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
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:
Evaluation Questions
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
Sustainability
Impact
Equity
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
Responsibilities of the Consultant
Key Deliverables
The evaluation deliverables are:
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.
All applications MUST be accompanied by a technical and financial proposal including a brief outline of the proposed methodology, 3 references with contacts, and a tentative work plan as well as the candidate’s availability during the months of February and March 2024. The proposals shouldn’t exceed 10 pages. The deadline for submission of technical and financial proposals is 15th February 2024.
Interested consultants or firms are expected to conduct their own security and accessibility of the target project locations before application. Updated CVs of individuals or profiles of applying companies expressing interest in conducting the assessment should be sent som.consultant@care.org not later than 15th February 2024. Please indicate “Global Food Crisis Project – GAC End-line assessment’.
NOTE: please download the RFQ templet from the link and fill where appropriate and share it back with all other requirement documents