities will be complemented by primary health care services with clear nutrition outcomes, and provision of safe water, basic hygiene items, and hygiene promotion campaigns by contribute to economic and social transformation, unleashing the power of the most vulnerable women and girls.

The Global Food Crisis for Gender-responsive Nutrition Support project in Lower Juba and Gedo Region, Somalia, 2022 – 2024 is a 2-year Global Affairs Canada-funded project running from October 2022, through Mar 2024. The project is implemented by CARE, which plays an overall leadership role and implements field activities. The outcome of the project is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity through gender-responsive nutrition interventions for crisis-affected women, men, boys, and girls in the Lower Juba and Gedo regions of Somalia.

To achieve the project goal, CARE implemented initiatives targeting the immediate needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, and host communities. The efforts focused on enhancing health and nutrition conditions, addressing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) issues, and providing protection-related assistance. The project aimed to benefit a total of 528,074 individuals, including 103,525 men, 179,696 women, 123,210 boys, and 121,643 girls, over a two-year period as displayed in the below table. The project covered five districts: Kismayo, Afmadow, and Badhaade districts in the Lower Juba region, as well as Bardhere and Luuq Districts in the Gedo region.

Intermediate Outcome

Lives saved, suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained through nutrition interventions for crisis-affected women, men, boys, and girls in Somalia.

Immediate outcomes

• Outcome 1 - Increased and more equitable access to gender-responsive nutrition services for children under 5 and PLW/G in Somalia
• Outcome 2 - Increased and more equitable knowledge of community nutrition practices, especially infant and young child feeding (IYCF), among caregivers, community members, and nutrition/health workers in Somalia.
• Outcome 3 - Increased and more equitable access to critical basic health and WASH services in communities targeted with nutrition programming (especially children under 5 and PLW/G) to reduce risk, and support successful treatment, of malnutrition in Somalia.

Objectives of the Endline Assessment 

The primary aim of the endline assessment is to evaluate and establish dependable concluding data regarding the project's performance concerning predefined parameters across its three components: Health and Nutrition (encompassing cash interventions targeting Severe Acute Malnutrition beneficiaries), WASH, and Protection. The evaluation report will pinpoint best practices and essential insights in both technical aspects and the program management approach, facilitating continuous learning and enhancing the effectiveness of humanitarian emergency response. The outcomes of this concluding assessment will be communicated to Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and shared with the humanitarian community operating in Somalia, disseminated through channels such as the Somalia NGO Consortium, the UN Cluster system, the broader CARE International network, and local networks. Specific objectives include:

• To determine whether the implementation strategy has contributed to addressing the issues identified in the baseline assessment that justified the development and implementation of the project (relevance); 
• Assess the results achieved and any discrepancies between planned and achieved objectives (effectiveness);
• Compare the results achieved with material, financial, human resources, etc. used (efficiency); 
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the overall project implementation methodology as well as the opportunities and constraints for its scale-up. 
• Assess the quality of the involvement and participation of the various stakeholders (CMP, country office, and project participants) in the implementation of the project.

Evaluation Questions

1. What were the project's achievements in relation to the established targets and bassline values outlined in the Performance Measurement Framework at outcome levels (immediate, intermediate, and ultimate)?
2. To what extent does the project comply with OECD-DAC criteria on effectiveness and impact?
3. What were the lessons learned in terms of the project's contribution towards gender-responsive nutrition outcomes and nutrition services?
4. What was the impact of project intervention on women, IDPs, returnees, and people with disabilities who received direct support through the project?
5. What are the key lessons learned and best practices from the program implementation, operating context, and response type as well?

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation will be done in line with OECD-DAC recommended criteria based on the  three criteria sustainability, and impact. The end-line assessment will contribute to both strengthening the accountability of CARE International in Somalia to its donors and key stakeholders including beneficiaries, and to learn from this experience to inform future programming.

Effectiveness

• To what extent has the project increased the capacity of Health and Nutrition accessibility and enhanced the community needs and priorities? Are the results satisfactory?
• To what extent has the project enhanced and addressed the practices related to feeding infants and young children and personal hygiene practices through the attainment of knowledge, attitude, and practice changes?
• What were the key drivers and barriers that impacted on the delivery of the project outputs?
• To what extent has the project used learning to improve delivery?
• To what extent has the program achieved its intended health and nutrition outcomes?
• Can changes in health and nutrition outcomes be directly attributed to the program?

Sustainability

• What is the level of community ownership, as reflected in the participation of the community in the project-supported Health facility community-based structures?
• Is the project supported by community-based structures adequately and has a long-term vision and strategy for operating, maintaining, and regulating the water supply and sanitation infrastructure/system?
• Do the community have the capacity to maintain the benefits from the project with support from CARE or any other donor? If yes, how? If not, what will be the principal challenges in sustaining the program benefits?
• To what extent has the program achieved its intended health and nutrition outcomes?
• Can changes in health and nutrition outcomes be directly attributed to the program?

Impact

• Has the project contributed to the improvement in the quality of life of the people in affected districts?
• Have there been any other changes (positive and negative) at the household or community level as a result of the project?
• How has the health and nutrition status of the target population changed over the course of the intervention or program?
• What are the observed improvements or deteriorations in key health & nutrition indicators?
• Has the project affected people in ways that were not originally intended? If yes, what has changed?
• What was the role of the program partners in delivering the assistance?
• What is the gender impact of the project in the areas of intervention?

Equity

• Did the project contribute to equitable participation and benefits to various groups (men, women, boys and girls, and differently abled people)? 
• Over the past 2 years, were there any undertakings by the project to promote equity? If yes, how? If not, why not?

Approach and Methodology

The final evaluation serves as a performance assessment, utilizing a non-experimental design to enable a simple pre-post comparison of results. This evaluation employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, involving a beneficiary household survey, document reviews, and interviews with both participants and stakeholders. The reporting of project accomplishments linked to specific indicator values will take a comparative analysis approach.

The technical support team is anticipated to put forth a fitting and comprehensive evaluation methodology that includes the right evaluation approach, sampling techniques, data analysis methods, presentation and reporting strategies, and ethical considerations for the evaluation.

Scope of the Evaluation

The end-line assessment will cover the Kismayo, Afmadow, and Badhaade districts of Lower Juba, Somalia, Specifically the locations where the project activities have been implemented. The participants of the evaluation survey will include IDPs, returnees, host rural and urban communities in the target area as well as government authorities and partner agencies.

Responsibilities of CARE    

• CARE will provide all logistics support including flights, accommodation, transport, enumerators recruitment, payment of enumerators, etc.
• Commission the consultancy fee for the study
• Introduce the consultant to relevant stakeholders.
• Review and approve the study instruments/tools including the digital quantitative (Kobo, ONA) tool and qualitative guides.
• Support the consultant in field data collection while supervising the entire process.
•  Overall data quality control and technical review of the final report and approval of the final report

Responsibilities of the Consultant

• Develop appropriate methodology and tools for the data collection and analysis process. The tools will be shared and approved by CARE before starting fieldwork.
• Develop a practical work plan for the work
• Undertake a desk-based review and lead field-level data collection
• Train enumerators who will be involved in the data collection.
• Conduct data collection including pretesting of tools in the districts covered by the project,
• Ensure that datasets are clean, complete, and consistent.
• Analyse data and write baseline survey report.
• The consultant shall be liable for ethical procedures including obtaining informed consent from respondents.
• Debrief CARE Somalia/Somaliland after completing the assignment and validate the findings prior to submitting the final report.
• Prepare and submit a final evaluation report to CARE Somalia/Somaliland as per the time frame set in the ToR.

Key Deliverables 

The evaluation deliverables are:

1.    Inception Report:  For review, the evaluation team should submit to CARE an inception report presenting findings from the desk review and/or examination of data to date. The inception Report should include
2. Detailed evaluation methodology

Experiences and Qualifications

Qualification of the Consultant

The evaluation is to be conducted externally. The consultant or consulting team should possess extensive experience in conducting evaluations for projects similar to those funded by GAC. Additionally, they should demonstrate substantial expertise in the context of Somalia, particularly – Jubaland State regions to ensure a thorough understanding of the local conditions.

Further qualifications for the consultant or team are outlined below.

• Over 10 years of international humanitarian and development expertise, specifically in the Somalia context.
• Demonstrated experience in conducting humanitarian evaluations.
• Substantial experience and a thorough understanding of nutritional expertise and its interrelations with diverse sectors, notably health, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), food security, and livelihoods.
• Profound understanding of the factors influencing malnutrition and poor health in the Somalia context, coupled with experience in evaluating health and nutrition programs.
• Comprehensive knowledge and experience in the Somalia context, with a preference for teams that include Somali speakers. If not feasible, the methodology should outline how local feedback will be obtained.
• Familiarity with the World Humanitarian Summit’s Grand Bargain and OECD DAC Criteria.
• Robust experience and understanding of applying humanitarian standards such as SPHERE and Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS).
• Well, converse and understanding of the integrated programming approach, with the ability to offer recommendations based on evaluation findings.
• Capability to grasp the broader context and provide practical recommendations for implementation and on-the-ground improvements.
• Proficiency in absorbing, consolidating, analyzing, and communicating extensive amounts of data and information simply and concisely.
• Experience and ability to operate in security-volatile environments.
• Background in collaborating with local partners and the private sector, particularly in the Health and Nutrition sector.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Willingness to travel to Somalia within the security framework established by CARE International.
• Proficient in participatory facilitation and workshop design.
• Excellent English report-writing skills

Skills Required

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