TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR PROJECT ENDLINE EVALUATION

SNV the Netherlands Development Organization is a global development partner working in more than 25 countries in Asia and Africa. In Rwanda, SNV has been working for more than 30 years to improve people’s livelihoods by strengthening the capacities of public and private sector organizations and catalyzing partnerships. It does so by helping to realize the national development goals in three sectors: Agri-Food; Renewable Energy; and Water. SNV supports development in these sectors by working with the government, civil society, and private sector organizations.

1. PROJECT INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The REgenerative Agricultural practices for improved Livelihoods and MarketS (REALMS) project started in November 2020 and will end in October 2024. Overall, the project aims to improve livelihoods of 10,000 smallholder farmers (5,000 famers in Western Rwanda and 5,000 farmers in Western Kenya) by creating conditions for the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. Both project areas are characterised by high population growth and increased demand for food, increasingly degraded lands, fragile landscapes and weakened livelihoods.

The project approach follows three interlinked outcome pathways to contribute to long-term change:

• Outcome 1:Increased adoption of regenerative practices by smallholder farmers through a participative approach to decision-making and peer-to-peer learning that builds on existing social structures and makes training needs-based. The focus of Outcome 1 is providing farmers with access to knowledge, inputs (via Outcome 2) and training. Special attention is provided to women and youth farmers, to ensure they are not only included in training but are also able to benefit and possibly take leadership positions in training.
• Outcome 2:Increased investment and business growth for SMEs that can provide products, services and technologies (“solutions”) to support farmers with the implementation of regenerative agriculture. REALMS links SMEs to farmers with affordable solutions, opens up opportunities for increased demand and supports SMEs to secure investments with bankable business plans. In addition, REALMS contributes co-investments (through its REALMS Innovation Fund) to lower risks for financial institutions and make initial investments more attractive.

Outcome 3:Improved enabling environment, favourable to market-driven regenerative agriculture through the promotion of relevant solutions, establishing minimum standards, enforcing quality control, prohibiting malpractice, and ensuring fair competition are crucial. REALMS’s entry point is Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) using evidence-based advocacy. The CSOs can be key actors to influence policies and practices and ensure long-term advocacy is in place and locally owned, long after the project finalises. The evidence for lobby and advocacy generated by two research partners in both countries who investigated various RA practices scientifically using participatory research approaches

2. RATIONALE AND PURPOSE OF EVALUATION

Following its nearly four years of implementation (2020 – 2024), REALMS will be phasing out its activities by October 2024, the four months following from November 2024 to Feb 2025 have been reserved for reporting and final closure of project. The project is now commissioning an evaluation to verify the project’s impacts/outcomes and derive the key lessons learned. A focused set of OECD/DAC criteria shall be used as the guidelines for the project final evaluation to look at the project’s relevance, effectiveness, coherence and potential for sustainable scalability. Lessons learned from the project will inform project partners and the donor IKEA Foundation on how to integrate REALMS learnings into other ongoing or planned programs. The primary audience of this evaluation will be REALMS project partners, the IKEA Foundation as well as other relevant development partners and programs.

The project is therefore seeking an external team of evaluators or a firm to undertake the Project endline evaluation to ensure an objective view and assessment. Ideally, the consultancy team should demonstrate a proven track record of evaluating similar projects. The endline evaluation aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Assess the project’s relevance to the needs and priorities of the project’s target groups and partners, effectiveness in achieving project outcomes, coherence with other relevant initiatives and potential for sustainable scalability.
• Objective 2: Draw lessons, best practices, and recommendations to inform potential future programming, local partners, and other project stakeholders.

The evaluation will utilize the Baseline, Mid-Term Review, and other relevant project MEL documents.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The endline evaluation should answer the following questions:

• To what extent did the project’s TOC and approaches address the needs and priorities of the project’s primary target group (SMEs, farmer groups and cooperative members, CSOs and governmental organisations/policy makers, women, and youth)? (relevance^[1])
• To what extent was the project internally and externally coherent? For example, internally coherent with other SNV projects/interventions in Kenya and Rwanda? Externally coherent with other actors interventions in the FFS field in both countries including complementarity, coordination and duplication? (coherence^[2])
• How effective^[3] have the project strategies and approaches been in achieving the expected results?

Sub-questions:

1. What are the key positive and negative (unexpected) changes of project target groups, linked to project interventions?
2. Which elements of the project strategies and approaches were more effective in contributing to the (unexpected) positive changes and which - less? Which strategies and approaches contributed to (unintended) negative changes? What could have worked better and how?
3. Which elements of the project strategies and approaches could be scaled up in a sustainable manner?
4. What key external factors facilitated or hindered the project’s achievements compared to the expected targets?

The following project strategies will be reviewed;

• Farmer field school (FFS) approach and project’s activities to provide extension support including demonstration plots, etc.
• Effectiveness of the REALMS Investment Fund support to the SMEs
• REALMS gender and youth focused approach and activities
• Multistakeholder platforms and district level platforms and policy engagement at national and district levels in both Rwanda and Kenya
• Evidence generation using research partners
• Synergy and collaboration among local partners
• How sustainable^[4] are the project results and achievements in the medium term?

Sub-questions:

1. To what extent will the project results and achievements sustain after the intervention has ended? What is the potential for further sustainable scale up?
2. Which project internal and external factors (might) affect (positively or negatively) the sustainability of the project achievements? What are the potential risks and trade-offs with adopting farmers?

The consultancy team is expected to design and facilitate a final reflection workshop to disseminate, triangulate and reflect on the evaluation findings among all the main stakeholders

3. EVALUATION APPROACH AND METHODS

The final project evaluation will adopt a mixed-methods approach, integrating both qualitative and quantitative data collected from primary and secondary source.

• Primary data collection will prioritize participatory and inclusive processes, ensuring engagement with diverse stakeholders. This will encompass a cross-section of key actors, including FFS members, both men and women from farming communities at different levels, participating SMEs, policymakers, and local/national partners such as the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI).
• A carefully developed sampling strategy will guarantee representation from varied stakeholders, with particular attention to ensuring adequate inclusion of women and youth perspectives. Data collection and analysis will adhere to a gender and age-disaggregated framework, with additional segmentation by value chain where applicable.
• In-depth analysis will be conducted on at least five SMEs per country, evaluating their business models, inclusivity (including linkages with cooperatives and farmers), and future viability.
• Secondary data will be drawn from comprehensive desk studies encompassing relevant project documents such as reports, MEL reports, LogAlto activity reports, baseline data, qualitative studies, REALMS impact stories, national datasets and relevant external reports where applicable.

4. SCHEDULE AND TIMELINES

The evaluation is expected to commence in June 2024 and the final report shall be submitted by 30^th August 2024.

The review will be conducted over 3months (approx. 50 working days) broken down as follows:

1. Inception Phase (1^st to 15^th June 2024) - Analysis of the project documentation, interviews with key programme stakeholders. A design workshop is part of the inception phase, in which the proposed approach and methodology will be discussed with key programme staff and project partners. The inception phase will result in an inception report. The inception report should clearly outline the research design, operationalise the evaluation questions and indicators to be used, further detail the data collection methods as well as propose a detailed time schedule. The inception report is subject of formal approval by the project PM and/or the IKEA Foundation. The further continuation of the evaluation is only possible after the inception report has been approved by the IKEA Foundation.
2. Desk research and fieldwork (15^th June to 30^th July 2024) - Desk research and fieldwork will provide in-depth insight in the activities of REALMS and the results achieved. Fieldwork will be carried out following the research plan as presented in the inception report. We expect the team to follow the agreed upon timelines. Any significant change to the timeline needs approval of Evaluation Reference Group (ERG[5]).
3. Data analysis and reporting (15^th July to 30^th August) - Participation in discussion of findings with REALMS staff and partners (validation workshop), and reporting. The deliverables are a powerpoint with preliminary findings to the ERG, a draft evaluation report (in PowerPoint) including findings, conclusions and recommendations presented to the ERG followed by a detailed final evaluation report taking into account all comments received from project stakeholders.

5. SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants for this evaluation assignment should meet the following requirements:

• Proven experience/track record of the firm/team of consultants on project evaluations for a minimum of five years, and experience particularly on agriculture projects evaluation.
• Team composition: relevant qualification and experience of proposed team members, including the lead consultant. Please provide/include profiles of lead team members.
• Knowledge of the Rwanda and Kenya agricultural sector
• International organisations have to work in partnership with at least one local partner or evaluation team member and with work authorization. Note: SNV will not meet Visa or work permit costs for this assignment.

The following selection criteria will be applied:

• The team leader should have appropriate and demonstrated experience & expertise in the management of quantitative and qualitative agriculture evaluations in Africa.
• The other key team member(s) should have a mixed qualification and experience in the area of agriculture (preferably regenerative agriculture), value chain development, economics/business, gender, etc. and proven experience in handling large project evaluations.

• Contact application and required documents.

Interested candidates should send the following documents and clearly stating the position title to email: rwandaprocurement@snv.org by the closing date of 5:00pm (Kigali time), Friday 10^th May 2024.

• Consultants (firm) CV or profile
• A list of relevant past work including two written examples of a past evaluation
• Technical and Financial proposal of not more than 5 pages (SNV will cover any field related travel and logistical costs)

Only short-listed applicants meeting the requirements stated above will be contacted for an interview.

Vetting

SNV carries out rigorous background and reference checks concerning possible safeguarding incidents for all candidates applying for International determined positions. As SNV participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, all reference checks include a request to past employers to fill in a questionnaire regarding Misconduct (sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment), the “Statement of Conduct". This Statement of Conduct adopts the definitions used in the Scheme.  

Data Protection assurance

SNV will not retain your Personal Data for longer than is allowed by law or is necessary for the Purposes.

If you are selected and offered employment, the Personal Data you have provided will be used by SNV for the purpose of this bidding administration. If you are unsuccessful on this occasion to secure tender with SNV, SNV will retain your Personal Data for required period for the purpose of any future internal or external audit.

[1] Relevance - “The extent to which the objectives of a development intervention are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirement, country needs, global priorities and partners’ and donors’ policies”.

[2] Coherence – “The compatibility of the intervention with other interventions in a country, sector or institution”

[3] Effectiveness - “The extent to which the development intervention’s objectives were achieved, or are expected to be achieved, taking into account their relative importance”.

[4] Sustainability - “The continuation of benefits from a development intervention after major development assistance has been completed. Probability of long-term benefits. The resilience to risk of the net benefit flows over time”.

[5] The Evaluation Reference Group comprises of PMs and MELs from SNV and IKEA Foundation.